Chapter 350 - War Intent Cliff

The quartet left Sacred Cliff City after making some last minute purchases.

Known as a sacred cultivation area, Mount Asui had always been a popular destination for travellers. Since Sacred City was the nearest checkpoint, the road that led from the city to Mount Asui was wide and well-paved, with multiple rest stops set up along the way for the weary traveller.

On their journey, the four of them came across numerous groups of martial artists from various different influences, all of them sharing the same destination.

This unexpected sight only made Lu Tianzi even more curious about this Mount Asui.

Just what kind of sacred cultivation area could attract this many martial artists from all over?

After three days, they finally arrived.

Mount Asui itself was nothing impressive. It was just a regular mountain roughly three thousand metres in height. This was a height that Origin Core realm martial artists like Lu Tianzi could scale in less than half a day.

This small mountain was lush with vegetations, and a well-constructed stone path cut through the tall grass and trees.

Lu Tianzi's group followed along this stone path, just like all the other travellers who arrived alongside them.

There was no need to wonder if they were on the right track, because everyone who visited Mount Asui only had one destination in mind.

The War Intent Cliff.

It was famous for being a sacred cultivation area, so much so that even a heir candidate of the Timeless Flame Sect like Young Master Xuan Hao had come all the way to visit it.

And Lu Tianzi understood why the moment he arrived.

Among the lush greenery on Mount Asui, only this particular cliff wall was completely devoid of life. There was also a huge indentation on the cliff wall, as though it had been punched in by a powerful giant.

This indentation was more than fifty metres wide and around twenty metres deep. From the outside, one could see that there were nothing but rocks and sand within.

But while there were no physical treasures to be found within, everyone present remained seated below the cliff walls, their perception firmly locked onto this huge indentation in the cliff wall.

That was because this huge indentation in the cliff wall was radiating an immense pressure, one that would force every Essence Condensation realm martial artists to their knees.

Even for Origin Core realm martial artists, they would have to circulate their Origin Force to guard themselves against this pressure if they wanted to act freely under the cliff wall.

From Young Master Xuan Hao, Lu Tianzi came to understand that nobody really knew when this indentation was made.

However, the influential figures on the continent had deduced that this indentation had come about because of a ridiculously high level battle in the area.

This was a battle between experts so powerful that even the remnant traces of their battle was enough to turn this place into a sacred cultivation area for tens of thousands of years!

As long as one was able to handle the pressure, one would be able to improve their battle sense by perceiving the profound battle intent that lingered within the indentation.

A sacred cultivation area formed from the battle intent that shrouded this place. That was how the War Intent Cliff got its name.

Below the War Intent Cliff was a huge grass field, on which more than a thousand martial artists had gathered.

The majority of them remained seated in meditation as they continued to perceive the lingering battle intent.

However, some wanted to test out their newly gained comprehensions of battle, and were engaging in friendly spars with others.

Since every single one of these martial artists were at the Origin Core realm, these friendly spars resulted in energy undulations that spread out around the area.

Of course, no one wanted to end up being the public enemy of the other one thousand martial artists, so the people sparring would always hold back such that their fights would not affect the others.

Even so, with so many martial artists fighting and meditating in one place, it was quite a spectacular sight to behold.

The area directly below the War Intent Cliff was already packed, so Lu Tianzi and friends could only settle with a spot that was slightly further away.

"So this is the War Intent Cliff!" Young Master Xuan Hao exclaimed in satisfaction.

This was his first time here as well, but the War Intent Cliff had truly lived up to his expectations. Even a Sixth Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist like him felt pressured by the lingering battle intent.

"I wonder how powerful those experts are, to be able to leave such a mark here..." Ruan Ling thought out loud.

"Yeah, I wonder too," Lu Tianzi said.

Even he could not help but feel fascinated by what he was seeing.

Right at this moment, a wave of energy suddenly surged out from a martial artist who was seated somewhere near the middle of the grass field, sending a shockwave out in all directions.

This shockwave was not nearly strong enough to harm any of the Origin Core realm martial artists around, but it was certainly enough to draw their attention.

"He broke through!"

Looks of envy fell upon the man, who slowly opened his eyes with an ecstatic grin.

"The War Intent Cliff is really amazing! Staying here for a week has been much more effective than me cultivating elsewhere for a year!" the man exclaimed to his companions, all of whom were coming over to congratulate him.

