Chapter 54 Perfect Transition

The pain that Lu Tianzi was subjected to grew more and more intense as the wave of foreign energy within him moved faster and faster. At one point, Lu Tianzi even thought that his meridians were about to collapse under the severe strain!

Thankfully, the the wave of energy eventually dissipated, allowing Lu Tianzi to slowly regain his calm.

By then, his entire body was already soaked in cold sweat, testament to the amount of effort and tenacity required to hold back and endure the pain.

However, Lu Tianzi ignored all this discomfort and sank his perception into his inner world without any hesitation, eager to observe the current state of his Spiritual Essence.

When he did so, Lu Tianzi could not help but take a deep breath in surprise.

Ninety nine percent unification rate!

Lu Tianzi had no idea how the elderly demon did it, but he actually managed to increase Lu Tianzi's unification rate by four percent in one go!

Even though four percent might not seem like much, but it had to be known that the higher the current unification rate, the harder it would be to further improve on it.

It just so happened that these four percentage points that Xihuang Yuanfeng helped him with were one of the last few percentage points, making the improvement in unification rate that much more valuable.

With this, Lu Tianzi was now infinitesimally close to a perfect transition into the Essence Condensation realm!

Even though there was just one percent remaining, it was also the most difficult step, and Lu Tianzi had no idea how long it would take for him to complete it.

Still, he had to try.

After the assault operation, Lu Tianzi had no idea what the current situation in Ivory Rock City was like.

Even though Hu Shenwei was already dead, Lu Tianzi had no idea if the other members of the team had survived.

These were people who had seen for themselves that he, Holy Guardian Lu Tianzi, was still alive and kicking!

Should this news spread to the ears of Hu Yuanbo, who knew what he might do?

If Lu Tianzi wanted to gather any information, then he had to return to the city.

But at the same time, returning to the city without sufficient knowledge was extremely dangerous as well.

That might seem like a dilemma, but Lu Tianzi's goal was ultimately to take down Hu Yuanbo, so there was no way that he could avoid returning to Ivory Rock City forever.

Since that was the case, only by gaining as much strength as possible could he have greater control over his own fate, even if he was in the territory of his enemy!

And breaking through to the Essence Condensation realm seemed to be the way to grant him the greatest boost to his strength.

Lu Tianzi emptied his mind of all other stray thoughts, focusing solely on every single remaining Spiritual Essence particle within his inner world.

After encompassing his inner world with his perception, Lu Tianzi suddenly uncovered a fascinating fact.

Of the remaining Spiritual Essence particles that had not been unified, all of them bore a shade of blue, clearly distinguishing them from the others.

These blue Spiritual Essence particles were those that had been born from refining the pristine energy within the pond in the underground cavern previously.

The blue shade was simply due to these particles' natural affinity to the water element that they were born from.

No matter how hard Lu Tianzi tried, it was impossible to permanently change the direction of these blue Spiritual Essence particles such that they would move in the same unified direction.

It was not even a matter of time anymore.

Before, even though it took a long time to increase the completion rate due to the sheer amount of Spiritual Essence particles, he was still able to convert the particles one by one.

However, now he was unable to even convert a single one of these blue particles!

This caused Lu Tianzi to be extremely depressed!

After a long struggle, Lu Tianzi finally gave up.

Lu Tianzi took some time to regulate his breathing before opening his eyes once again to look at Xihuang Yuanfeng.

This time, there were some traces of awe in his eyes.

After all, the elderly demon was actually an existence that could forcefully increase his unification rate!

"Finally understand who you are talking to, don't you?" Xihuang Yuanfeng naturally sensed the change in attitude hidden behind that gaze. "With how low your cultivation realm is, this is the best that I can do for you at this stage. Right now, your Slaughter Essence cultivation is far too weak. After you become slightly stronger, I can at least give you some pointers on how to progress from there. As for your Spiritual Essence cultivation, I have to say that I don't know much about it. I have already done all I can to help."

"Junior thanks senior for the help," Lu Tianzi hurried stood up and clasped his hand towards Xihuang Yuanfeng.

"Still referring me to senior?" Xihuang Yuanfeng frowned.

"Well…" Lu Tianzi hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Junior is definitely grateful to senior. However, Junior still has to settle the personal matter that was mentioned just now. Once junior is done with settling this issue, junior will definitely return once again!"

Xihuang Yuanfeng eyed him suspiciously before letting out a deep sigh.

He had no choice but to admit that even though Lu Tianzi was an incredible seed, it might appear too high-handed if he were to force Lu Tianzi to stay against his wishes. If so, even if Lu Tianzi truly grew to become much stronger in the future, it was very unlikely that Lu Tianzi would be willing to aid him in breaking apart the seal.

By allowing Lu Tianzi the freedom to settle his own matters, there was at least the slight chance that he might return. After all, the Heaven Devouring Divine Art was a truly powerful cultivation technique that could tempt millions.

Should Lu Tianzi unfortunately choose not to return, or if he died, then Xihuang Yuanfeng would just have to continue waiting for the next fated one to appear.

"Do what you want," Xihuang Yuanfeng snorted in displeasure.

"Thank you, senior," Lu Tianzi nodded in gratitude.

"Wait," Xihuang Yuanfeng waved his hand once more as another wave of energy rushed towards Lu Tianzi.

Lu Tianzi instinctively drove his Spiritual Essence as he tried to block it, but just like before, it was impossible.

The wave of energy passed right through his defences, burying itself deep within his body. Lu Tianzi immediately grimaced, expecting the wave of pain to flood into his mind.

However, this time there was no pain.

