Cultivation throughout the void

"In my delusions I thought of myself as an elite, as someone high and mighty that no other can compare to, crafting vessels to ferry the stars I traveled the universe beyond any other before me, only to find out how small my view really was"

-Unknown human mortal

South - western most point of the Vast tree universe, location of the great rift where the calamity of corruption has been temporarily isolated.

Here what remained of the united army held firm while most had abandoned the fight. Even after the traitor of the spiritual realm Lord Ophenion launched a relentless assault from behind these spirit cultivators fought to defend the spiritual realm to the bitter end.

The nearby galaxies had scattered like dust in the wind, stars had been blown away and planets shattered yet these spirit cultivators did not abandon the fight. The scale of this war was simply beyond a single being's imagination, the dead alone could create several galaxies worth of nothing but the corpse's of the fallen.

"Are we ready?" A slender figure with many wood-like horns spoke.

"Almost" a being with four arms replied.

From the south came beasts on a scale no lesser than a planet hauling stars connected by chains 17 million kms long. Every single one of these gargantuan creatures was armoured by layers of stone and steal, while the space surrounding them was covered by a thick layer of ice and dust stopping the heat of the stars from reaching them.

"Now we are ready" the four armed being picked up a green helmet.

"Let's send these monstrosities to oblivion!" Another voice from afar said.

Ahead of them the void of space burned orange-yellow with what seemed like dust clouds covering space in all directions, the group of spirits traversed space at speeds that would be seen as no less then teleportation to the uneducated mind.

Only the best of each spiritual race/species had been sent to fight this war, if one could not traverse the stars like walking on land than they were less than useless. More so if one did not have some sort of teleportation skill or device at this level it would be the joke of the millennia.

To fight in this war one had to be no less then a god-like being in all but name.

"Send in the fire beacons!"

"Get ready for the shockwave, the moment it hits activate the barrier"

Hidden in the dust of far of space shadows flickered, the group of invaders was being surrounded from all sides.

The beacons resembling lanterns pulsed releasing a shockwave that atomized all nearby objects causing a white flash to follow the path of the shockwave. The shadows hidden in the dust recoiled becoming blurry as if taking damage.

"Now ignite the stars!"

The beasts pulling the stars roared as the sudden stop launched the stars in eight directions.

"The moment the stars burst, strike them down!"

The shockwave from the beacons finally reached the location of the beasts and almost instantaneously a bubble like barrier activated protecting them from the shockwave.

At the same time after the barrier went up a shadow covered one of the planet like beasts, the barrier reacted strongly pushing the shadow away protecting those inside.

From the silence of space the sound of a million birds chirping reached the ears of all, the stars launched into the distance deformed, compressed, expanded into a thin tower, then an explosion that made light no different then a sharp lance pierced all the surroundings.

Shadows stretched and deformed nearly tearing themselves apart as the light pervaded nearby space forcing darkness back.

"The light will provide us will approximately three minutes, if we cannot kill them by then we must at least drive them back"

The four armed being started to glow like moonlights, with a step he teleported outside the barriers protection. A lance much like the earthly one's pierced a struggling shadow impaling it without force.

'Just like swinging at open air, let's hope no bodies come'

The surrounding space had turned into a hell-scape with little to no visibility, shadows reflecting of whatever dust remained created false illusions as the shadows appeared to be closer then they truly were while space had caught fire even if only for a moment.

"Retreat! Seal off this passageway" seeing time was almost up the four armed being ordered a retreat.

The beacons magically returned to their owners side no longer pulsing as they once were. Those attacking the shadows under the cover of dying stars ceased their actions and returned with haste under to the cover provided by the beasts.

A group of cloaked cultivators far away from the fighting prepared for their return, the moment the last soldier entered the barrier the beasts ran for the exit.