Watching from the side, Lu Tianzi's group could not help but feel their blood boil in anticipation.

"Let's not waste anymore time. We should start cultivating as well!" Young Master Xuan Hao suggested.

The rest of the group had no objections, quickly settling down and entering a state of meditation.

Just like everyone else, the first thing Lu Tianzi did was to sweep his perception upwards to feel the battle intent lingering within the indentation on the cliff wall.

But a frown quickly appeared on Lu Tianzi's face.

He realised that as his perception approached the indentation, the pressure from the battle intent would grow exponentially stronger.

If he only stood on the grass field, Lu Tianzi would only have to expend less than ten percent of his Origin Force to resist the pressure.

But by the time his perception was halfway up the cliff wall, Lu Tianzi already had to expend around forty percent of his Origin Force to resist the pressure.

Lu Tianzi could not help but marvel at the wonders of this War Intent Cliff.

Through this process of trying to reach the indentation on the cliff wall with his perception, Lu Tianzi would be able to train his endurance and control over Origin Force.

He had thought that this would just be a test of his perception and comprehensions, but it ended up testing his endurance and Origin Force as well!

Thankfully, Lu Tianzi was not just any ordinary Second Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist.

He had not just one, but two true Origin Cores, making sure that his foundation was absolutely stable.

On top of that, his control over Origin Force was top-notch, honed through his continual practice of the Eternal Wraith Sword and his proficiency in the art of formations and inscriptions.

All these allowed him to just barely resist the immense pressure from the lingering battle intent.

Otherwise, he could only dream of reaching the indentation on the cliff wall with his current cultivation level.

For example, Nanlan Qianxue who was seated right beside him had already given up on reaching the indentation on the cliff wall, and was only thinking of using this opportunity to hone her endurance and usage of Origin Force against the pressure of the lingering battle intent.

In fact, even the Fourth Cycle Origin Core realm Ruan Ling was not faring much better. Just like Nanlan Qianxue, she was only capable of using this opportunity to hone her endurance and usage of Origin Force.

Apart from Lu Tianzi, only the Sixth Cycle Origin Core realm Young Master Xuan Hao was still attempting to reach the indentation in the cliff wall with his perception.

An hour passed.

Two hours passed.

It was only after three hours that Lu Tianzi's perception finally managed to push past the pressure to reach the indentation in the cliff wall.

But the moment it did, Lu Tianzi experienced a sudden surge in the intensity of the pressure that he had been resisting thus far.

The sheer might of the lingering battle intent sent a piercing pain directly into Lu Tianzi's mind, as though wanting to force him out of its territory.

Lu Tianzi groaned in agony, but he refused to stop.

Gritting his teeth, Lu Tianzi forced himself to endure the pain and continue resisting this immense pressure.

He could sense that besides the excruciating pain, there was also a wisp of extraordinary energy that had started to slowly seep into his body after he managed to reach the indentation with his perception.

This wisp of energy was neither Slaughter Essence nor Spiritual Essence in nature, neither Essence energy nor Origin Force in type.

It was a completely new form of energy that Lu Tianzi had never encountered before, so he naturally did not know what it was.

However, he could sense that this energy was not harmful at all. On the contrary, it was extremely beneficial to him.

When this energy spread across his body, Lu Tianzi entered a state of pseudo-epiphany.

His thoughts cleared up, and his comprehensions about combat improving slowly but surely.

Lu Tianzi's heart pounded in excitement when he realised this, but that did not serve to alleviate the pain that he was enduring.

As time passed, countless beads of sweat emerged from his body, soaking his entire outfit.

However, Lu Tianzi not only did not stop persisting, he even decided to push himself to the limit, stretching his perception as far into the indentation as possible.

If the pressure was too unbearable, then Lu Tianzi could always pull back his perception and retreat back to the entrance of the indentation.

At most, he would just have to cut off his perception and recover for a while before trying again.

But Lu Tianzi had grossly underestimated the War Intent Cliff.

As his perception started entering the depths of the indentation, the pressure suddenly took a huge jump, increasing rapidly to a point where Lu Tianzi felt his surroundings start to lose their colour.

Shit! I overdid it!

Lu Tianzi cursed in his heart as his vision went black.

Thankfully, he was with his companions, and everyone in the vicinity was more interested in cultivating than anything else, so he was at least not in any immediate danger.

Consoling himself with that final thought, Lu Tianzi's consciousness slowly slipped away...