In fact, Lu Tianzi did not feel anything at all, as though the wave of energy never existed in the first place.

"You can go now," Xihuang Yuanfeng closed his eyes once more, returning to his deep meditation.

"Yes, senior," seeing that Xihuang Yuanfeng did not bother to explain, Lu Tianzi did not ask further either.

After filling his stomach with some food, Lu Tianzi cast one last glance at the elderly demon before he decisively turned and left.

Once again, Lu Tianzi stepped into the long winding tunnel that connected the chamber to the entrance of the cave. Now that he had travelled through it before and knew what to expect, the return trip was done at a much faster pace.

After a very short while, Lu Tianzi had once again arrived at the entrance of the cave.

Seeing the great waterfall from behind, Lu Tianzi's mind suddenly shook in excitement as he thought of something.

The blue Spiritual Essence particles were refined from pristine energy stored within the pond water… could recreating similar conditions help with the unification process?

There was only one way to find out.

Lu Tianzi stepped forward right into the great waterfall, allowing the powerful impact from above to thrust him deep into the icy plunge pool.

The water was piercingly cold, and Lu Tianzi felt as though his skin was starting to freeze up.

Even so, he drove his Spiritual Essence in accordance to the Undulated Currents Breathing Technique as he tried to align the energy within himself to the waves caused by the waterfall.

Next, Lu Tianzi sank his perception into his inner world as he once again tried to unify the blue Spiritual Essence particles.

By feeling the water flowing against his skin, Lu Tianzi was actually able to simulate the properties of the water, aiding him in establishing a connection to a blue Spiritual Essence particle.

The blue Spiritual Essence particle trembled slightly as it was excited into movement.

This was the first step towards unification!

With a swipe of his hands, Lu Tianzi retrieved two Essence Stones from within his spatial ring and held one in each of his hands.

He was not absorbing the energy from the core of the stone, but simply basking in the glow to maintain his stamina as he continued with the unification process.

After some time, Lu Tianzi finally achieved his first successful unification of a blue Spiritual Essence particle!

Lu Tianzi was overjoyed!

It was only one particle, but it was similarly only the start!

Bit by bit, Lu Tianzi progressed as his rate of unification grew faster and faster.

He had no idea how much time had passed, but Lu Tianzi's focus never wavered.

Finally, at the moment that the final Spiritual Essence particle was unified into the perfect sphere, Lu Tianzi felt a sudden burst of energy trying to explode out from within him!

Lu Tianzi did not forcefully hold back this explosive energy, allowing it to freely blast out of his body as a powerful shockwave, slamming directly into the water body that was enveloping him!

This resulted in a huge explosion, forcing out an area of space around him that was completely devoid of any water. Half of the water within the plunge pool shot into the air due to the impact, rising almost as high as the great waterfall itself.

With the progression of his cultivation realm, his features grew sharper, and his body grew more toned. His overall attractiveness increased by a notch.

The icy water fell back down immediately, raining down onto him as a beautiful rainbow formed overhead.

At this moment, Lu Tianzi's surroundings were like a beautiful painting, and he himself looked just like a transcendent being who did not belong to this world.

Lu Tianzi quickly found himself submerged within the plunge pool once more as the water level returned.

With a single kick in the water, he left the plunge pool and stood up straight at the bank.

Primary Essence Condensation realm!

This was a true breakthrough in his cultivation realm, not just boundaries within a realm!

On top of that, it was a perfect transition with one hundred percent unification rate!

In this case, he no longer even needed the Rainbow Lotus that he had been holding on to.

Not just that, but he had already reached the absolute limits of the Essence Building realm in terms of the refining of Spiritual Essence particles.

Every step of cultivation had great impact towards a martial artist's future path.

The fact that Lu Tianzi's foundation had been laid perfectly at the Essence Building realm meant that even though he was only at the Primary Essence Condensation realm, his strength would definitely be far beyond than that of an ordinary martial artist at the same boundary!

But perhaps more importantly was that due to this solid foundation, his future path would also be much smoother, allowing him to encounter few bottlenecks when looking for future breakthrough.

At this moment, Lu Tianzi suddenly felt some movement ahead of him.

Looking up, he could not help but let out a sinister grin.

Frost Fang Wolves.

They were the very culprits that had chased Lu Tianzi almost to the verge of death while he had been poisoned by the Lion Hemlock.

But to a certain extent, it was also due to them that Lu Tianzi managed to discover the elder demon's chamber, resulting in such an explosive increase in his strength!

Thinking of this point, Lu Tianzi drove his Spiritual Essence in an unbridled manner, fearlessly displaying his Primary Essence Condensation cultivation realm for the Frost Fang Wolves to see.

Upon knowing that Lu Tianzi was at a higher cultivation realm than them, the wolves quickly retreated as expected, unwilling to be tangled with him any longer.

Was it the same pack?

Lu Tianzi had no idea.

However, he could no longer be bothered with them.

Lu Tianzi had a more important thing to do right now.

Back then, the reason why he was almost killed by the Frost Fang Wolves was because of the Lion Hemlock.

Now, in order to leave this place, Lu Tianzi would have to once again brave the poisonous gas of the Lion Hemlock.

Furthermore, there might even be a welcome party of demon martial artists at the other end of the layer of poison, not giving him a single moment to recover.

Just that this time, Lu Tianzi had a lot more time on hand to concoct a proper suppressant.

On top of that, Lu Tianzi had also decided to collect some of the Lion Hemlock as well.

With this much of the rare poisonous plant available here, it would be a waste not to bring some back with him!

After all, this was a true delicacy that he was intending to treat Hu Yuanbo to a meal with!