Dark Magus Returns - Chapter 1776 The Arrival

Chapter 1776  The Arrival

A tingle spread across the surface of Raze’s skin. Deep within his center, his dantian underwent a transformation. The core sitting by his stomach no longer felt broken. It evolved. Energy stopped restricting itself to his center. It flowed outward, charting paths through his limbs and organs. It formed a network, knitting itself to his muscles and bones. The Qi of Pagna vanished, replaced by a substance carrying greater weight and density. His vision blacked out. Sensation fled his fingertips and toes. He floated in nothingness, disconnected from his physical form as the universe reconstructed his existence.

Seconds ticked by in the void. Sensation returned to his limbs. Vision restored itself to his eyes.

Raze blinked. A tree stood directly in front of him. The trunk stretched wider than any oak or redwood he knew in Pagna. He followed the bark upward, tracing the grooves and ridges with his gaze. The canopy cast a shadow over him and blocked the sun. Branches wove together, forming a ceiling of leaves that stretched for miles in every direction. Roots thicker than houses broke through the ground beneath him, tearing up the earth.

“That tree belongs to gods, not men,” Raze murmured to himself.

He moved his hand. The air parted around his fingers. The energy here possessed a clarity he had never experienced. In the world below, pulling Qi into the body required strain. A warrior fought the environment to cultivate, forcing the world to yield its power. Here, energy existed in abundance. It pressed against his skin, waiting for entry. Raze drew a breath, and Qi rushed into his dantian without resistance. It filled his lungs, enriched his blood, and pumped through his veins. He knew he could grow his strength rapidly here. He just needed to sit and breathe the air.

He looked past the canopy of leaves. A sky of blended blue and purple stretched out above him. A sky. The concept puzzled his mind. Myths described the Divine Realm as a place existing directly above Pagna. If he traveled upward into the clouds of his home world, he should hit space. He should find a void of stars and moons. He should not see another atmosphere with a blue and purple sky.

Raze formed a theory. A barrier existed in Pagna’s atmosphere. A sheet functioning as a portal separated the layers of reality. This portal filtered the power, dividing the mortals below from the immortals above. Ascending did not mean flying upward; it meant piercing that sheet. Passing through the barrier linked a warrior to this location. It transported them to a different world entirely. Pagna and the Divine Realm existed parallel to each other, connected by rules of cultivation.

Raze turned his attention to the ground beneath his boots. Carved rectangles of stone formed the floor. They resembled paving blocks from a city street, but their scale defied reason. Each stone stretched for meters, fitting perfectly against its neighbor without a gap or crack. This structure gave him context. He had not landed in the wilderness. Builders had cut these stones. Masons had laid them into the earth. He stood inside a constructed territory. Someone owned this land.

He squinted his eyes. Buildings sat in the distance. Spires and rooftops broke the horizon line, constructed from materials that gleamed in the purple light. Before he could take a step toward the settlement, the air rippled. Four men materialized in front of him.

They varied in age. One looked in his thirties, another in his fifties, and two appeared as elders with graying hair and lined faces. Raze analyzed their stances. They resonated with Divine energy. Power radiated from their bodies, shifting the air around them. Yet, he sensed their limits. He measured their aura against his own newly formed core. They sat at the exact same stage of power as he did. Ascension placed him at the bottom of the hierarchy, but these men held no advantage in raw strength over him.

“Welcome, warrior!” The man in the front stepped forward. He raised a hand in greeting, offering a smile that did not reach his eyes.

All four wore uniform clothing. Purple fabric lined with white trim covered their chests and arms. Symbols stitched into the cloth marked their allegiance. They operated as a unit. They belonged to a faction.

“Confusion likely fills your mind, but you stand among the luckiest warriors,” the man announced. His voice echoed across the stone blocks. “You ascended from Pagna. You reached the Divine Realm. You survived the transition. You may now enjoy life among immortals like us.”

The man gestured behind him toward the spires. “We represent the Nondo faction. Come with us. We will explain everything this place offers to a newcomer.”

Raze held his tongue. B had warned him about this structure. Factions controlled the Divine Realm. A newly ascended warrior might mistakenly believe everyone united under one banner up here. They might view these men as guides. Raze knew better. These men sought to recruit him. They drafted soldiers. He had materialized directly inside their base of operations, or they monitored the arrival points to catch ascendants before rivals did. They wanted his power for their ranks.

“I have a question,” Raze said. He kept his hands resting at his sides, away from his weapons. He shifted his weight to the balls of his feet. “Have you seen a woman? Fair skin, black hair, wielding a spear. She would look young for a Divine warrior. She ascended recently.”

Raze calculated the odds in his head. Few warriors met the requirements to ascend from Pagna. The barrier rejected the weak. The number of arrivals had to remain low. Someone must have seen her enter the realm. A faction like this must keep records of newcomers. They tracked movement.

“Follow us,” the man replied. His smile remained, but his posture stiffened. “We grant information to those who join our ranks.”

The man pointed toward the buildings in the distance again. He waited for Raze to comply and move.

“If you refuse to answer my question, I will find her myself,” Raze stated. He turned his back on the group. He chose a direction away from the buildings, stepping onto the next stone block.

Footsteps shifted against the pavement. Air displaced with a sharp crack. Two men blurred and reappeared behind him. The four warriors boxed him in. They blocked his path forward and cut off his retreat. Hands dropped to the hilts of their weapons. Raze listened to the scrape of metal against leather.

“We asked nicely,” the first man said. The smile vanished from his face. “You lack a choice in this matter. Ignore our invitation, or go against us, and you will learn the danger of this place firsthand.”

Raze tightened his fists. Qi pumped through his veins. He prepared to fight immortals.

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