"Once the sealing is done we have been given orders to retreat. You've all done an excellent job! From here on out your fate is your own"

"If we retreat now how long do we have? As in the universe mean"

"...Less then 100 years. No. It's more accurate to say that's the hope anyway. You've all experienced fighting the calamity, nothing ever goes as planned"

Just as it was said a massive skeletal figure dashed out from the fire and dust launching itself towards one of the beasts furthest back quickly tearing into the barrier with little effort. Those inside had no time to react as the skeleton shattered into a thousand pieces that shredded those inside.

The beast being thousands of time larger then the skeleton figure suffered minimal damage but the shattered bone fragments wriggled like worms towards any exposed flesh threatening to consume it from the inside out.

The others watching from afar did not try to intervene simply hastening their retreat.

"Five seconds, three, two, one Now!"

A pink flash, a burst of light, the space nearby turned white closing of the last remaining entrance of the great rift. It wouldn't stop the expansion of the the rift but it bought time.

<+== Educational Lore ==+>

The physical realm cannot survive without the spiritual realm(metaphysical) for it the home of the soul and the path to reincarnation, the spiritual realm on the other hand can. However the spiritual realm cannot grow without the physical realm, for only through living life does the soul expand.

Spirits may accumulate spiritual energy to grow stronger but the energy is finite. Much like the sun seems to produce limitless amount of light it will eventually burn out. While the current universe may seem to have an infinite amount of spiritual qi, that is only due to the vast amount of time the Vast tree universe has existed.

When a being dies its soul leaves the confines of the body and as such is no longer bound to a limited size. As the soul expands outwards it leaves some of itself behind, this residue no longer a part of the soul goes back to the earth as life force to once again rejuvenate the land. The soul however continues to expand greedily without restraint, it is then that a limit is reached. When the soul can no longer expand it will deflate much like a balloon leaving nothing but an empty soul without memory of the past.

As for the memories lost, they are the true prize. For here the universe treats information like energy(food) it will treat each piece as equally as the last, no matter how mundane or epic it may be, it will be nothing more then a new vector of information to help 'grow' the universe.

As such new energy is created for every soul lost, while it may not amount to much at first given enough time and enough lives a single spark will eventually come together as one.

<+== Educational lore end ==+>

The Beast continent of [Sun reach] deep inside the southern direction of the Vast tree universe, was one of eight primordial wild lands that birthed the demonic beasts of the vast tree realm.

It was one of eight primordial wild lands and one of only three that still remained. Having gone through innumerable wars over it's control and changing hands countless times the current rulers of this continent had turned it into a pseudo holy land for only the demonic beasts.

Tens of billions now marched from one end of this continent to the other, from the largest titan size behemoths covering mountain ranges with a single stride to those as small as a mouse. Without counting those too small and numerous to account for, all life headed in one direction. The western most point of the continent! Here a chance to get a spot on the - Heavenly beast ark - a gargantuan ship of over 2.5 million Kms was underway.

Its scale was beyond belief, from afar it looked no different then a miniature version of the Sun Reach spirit continent itself. The spiritual continent being 25 billion kms in just length made this singular ship a thousandth of the size of the true continent, an achievement that would make history under normal circumstances.

Above this colossal ship two similar sized vessels lay in waiting, each of these mega arks had a minimum of three layers with the flag ship having five layers, the Sun reach continent had been razed for everything of worth to the point that even the spiritual nature of the continent was on the brink of total collapse.

Floating all around these gargantuan arks beasts that could only be described as living moons protected each ark from any threat that may near. Below, titans carrying planets on their backs surrounded the arks ready to use their bodies as living shields should anything near.

Each ark equiped with the finest of weaponry with no expenses spared, a single volley from these vessels capable of rendering entire galactic clusters uninhabitable if not outright annihilated. For most such firepower would be enough, but for those god-like beings it was simply considered a warning shot.

Even if such beings approached the vessels, did they not have such beings of their own? Of course they did.

