This desert sun had a scorching heat that sizzled upon his skin like oil in a skillet. If it was scaled down to the experiences of a mortal, Dyon felt that it was nearing 150 degrees Celsius.
It was then Dyon realized that his fists weren't bleeding purely due to his grinding into this sand, but also because of the scorching heat.
If his skin felt like 150 degrees, the parts that contacted this sand were at least double that. In fact, there were bits and pieces of melted sand all around that had become shards of glass that Dyon only now noticed.
It was clear that this place was a hellscape.
Dyon slowly stood up. Walking under such suppression was no longer as difficult as when he first entered his Realm. He had spent 80 years refining pills in his Realm. He was very much used to controlling his qi on the Immortal Plane already. He could function normally.
In fact, Dyon realized that though this endless desert of nothing but sand, glass and dunes was hellish, its suppression was comparatively less to the black cabin Realm that housed [One Above All].
Dyon closed his eyes, sealing off his Immortal Sense as he took a deep breath of scorching air. He could feel his lungs screaming in protest, but his diaphragm only continued to expand.
Dyon suddenly disappeared from where he was standing, finding himself standing at the edge of a familiar mountain range.
His hand slowly stretched out. But, as he expected, he found an insurmountable barrier, one he could go all out to attack yet not even shake.
One didn't need to guess to know that Dyon had once more entered the Ancient Battlefield. And, the mountain range he was facing was none other than the very same mountain range that had collapsed before he was forcefully teleported out.
The only difference was… He was standing on the opposite side of it. To his back, the Immortal Plane's Ancient Battlefield stood, an ancient forest not unlike the one he had seen the first time he entered this prison.
Maybe if his Immortal Sense could penetrate this barrier, he would find Emytheus still lying down injured on the other side, laughing uproariously.
In that moment, realizing that he had lost, setting aside the result of the battle entirely, Dyon's heart became as still as a lake. His anger and rage vanished, his expression becoming apathetic to point of being emotionless.
If Emytheus could see this scene now, his heart would tremble in fear, knowing there would be a day in a future where he suffered for this result.
'… Since The Entity can return to the mortal plane as an immortal… So can I.'
What Dyon needed was a plan. He didn't know how many thousands, maybe even millions of years it would take to succeed. But he would. There was no doubt in his mind.
Although his family could transcend, Dyon knew that they never would. Though the problem of finding them after they did was an issue, Dyon felt it was a small one. He didn't care that this was the Immortal Plane, he planned to one day crush it beneath his feet just as he had the mortal plane. In such a case, eventually finding his family was an inevitable result.
No, the reason he knew they wouldn't transcend wasn't because of this small issue, but rather because The Entity still remained. Dyon knew his wives and daughter well. Since he couldn't bear the responsibility to defeat The Entity any longer, they would bear it for him.
This was what truly spurned on Dyon. The danger of the Sapientia, of Emytheus, of The Entity… He wanted to be there to take on the burden for them.
But now he wasn't… The only thing he had managed to do before he was forcefully sent here was send his father-in-law out of his Inner World. At least this way… his wives would know what had happened to him.
'… Just hold on for a little while… I'm coming.'
At that moment, the sound of booming thunderous feet sounded from Dyon's back.
Dyon turned to find a half rhinoceros, half ostrich creature running toward him violently.
"KKKUUUUAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
It bounded toward Dyon, bouncing off of tree after tree as though a ping pong ball in a slot machine. It couldn't control itself at all, the massive grey horn above its nose weighing it down severely.
Dyon could instantly feel its overwhelming strength. Its body alone was that of an immortal's. While it couldn't use qi, its every footstep carried the strength of over a trillion jin. Or, Dyon supposed that this trillion jin was known as a cauldron of strength to the Immortal Plane who didn't bother to weigh things with such a minute unit of measurement.
However, despite its weight and overwhelming power, it couldn't put a dent in the dry ground, nor could it splinter the bark of the trees it ran into.
Still, it bounded toward Dyon with an endless fury, an uncontrolled savage aura that seemed to want to tear him apart for nothing other than existing.
"…"
Dyon took a step forward.
"… Fuck off."
His palm struck the rhino-ostrich's horn from above, slamming its chin into the sturdy ground below. The land for hundreds of meters quaked, a slight splintering appearing below the beast's shattered jaw.
Ignoring the knocked out mutilated beast, Dyon walked past it, entering the depths of the thick forest.
He would definitely be back.
Dyon sat silently in a den of beasts, not that any of them were left alive, anyway. A bloody cut of meat hung from his lips. It wasn't that he hadn't cooked it, but rather that he preferred it a bit on the rare side. Plus, that seemed to maximize the nutritional value of his meals.
These days, he needed more food to sustain himself without the use of his qi. He had practically gone back to being a mortal, needing to eat several times a day to not feel the pang of hunger.
For a person like Dyon, this meant committing hours a day toward devouring thousands of jin of food.
It had been a few days since he entered the immortal side of the Ancient Battlefield. However, he hadn't returned to that endless land of desert since he left it.
