"Whirl!"
"Boom!"
Strands of spirit energy could be seen flowing in the air, mainly the colour of light wind and purple, the spiritual energy in the room was so immense that the walls seem to be breaking apart.
Nightin who was sitting down in the middle, was finally making his final breakthrough to the Martial Lord realm, after four months of training day and night.
To top it off, he also managed to learn and comprehend the first stage theory of all the nine recognised professions, all he was lacking right now is the next stage of applying it to visual practical situations.
Nightin who was sitting down in the middle sucked in all the spirit essence flowing around him, his spiritual core was breaking apart into pieces. The more pieces they break into now, they more his spiritual core would evolve and bring him greater benefits.
There"s a reason behind why Martial Spirits are nothing but mere ants in the eye of Martial Lords, when a Martial Spirit undergoes the dangerous change of evolving their spiritual core, their spirit essence thickness and purity including the volume would be increased.
The Martial Lord realm was the first realm of divisions, the second realm of division being past the Martial Saint realm which is unheard of in this cultivation world.
The spirit core can be divided into nine grades, if the spirit core doesn"t break apart, that person would be a first grade Martial Lord who would never progress any further. Two times two making it four pieces, will make someone a second grade Martial Lord.
To become a saint, the qualifications would require someone to break their spirit core into seven times seven, forty nine pieces. Many people believe that forty nine is the limit, never would they know that all the Martial Saints are in a dilemma because of this, they didn"t have the chance to turn back time.
Even for the younger generation, none of them were able to escape the fate of being capped at forty nine spirit core pieces, this is with the a.s.sistance of Martial Saints, countless precious resources, the best cultivation grounds, the strongest cultivation techniques and the perfect foundation to everyone.
Many cultivators in this world are thinking of changing the spirit core into seven grades officially, but every Martial Saint has issued an order of rejection, none of them were willing to accept this new policy. If that really happens, their era would never rise up and they"ll eventually collapse.
For Nightin right now, his spirit core was gradually breaking apart into pieces, rapidly breaking apart all the way until thirty six pieces. Just one more step and he would be able to contend against the top geniuses of this world.
"Crack!"
His spirit core reformed again before breaking into forty nine pieces. Nightin scanned within his body, only to realise that this painful process wasn"t over. The step towards the Martial Lord realm isn"t a small one, the main reason for death is due to weak willpower, if one can"t endure the pain, death awaits them on the other side.
"Argh!"
Nightin groaned in pain as he clenched his teeth, sweat was dripping down his back as his robe stuck closely to his skin, his three swords were spiralling around him as his Gale blade stayed above him without moving.
Nightin felt like giving up right now as he forcibly stops the process, that might damage his foundation and roots and end this cruel process, but there was that one rope which suddenly hanged down from above.
"Plop! Plop!"
To Nightin"s view, there was a fountain with two circular layers, the beautiful rainbow light source shone upon them as they radiated off bright colours into his eyes. The sky was of a cheerful yellow, the fountain was of peaceful water, the ground was of st.u.r.dy protection and to his far end right was a courage gate of flames.
Nightin felt like he was in heaven as he closed his eyes to immerse himself in this peaceful paradise and travel further away from the gate blazing with flames, yet he felt a strong desire tugging his heart. His legs weren"t listening to his mind as they inched closer to the gate second by second, one step at a time, every step took him years, but he still made it eventually.
With his half opened eyes, he slowly pushed open the gate and stepped into it.
"Creak!"
In front of him were nine steps, the nine steps were made of dark red jagged rocks, below them were hot molten lava which gave off scorching heat.
The first seven rocks were blazing with a orange glow and gave off the feeling of cooling heat in this dry atmosphere.
Nightin wasn"t a fool and understood that the remaining two which has yet to be glowing, are the remaining two grades of his spirit core. If he takes the two steps now, it would lead him one step further. He understood the difference between him and those from s.p.a.ce, his talent was probably only that of a mortal there.
With slow steady steps, he stepped onto the first rock, onto the second, all the way until he reached the seventh rock. Closing his eyes, he exhaled heavily as he took out his sword once again, it gave him courage whenever it was within his grasp.
Taking out the eighth step, the flames started to wrap around his body in an attempt to devour him, he had to disperse off the flames before he can advance onto the eighth step. Tightening the grip on his sword, he stepped forwards while mustering all his strength.