Demonic beasts were tougher then normal beings, they did not have a cycle of reincarnation like that of other beings, they had one chance at life, as such they were given greater gifts at birth then all others.

From strength, speed, longer life spans, to natural instincts unmatched by other beings, they were favored by the heavens as the true inheritors of spiritual Qi. It was only through the intervention of beings known as the ancestral gods that other races gained the ability to use spiritual Qi.

For a period of time demonic beasts ruled the universe and fought using only their heaven given might but as time passed and the weaponry of these other spiritual races became more lethal they had to adapt.

The demonic beasts not proficient in crafting treasures learned what they needed to overcame the gap in knowledge that they had overlooked for billions of years, demonic beasts once brought down by sword and spear no longer had weaknesses from lack of treasures even being some of the most proficient in crafting treasures.

Now in the time of most dire need their efforts paid off.

Billions of species, each with different environmental requirements needed territories of certain sizes with various temperature zones to mimic reality. Without such environments to call home even if these beasts escaped the destruction of the universe they would go mad if all they saw was a an empty chamber with no hope of ever seeing the outside world again.

Since every ark had to accommodate tens of thousand of environments they had be the most advanced arks they could possibly craft, from the most obscure of detail, to the most complex geographical terrain, to even adding space formations that could increase the total landmass, these arks were prefect in the eyes of many.

Yet even with such methods at best they will only encompass one third of the original environments of the Sun Reach continent as even if space was available it would not be stable beyond a certain limit. To sustain a spiritual continent was no easy feat after all, let alone an artificial one.

In the end only one method could alleviate the worries of the demonic beasts, a battle royal.

One battle, one chance at life, one loser at the mercy of the victor!

The winners would get to enter the ark and claim a territory for themselves, as long as no one has claimed it first of course.

These winners would then bring demonic beasts of their own territories to inhabit the area thereby giving hundreds to thousands of weaker species a spot on the Arks by default albeit with less rights.

A natural food chain would be made this way allowing for a continuously replenishing environment for those at the top to feast on.

Of course several flaws presented themselves with this method, the first being that no two winners of the same species was guaranteed which could cause problems down the descendant line, the second problem was extreme ageism.

Demonic beasts did not cultivate the same way other spirits did, they naturally absorbed the surrounding spiritual energy without much thought and given enough time they got old and strong while the younger generations would be suppressed and culled thereby cementing the rule of the old generations for extended periods of time but because of this when an old ruler can't grow further or dies in battle it often times leads to one's own species getting culled with no one to defend them.

Normally not a real problem since as long as another territory lord of the same species exists somewhere a new lord can be born, but if there is only one winner? Do the descendants keep the territory or can it be taken away after the previous ruler dies? What if there are no decedent's?

Certain rules had to be made that split the territory between a male and female pairs, they didn't have to be paired together but multiple pairs of the same species is a must. Two of each _NOT_ including the winner, the winner would get the majority of the earned territory as was their right.

If a species reproduced through any other means outside of a male female pair, adequate changes will be made.

These smaller territories granted to the winners 'kin' would be made in mirror realms, small pockets of space that are self contained in objects or environments that allowed for reflections to form. This would allow for greater chances of a species survival as two winners of the same species are not guaranteed.

Should an old territory lord die, a tribunal will be held to determine if those of the same species are worthy or not of retaining the territory, upon which the outcome will be honored by the surrounding demonic beast lords.

The battles for entry become intense and desperate but no one backed down, eventually all spots would be filled and the loading of materials and picking of environments would begin, with any incomplete environments would be stored away for the future.

Demonic worlds were generally more massive then many spirit worlds and continents, such that the amount of rare heaven and earth treasures were plentiful and never lacking.

Demonic beasts which did not settle down or ran solo due to their nature also participated with different goals in mind, these demonic beast would be granted access to an ark upon rendering their service for a specified time, any children born before or after entering the ark were expected to be grandfathered in to servitude all the same.

No different than mercenaries for hire, they were given little and expected to give their all.

