"This..."

"Haha..."

Fidgeting about, the two 'youths' were heavily panting, already regretting their rash actions.

But who could blame them? Under the panic of an extremely powerful master, and the added stress and hope of seeing said master lose lucidity, the duo felt blood rush to their head.

They had two choices.

Either let themselves be potentially sentenced to death by this mysterious being, or make the first move and hopefully make it out alive.

However the second option, now regaining their own wits, felt sort of... idiotic.

"Do you believe this Alexander to be a pushover?! Dare to attack my avatar when I'm being nice?!! Don't let your stupid ascension get to your head!!"

In a fit of anger, Alexander waved his arm, sending a powerful burst of Origin Energy crashing down onto the duo without warning.

"Careful!" Focusing, the two swiftly managed to dissipate Alexander's casual strike with serious effort.

Breathing a sigh of relief, they were on the verge of relaxing when a heavy pressure bore down on them.

"I see... I see!! So little ants, slave of my world and children of my mighty existence, dare to oppose me?! This is a first, truly! I've had lowly forms of intelligence steal stuff from me, but try to kill my avatar? Not only so, but resisting my death sentence as well?!"

Gulping, the two exchanged a few glances with one another, sometimes studying Alexander's bulging veins.

There was a first for everything. Alexander knew such a day would come sooner or later. But even so...

Even when being fully aware of both sides of the story and even more so of the normalcy of this situation... even so he could not let it go.

He could tell the difference between a master's feelings after being targeted by their disciple and a deity being seriously attacked from their own creations.

'Is it trying to teach me how Creators would theoretically feel? But so what?! I am me, and they are who they are. Even if it makes me hypocritical, selfish and arrogant... Lowly beings dare to confront me!?!'

"Unforgivable!!"

"Run!"

His roar shaking the Celestial Realm, Alexander's Martial Heart gained newfound firmness on its path. Thanks to their audaciousness and blindness, Alexander reaffirmed his Martial Dao.

He would be the one and only. If one would always be right, it would be him. If one would never be wrong, it would also be him. He would be the strongest being to ever exist, and it did not matter if it made him arrogant, presumptuous, selfish, crazy, demonic or anything others would claim him to be.

Even if the mythical Creators truly existed and stood before him, he would not shy away. And most importantly, not contemplate!

He would not yearn to be the strongest, but to be the strongest as Alexander. As who he was deep within.

He would yearn to be the strongest as the arrogant, domineering, selfish, tyrannical and eccentric man he truly was.

And to do so, he must act according to his own beliefs. Unluckily for them, his beliefs stated that he would do whatever he wanted when possible.

And... what would not be possible within his own internal world? Some things could... but killing two ants was not one of them.

"I won't leave you!" Joining her companion, the woman struck Alexander's direction with a palm of Origin Energy. However, her lacking mastery over the energy could be seen with the naked eye.

"Pathetic!" Disdaining her millions of years of hard work and earnest efforts, Alexander sent a palm of his own.

The two orange palms colliding, Alexander's utterly atomized the woman's, already flattened on the ground in a pool of blood.

"How dare you!!" Crying, the man rushed at him, hoping to at least get some sort of revenge.

"Some really need a reminder that this is not their internal world, but mine!!" The Celestial Realm's sky turning orange, the man felt a sudden pull within his very being.

'Huh?!' Gazing down, he did not have time to think as his mind blacked out from complete death.

As for the orange sky, a withered Divine Root and cracked Instinct Core resided above.

Before their deaths, Alexander truly taught them how unfair the world could be.

"Hmm?" Calming his abrupt fit of rage, Alexander noticed the two's blue energy with more clarity, but more so...

'Where is it going?'

"Come back here!" Grasping at the empty space, Alexander's internal world squeezed the space around the wild blue lump of energy. Unfortunately, Alexander soon realized their importance from his very instincts.

'I should... let it go. I guess it's very useful, otherwise my own body wouldn't tell me to do so.' Releasing the energy, it flew away before finding a random cultivator and entering their body.

'It's very resilient, and quite honestly, even I could probably not destroy it. It's also a part of me, yet is not. Quite strange...'

'But... I can already tell how important it is to my future growth. I should pay more attention to it in the future.'

'Anyways, how is my body now?' Peeking outside, Alexander noticed his body to have not changed in any way.

'Ah... the flow of time...'

'What a pain.'

Since he entered his own internal world, Alexander also experienced the altered flow of time. This made his entire charade pointless, sort of.

Even though he could speed up his own perception by removing the extreme and unruly Time Dao's influence on him, he would only be slightly less bored than when staying outside.

