Tremors and loud sounds spread through the entirety of the castle as the group rested in the corner of the ground floor. The battle between the rank 6 snake and the Tribulation was unfolding above them, but there was nothing that they could do to affect its outcome.

Noah's state wasn't ideal. He would often fall asleep only to wake up every time his survival instincts reacted to one of the shockwaves released above him.

His body was still stabilizing, and he did his best to quicken the healing process by eating the corpses of the standard magical beasts in his stash. However, the emptiness of his dantian affected his recovery.

The transformation had destroyed his cultivation technique and had forced his dantian to reach the fifth rank. Yet, he had used all the energy stored inside it to forge the black sword, leaving it empty.

Also, Noah lacked a rank 5 cultivation technique, which left him powerless about the current state of his center of power.

He couldn't refill his dantian without a suitable cultivation technique. The recent events had forced him in a situation quite dire and usually avoided by cultivators.

Nevertheless, he was a hybrid, so he wasn't too worried about his battle prowess. The only real issue was that the three of them were stuck in the castle as long as the Tribulation kept raging.

There was the possibility that the lightning bolts would ignore them, but none of them was willing to test their luck. They would rather wait for the calamity to be over before deciding on their next move.

As for their companions back on the volcano, they couldn't contact them since a mental message couldn't reach the other side of the continent through the lightning storm.

Noah woke up when another shockwave made the entire castle treble. He felt a lot better. His body had finally gained new stability after his past meals.

He still felt somewhat weak due to the lack of "Breath" in his dantian. Yet, his injuries had mostly healed, and he wasn't experiencing the after-effects of the transformation anymore.

"It's been a week," June said, "But the Heaven Tribulation doesn't show any sign of stopping."

Noah realized that he had been sleeping on June's shoulder when she spoke. She was sitting right next to him, and an orange robe covered both of them as if it was a blanket.

Faith was at a few meters from them, sitting with her eyes closed as she spread her consciousness to check the situation in the outside world. Instead, the black sword laid on Noah's shoulder, with its tip pointing toward the staircase in front of them.

"I think it likes me, "June said as her eyes went on the sword, "I can't say the same for Faith though."

"Of course, it likes you." Noah said while revealing a smile and straightening his position, "It's connected with my mind. It feels part of my emotions."

June couldn't help but show her affection at those words, but the sword soon began to stare at them again, ruining the intimate mood that had taken over the couple.

"Is this what it feels to have kids?" June asked, "I'm starting to reconsider my idea of family."

Noah smirked at her joke and pulled her near his chest. One hand went on her hair while the other grabbed the sword and held it still in front of him.

The blade cheered when Noah wielded it, but he intended to use his newfound clarity to inspect its actual structure. It had only one sharp edge, and it was almost double the size of his usual sabers. Its hilt was thin but not severe, and it didn't have any guard between it and the blade. Also, it was straight, entirely black, and no one would understand that it was alive from just its aspect.

Truth to be told, Noah didn't really know what the sword was capable of. The peculiar state that he had reached while he was striving to become a perfect being had enlightened him, but it didn't tell him what he was creating.

The blade surely was the materialization of his individuality, but he didn't know its abilities. Some evident features were coming from the materials used during the forging, but that was still a lifeform. There had to be more to it.

The sword didn't hide anything from Noah's inspection. He just needed to will it, and the functioning of that peculiar lifeform became evident in his mind.

'I see,' Noah thought, and the structure of the blade began to change.

It became almost liquid, only to solidify when it divided itself into two parts and a.s.sumed the form of his usual Demonic Swords.

'This ability comes from the Liquid Dantian,' Noah thought as he tested the pliability of the sword before making it regain its original shape.

'It is alive, but it doesn't need air. It feeds only on primary energy. A sword-type magical beast, the first of its kind.' Noah evaluated as he learned about its functioning.

The entirety of the sword acted as a dantian and stored primary energy inside its fabric. Part of it was necessary to produce attacks, but its structure required some of it to improve.

Body and dantian had basically fused in the sword, without losing the abilities of those centers of power. As for the sea of consciousness, the blade didn't exactly have it.

It didn't have a mental sphere, but it could think and radiate intense mental waves that carried Noah's pride, greed, and ambition. It was as if all its cells were an extension of Noah's consciousness that didn't weigh on his actual mind.

Noah could understand though that the sword would be forever linked to his individuality, which meant that he needed to nourish it if he wanted to remain faithful to the path that he had chosen.

'I've more mouths to feed then.' Noah thought, 'Well, my battle prowess would increase by a lot when I fight with it.'

Noah was now a rank 5 cultivator able to summon a rank 5 Blood Companion and wield a living weapon in the fifth rank. History wasn't his field of expertise, but he was quite sure that no existence in his rank could claim to have his same foundation.

Another shockwave spread from the top floor. The three of them, together with the sword, moved their attention to the source of those tremors. Even after a week, the snake was still fighting against the Tribulation.

Yet, the intervals between each shockwave were becoming shorter. It was as if Heaven and Earth were slowly gaining the upper hand in the battle.

"I wonder how it's going outside," June said without leaving Noah's chest.

Faith shook her head at her words. She kept her consciousness outside of the castle, but the lightning storm didn't allow her to understand much.

The Tribulation had isolated them, and all they could do was to wait for everything to be over.