Chapter 196 - The Seven continents

(Took some time to settle down and decided that I would be more detailed with the writing from now on so please bear with the explanations and understand that that they are important, changes will also be made to past chapters to enrich the content)

Up to this day, Nightin had made it through countless adversities. From taking revenge on the person who murdered his family to establishing his sect against the odds and reigning over the lower realm after gaining the strength of a Diviner, the journey may have been short and although most of his time was spent on challenges that kept finding a way to him, he was still an inexperienced child compared to those who have been cultivating for hundreds of years. (Extra detail being added from here on)

As a mortal, one only has a lifespan of around a hundred years, two hundred years at the Martial Apprentice realm and five hundred years at the Martial master realm and Martial Spirit realm. This was also the reason why the Martial Lord realm is also known as the phase where a cultivator undergoes a great change with the lifespan rising to three thousand years. From here, a cultivator's lifespan will increase by five thousand years with each major realm breakthrough, only to finally break through the shackles and live a hundred thousand years in the Overlord realm. As for eternal life, that might only be a legend.

When Nightin closed his eyes, all he saw were ominous clouds staring into his eyes, streaks of thunder carrying the aura of death flooding around the clouds which closed in on him. Not just around him, the clouds were beneath him as well, a floating platform he was on. When he looked up, a dazzling ray of light shone towards his eyes. It was hope, an arrow of hope which was guiding him out of the darkness.

Without a second thought, Nightin jumped towards the ray of light without considering his safety in doing so. It wasn't foolishness, but trust that he had for the old man. Seeing that just one leap wasn't enough, Nightin then made use of his wings to fly…

In the Soaring Sword sect, there are seven elders and they are the only existing members of the sect which definitely deserves the title of strongest in the world. While other sects that occupy a realm alone may exist, none of the sects were qualified to reign over seven continents. Not just seven weak continents, but seven continents which are renowned for their incredible feats, earning them the title of 'seven knights'.

The seven knights each represented a different role.

Firstly was the queen of spears Elise that controls the thunder element and the only existing human who has managed to control the tribulation spear which was forged back in the period where forging was at its peak a thousand years back before laws were the centre of cultivation. The proudest work of the blacksmith Joker which was also renowned for his combat strength, being the few people who has slain an Overlord at the Demigod realm. From there, she conquered the continent and became the first queen in history.

The second person was the trickster of cards Jack, the same person who crafted the weapon used by Elise. Due to this, the bond between their two continents were closely linked together and among the seven continents, the two of them had the strongest combat power which resulted in them being ranked in the first tier even among the pinnacle of the pyramid.

Right beneath them was another continent ruled by the king of all demon beasts, Xerath who has been on the rise from a hundred years ago and the first person who isn't a human to rule over these seven continents. One may question, isn't it against the rules implemented for one to pass their position down to someone who is of a different race? But this is a different case for Xerath who is a half demon, half human. As for his parents, it was the previous ruler of the continent who retired after passing his position over to Xerath. As for Xerath's mother, it was the mythical beast Keres, his birth was already against the rules of both sides and because of that, his mother had to leave her race and live in peace alongside his father.

The fourth continent was also known as the land of magic where wizards and witches truly exist in the cultivation world, their lifespan increasing with increase in mana capacity and various spells and pills casted and created by various magicians that take on another role as well. Their leader was a wizard that goes by the name Zilean. He was well known as the wizard that can control the flow of time and as for his strength, no one knows as he had never been in a battle. But none of the other continent leaders dared to offend him with his three disciples around, all of them capable of contending against any of the continent leaders.

The fifth continent was also known as the land of peace, their leader Olivia had changed the place continent into a forest and since it was surrounded by water, none of the continent leaders had ever visited there and anyone leaving that continent was rare. Firstly, it was protected by water and since everyone knew Olivia well, all of them had already expected traps to be laid out and secondly, the outer area of the forest definitely had more traps laid out. In the end, this remained the continent which had remained neutral throughout.

The sixth was the dragon continent ruled by the dragon race which had become the weakest after the struggle for power back then. But they were back on the rise and in another fifty years, all of the continents foresee their rise once again to seize back their position. After all, Empress Rin on her snow dragon was enough to take on all six continents alone, her strength possibly the strongest in the entire universe.

The seventh was the fallen continent known as the continent of swords, it was where the Soaring Sword sect was located and strangely enough, their total population may be the strongest, but their combat strength was a mess. Even average cultivators of the same realm can win over them without much difficulty. They were once the strongest on par with the dragon race despite being of the human race, but they're nothing but a forgotten continent that puts the seven continents to shame, even people from other continents were qualified to ridicule them after the fall where their continent leader vanished.

After passing through the space portal, Nightin was surprised to find himself in an enclosed area. The walls were made of a sturdy material resistant to any form of damage unless one possessed enough strength to destroy these walls. Regardless of heat of cold, sharpness or impact, penetration of corruption, none of the attributes were enough.

Looking around, he realised that he wasn't alone. There were many others like him, lined up in a straight line standing before a machine. One thing about them however was common, each of them carried a sword and had the aura that only a sword master should have.

Being perplexed, Nightin joined the queue and asked the man standing before him, "Sorry to bother you, but what are all of you queuing here for?"

The man standing before him was probably in his thirties and seeing that it was just a youth asking him a question, he didn't pay much attention and only pointed to the side of the enclosed area.

[Sword academy that leads to the Soaring Sword sect if one manages to pass the final trail only found in the academy]

[Current number of passes: 0]

Maybe this is the reason why the Soaring Sword sect has so few members, that was Nightin's first thought. But he soon realised that it doesn't make sense for no one to have qualified, unless the Soaring Sword sect had lost their unique ability to help all sword users with their comprehension of the sword path, or it had just deteriorated so much that it was now useless.

Even so, this was just his speculation and before he gets access to any further amount of information, all he can do is wait for this hundred man queue which will probably take a few hours.

Looking ahead, he realised that all of the sword users were concentrating their strength against a wooden dummy ahead of them, above the wooden dummy was a score recorder that can record up to four numbers. At the side was the criteria.

Pass: Above 1000 points (About one billion)

Low rank: Above 3000 points (About six hundred thousand)

Middle rank: Above 4500 points (About one hundred and seventy thousand)

High rank: Above 5500 points (About four thousand)

Elite rank: Above 6300 points (Eighty eight, only six still alive)

Master rank: Above 7500 points (Seven)

Only those who achieve the Elite rank will be given the chance to join the sect.

If Nightin isn't wrong, then these points must be the ranking after entering the sword academy and the numbers at the side should be the number of people who have attained that ranking. But he was also curious, why were the six elites not enrolled into the sect for some reason?