'Even if I use a clone or something, it wouldn't change much... I'll have to endure this boring tempering completely...'

If Alexander truly wanted, he could stay inside his internal world without much trouble. Unfortunately, the time he would spend there, awaiting for his tempering to be over, would be... unimaginable.

'Though... I should still try to enjoy a break inside my internal world. This way I won't need to put a strain on my mind when unnecessary.'

His avatar reforming above a Tier-2 World, Alexander prepared himself for a peaceful break.

In the middle of Limbo's space, a black robed figure shot forward with piercing momentum. At some point, the figure stopped near the asteroid sea.

"Alexander, I hope for your success. The stronger you become, the stronger my Dark Wall shall be!"

"The stronger the Ninth Martial Dynasty shall be!!"

Amidst the cozy wind and heartful forest, a river embraced its insides with softness. The clear water was like a holy liquid, meant to purify both body and soul.

The green forest was hosting countless species, from cheerful birds to howling wolves. The bright blue sky above was sunless.

Right in the heart of this forest, a wooden cabin stood firmly. As for the being nearby, fishing into the river, who else could it be except Alexander?

As of this very moment, another fishing pole broke.

'...'

Taking out another, brand new one, Alexander resumed. After a fish caught on, it was brutally pulled high into the sky. While the fishing operation was successful...

...another fishing pole broke.

'.....'

'Stupid garbage artifact...' While complaining, Alexander still felt a true wonder befall him. Even when standing in a measly Tier-2 World, his body and movements were not affecting it without his permission.

This gave him countless opportunities. Without the restrictions he usually placed on himself, he felt much more confident in enjoying the ride.

He did not need to compensate his momentum from reversing the world's rotation. He did not need to float above the ground with shields below to avoid turning the entire world into a giant ball of rubble. And he did not even need to contain his energies as they were tamed. This also avoided his own leaking energies from annihilating all others nearby.

'It's been an hour... let's just keep going, this is quite relaxing.'

Whistling alongside the wind, Alexander hummed and expressed his joy visibly, his foot lightly stomping the grass beneath rhythmically.

And as the world whistled in tune with his own, the approaching clouds hurriedly dispersed as both flora and fauna danced.

A roar shaking the mountains, a red lizard with protruding wings screeched at the sky.

Answering its call, the sky was soon covered by grey clouds, now impeding the light from blessing the lands.

And much further away, past the luscious plains, snowy mountains, artic icy lands, obsidian mounds, volcanic caves and harsh desert, a golden capital city overtook the horizon. The capital spanned for countless acres of land, filling a whole thousandth of the entire world!

Even as a Tier-2 World, its radius still spanned for hundreds of thousands of kilometers. The city, while gigantic, could not possible occupy any more than that.

As for what lied inside...

From outside, one would see a circle of gold surround the city. This circle, a giant wall of golden metal.

The deeper one looked, the higher the ground's elevation. And at the center, higher than everything else, a tall and thin golden castle pierced the clouds.

Floating around it were angelic rings of pure white, brightly shining even amidst the almost clear sky.

And within the castle's depths, at its summit, piercing the clouds, a giant hall was opened to the world.

A giant golden, metallic throne occupied the space above a set of light-grey stairs. These steps the same color as the pristine floor, vaulted ceiling and four pillars.

There were only a few walls near the corners while the wind blew inside, as the sky was exposed.

Atop the throne, a bearded man resting his chin on the back of his hand. The man looked quite aged, but still retained a pulsating flame of vigor. But even so, his dying eyes, lacking the flames of ambition and joy they once had, stared in contemplation at a middle aged man below.

"How is my wife? If you wanted to say something else, then leave."

Clearing his throat, the man held a book tightly.

"My King, the apostle of the Deities spoke in favor of our kingdom!"

"Oh..? But how is that related to my wife's health and my children's happiness? Has any of them been chosen by the gods?"

"...Hum... no. On the other hand, the apostle will come to our kingdom in less than three months!"

"Why?" His tone getting heavier, the king felt his irritation bubble within his deepest parts.

"Be...Because the apostle claims our kingdom to have been blessed by the Deities! Everything will be explained to us at his arrival, or so the Hallowed Mountain claimed."

"..."

'I don't understand... this Hallowed Mountain is meddling in our affairs without warning and even sent an apostle here. I never messed with them... but then they come here and mess with us?! This is infuriating! Do they take our Azure Sun Kingdom for a lowly village!?'

'If only our Azure Sun was still there!! I would go for their throat this very instant!'