Should one not like it, well they can just die, no one gets a free ride.

A wandering demonic beast was currently taking upon himself a challenge set upon by one of the five Ark lords on the flag ship - Wandering beast - this demon beast was not large only 6m long and 3m tall, looking like a leopard with a red coat of fur.

This demonic beast was truly fast avoiding every obstacle sent towards it and as the test progressed the difficulty kept increasing but the demonic creature did not slow down increasing its speed to match the difficulty of the test, the demonic lord overseeing the test was impressed by what he saw and gave it a passing mark.

"He will be useful as a scout given some more time to grow, given his young age we can use him for an experimental void adaptation method's in the future" the demonic lord spoke to his subordinate's.

This demonic beast was one of many who would succeed in a bid for survival. Although it would lose the majority of its freedom along with their children and children's children, it was still better than simply giving up.

Following this period of time every demon beast entering the Arks would be guaranteed to be the most elite members of the sun reach continent and the hope of their species.

Many alien races throughout the vast tree realm held their own trial grounds large or small but while many had already left their respective continents, others had only just started.

Regardless of the outcome the most elite members of each race would be leaving the Vast tree universe seeking more time for cultivation, and hopefully a new home.

As for the sun reach continent itself, well even its barren remains can be used for something.

<+== The overseer's ==+>

Golden phoenix palace - above heaven and earth, one of the three unparalleled holy lands of the Vast tree universe.

This was the homeland of records, everything from historical records, formations, pill recipes, panacea of all kinds, locations of rare materials, locations of all spirit races, cultivation practices along with the location of all major or rising powers within the vast tree realm could be found here.

With several thousand branches spread throughout the universe know simply as minor-phoenix-palaces or phoenix palaces to better serve a wider populace. The amount of information gathered from around the universe on a daily basis was simply astronomical, one could read the entire history of a planet along with all written text up to the day to day lives of it's citizen's.

While not everything in the universe was possible to be recorded as not everyone wanted to share their secrets with others the golden Phoenix palace still held absurd amounts of information, enough so that they could piece together seemingly obscure information into individuals actions/events that few to none would have heard off.

For the past seven billion years the palaces prestige had not fallen, many incompetent palace lords have graced its halls yet its reputation preceded them and any force in the Vast tree universe with connections to the Golden Phoenix palace was almost guaranteed to be a major power of their region.

Currently a group of spirit cultivators of the highest caliber held a meeting, the discussion was rowdy and seemingly lively but a heavy air could be felt in the air.

"Lord Debian! Do your words hold truth?! Are there really less then 25 years before we must leave? Didn't we confirm to at least have 60 years before the corruption could affect the majority of the vast tree realm?"

A woman's voice sounded with concern.

A rough sounding mans voice sounded out to answer her.

"We have been constantly monitoring the spread of the corruption, we can say for certain that as the corruption keeps expanding it does not keep to a constant speed. Instead it seems to increase speed as it further devours our realm, it no longer has anything impeding its advance and is only gaining energy cutting our time down significantly"

"What of the army? Last I heard they held firm even if they eventually got pushed back" an old man questioned.

"The army is too far spread, originally the battle took place in a small gap created in the realm barrier but after the line broke, any and all containment options simply... aren't possible, not in a timely manner at least. The current strategy is to deny any resources that may strengthen its advance" A woman answered calmly.

Another ancient sounding voice sounded "So what losses are we expecting now?"

Another man sounded out "fuuah! Losses?! I doubt we can lose much more. How many heaven breaking lords have been lost so far? By the time they revive we will all be dead and even than they had already lost once what difference does it make it they try again?!"

A mocking mans voice responded "we can still expect to lose the rest of the realm :)"

The first woman spoke once more "silence! We can't waste time, send word out immediately to the remaining spirit continents and worlds to speed up their respective evacuations, even if they don't all believe us it's better than nothing"

The message would naturally not arrive on time for the vast majority as the vast tree universe was simply gargantuan, fortunately the golden Phoenix palace was not the only major cultivation holy land.

