DefianceNovels

Chapter 1,431.

“Quarantine? But against what?” Zac mused while sweeping up a handful of ash from the nearby wall.

There was still a hint of Heaven’s presence. Esmeralda said its descent was powerful enough to unravel the natural order of the Left Imperial Expanse. The effect would only be more pronounced where it first appeared. Could the lightning have damaged the memory itself, undoing some of its safeguards?

The restrictions had already proven far from infallible. The Lost Era’s corru...

Chapter 1,430.

A/N: Here we are. Sorry again about the delay.

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A low roar came from [Verun’s Bite], tightly gripped in Zac’s hand. Having been together so long, Verun could easily intuit what Zac was thinking, and the Tool Spirit seemed to agree. She hadn’t forgotten their previous encounter with the mummified man, when her edge failed to so much as draw blood when it struck his palm. Kicking someone while they were down might n...

Chapter 1,429.

With an eager expression, Esmeralda grew to a size that could fit Zac in her pouch. Whether it was because of their destination or that more of her bloodline had emerged over the past month, she created a stronger image than before. With the warm light of Dome Lake acting as a backdrop, Zac felt he was looking at a towering mountain rather than his mischievous companion.

Esmeralda took charge, crossing Dome Lake in a single bound. She was so focused on the task at hand that she forgot t...

No chapter today.

Sorry guys, looks like migraine season is upon us, and ironing out all the details of Zac's latest breakthrough took more time and effort than I expected. The next chapter needs more cooking, by a less cooked brain. I'll hopefully be able to put it out tomorrow, but Thursday's chapter may have to be moved to Friday accordingly.

Chapter 1,428.

Six days passed without a hitch, and redrawing his pathways went exceedingly well. For once, there were no damaged sections that needed to be redrawn from scratch when upgrading the fractals. Between its weakened state and Zac’s Early Stage Law-attuned body, the Four Desolates had failed to cause any permanent damage to him. He’d fully recovered over the following month, and the Bloodline breakthrough didn’t cause him any harm at all.

While there were no new upsets, the passage of...

Chapter 1,427.

Who would have thought that Peak D-grade, a step that brought most Hegemons to despair, would end up being the smoothest? Sure, having to advance his bloodline was a surprising curveball, but the Core Formation itself went as smoothly as could be. Not a single piece of his core was lost or damaged beyond salvation, and there were no major issues when integrating the new Peak D-grade materials.

Only part of the success could be attributed to Zac’s personal growth. Much of it had to do ...

Chapter 1,426.

Past and present remained blurred as the vision ended. The memory of rumbling skies before sleep took hold of him quickly brought Zac around. He flew to his feet in the hidden treasury far below ground, urgently readying himself for a calamity that never arrived. There were no signs of the tribulation he’d sensed just before passing out. Only a trace of Heavenly presence lingering in the air was proof he hadn’t imagined it.

With the threat of a Void-augmented tribulation gone, Zac�...

Chapter 1,425.

Emir maintained his vigil from the safe vantage of his cave mansion, his mental state as overcast as the sky. The issue wasn’t the clouds or the crackling lightning trapped within. The denizens of the Pesvati Rift were no strangers to the raw tribulations of the unbounded Heavens. They were saddled with immense Karmic debt since the day they were born, and the rift could only do so much to counteract the backlash.

With the Heavens growing stronger from the Zenith’s approach, the rif...

Chapter 1,424.

Countless Dragon Veins covered the ancient expanse, sending their gift of longevity to the surface. In some sense, they were the very bedrock of civilization. Whether man or beast, when the basest requirements were met, they sought something more. When mortal pursuits no longer sufficed, they sought meaning from the stars or from within.

The Dragon Veins held the key to cultivation, turning mundane soil into Holy Lands that paved the path to Eternity. More than fresh water and fertile s...

Chapter 1,423.

It was as though the Duplicity Core anticipated Zac’s idea to set off a couple of bombs inside the Quantum Space and put a stop the plan. The passage to the Quantum Space wasn’t just sealed shut, it had erected an impassable wall that barred both Dao and Energy from passing through. In one swoop, a worrying situation had turned into a terrible one.

Compressing the core before it was too late was no longer the only issue. The seal only kept Zac out, not the cosmos. Vast amounts of ro...

Chapter 1,422.

A/N: And this is the last of October! The first half of this month's chapters was the opening act of Book 18. It was meant to help the readers get back in gear and recall what's happened thus far, which is why the pacing of some parts may have felt a bit off. Anywho, hope you enjoyed!

November will have regular scheduling, with one exception. There is no chapter on Tuesday 4th, aka Tue next week.

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Two figures floated in the sky, ...

Chapter 1,421.

Chapter 1,420.

Chapter 1,419.

Limanta was a fellow member of the Imperial Magistrate who’d made it to Mercurial Court as an attendant. Not confident their shaky deal with Everit Draom would fulfill their goals, the magistrate decided to buy another slot from another sealbearer. It was a good thing they did because Limanta had proven more useful than Zac’s own attendants. She’d made the market district her permanent residence, using the constant flow of people to make money and connections.

Zac couldn’t spend...

