Chapter 225 Into Battle Once More

Lu Tianzi sealed the exits of his tent before setting up an energy gathering formation just like what he had done back in Xian Village.

After adjusting his state of mind with some light meditation, Lu Tianzi gently tapped the ground with his finger.

Weng-!

An emblem of light appeared the ground as the formation buzzed into life, accompanied by the rapid concentration of World Origin Energy in his tent.

With a slight flick, the mid ranked beast core appeared in his hands once more.

Time to start!

Driving the Slaughter Essence within his inner world, Lu Tianzi probed the beast core with his perception, carefully drawing out the primordial Slaughter Essence within it and guiding it into his body.

The moment this primordial Slaughter Essence entered his inner world, the blood in his body started heating up in response. It was not painful by any measure. Instead, it sent a warm feeling coursing through Lu Tianzi's body, as though his blood was excited to welcome a long lost comrade.

At the same time, the refinement of this primordial Slaughter Essence proceeded not only rapidly, but also so naturally that Lu Tianzi could not help but feel surprised.

It was almost as if the primordial Slaughter Essence was sentient and knew exactly what to do, obediently converting itself before entering Lu Tianzi's inner world!

Could it be that the blood essence of the six winged griffin is able to completely dominate the primordial Slaughter Essence of its descendents, thereby forcing it to obey his will?

If that is the case, then isn't this blood essence a little too domineering?

Just how powerful must the six winged griffin be in order to induce such an effect?

Lu Tianzi mused, but he naturally understood that he was not going to get any sort of answers just from thinking about it.

Since things were going well for him, he would gladly accept this outcome!

Lu Tianzi continued to devour the primordial Slaughter Essence, converting it into refined Slaughter Essence in his inner world at a breakneck pace.

The density and viscosity of the Slaughter Essence within his inner world rised rapidly, and yet the flow of the liquid Slaughter Essence only increased in speed.

This meant that not only was the quality of his Slaughter Essence increasing, even the rate at which he could draw Essence energy from it was increasing.

With his current accumulations and the help of the mid ranked beast core, Lu Tianzi encountered no bottlenecks at all as he charged straight towards the next boundary.

Before long, Lu Tianzi felt a huge surge of energy erupting forth from deep within his inner world.

Slaughter Essence system - Peak Essence Condensation realm!

Upon breaking through to the next boundary, Lu Tianzi could feel that the viscosity and density of the liquid Slaughter Essence in his inner world had suddenly increased by a huge margin.

Just a little more accumulations on his part, and he would have reached the very limits of the Essence Condensation realm. By then, his inner world would have reached its limit, and he would no longer be able to further absorb and refine primordial Slaughter Essence.

That was, unless he took the next step forward, breaking through to the next cultivation realm.

Of course, Lu Tianzi knew just as well that taking that one step was far from easy.

In fact, with how huge the gulf was between the Essence Condensation realm and the Origin Core realm, it was probably more apt to call it a giant leap forward than a single step.

It was certainly not something that could be achieved by cultivating for just another day or two.

Despite having already broken through, Lu Tianzi remained in meditation as he slowly consolidated his cultivation.

After breaking through, a martial artist's inner world would be in slight disarray due the abrupt changes. Thus, it was always good to spend some time and effort easing this transition, so as to prevent any complications from occurring in the future.

By the time he opened his eyes once more, it was already dawn.

Lu Tianzi stepped out of his tent, taking in a deep breath of the cool morning air.

He felt like he was a completely different person from when he was last here, but that was only to be expected.

In a short period of a few days, Lu Tianzi had advanced in both his cultivation systems, as well as obtained the bloodline of an ancient beast.

After so many changes, it would be rather strange if Lu Tianzi did not feel any different from before.

Right now, he could not wait to try out just how much stronger he had become!

Thankfully, he did not have to wait for long.

Elder Mingxin quickly summoned all the squad leaders to her tent, informing them that their battalion would be moving out once more.

Their battalion had been in low spirits the past few days. But with the safe return of Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue, the morale of the battalion surged up to the skies, and all of them could not help but look forward to battle as well.

Just like that, they left along with the other battalions, heading towards their next battle ground.

A new day, a new battle ground, a familiar battalion, and a familiar ally by their side as well.

"I have to admit that some people are just like cockroaches, refusing to die even after what happened."

This bitter remark drew their attention to the battalion beside them, only to see Beiqian Zuo with a sneer on his face.

Such an expression coupled with such a remark, the members of Elder Mingxin's battalion could not help but feel uncomfortable and even slightly hostile towards him.

But even though his attitude was questionable, there was no doubt that Beiqian Zuo was at least on their side in this war.

At least, those were the thoughts of everyone except Lu Tianzi himself.

Despite that, Lu Tianzi did not bother answering either, choosing to ignore Beiqian Zuo and continue on his way instead.

"Why is that Beiqian Zuo so against you?" Nanlan Qianxue's words sounded out in his head at this moment. "Did something else happen between the two of you?"

Lu Tianzi took a quick glance at Nanlan Qianxue before replying with a voice conveyance as well. "Didn't you see what happened previously? He blames me for the death of the extraction team."

"But that doesn't make any sense. Even if the extraction team died trying to save you, it was done out of their own volition. Why would someone of his status hold it against you for this long?" Nanlan Qianxue probed further with a grin. "Something else must have happened, am I right?"