While it may be one of the current pinnacle's of all holy lands, it didn't always hold the title nor could it always hold the title, it was not until Heaven breaking Tamra roamed the universe did this palace rise in prestige.

Across the universe major powers were already sending out warnings to their allies which continued to be passed down the grape vine until it would eventually reach the ears of even lone cultivators.

For smaller powers that lived on spiritual planets away from major spirit continents, they could only count on word-of-mouth to reach them on time to leave the leave this universe behind.

Through even if the golden phoenix palaces message never reached its destination, major powers that had the ability to foresee future event would already have evacuated those they deemed to have value or importance to them.

"Sigh..." A sigh loud enough to be heard across the room entered everyone's ears..

All 8 people within the chamber turned around, they noticed a man in his late thirties appear from the shadows "The corruption was not something that we alone could have stopped, we can at least try and save more then half of the Arks heading out from the south-western quadrants. Send out the remaining forces of the united army not already in combat, delay the inevitable for one additional year - minimum!"

The man commanded and no one refuted.

"Make sure to resend the message multiple times, we never know what kind of trickery can happen in these dire times"

"As you command"

<+== The overseer's end ==+>

Within the lower western quadrant of the vast tree universe the calamity known as corruption spread quickly, countless creatures perished while the land tore apart, one could try to fight one last time for one last chance but in the end it was to no avail.

Empires fell in the blink of an eye, while leaders of a millennia disappeared before they knew what hit them. The only respite for these lost souls was the fact that they died so quickly not a single scream was heard.

Qi convergence, Foundation establishment, Core formation and even Nascent soul cultivators died while eating, sleeping, training or even traveling straight into the calamities direction not knowing it was ahead.

The few powerful enough to notice fought for their lives only to be taken down in seconds without even a scream.

Deity transformation cultivators exploded in the thousands every second leaving nothing but destruction behind, yet these bright events that should have attracted the attention of all nearby got swallowed up by the yellow light and earthy dust kicked up by the calamity .

Even light struggled to escape this calamity as it was consumed alongside everything else never to be seen again.

But life never stops its struggle for survival, even while a continent was being devoured by the corruption a group of rouge cultivators was taking off on a flying ship less then two kms away from the advancing corruption speeding up as quickly as it could.

"Speed up!!! Speed uppp!!! Were still not fast enough!"

"We're already going as fast as we can, if we go any faster the flying ship will not last!" the man feared overloading the vessels energy core causing burnout, that would simply be the end of them.

This was a group of over a thousand spirit cultivators using the fastest flying ship that could be found among the 6 states of the - Middle lands spirit - continent residing in the lower western quadrant.

Traveling at speeds of over 350,000 kms a second they could only just keep a step away from disaster.

At such speeds even light became as sharp as a blade, if not for the fact cultivators could ignore the laws of physics with spiritual Qi, each person would long have died.

Spiritual energy/Qi was this sort of miracle, it was beyond any rational understanding at best of times while other times it simply made no sense.

The laws governing spiritual Qi while seemingly lax could also be rather more rigid than one might initially think.

It all depended on the user of Qi themselves, if they had free flowing thoughts that aligned with their path then spiritual energy would naturally flow freely, if one was rigid in their approach to controlling spiritual Qi then likewise spiritual Qi would be as rigid as they are.

This of course doesn't take into account outside factors or events that could influence the spiritual energy in the surroundings or even that inside of oneself.

As the corruption calamity spread the spiritual energy of the continent folded onto itself slowing the corruption down just enough for the vessel to keep a distance away.

"The corruption is sucking in and scattering the spiritual energy behind us! it's difficult to propel ourselves away from its influence!"

"Then make a false connection! All we need is a moment with an intact dragon vein to speed away to a relatively safe distance!"

