Chapter 334 (1/2)

”I don't have much time… they will notice that something is off soon…”

Zhang Dong looked to the pile of disabled slave collars that he absorbed previously. Along with the Thunder Stone before him, it would need to be enough.

He was a bit surprised about how much of a bottomless pit his own cultivation had become. Ever since returning it felt deeper like he needed more to retrace his old steps. This was all due to his increased understanding of the Dao he studied and also because his soul had expanded.

With all of the energy that he absorbed from these common higher quality common grade items, he should have normally been able to create his perfect foundation pillar. That wasn't so, he needed to go further beyond and absorb all of the energy that this prison facility had to offer.

Zhang Dong had already fiddled around with his system. There were some problems related to his cultivation. Due to it being so low most of his system functions were turned off or limited.

The map's range had shrunk to about a hundred meters and he could not access things like his crafting abode. For that, he would need to wait till he achieved the core formation level. The teleportation function was also offline and so was his clan building window.

Without it, he could not check for his family members nor his disciples. He had no idea if they were alive, how much time had passed, and even where he was. After cultivating he needed to gather more information before deciding on his next destination.

'I need to focus… the system is not helping me with this anymore…'

In the beginning, he mostly relied on the system, he could even spend spirit points directly to achieve breakthroughs. Now on the other hand it was all up to him but he wasn't afraid. His Dao was supreme and he had all the knowledge that he needed. The only problem were the cultivation resources and time.

Before sitting down in front of the Thunder Stone he took out the sword that he got from the White Tiger elder. He started slicing the ground in front of the crystal, soon it took the shape of a combination of a magic circle and a formation.

Thanks to his time in the world of magic he had learned a few tricks. With this specialized formation, he would be able to hasten the process while also making it much easier. With it, there would be no wasted energy and he would be able to absorb it to its fullest.

It started to materialize as if it had always been there. A large pillar started to form inside of him. It was longer and thicker than it ever had been before, pure gold and radiating holy lightning energies.

The whole place rumbled as he opened up his eyes. Yellow light and electricity escaped from them and lit up the darkened room. The people outside heard a strange thunderclap below ground which was followed by an earthquake.

Thanks to Zhang Dong's special formation the spiritual energy was contained to this room. The people outside would not notice that he was breaking through but he could not do much about the quaking.

'Be formed… my prime pillar!'

He willed it into place and it formed inside of him. It stood tall like a monolith and it was just the first one of many. Around it, he would fashion even more pillars which would then be used to create his golden lightning core. Its might would eclipse the previous one just as this prime pillar overshadowed the old one.

”Whew…”

He gave out a sigh of relief after successfully going through his first major change. Due to the purity of the way he cultivated there were no impurities in his body.

After standing up he started checking if he made any mistakes and how much power he really had.

'This… I'm much stronger… about the level of a great circle foundation establishment cultivator…'

'I'll absorb these later, I should go…'

After stashing the broken slave collars he left this room. They had no lightning energy in them anymore but could be used to bolster his silver body further.

”Elder, what has happened…”

Zhang Dong was quick to return above ground. Before the guards could look into the dungeon prison below he was there to block the path.

”It's nothing, the prisoner was a bit tougher than I expected, I had to use some strength to get rid of him…”

The dungeon below was reached by elevator which led to a checkpoint. They were now at this point, this room had been previously cleared out by him which raised some concern with these men.

”Elder, where are the other guards…”

”Don't worry about them, they need to do some cleaning, now let us depart.”

He gave the older while giving the two men here a stern look. They quickly clasped their hands and headed towards the elevator. The good part about being in this world was how the seniors were treated with reverence.

They all headed up and before leaving he gave the order to not let anyone descend into the dungeon for the day. With this, he would have some time to go through this clan's library and gather some information.