Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

With perked brows, Yan Zaizen swiftly scanned his spiritual sense outside. It swept at lightning speeds. Before long, the entire mountain range, its inhabitants, and all activities became known to him.

As he learned more about the panicked voice outside, his brows that were initially risen in curiosity furrowed in silence.

When he arrived, he had swept the entire realm’s border almost instinctively. He had gotten traces of conversation of the weaker lifeforms. In quite a few of these conversations, he discovered that this realm was called the Graceful Blade Realm.

This realm was ruled by a first-floor Heavenly Genesis cultivator. This cultivator was female and currently in the process of attempting to build her second floor. Yan Zaizen could sense the heavenly aura fluctuations from within the grandest palace on the planet.

With his heavenly sense, its established defensive formations couldn’t hinder his perception. Even the act of many women bathing...even men, but to Yan Zaizen, this was unable to disturb his heart.

The planet itself was its only habitable one out of the four, and the moons were the homes to the most significant forces besides the strongest expert and likely ruler, who took the planet as her domain.

All of this sounds quite normal, but there was something that disturbed him greatly - the status of men. With his brief scan earlier, he discovered that a majority of the men were given lesser statuses than women and a majority of the women were leaders and top-tier experts.

It wasn’t that men were slaves, but that they were simply treated lesser. It also seems to even be an accepted standard, a way of life practiced by all.

Currently, outside a group of rebel males were hunting a group of women. These men were exceptionally well-cultivated and trained by this realm’s standards, all being at the Origin Core Realm. They outnumbered the females 3 to 1. Not only that, their cultivations on average was far greater.

However, a single woman with a single sword delayed them. With her cultivation at the late-Origin Core Realm, she sent out massive waves of qi-essence that hindered their every step.

She was a typical beauty with black hair and black eyes. Her figure was slim, and her chest was barely sufficient enough to be called breasts, nearly flat-chested, but she puffed out her chest proudly with each strike.

On her green attire was a white flower. This white flower was a rose that looked as if it was blooming brilliantly in the sunlight. It was exquisitely beautiful and a well-crafted insignia.

As she defended valiantly, she urged a young woman to run. This young woman was also a typical beauty, nothing too outstanding, but she had a natural look of being exceptionally pampered. It gave her a noble and princess-like feeling.

Her breathing was nothing but heavy pants. Her outfit had rips and tears that seemed to be caused by natural terrain. She was like a mortal as she ran like someone who had never run before. It was like an odd wobble where she would move her arms, which was held somewhat closely to her chest, side to side.

Yan Zaizen even laughed a little at this.

Her cultivation base was rather low for the realm, being at the peak-Essence Formation Realm.

"Lady Madeleine, why must you fight us so?" A middle-aged man shouted, his fists continuing to unleash vigorous qi-essence to pressure Madeleine, the woman defending. Despite his words, he continued to push forward.

"Leave, then your lives will be spared." The woman named Madeleine coldly said while continuing to defend. The others attempted to circle her, but she would wave her palm to send qi-essence to hinder them or injure them. This made it exceptionally difficult to deal with.

Not to mention, other women were fighting valiantly. With swords in hand, they stood their ground seemingly willing to lay down their lives to ensure the young woman’s escape.

The other men in the group had vicious expressions. They attacked without mercy, and many of the women would lose their lives or heads in the exchange. Not only were they outnumbered but they were also the weaker group. If it weren’t for Madeleine defending, assisting them, and preventing others from pursuing the girl, they would’ve already been surrounded and killed.

Yan Zaizen couldn’t help but find this interesting but also frustrating. It made him realize that a single stage in cultivation difference was exceptional regardless what realm. The lady was the only late-Origin Core Realm cultivator in the field, and she dominated the flow single-handedly.

The only downside was the commotion they brought. They were incredibly noisy and slow. Really slow. To Yan Zaizen, these people were moving at a snail’s pace, and it irritated him.

"Well...I guess its fine." Yan Zaizen decided to watch the show. After all, he was curious about how it would end. His bet? The men will capture the woman and depart. The only other course, to be truthful, was Madeleine igniting her Origin Core and having the opposing group suffer devastating losses and force a retreat.