This group was relatively experienced amongst cultivators of the same level, they had all gone through trials and tribulations with successful ventures though mired in failure.

"My guest! Passengers on this fateful day please help us! Wind spirit elemental users, anchor yourselves to the aft of the ship hurry!"

"!??"

"Go to the rear! the- the back! The back of the ship!!!" The captain of this vessel had enlisted the help of even the passengers to escape this predicament, giving orders to the best of his ability.

"Jackson! Fire the forward canons, we need enough spiritual energy around the ship to establish the false connection with a dragon vein!" He screamed his order so that allay hear, should this jackson fail another will know to take his place.

"Everyone else prepare to infuse energy into the ships core!"

No one on this ship spared energy to talk in a low voice, the sound coming from behind them was so loud that it could deafen the ears if heard for too long.

The spiritual energy around them had entered a frenzy blocking all forms of communication outside of direct speech.

"Fire!"

Muffled explosions sounded, a smoky mist formed up ahead quickly covering the flying ship.

The explosions distance couldn't be considered far, in less then one fiftieth of a second the flying ship had arrived at the same location they had fired upon.

The canon fire continued for several seconds not stopping for a moment, this caused the ship to be pushed back a little bringing each person to question their lives.

"Now! Infuse energy into the ships core! Wind spiritualist propel us forward! Activate the ships dragon riding formation, connect to the dragon veins ahead forcefully!"

Quickly all orders were carried out, the flying ship successfully speed away giving it fifty kms of safety before it activated the Dragon riding formation on the sides of the ship and as if on an invisible railroad lay below it sped up almost three times as fast.

"Hahaha! We did it! ride the dragon vein for 90 million kms more and then break into the void! Gain speed go! Go!" The captain bellowed with all his might in joy.

This group of cultivators became some of the few - who while caught off guard by the rapid advancement of the calamity, had managed to escape the destruction of a continent while speeding off into the void.

The calamity seemed to advance far too slow to cover the entirely of the vast tree realm within twenty-five years but in truth had this spiritual continents energy not been in the way, the flying ships passengers wouldn't even have noticed they had died.

The calamity had only sent a small tendril to surround the continent, the true might of the calamity had yet to reach this location as the actions of the united army had successfully delayed it within the rift for just a while longer.

The continent from which this group had just successfully escaped from had helped this group of cultivators get away but their journey had just begun.

As for the continent, it would like die off unable to do anything.

From the flying ship one could see nations disappear in the blink of an eye with the occasional *POP* flashing in and out of view.

Cultivators at and above body reformation (those above deity transformation) fought for a while before choosing to run away, no amount of effort could save this continent now. Many of them had fought at one point or another alongside the united army, they knew just how devastating the calamity truly was.

While flying ships are good for inner universe space travel, meaning they can for the most part travel anywhere there is space inside the vast tree universe it did not mean safety.

To travel the vast tree realm one required more than just technology or luck, one needed law defying power that would enable one to even reach other galaxies with a single step to make travel reasonable.

This flying ship and many others like it would need to get lucky and find a better form of transportation.

Mortals would generally die never getting the chance to see other galaxies, cultivators for the most part had the option to travel to these foreign galaxies they simply needed to survive the journey.

The vessel this group trusted in could at best travel between galaxies in around 10 years given the space in-between is relatively clear of obstacles that allowed for it to truly devote all its energy simply to movement. 10 years for the flying ship to reach another galaxy, 25 years for the calamity to encompass the vast majority of the galaxy... The odds were against them.

Looking into the yellowed storm that is known as the calamity of Corruption one could see gargantuan silhouettes rushing forward followed by thousands of shadows, it seems that the trouble are not yet over for this flying ship and its passengers.

"Look! Who do you think is fighting down there?!"

The crew of the ship and passengers looked over the sides.

Below flashes of sword light split the sky, as the mountains crumbled the silhouettes hidden in the dust charged without regard but everytime they emerged sword light would knock them back once more.

