Chapter 1772 - 1772. Speech
The order left many experts unsatisfied and irritated. Noah wasn't only forcing them to become a single organization. He was even ignoring the various factions and ideas that the other experts could offer.
His behavior didn't reflect a wise leader. Noah was acting like a tyrant when his cultivation level had yet to reach the last stage of the eighth rank.
The other experts knew that Noah's current cultivation level wasn't even close to his actual battle prowess, but many still didn't feel too good about the recent events. Everything was changing quickly, and their fates were in the hands of a madman who seemed to have little to no care for the rulers of the world.
However, his closest friends and the experts who had followed him for a long time could quickly make up their minds about those changes. Noah had always been in charge of both Legion and nameless organizations in the last period, so gaining a new banner and layout didn't affect them in the slightest.
The same didn't go for the experts recently obtained from the Outer Lands. Their organizations had traditions and histories almost as long as the higher plane, and abandoning them in favor of a madman seemed utterly inconceivable.
"I can smell your anger," Noah exclaimed while moving his eyes among the various higher-ups. "You give value to names, but they mean nothing to me. I live for the cultivation journey. Everything else is a pointless remainder of how weaker existences have to band together to have a chance at opposing the world."
"But you still decide to throw them away on your own," Elsie complained. "I'm not asking you to care. I only want respect!"
"Respect?" Noah asked as chilling growls came out of his mouth. "I had to fight the Crystal City right after ascending. Most organizations chose to side with that eternal force and cast me out. The world has tried to capture, kill, and torture me since I stepped on the higher plane, but I'm here, and you are everything that remains of that old system."
Elsie didn't know what to say at those words. The situation angered her to no end, but Noah was right. He was the very reason why the Immortal Lands had survivors.
"Your system reeked of corruption and laziness," Noah continued. "You have nurtured useless experts and showed them to the world as if fame could win wars. Heaven and Earth did us all a favor when they destroyed everything. They removed their old farm to create a new one that didn't include me, but I'm still here, and I won't stick to their game."
Noah's pride intensified during his speech. His aura was calm, but the air inside the region became heavy. He was expressing the core of his existence, and those who had known him for a long time could see how he had grown.
"Heaven and Earth's cancer won't become your s.h.i.+eld!" Noah roared. "Organizations should launch experts toward the higher ranks, not give them the chance to laze around and gloat over flimsy achievements. There are only two sides now. You can become part of the world or fight it."
Needless to say, some of the experts from the human organizations who had initially felt distrust and anger toward Noah began to calm down. That speech was more than inspiring. It seemed to explain the nature of the cultivation journey in words that they had never found.
"Don't delude yourselves," Noah eventually announced. "I can't make miracles. Every piece of me is a gear that I had to develop through countless battles and crazy plans. I want you to do the same, even if many will die in the process."
"Who are you to say that your path is correct?" Elsie continued, but her voice didn't carry any anger at that time.
"There are only two paths left," Noah scoffed. "Heaven and Earth can offer you a law from their system and keep you alive until I destroy them. The other road will force you to suffer, but it will also grant you the power to oppose the world."
The doubtful experts remained silent. They had always known that their anger toward Noah was misplaced, but they still wanted to avoid an all-out war against Heaven and Earth in that condition. It was clear that they couldn't win.
"You shouldn't look at me for answers," Noah laughed. "I'm a mistake. My law forces you to ignore your natural limits because Heaven and Earth's system isn't perfect. Still, my existence is only a trigger. All of you can reach the same achievements without my help."
Noah Balvan, commonly known as Defying Demon, had just announced that his whole existence was a mistake, but his law didn't crumble. Instead, his pride shone stronger than ever and generated an even stronger pressure.
"Some of you might think that my departure will be the right moment for a rebellion," Noah continued to laugh. "You are right, but you'll fail anyway. Existences who can only see their survival can't match those who look toward the higher stages. The value of their laws is completely different since only growth can lead to something worthy of the name life."
Noah turned toward the dark world at that point. His speech was over. He had already uncovered the entirety of his belief in front of those underlings. Everything else had to come from inside them. Their power would always lack some important feature otherwise.
"How could you survive with this mindset?" Steven asked.
The expert was one of the cultivators who had accepted the change in the organization quickly. His cells and the secret organization as a whole were no more anyway. Following Noah was his only option.
"I didn't," Noah replied without turning toward the expert. "I died to come here, I died to turn myself into a hybrid, I died a few times to force my centers of power to advance, and something inside me has died on multiple occasions too. Surviving is easy when you are ready to give up on yourself, but can you even call that life?"
"Where are you going anyway?" Jordan asked while she memorized all the faces that seemed unaffected by Noah's speech. "Why do you need to fly across the higher plane again?"
"Most of the old Immortal Lands were part of the magical beasts' domain," Noah explained. "The other side must have many survivors. I want to make them part of the Cancer."
"Do you want to add even more expenses to these lands?" One of the cultivators that didn't feel anything during the speech asked.
"It's not want," Noah replied without turning. "I'm doing it. The magical beasts are Heaven and Earth's punishment for their d.e.s.i.r.e to take control of the world. They are vital to our quest."
The rat king showed a proud expression that even humans could recognize. Noah had publicly acknowledged its kind. No other organization had ever given it that amount of recognition.
"How do you plan to make all those survivors fit here?" Steven asked.
"I trust that Elbas will have everything ready by the time I come back," Noah explained before glancing behind him. "Don't involve him if you want to rebel. Die without creating problems."