The Nine Continents

However as if opening the floodgates, after one person, another came, then a third, a fourth, a fifth.

Soon enough an entire crowd had formed around Minos, all of them trying to get his signature.

Overwhelmed, Minos used his strength to form a bubble around himself, warning that anyone who crossed the line could forget about a signature.

With his threat, no one dared do anything, forming an orderly line as they waited patiently for Minos.

Letting out a long sigh, Minos began signing as fast as possible, which fortunately with his cultivation, was very fast.

After an hour or so of this, Minos finally cleared out the small crowd, making it clear to anyone who came late that he was done for the day.

With everyone at long last leaving him alone, he eventually managed to make it to his destination, which was a small bookstore.

Opening the door, Minos took in a deep breath, the smell of paper and ink filling his lungs, a scent he hadn't appreciated in a long time.

"Welcome Sir, looking for anything?" The older looking man at the front desk asked, seemingly unfamiliar with Minos.

"I'm looking for history and geography books."

"History and geography, huh? Well you should be able to find the two in that corner, and remember, while you can read as you like, if you cause any damage to the book's, you'll have to pay full price."

"Naturally." Minos said, before heading to the corner the man pointed out.

Reaching the large bookshelves, Minos grabbed a book at random, its title reading 'The Nine Continents.'

Interested, Minos flipped open the book, and like he already expected from the title, it was a book explaining the nine different continents.

There was the Blue Line Continent that he was already aware of, then there was the Thousand Forest Continent, Frozen Tundra Continent, Mountainous Abyss Continent, Demonic Beast Continent, Shadow Walker Continent, Holy Valley Continent, Divine Maiden Continent, and finally, the Red Earth Continent.

Each continent was named after its most common feature, hence even without any further details, one could make a reasonable estimation towards what each place was like.

For example, the Demonic Beast Continent was exactly as the name implied, a continent that was ruled by Demonic Beasts, one that till this day, humans have failed to conquer.

Of course Minos wasn't satisfied just knowing the names, so he kept reading on, getting a better understanding of each of these places.

As he absorbed the information, a map was slowly created within his mind, expanding with each new piece of knowledge he acquired.

With fingers moving so fast that they were akin to blurs, it only took Minos a couple minutes to make it through the dense book, however despite his speed, he had firmly understood everything.

Looking towards the large bookshelf that still had plenty left, Minos tucked the book back into its spot before activating his Omniscient Eyes.

With a blue glow, his eyes scanned the entire shelf, each book's contents immediately being downloaded into his brain.

As they were being downloaded, Minos's split souls began analyzing the information at a tremendous speed, splitting and combining them into different categories.

Despite this process sounding slow, it happened in only a few seconds, Minos going from being ignorant of the Nine Continents, to incredibly well versed in them, more so then a lot of people who dedicated their lives to the study.

Part of the reason he was so fast was because despite the amount of information, none of it was extraordinary in nature, making it very easy to absorb and understand.

With the section dedicated to history and geography mastered, Minos looked towards the other areas, but found most of the other books were fiction or fantasy, which he wasn't interested in.

However just as Minos reached the last shelf, he was happy to find this place wasn't more fiction, but rather these were biographies.

Interested, Minos once again picked one at random, the title reading 'The First Shadow Walker.'

As the title implied, this biography detailed the life of the First Shadow Walker, a man who's true name was never known, only ever referred to by his title.

The Shadow Walker Continent was named after him, and in fact the entire continent was permanently changed by his actions.

Before him, the Shadow Walker Continent was instead called the Undershade Continent, but his feats and legacy were so powerful that it forever changed the land he walked.

While the Undershade Continent was always a popular hub for assassins of all kinds, it truly cemented its identity with the Shadow Walker's appearance, the best of his kind.

His biggest claim to fame was when he assassinated Meymon Moonfelt, the patriarch of the Moonfall Sect, which was also once an emperor sect.

Until that point in history, no patriarch had ever been assassinated, many assassins coming to the conclusion it was impossible to silently kill someone so powerful, but Shadow Walker did it.

After doing so, he established his own organization in the Undershade Continent, which he aptly called the Shadow Walker's.

Soon enough the Shadow Walker's became the most notorious assassins across all continents, and while their current fame was incomparable to what it once was, they are still not a force anyone would dare mess with, comparable to the top five sects.

Amazed at the man's feats, Minos couldn't help but be even more curious about the other books, wondering if there were more legends like this in history.

Not to be disappointed, Minos found that the other biographies were just as interesting, and in fact some people were even more legendary than the Shadow Walker.

With this new world opening up, Minos's picture of the Nine Continents became even more vivid, new facts and details making the picture clearer.

Once again activating his Omniscient Eyes, Minos scanned all the information down before finding an empty seat, his eyes shut as he let all this new knowledge soak into his mind.

Hours passed in this way, Minos sitting peacefully in his seat, almost as if he had fallen asleep.

Seeing him in such a way, the owner wanted to get up and say something, but seeing Minos's old age, he decided not to, leaving him to himself.

Another few hours passed and Minos finally opened his eyes, his pupils taking on a new glint, sharper then they appeared before.

Finally getting up off his seat, Minos thanked the shopkeeper, tossing him a few Nux Stones, before walking off.

Grabbing the Nux Stones, the shopkeeper was shocked, having never been paid for nothing before.

Before he could say anything however, Minos had already disappeared, his hands just holding onto the Nux Stones, grateful.

…

Back outside, Minos looked towards the horizon, appreciating the setting sun as he made his way to a nearby restaurant.

After enjoying a quick meal, Minos went back to the clinic, giving Old Man Joyata and Jena a greeting before he headed to his bedroom.

Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Minos began cultivating properly for the first time in months, his breathing taking on a rhythmic flow as he followed the Heaven Forsaken Furnace's methods.

Compared to the Pure Nux Ascension Technique, his speed was dozens, if not hundreds of times faster.

But considering the quality of his Nux was also hundreds of times better, the difference actually ended up not being much.

At this rate, it would take him multiple lifetimes to ever reach the peak of the Inner Heaven Realm, which was time he simply didn't have.

His vitality had already been sapped for the most part, and based on his own estimates, Minos felt like he only had a few decades left, so traditional cultivation was out of the question.

If he ever wanted to see the light, he needed resources, and lots of them, which fortunately with the nature of his Heaven Forsaken Furnace, could be anything.

As he recalled his Heaven Forsaken Furnaces nature, he couldn't help but think of one of the Nine Continents, the Red Earth Continent.

The name of the continent sounded a bit underwhelming, but in Minos's opinion, it was the most dangerous, arguably even more dangerous than the Demonic Beast Continent.

This was because this was the continent of criminals, the place where murderers, thiefs, conmen, and other villains went.

Simply put, the scum of the earth gathered at that continent, making it incredibly chaotic, so few forces dared to venture into it.

It was exactly because everyone was afraid of going inside that it was so popular, giving criminals a chance to escape their captors.

Over time, pretty much anyone who had ever committed a crime too severe would end up on that continent, causing it to get worse with every generation.

In fact, the name Red Earth Continent came from the blood-soaked earth, the place being so deadly that it was said every inch of soil had a corpse below it.

Ironically enough however, it was all the death that also made the Red Earth Continent one the best in terms of plants and herbs, the bloodied earth being filled with nutrients.