"The size of that sword light! It's enough to destroy nations with a single slash let alone this barrage!"

"Yet still... Whatever is attacking hasn't died"

"Ah he escaped! So even a swordmaster of such a level flees"

"Does anyone know what is happening? Does this have anything to do with the calamity?"

"Watch out!"

Sword light flashed by the flying ship cutting a hole into the barrier protection those inside.

"Sorry for intruding but I require a ride" an older man carrying several people landed on the flying ship.

"Ah! ah of course please please come come" the captain of the flying ship welcomed the new addition, such a powerful figure would undoubtedly be indispensable in the future.

"Is this the limit? Can the ship not go faster?" The older man asked.

"Yes, unfortunately we cannot go faster. Ah but you were behind us and caught up with ease sire, could you not escape faster on your own?" The captain knew the answer but asked anyway so the rest may know.

"Yes, but I am not on my own. How much does it cost for you to get us to Huhil void port?" The older man checked the condition of those he brought with him carefully inspecting for even the smallest abnormality.

"Huhil void port? I am sorry but I'm not familiar" the captain had ferried to many locations in his lifetime but he was not well versed in space travel nor did he claim to know.

"My mistake, here use this to guide you. I forget those in lower realms don't normally use such means of travel. As for the speed of this vessel let me handle that" handing over a small gemstone to the captain the older man stretched his hand out before retracting it.

"Ah wait, before that let me assist some of my fellow cultivators to escape this calamity, feel free to break into space I will follow shortly" with that the man disappeared leaving the people he carried behind.

The captain of the ship could only follow as the man said, he simply followed the mans directions and steered into space.

<+== Echos of past ==+>

< The report handed in by the extermination squad seems to lack many details as to the events that happened on the day the calamity was first encountered.

What happened to the sword of heavenly maya? Did the spear saint Hajl fail to retrieve it or did he leave it on purpose?

How did the spear saint Hajl manage to survive when heavenly maya did not?

Yes it's great that he lived but the entire fight was simply skipped over and to this day not a single visual record has been provided to show as to the truth of what happened.

Worse off the spear saint spoke to the calamity and it replied 'corruption'? To date we have no accounts of anyone being able to communicate with any of the creatures tainted by the calamity. Now the beast he fought could have been different but why?

When the extermination squad arrived at the scene they were immediately attacked by the creature leaving a seasoned group of fighters scrambling for even the smallest advantage, yet the spear saint Hajl was hardly stronger then the average individual member of the extermination squad, yet held on his own for eight hours?

Was this creature testing the spear saint?

It had the power to assumedly defeat heavenly maya but it still chose to test the spear saint and extermination squad?

The spear saint was reportedly heavily injured yet not weeks after he returned to base it was said that he had fully recovered while the extermination squad was still gravely injured. This is very odd as even the smallest of wounds caused by the calamity of corruption have been shown to fester for years regardless of treatment.

Worse off I seem to be the only one who noticed these discrepancies while everyone else seems to merely take them as fact, even if I explain it clearly its like they forget instantly.

I need assistance of a higher level but at this point everyone has already left to fight or has mysteriously disappeared...

It seems I will have to take matter into my own hands, I will find spear saint Hajl and ask him to provide a soul memory. I know it is drastic but I can't shake off this feeling that things are much worse then they seem. > Date written 12² 78 by Eria loo

"... Why am I receiving a report over 50 years old only now?"

"Madam? That only arrived today.

"Then why has it only arrived now? Who is this Eria loo?"

"I will find out, as for Eria loo she went missing a year before this report was written..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well she was part of the missing personnel list and subsequent investigation we launched back then, the investigation yielded no results and... And... I.. I can't remember"

"Send a group to apprehend spear saint Hajl immediately make sure to send at least one heavenly rebirth lord. If you cannot capture him, eliminate him"

"Yes Ma'am!"