Taking A Rest

Bang!

A final bolt of lightning fell from the skies, landing on Andra's body.

As Blade broke through to the Martial King realm, Andra was busy breaking into the Martial Lord realm. A protective barrier surrounded her, it was her white exquisite martial clothing which was a protective treasure. This was given by Astral, her master.

"Congratulations, becoming a Martial Lord this quickly. It's only been a few days since Blade left, yet you've already caught up to his cultivation..!"

Not far away from Andra was Astral with a proud smile on his face. With the smile of a young teacher looking at the student he placed all his resources into training, and thought.

'Thank you, Blade. Now, with Dolion so invested in cultivation, by the time you've come back, hehe, I'll teach him a set of techniques so when you come back in three years, this disciple of mine will suppress you! You'll understand that you should never turn your back on such a kind, caring, and overall perfect master as I, Astral Fabel.'

Tch!

Andra clicked her tongue, expressing her annoyance. "Master, do you think I'm a child? If I can break into this realm, it means Blade has at the very least, become a High-Level Martial Lord... No, knowing him, he's probably already found some way to become a Pinnacle Martial Lord..!"

Expressing her worry, and anger, she couldn't help but frown upon hearing Astral's words. Realizing the image of Blade was too esteem in his disciple's mind, Astral replied.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... You look down on the Martial Lord realm. It is very important to experience battles and grow accustomed to using a Law in battles. To further gain insight into a Law, using it regularly would quicken the process.

"Now, tell me, is Blade going to constantly be in battles? And even if he was, is it going to be against people that can push him to his limits, and allow him to break through?"

Saying this, he thought. 'Before allowing him to leave, he needed to become a Martial Lord. Now, his existence as a protagonist is much different. Instead of being the weaker fighter and breakthrough during battles, he'll be the stronger of the fighters.'

'After all, there aren't many young Martial Lords, those who could reach such a realm are part of powerful organizations, so who'll dare give him trouble... hehe... with a lack of battles, his cultivation is probably even slower than Dolion's.'

"But, with me as your master, you'll never lack opponents. As an Ice wielder myself, with me here, your comprehension will be the least of your worries, and with your talent, something secondary like Life Energy isn't a problem either.

"The only troublesome thing is battles, but, inside Limitless Sky Sect, there are countless Martial Lords and Martial Kings... Don't worry, even if Blade is a High-Level Martial Lord, becoming a Martial King faster than Blade would be light work."

Thrum!

"Y-Your serious...?!" Andra's eyes gleamed. For the first time, in her eyes, Astral finally seemed like a commendable teacher!... "Has your teacher ever lied to you?" Astral replied. Hearing him, Andra paused. Truly, Astral has never lied to them before.

He said no one in Limitless Sky Sect has a status higher than his... Even the Sect Master treated him with respect, so this must be true. There hasn't been a circumstance that he lied to them.

'Maybe I can really become a Martial King before Blade does~!' Unknowingly, hope and expectation welled up inside her, and even pride and arrogance began bubbling.

...

...

Boom!

Several bolts of black lightning fell onto a lone figure with a battered and bruised body. Even though it was bruised and burnt, the figure didn't seem close to exhausted.

Athena wasn't too far away from Blade, seeing this sight saddened her but, she couldn't interfere with the Tribulation, otherwise, the Tribulation which was already strong enough to greatly harm her would grow even stronger.

'Why is his tribulation so different... It's as if the Heavens want to kill him... Do the Heavens want to kill my Blade..?' Pondering on his, her eyes glinted with madness as she stared at the skies.

Repelling the bolts of lightning, Blade was left in a horrible state. Luckily the Lightning Tribulation had stopped, otherwise, with his injuries, it seemed like he'd fall apart from a gentle breeze.

"After unlocking Darkness, I feel like unless my body is completely pulverized, I'll be able to continue fighting. My stamina and tenacity have become insanely high...! Probably destroying my brain or heart would be enough to kill me but, I'm not going to let that happen now, am I."

A white glow escaped his body, covering all his wounds. Shockingly, these wounds began healing at a rate visible to the naked eye. "Light Law increases my healing and Darkness Law increases my durability. I can retain consciousness under massive blood loss now... My survival ability has increased by a lot."

Finished with his analysis, he leisurely made his way out of the crater. He could see Athena worriedly approaching him. In this worried state, she didn't perceive it yet, but slowly, a blush formed on her face.

"B-Blade..." She said as even with a mask on, she covered her face, "Y-Your t-thing... It's... am..."

Ah!

'Naked..!'

One thought plagued Athena's mind as an image sent her into a daze. Realizing this, Blade took out some clothing from his space ring. At the very least, this was to be expected in the three-year trip, so his master had given him things like this.

Athena had a master who was caring.

Due to her, Athena had a special treasure that, upon being destroyed, would naturally heal. So unlike him, Athena was fine, and Blade was slightly jealous. Sighing, he turned his attention to his palm.

"Seeing as there isn't anything that's making this act up, I guess it's time to leave." With the compass on his palm resting peacefully, Blade stared toward the skies.

The bright sun shone splendidly as at this time, one would finally realize that the Lightning Tribulation had passed through the very mountain to get to Blade. Destroying rocks and terrain that stacked upon each other for several hundred feet in the air.

"Where are we going now...?" Athena asked. She wasn't too excited though. From the way things have gone soo far, wherever they went, it was to search for treasures which would then lead to a bloody battle. After the previous battle, Athena could take a break.

Sensing this, Blade didn't mind. 'After all, my speed of cultivation has transcended anything I previously thought. Though it took me months to reach the Martial Lord realm from a Martial Disciple, it took me a few days to reach the Martial King realm. And to think cultivation slows the stronger you get.'

"Okay, Athena, where do you want to go..? There should be a few cities nearby seeing as these bandits can keep their camp active but the distance may be too long to reach anytime soon. We might reach at night if we start moving now."

Athena's eyes gleamed when hearing his words. 'If I truly don't want something, he'll go out of his way to satisfy me...' Her cheeks reddened thinking this. Luckily, a mask covered her face.

"Don't worry about traveling. Master gave me a treasure just for this. It's just that I couldn't use it before becoming a Martial King." Waving her hand, a long blue metal appeared. It had enough space for the duo to comfortably rest.

Hopping onto it, she glanced toward Blade and said. "As a Martial Lord, I didn't have enough energy to sustain this before being sucked dry, but now that I'm a Martial King, we can travel over long distances with it... With this, any of the nearby villages aren't that far away from here."

"Okay." Blade hopped on. Wrapping his arms around Athena's waist, he whispered in her ear, "So where does my Athena wish to go...? After all, I don't know which city is which, whose there, or anything of such."

With steam escaping her face, Athena replied. "We'll go in a random direction. Hopefully, we can find a good place to stay."

...

...

Two hours later, Blade and Athena found themselves entering through the city gates. Surprisingly, there weren't even guards who bothered to guard the entrance.

Even though there was a massive ten thousand-member group of bandits around these parts if they were to approach any of the cities, such a massive number would have been detected and would give each city time to prepare.

The residents weren't anywhere near as many as Limitless City, and obviously, the size of the city was also not as large as Limitless City.

In one of the few taverns of this city, there were plenty some figures drinking, eating, shouting, and laughing with each other. The city was small, so most knew of one another.

Those who visit the city were most likely from the nearby cities, but it wasn't as if there haven't been times when outside cultivators visited.

This was the case once more. Though they aren't hostile to outsiders, they weren't friendly either, so when two masked figures appeared in the tavern, the whole floor quieted down, staring them down like hawks, before deciding to ignore them.