"Argh! I can"t give up here, this is only the first step of mine in paving out my way to the true cultivation world!" As this thought flashed by, his leg landed on the eighth step safely as it started to glow, he had activated the legendary eighth grade spirit core, but would he be able to continue?
Nightin stared at the ninth rock platform, he had a feeling that he might truly die if he stepped on it, he would be letting everyone down if that happens, his awaiting parents, his young disciples, the Voyager family... No, he can"t give up now!
With a leap, he jumped towards the ninth and final rock platform, only for a dragon of fire to spiral up from the lava, it opened its mouth and fired a inferno beam towards Nightin before dispersing.
If Nightin endures through this attack, rainbows would be awaiting, if he died, he would truly die here. With a single swing of his sword, he gathered everything into it.
"Mystical tier, Firestorm Hurricane!"
A strong gust of wind surrounded by blazing flames appeared in the air as a slash, das.h.i.+ng towards the beam without any signs of fear or retreat, it had heard its master resolve and determination, its spirit and morale had been lifted up to a brand new height, amplifying its destruction and force to a whole new level.
"Boom!" "Rumble!"
The ground and surrounding cave seemed to be breaking apart from the terrifying shockwave as the two attack dashed into the air and took form of a Dragon and Phoenix. That"s right, Nightin"s attack had actually took the form of a Phoenix out of his expectations as the two fought in the air.
The phoenix cried out in a loud screeching voice as it dashed straight into the Dragon, both of them shattering into energy forms before dispersing.
It"s at this moment that Nightin questioned himself, just what is my background? Am I someone who belongs to this cultivation world to begin with?
Stepping onto the ninth rock platform, he returned to reality and could see the eighty nine pieces of his spirit core devouring all the spirit essence in the air. Even so, the spirit essence which has been brewing for tens of years here wasn"t enough for him and he needed much more of them.
If he doesn"t get enough spirit essence, his breakthrough might fail and bring about unwanted disaster.
His master who saw this sighed to himself and mumbled "I guess that I still have to help you out in the end. My other self , just wait for me... You can blame me for prioritising him before you, but if he truly survives now, you"ll rebirth stronger than ever."
A lotus glowing with holy light appeared in the air, it had clean yet sharp pink petals as it flowed above Nightin before das.h.i.+ng into his spirit core, supplying it with the needed spirit core as it helped with the progress.
"Vzzt! Whirr!"
A bolt of thunder from within the lotus forcibly broke apart the spirit core when it finished merging the eighty one pieces which greatly shocked Nightin, the ninth grade was the limit, where would this lead him...
To his amazement, he didn"t feel any pain as his spirit core broke apart into a hundred pieces before coming back together, no signs of strong spirit essence could be found. Has this made him a first grade Spirit Lord?
Nightin opened his eyes and looked at his master, telling him in a cold voice "Master, I would like some alone time."
The old man couldn"t understand why he couldn"t sense any excitement in Nightin, but he still stepped out of the room.
"TT TTa"
With the old man leaving the room, Nightin slowly tried to calm his worried mind down, he didn"t want his cultivation journey to end here.
When he inspected his spirit core, he realised that it was indeed made up of just one spirit piece, a one grade spirit core for a Martial Lord.
"No, I can"t give up this easily!"
Nightin sat down and tried cultivating, only to realise that the surrounding energy was already being sucked in by his spirit core without his intention to do so, the spirit energy in the surrounding air wasn"t anywhere near enough either.
Nightin realised one thing from this, his spirit core is abnormal and the amount of spirit energy he needs for each breakthrough will be tremendous. Just from his current cultivation speed at 24/7 hrs, it would take him a month to breakthrough again, which made him slower than the first ladder talents.
This drawback however, was nothing compared to the spirit essence amount he would have after each breakthrough.
Stepping outside the room, he found his master reading about a book on the formations of continents and asked "Master, what are you reading about?"
The old man ignored him and continued reading, his face changing from that of shock and amazement to confusion.
Nightin probed again as he poked his master "Master, what"s going on?"
The old man took in a deep gulp of saliva and said "I seemed to have discovered a huge secret. The outer s.p.a.ce we believe in doesn"t exist..."