However, from her stance, that obviously wasn’t going to happen. The pride she emitted between her brows indicated she had hope for her future and success. Its unlikely she’ll throw that away for this young woman

Wait.

Wait...

Yan Zaizen’s eyes widened slightly. The young woman was passing by his newly-crafted cave. When he saw this, he couldn’t help but chuckle. "This girl isn’t THAT stupid, right?" Just as he was wondering if she’ll enter a random cave and block her path of escape, she did just that.

"Haaa...haaa...haaa..." Her pants were exceptionally loud. Her eyes saw the cave that in the mountain’s side and those eyes lit up. Somehow, she rationalized that this place could hide her from her pursuers. With a quick dash, she entered the cave.

Yan Zaizen was quietly seated off the side. His eyes contained a dark mocking light. With a thought, his physical body merged with the environment in a perfect concealed camouflage. Even if she walked beside her, she would be none the wiser.

"I’m not the hero-type." Yan Zaizen carelessly shrugged. Not to mention, he had some views on how men were treated in the realm. There was also the issue of ignorance. Who knew if this male force had suffered some injustice at the hands of this girl or the force behind her. If they did, then retaliation was the most logical course.

What? Should he save her because she’s beautiful? If she were to be compared the Pinaka, it would be like comparing a heavenly goddess to a dirty, diseased peasant. The comparison was just too extreme. To put it simply, she couldn’t ignite his inner fire.

"They won’t find me here." The girl sounded confident.

"Yes, they will." Yan Zaizen rolled his eyes.

"Stupid girl!" Madeleine coldly spat in a near unhearable volume. She backed up, continued to slash her sword around.

The middle-aged man that was approaching saw the girl’s action and felt excited. The excitement leaked as he laughed triumphantly. If Madeleine wished to defend a cave, it would be nearly impossible. It’s the same as choosing your own wall to be backed up against.

He pulled out a bead. This bead was small and brown. He threw it towards Madeleine with a happy laugh. Madeleine’s expression changed. She looked as if she was about to pull something out of her bag to contend with the bead, but instead, her eyes flickered with a profound light.

She moved her thoughts away from her spatial ring and flashed with her sword towards the bead. The bead exploded into a mass of earth-attributed qi-essence. It encapsulated her form instantly, trapping her within a densely brown qi-essence orb.

That bead was a talisman called the Earthen Entrapment Cage; it could restrain an Origin Core expert for a period of time. Unfortunately, to someone like Madeleine, it would only take a few seconds to attack. Still, this was an excellent means to keep her busy.

He pushed his qi-essence to the max and exploded past the earthen cage and towards the cave. The other women exclaimed in shock, attempting to intercept. However, the other men kept them busy.

In a second, he had arrived at the cave entrance before the young woman. His eyes was suffused with excitement and grabbed towards her. With her cultivation base, she couldn’t even react before she was directly snatched and her cultivation base was sealed.

The man ignited his qi-essence in a secret art. When he did, his cultivation seemed to be pushed to the peak mid-Origin Core, just a step away from late-stage, and he darted off like a criminal.

Yan Zaizen softly clapped in his concealed space. This man was decisive. He ignited his qi-essence instead of his Origin Core, his cultivation base won’t suffer a decrease, but his body will most definitely be heavily injured as a result. Furthermore, igniting one’s qi-essence was far weaker in terms of power increase.

As if on cue, the other men dashed away decisively, not launching another strike. Before long, they had vanished, and the expressions of the women were dejected and depressed. There were even some who had tears in their eyes.

A brief period later, the earthen cage exploded revealing Madeleine’s figure. Her eyes stared at the location they fled, but her expression was only a little dark. She sighed softly and ordered their retreat. They left in another direction.

"Not following?" Yan Zaizen was curious. It didn’t seem like the men wanted to kill the young woman, so pursuing was possible in that case. "Perhaps its because this is what she wanted?" Yan Zaizen stared at Madeleine’s figure through the void. She had the capabilities to prevent her entrapment, but she accepted her fate at the last minute.

"Maybe it was because of the young woman’s stupidity? Or a pre-planned plot?" Yan Zaizen shrugged.

"...I’m curious now." Yan Zaizen ended his concealment. With a step, he vanished towards the direction of the men.