“So this must be the place…”

After dumping off the wizard’s apprentice Zhang Dong finally arrived in the electrically charged dead zone. The area was quite intense, if he didn’t possess his current cultivation level he felt that his body would have been torn to shreds a long time ago. Even then he was not at the center part.

“This lightning energy is somewhat different…”

Thanks to his expertise he was able to distinguish everything that concerned the Dao of Lightning. His field was in heavenly lightning that was at a higher tier but this was something on par. As he recalled it was theorized that an immortal had ascended from the area which created this torrent of energy that was able to last through many thousands of years.

“This is a lot more than I expected…”

He had gone through absorbing a large lightning storm before in the other empire but this one was many times more chaotic. What he was looking at was a giant downpour of lightning bolts that almost made everything look like a constant blue pillar of light. The clouds producing this torrent of energy were in a constant state of movement, it looked as if a god was quickly stirring the heavens.

The more he approached this spot the larger the lightning rods became. Yet this spot was devoid of any as they had probably been melted by the sheer power of this lightning phenomenon above him. The earth beneath them was shiny and clear as all of the sand had been melted from getting constantly barraged by the electricity.

Laws of physics didn’t apply here, the air was filled with the Dao that his lightning core wanted to absorb. Even now when Zhang Dong was approaching towards the middle he could feel his core crying out for more energy. Luckily for once, it seemed that he would be able to progress with his cultivation of freedom.

This place was hazardous, without the lightning core that required a vast amount of energy he could perish. Even for him someone that was at the level of a nascent soul master at the pinnacle of their power this was not easy. Even now his body was constantly hit by bolts of blue energy.

Thus he advanced forward towards the center where the pillar of light was. The earth below was devoid of any life, the rocks that looked like a polished bronze mirror were reflecting all this blue light which made it look as if a large lake was underneath him.

‘T-this feels different…’

He had absorbed many energies with his other cores and even with this one yet this time he was experiencing a bottleneck. As soon as he entered the torrent of energy he attempted to open his lightning core to let the energy flow in. But to his surprise, it was having trouble dealing with all this energy that had a peculiar variation to it.

“ARGH…”

For the first time after attaining these three cores, he started feeling pain. It was similar to the moment he had achieved his breakthrough into the core formation stage yet the pain was even worse. It was as if his body was being torn away from within, his lightning core was unable to contain this energy fast enough.

‘Shit…’

Zhang Dong didn’t falter as he knew that any mistake could cause a cultivation backlash. He had already plunged himself into the torrent of energy so it was too late. Thus he quickly placed his hands together to form a makeshift triangle. While holding his palms this way he brought them towards his dantian where the entrance to his lightning core was.

With a large shout, he forced the chaotic torrent of energies towards his hands. Through them, he would slow down the invasion of these lightning energies and allow his core some breathing time. Yet this was a double-edged sword as while his core was able to absorb everything at a slower rate his hands were turning dark.

He was being injured yet he needed to continue. Even when his hands became pitch black he just forced his holy energy into them to boost his healing factor. What followed was a process of destruction of resurrection as his body started crumbling. This process brought massive amounts of discomfort onto him which was fed by the constant new waves of energy hitting his body.

However, as the process continued the lightning storm above him continued to get smaller. His sacrifice was paying off but his body was being torn apart. Without his holy energy that was able to mend him over and over, he would have already perished. This was truly a foolish way to cultivate and not something that anyone besides him could stomach.

Only a combination of his lightning core that could absorb vast quantities of lightning energy along with his enhanced refined body and his self-healing abilities were allowing him to last through this for so long. Yet he had to do it, to protect his family and friends he needed to sacrifice his body. The enemies he was going to face had not revealed themselves yet so if he could get any sort of advantage, he would do it.

The swirling clouds above became even more hectic and with them brought along an even harder downpour of energies. Yet he lasted through all of it, his lightning core slowly growing in size and soon enough reached the same size as its two counterparts.

With a last one thunderous roar that was followed by a giant explosion, the clouds were pushed to the side. The ever darkened lands that had not seen sunlight for many millennia were finally illuminated by the reddish hue of the rising sun.

What was left behind was a practically naked Zhang Dong that was left panting while slowly floating down to the ground. Even though the lightning storm was gone the energy that characterized it was still there. These blue arcs continued to slowly crackle all over the place while colliding with Zhang Dong’s injured body. Yet the more they hit it, the more they started to change from pale blue to deep gold.

“No rest for the righteous huh?”

He let out a sigh as he felt that his body was changing on the inside. All of the three cores had been satiated and it seemed that the time for another change was upon him. Normally what would happen was that the seed would absorb the energies from all the cores and grow larger yet this time around it was different.

A strange suction force was being exuded by this pea-sized seed. This gravitational pull was somehow forcing the three cores to come together, it was as if the seed wanted to either combine itself with them or absorb their power.

Zhang Dong found himself in unexplored territory that was not discussed in any cultivation book. His system would also not give him any answers, he could only rely on himself for answers.

‘Cultivation abnormality detected, some features of the system will be unavailable until the abnormality is eliminated.’

Bob his Ai gave him some bad news about his system bugging out again. This strange transformation halted some of its features that he wanted to activate. This of course was his teleportation feature that would allow him to flee this place if he needed to.

Thus it was finally time to push his cultivation into another direction, would this make him stronger or cripple him instead? He did not know but with his future in mind, he had to take that step when the chance was given to him.

If this was truly the next step and he was able to push himself towards an alternate nascent soul realm he might become an existence that could not be stopped. Yet this would probably bring out the hidden administrator of this world as it did in the other. But these thoughts that clouded his mind were quickly pushed to the side as he needed to focus.

The seed was demanding more energy but he theorized that he couldn’t just force it in. Perhaps if it was an emergency then he would need to force it but for the time being, he was alone here. Would that remain that way though? He had managed to evade being detected by the sect ruling these lands and the golden knights. But now after the storm had cleared up visitors were probably on the way.

This was somewhat according to his plans as he had calculated the distance to the closest settlement. After taking into consideration the speed of the average nascent soul master and flying ship he had about one or two days before someone arrived here. Perhaps longer if the sect decided to prepare a larger force so examine this case.

Even if that sect sent a few people they would probably leave him to his cultivation. Attacking monstrous cultivators while they were busy reaching another realm was a delicate endeavor. Some sects would attempt robbing this soon-to-be expert when they were vulnerable while others aided them in hopes of rewards.

When they saw him here they would probably not recognize him. To the natives gaining favor from an expert was important but robbing them was also a way to achieve greatness. That was the riskier move but he was in their territory which might push them towards that decision.

But what he feared more than the native sect were the golden knights he bumped into the day before. They would attack him the moment they saw him and would not think about it twice. Before they got here he needed to focus and get this over with as there was nowhere he could hide in this desolate area.

If he moved too much he risked failing his transformation process. Thus for the time being sitting down was the only option. He could only create a haphazard protective formation while he could still somewhat focus on the outside world. Without being able to teleport back to his sect to push through in freedom this was the only option he had left.

Thus he centered himself while focusing on the slowly growing seed inside of him. The closer the cores moved towards it the more it reacted. The process needed to be slowed down as another bout of chest pains was forced upon him. It was as if this world was trying to deny him from getting this seed to sprout.

But he continued on while in a state of disarray. Time began to pass and soon enough people appeared around him. Many curious gazes, some with malice mixed into them were appearing to watch the strange master go through with his advancement what would become of it, no one knew.