Boom!

“LEAVE!”

****

“Sheesh. You cannot have a decent conversation with the man.” Long Di emerged from the stairway and could smell the fresh air that greeted him immediately.

A short distance away, beyond some ruins, was a forest. It seemed relatively peaceful and was a stark contrast to the literal hell that he was just in.

“Alright, so I’ll be receiving the Bone Chapter tomorrow. I guess I should use this time breakthrough to the second Star Core of the Core Flame Evocation realm since I have time.”

Long Di was in some unknown part of the village. He wasn’t even sure if he was still in the village, since the place was devoid of people in general. The only thing that led him to believe that it was even a part of the village, was the familiar scattering of ruins that littered the place.

It was then that he noticed that the extent of the ruins was massive. It went for literal miles in some directions. It was to the point that Long Di couldn’t even see the end of it.

The other directions were eaten up by the forest, obscuring whatever remnant glory this place once possessed.

“Someone should really clean this place up. On a side note, I feel really light without those weighted gears dragging me down.”

Long Di felt the effect of the absence of the gears he wore previously showing itself. The gears had remained intact for the most part up till he had arrived in front of the forge.

When the runic chains dragged him inside, the intense heat incinerated the armour!

Long Di desperately wanted to know what skewed laws of physics allowed metal to be incinerated into what he assumed was a gas, while his body was able to survive the experience.

The only thing that kept him from doing so was the possible repercussion that could come after looking a gift horse in the mouth, so this was something that would be looked into AFTER the Bone Chapter was completed.

“This is as good a spot as any.” Long Di said to himself after finding a relatively secluded spot. “I wonder if this is how Zoro feels after getting lost so many times?”

He was in a part of the forest that was relatively near to the clearing. He didn’t want to stray too far from where Uncle Tian Lu was forging, besides; he was only going to be advancing in his cultivation.

Dum!

After sitting cross-legged on the forest floor, Long Di summoned his nine black cauldrons.

Whoosh!

One could see how as the nine black cauldrons rotated, the surrounding spiritual energy was like a flood as it rushed into the black cauldrons without reserve!

The cauldrons automatically refined the spiritual energy for Long Di without him needing to even lift a finger. This was one of the many advantages of a cultivator’s cauldrons.

Considering the grade of Long Di’s cauldrons that continued to confound anyone who saw it, the amount of spiritual energy his cauldrons took in at any time was extraordinarily tremendous!

When Long Di felt the spiritual qi that now entered his body, he compelled it to follow the main meridians that comprised the Great Path.

After it completed a full cycle, he then took advantage of the main meridians and the supporting minor meridians that were the foundation of his cultivation technique.

Dark grey clouds appeared overhead which was the marker of his cultivation technique. The patch of clouds was small but they exuded incredible pressure all the same.

Whoosh!

As this happened, the spiritual qi that was cycling in his body peacefully suddenly picked up speed and started to race through Long Di’s meridians like a rampaging dragon!

He could clearly feel the bottleneck separating him from the second Star Core of the Core Flame Evocation Realm, and he needed it gone!

“What the… ”

Without warning, something unexpected took place. Long Di felt as the spiritual qi followed the path of his cultivation technique.

This would then allow him to cultivate the tribulation lightning that made up his power. However, this power was being absorbed.

“Oh no…” Long Di immediately knew what was happening here.

What made tribulation lightning so special apart from its destructive capabilities was its divine nature.

Its divinity rendered it nigh impossible to go against. This was why Long Di could easily go against those more powerful than him. However, he could feel the divine nature of his tribulation lightning being sapped away, and of course, he knew why.

Ever since the Destiny Scale had gone to sleep, it had been absorbing the trace of divine energy present in his tribulation lightning. This, in turn, caused it to turn into normal lightning qi.

He should have known that something was off when the Destiny Scale said what it did before going under.

‘I apologise in advance for your divinity, my ass.’ Long Di remembered what it said word for word.

‘Hold on…’

He was preparing to expel the Destiny Scale from his body so he could regain access to his tribulation energy when a thought came to him.

Back when Long Di was still the embodiment of every cultivator’s destruction, he knew for a fact that he was some distance away from the bottleneck of the second Star Core.

However, for some reason, during the time it took for the Destiny Scale to find itself in a coma and the time it took for him to have a newfound respect for barbecued chicken, the bottleneck not only lost its immeasurable distance but even loosened itself considerably.

‘So that’s it.’ Long Di deduced that once the cultivation technique ran the way that it was supposed to, the divine nature of the tribulation lightning energy was what caused him to have a hard time returning to peak condition, despite having a decent destiny.

Even though there were many types of energy present in ambient spiritual energy, some were more abundant than others. As for energy of a divine nature, there were only trace amounts of it present if any at all in other places.

The only reason that Long Di was able to effectively cultivate this type of technique in the first place was because of his destiny.

If it were anyone else, it would have taken them years to simply fill their dantian. Not only that, you would have to consider the crystal dantian that held just as much as the primary dantian in their body, along with the ocean’s worth of energy required to cultivate it and to attempt any sort of breakthrough.

After weighing the pros and cons, Long Di decided to keep the Destiny Scale inside him. He didn’t plan to abandon it, he only wanted it absent while he attempted his breakthrough, but seeing as how it brought more good than bad, he let it be.

Besides, when it woke up, he would regain his tribulation lightning, so there wasn’t that much to worry about. One of the things that he hated in cultivation novels was the trope of being nerfed.

Boom!

The torrential lightning qi poured into the pearl of the second cauldron!

It was much easier to cultivate normal lightning qi when the divine aspect was no longer slowing it down. He no longer attempted to stop the Destiny Scale from its absorption, so the process was much easier.

However, the second pearl was taking a while to transform into a Star Core.

“More!” Long Di increased the absorption speed to its limit and drew in the spiritual energy from miles around!

As the energy poured into the pearl, it started to dim and brighten like a flickering flame. Beads of sweat rolled down Long Di’s head.

He could feel that he was emptying the spiritual energy on a level that would be detrimental to the surroundings.

To ease up on the environmental expenditure, he started to use spirit stones to supplement the energy he needed.

It didn’t take long for the stone to turn to dust. He quickly took out another two to replace them.

Before long, the core brightened and shone with an intensity that was blinding in nature.

“Now!” Long Di charged up a sea of lightning qi in his dantian and his crystal dantian and sent it gushing into his second pearl!

Boom!

Suddenly, a shockwave of lightning spread from Long Di’s body for miles, flattening the portion of the forest he was in!

Within the dust that arose because of the rippling surge, sat Long Di in silence, with only his cauldrons to accompany him.

Shing!

Krrssh!

The second pearl had finally lit up! Sparks of lightning could be seen dancing around the black cauldron, making it the second of Long Di’s nine to host a Star Core.