Chapter 1,418.

The two watched another disciple stumble out of a sealed chamber of Planepressure Halls. A gust burgeoning with dimensional weight was blocked by the arrays installed in their secluded alcove. The body-tempering palace at the central square had become their gathering spot of choice since it provided isolated lounges to recuperate free of charge. You didn’t even need to use the facilities to reserve a room.

“As I said, there’s nothing. Not even rumors. Whatever the Primo’s involv...

Chapter 1,417.

Zac felt as though he was falling at the speed of light as darkness surrounded him. A familiar signal from the seal on his left hand prompted him to quickly bring forth Tam’s identity. The Inverse-attuned teleportation array was seemingly bringing them directly into a memory domain.

The discomforting sensation lasted but a second before a world cast in turquoise and white appeared. Zac didn’t get the chance to take a proper look at where the teleporter brought them before dense stre...

Chapter 1,416.

The Hollow Chasm became drenched in darkness. The churning clouds wanted to reach into the pit, but the Earth rejected Heaven’s encroachment on its domain. Bloody contours of countless shadows were illuminated along the rims by a flickering, angry red. For a moment, Zac felt as though a billion warriors had risen from their graves to face Heaven’s wrath.

The moment passed as the clouds heaved to unleash a first bolt. Zac couldn’t sense any Law imbued in the lightning, but the inte...

Chapter 1,415.

Seeing as his companions weren’t ready to set out, Zac turned his gaze inward to inspect his upgraded Dao Avatar. It remained a carbon copy of himself, neither more nor less lifelike than before. Looking the same was to be expected since his upgrade didn’t introduce new concepts. It was rather the next step down a road he’d already staked out, a deepening of his understanding of established truths.

The difference came from the Avatar’s presence. If the old avatar was a bloodied ...

Chapter 1,414.

Zac’s screams were swallowed by the void—not his Void, but the bottomless abyss of suffering within the sea of anthracite flames that made up his surroundings. His soul was burning, his Dao Heart was burning. A lifetime of memories was set ablaze, threatening to eradicate his past. Zac feared that not even his personal Void was spared since it had effortlessly spread to his other half.

He almost wished that something would give. Sacrificing part of himself to take away some of the p...

No chapter today.

As title says, no chapter today. My computer went and died on me, and some content didn't make it to the cloud. On a very possibly related note, I would think twice about buying ASROCK motherboards going forward.

Chapter 1,413.

Chapter 1,412.

Chapter 1,411.

While falling short compared to the previous realms, they still walked away with a respectable haul from the Ninth Garden. Ogras had extracted various Life-attuned materials from the spirits he slaughtered, some of which held ample essence blood and bestial intent—prime materials to feed Verun.

The real prize was the coral organs responsible for filtering out blood essence. The wiry tendons had accumulated an extraordinarily dense spirituality from millennia of absorbing blood. While ...

Chapter 1,410.

“You really jinxed us with your doomsday theories,” Ogras muttered as they spied on the feeding frenzy taking place in the distance.

To avoid getting dragged in, Ogras and Tavza had joined hands to ensconce themselves in Abyssal shadows. Zac couldn’t help but wonder if it was only fit to serve as a temporary measure. The denizens of Emergent Pool appeared crazed enough to target anything emitting so much as a whiff of energy the moment they ran out of proper enemies to tear apart....

Chapter 1,409.

While eager to get going, there was no quick or easy way to get back to the mainland. Zac couldn’t spot any familiar landmarks around Sevona’s crystallized island. In fact, there weren’t even any islands on the horizon, which was somewhat rare for the Peregrine Archipelago. Zac decided not to worry about it since he had an expert in spatial navigation by his side, and he leaned back into the gondola to get some shuteye.

Half a day of fitful sleep after getting knocked out by 2025-09-28 18:41:34 +0000 UTC View Post

Chapter 1,408.

Chapter 1,407.

Chapter 1,406.

A tremble made the hallways of the Meiu Ancestral Tomb shudder, heralding reality’s collapse. Lompo immediately raised his hand and began sacrificing Imperial Merit to keep the memory running a while longer. A voice reached him from the other side of the door a few seconds later.

“Don’t bother.”

Lompo acquiesced, and the sturdy walls turned into lines of rubble, while open sky greeted them overhead. The thick gate separating him from his master was completely gone, giving ...

Chapter 1,405.

A/N: I felt the pacing of Tuesday's chapter was too rushed because I wanted it to reach a certain point. Ultimately, I decided to make some changes. I added some paragraphs to 1404 and moved the end to shortly after Zac woke up. I particularly wanted to expand on this dialogue, so I don't recommend skipping since it's seen some important additions.

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“Couldn’t you have given me a pillow too? That’s the least a benevolent master should...

Chapter 1,404v2.

A/N: I've made some small adjustments to this chapter. It felt too rushed, so I added a few paragraph while moving other parts to 1,405.

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Zac was sick and tired of the twists and turns he'd experienced over the past minute, yet he could only play along. The tailor-made spikes embedded in his back were more stubborn than he’d hoped. Dislodging them in time to deal with August’s power grab was looking iffy. He needed Xiphos to lend a helping...