Chapter 73 - New Skills
He sat in the inner sanctum, putting his all mental strength in merging each blade of the Thorned Lotus with the Ashes of Undying.
Though the process itself was very simple now, given that the ashes were already fully refined. But their immense power level required considerable time to put his own divine consciousness in each of them. Since this was what he had planned for the past few weeks now.
’Sigh, the drops of Yang Essence nowadays aren’t even sufficient to keep up,’ he thought with frustration. ’Before, I believed they’d be alot beneficial. But fighting people multiple stages above me... yeah, it’s obvious I’ll be the first to be depleted.’
His second soul body finally reached Low Beginner Stage, triggering a new reward:
[Acquired ’Separator’]
A skill applicable to techniques and abilities, not particularly high-tiered, but was useful until reaching Emperor Stage. That would suffice for the problems he will be facing for the next year or two.
His real need was a powerful attack that merged with fire, or more precisely, something that complemented ’his’ fire. And that was Lightning. He’d already mastered the Blue Thunder Arts, which was a mid-tier martial technique. Now he needed to extract the ’thunder’ essence from it.
At his current comprehension level, that was super easy. At the final level of mastery one can feel and even produce sparks of lightning. He had already achieved it, all it needed was to enhance the lightning aspect more and more.
He distributed his consciousness: first soul body handling the Thorned Lotus, second focusing on lightning separation, main body maintaining constant Ashes of Undying output since he doesn’t have a third body.
A cycle of overlapping effort and throughout it all, he activated Override repeatedly, preventing explosions or backlash from errors happening once in a while.
’My own cultivation is stagnating too. Or rather, it’s advancing so rapidly I’m losing my stability in a realm. I entered this level mere days ago,’ he reminded himself.
Three days passed in the mindscape, three hours in the external world.
When Cale finally stepped out, his physical body’s time inside for the day, was exhausted. Rexa slept peacefully nearby, bathed in the barrier’s protective glow.
He smiled and disabled it. The talisman evaporated into nothing.
"Uhmm..." Rexa’s eyes fluttered open slowly before widening completely. She launched herself at him, clinging desperately. "Young Master! You’re back!"
He caught her, patting her head gently. "Night’s about to end. Should we search for that yin energy source? The dead person’s location?"
She nodded eagerly. "Yes, I’ve already identified its direction."
He laughed. "As expected, you’re capable of everything. Hehe."
Spreading his magnificent wings, he gathered Rexa against his chest and launched skyward, following the dense yin energy signature. Flying hard, they reached a massive cave entrance carved into mountainside stone.
Cale’s expression shifted immediately. "D-damn, the yin here is quite overwhelming... did that person’s soul not disperse yet?"
Rexa tilted her head curiously. "Does a soul disperse later than the body, Young Master?"
"Normally, no. But higher-level beings can anchor their souls to earth deliberately, ensuring quick reincarnation. Although..." He grinned wickedly. "I’m going to consume it now. Hehe."
Rexa waited outside the cave while Cale advanced inward, each step intensifying the spiritual pressure crushing against his frame.
"Ugh... this pressure is too much."
’Just what level of ’Will’ did this person possess?’
He wrapped his entire body in Chaos Energy, negating some of the suppression, though complete avoidance was impossible at his current level. He pressed forward, enduring gravitational pressure that felt like it was multiplying exponentially with each meter.
’Gravity training in the mindscape could be another interesting possibility, its a good idea..’
After an hour walking one harrowing step after other, he reached a chamber.
A corpse lay pristine within, its middle-aged body preserved as though still alive. Cale’s breath caught.
"F-fuck... this person..."
The body bore white robes embroidered with holy symbols, insignia of the Taiyi Sacred Domain.
’What are these people doing here? Weren’t they supposedly the "believers of justice," the holy ones spouting nonsense? Heh, as always, the holiest places are the filthiest... So, they’ve invaded too? Or is he alone?’
But the critical question was who could kill someone at Peak Apex Realm?
Examining the body closer, Cale identified the cause. Ice powers had devastated the cultivator’s core, and sword marks crisscrossed his torso with multiple wounds from high-level blade work.
’One person or two with different abilities? Given this cultivator’s strength, two doesn’t seem unreasonable. But even two shouldn’t have defeated someone this powerful unless... he was ambushed. Inside this very cave.’
Who could effectively ambush a Peak Apex cultivator?
His gaze fell on something brilliant beneath the body.
Rainbow-colored stones, they were Middle-grade spiritual stones. Cale smirked again.
Although, he did enter to rob the dying person, but he did not expect much. If he was killed, of course the killer would take much of what the person had.
And high-tier artifacts literally disappear if the owner dies, but still with these in hands,
’I could become richer than the emperor just selling a few of these!’
Then he caught himself. ’Sigh, you idiot, no, think rationally. I should use them instead.’
Best reasoning could be that this cultivator from Taiyi Sacred Domain was attempting breakthrough when assassins struck.
Searching the corpse, Cale discovered approximately two hundred middle-grade spiritual stones and five hundred low-grade ones. One of his highest-value loots to date.
’If I absorb his soul, maybe I can extract high-level martial arts through his memories. Let’s do that.’
He activated his domain for the first time in combat . He’d deliberately withheld it before because his main aim was to run away. Drawing more attention from powerful enemies would only add a bigger target on his ass.
His domain suppressed half the dead cultivator’s residual will and yin qi immediately.
’Rexa’s guarding outside. I need to finish quickly. There’s a chance his enemies might be traveling with those Wang bastards.’
Beginning soul extraction while simultaneously using Separator and Override, the process took around thirty minutes.
This was a lot longer, considering Sael’s soul had been consumed in seconds by comparison.
’From his memories he must be a guard for Taiyi Sacred Domain’s sect leader. Since I couldn’t access his complete memories, the extracted base technique is crude. But it’s a healing and restoration skill. That’s good, it might help increase my mental strength, increasing my telekinesis in future.’
He settled into meditation, absorbing the information.
’Oh right, I have these now...’
Retrieving two middle-grade spiritual stones, he channeled their energy directly into his body. The power flooded through him, and his comprehension along with cultivation increased slightly .
’This is high-tiered technique indeed. Rather, more accurately, it’s a circulation technique emphasizing Yin-Yang balance.’
Cale smiled. Obviously, who’s body was better than Cale in case of balance between Yin and Yang. This was like a skill molded for him, though it was still incomplete.