Hearing that, Lu Tianzi shook his head helplessly.

This Nanlan Qianxue was really getting too used to asking him questions, but there was probably no harm in letting her know anyway. After all, who knew how many people this Beiqian Zuo had already told?

Perhaps it had already spread as a rumour, just that it had not reached his ears for now.

In any case, nothing could be done in the absence of concrete evidence.

"What if I told you that I was the one who took out the entire extraction team?"

Nanlan Qianxue's eyes immediately widened in shock before she hurriedly controlled her facial expressions back to normal. "Are you serious? Why would you do that?"

"The extraction team never tried to help me to begin with," Lu Tianzi explained with a casual shrug, as though he was speaking of something unimportant. "In fact, they were acting under Beiqian Zuo's orders to get rid of me. That is the reason why they insisted that you leave first. Beiqian Zuo certainly understands that the extraction team would never sacrifice themselves to defend me. That being the case, it is no wonder that he is so hostile towards me."

"They did that?" Nanlan Qianxue frowned.

She naturally understood that perhaps there was more to it than what Lu Tianzi had revealed, but she tactfully chose not to probe any further.

"Why didn't you call him out then? Plotting against allies warrants a heavy punishment in war!" Nanlan Qianxue asked. "Make him swear a Heaven's Oath not to lie, and then question him to expose him in front of General Mojian!"

"Haha, it is not as if I have not considered that, but it's easier said than done," Lu Tianzi let out a bitter smile. "Even if I suggest that, do you think he will just swear as he was told? As long as he refuses to do so, even if it makes him suspicious, it will still be barely explainable by the excuse that an Origin Core realm martial artist is too prideful to subject himself to such interrogation. In that a situation, who would dare make the decision of pronouncing him guilty?"

Nanlan Qianxue fell silent as she pondered over those words.

Indeed, they were at war right now, and every Origin Core realm martial artist was a valuable asset. Compared to gaining the favour of a youngster who could possibly be an asset of the future, it was more likely that the upper echelons of the Scarlet Moon Army would prioritise the present.

Even though Beiqian Zuo would look suspicious for refusing to take a Heaven's Oath, suspicion was all he would get.

In that case, Lu Tianzi would only end up drawing even greater animosity from Beiqian Zuo.

Seeing that Nanlan Qianxue seemed to have understood, Lu Tianzi continued. "On top of that, what if he makes me swear a Heaven's Oath in return? It is not as though you do not know about my secret. For all I know, doing that could end up being a double edged sword that harms me as well. Rather than risk revealing my own secrets, I would rather bid my time. Given enough time, I am sure that I will be able to take care of him by myself!"

"I see…" Nanlan Qianxue could not help but let her thoughts trail off as she thought about Lu Tianzi's final line.

Given enough time, I am sure that I will be able to take care of him by myself.

This 'him' was not referring to just any random person, but a Fourth Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist, an Elder of the famed Flying Dragon Hall!

How many youngsters would dare speak of such a matter?

To speak of such a matter so naturally, such confidence was truly befitting of a martial genius like Lu Tianzi.

Then again, he did already defeat Chiren, who was at the Third Cycle Origin Core realm.

Given that, it was no wonder that he felt confident in himself. In fact, even she could not help but feel confident in him as well!

In comparison, she was simply far too weak…

Nanlan Qianxue clenched her fists in frustration.

It might be impossible to catch up to this monster, but no matter what, she could not allow herself to be left too far behind!

She definitely had to work even harder from now on!

"What's the matter?" Lu Tianzi asked in concern after seeing that Nanlan Qianxue had suddenly lost her focus. "Don't worry, I will be fine. It won't be easy for him to deal with me for now."

"Who's worried about you?" Nanlan Qianxue snapped in irritation. "I am worried about myself!"

"…" Lu Tianzi was speechless. What was with that sudden change in attitude?

"Get ready for battle!" Elder Mingxin's voice sounded out in their heads at this moment, drawing everyone's attention back to the front.

Lu Tianzi cleared out any distracting thoughts too, wanting to focus on the upcoming battle.

It was extremely unlikely for Beiqian Zuo to act against him publicly, so there was no need to worry about him for now.

But even with that aside, the last time Lu Tianzi joined a battle, he had been targeted by an enemy Origin Core realm martial artist.

Thus, there was no guarantee that such an incident would not repeat itself.

If it were to happen again this time, however, Lu Tianzi was no longer intending to flee.

In fact, after his recent advancements in cultivation, Lu Tianzi was now itching to face off against an Origin Core realm opponent.

Only by facing someone of that level would he be able to test his newfound strength, and thus gauge just how much stronger he had become!

With those thoughts in mind, the Scarlet Moon Army stepped clear of the woods, entering a huge clearing that was at least dozens of kilometres wide.

At the other end, the Dragon Cauldron Army was already standing their ground.

Without a doubt, they had arrived at the selected battle ground.

Even with the thousands of people present, no one made a sound as they moved into position, facing the other side in complete silence.

Origin Core realm experts flew into the air, and those on the ground drew their weapons as they got ready for the opening signal.

Lu Tianzi similarly drew his Torrential Sabre as he waited eagerly for a sign from the commanders.

And the sign did come before long.

"Charge!"

General Mojian's voice descended upon the battle ground, heralding the start of the battle as everyone rushed forward in unison.