Chapter 358 - True Cultivation Sacred Area (2/2)

Even though an unknown number of years had passed, a portion of this primordial Slaughter Essence still remained in the cave, indirectly turning the cave into an ideal cultivation area for cultivators of the Slaughter Essence system.

In such a conducive environment, the four of them were able to cultivate at a pace far beyond anyone's imagination.

Two months passed.

On this day, a surge of energy rose up from within Young Master Xuan Hao.

Young Master Xuan Hao had managed to cross the narrow stream to reach the inner half of the cave not long ago, finally catching up to and even overtaking Lu Tianzi.

Of course, this was also partially because Lu Tianzi had not moved from his spot ever since crossing the narrow stream.

After cultivating under the pressure of the lingering Battle Intent and dense primordial Slaughter Essence, Young Master Xuan Hao had finally broken through the upper boundary of his cultivation level, reaching the Seventh Cycle Origin Core realm!

A wave of energy travelled out in all directions, alerting the others of his breakthrough.

However, not a single person was willing to end their meditation to congratulate him. Even Ruan Ling merely smiled to herself for a brief moment before turning her focus back to her own cultivation process.

They were all deeply immersed in cultivation, and ending their meditation prematurely might result in the breaking of their train of thoughts, possibly setting them back by a huge margin.

Even Young Master Xuan Hao did not open his eyes after breaking through, choosing to remain in meditation to consolidate his new cultivation.

But what happened next came as a surprise to all of them.

As if Young Master Xuan Hao's breakthrough had set off a chain reaction of sorts, the other three made their respective breakthroughs over the following two weeks.

Young Master Xuan Hao and Ruan Ling had been well prepared for this period of cultivation at the War Intent Cliff, and were already at the limits of their respective cultivation levels before their arrival.

All they needed was that one last push to get past their bottleneck and reach the next boundary.

As for Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue, their situation was not too different either.

The sacrificial ritual at Bog Town had been meant for Fifth Cycle Origin Core realm martials to breakthrough to the Sixth Origin Cycle.

With the two of them being much lower in terms of cultivation level, the ritual not only helped Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue breakthrough, it had also brought their cultivation extremely close to the next boundary after their gains were fully consolidated.

Using that as a foundation, these few months of cultivation in the rocky cave was more than what the two young talents needed to reach the next boundary.

Having every single one of them make a breakthrough was a surreal and shocking situation, albeit one that the youngsters relished in.

This was the absolute best case scenario, with each of them having reaped their own benefits.

Of course, there was one person who had secretly gained the most during this period of secluded cultivation.

Lu Tianzi was now a Third Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist, his true origin core brimming with strength and energy.

But unlike the others, Lu Tianzi had actually been focusing on the mastery of Battle Intent all this while.

The improvement in his cultivation level had merely been a side effect of him cultivating within the hidden cave, with the dense primordial Slaughter Essence in the surroundings acting as the perfect catalyst.

Suddenly, a sabre suddenly appeared in Lu Tianzi's hands despite his eyes being still closed.

It was a purely subconscious action, drawing the Torrential Sabre from his spatial ring while his mind was still elsewhere.

This was nothing uncommon either.

Martial artists often meditate with their weapons in hand. This way, they could feel for themselves the weight and form of their weapons, replicating it perfectly in their minds.

Because of that, everyone else ignored it completely... until Lu Tianzi actually started waving the Torrential Sabre around.

At this moment, the old master's sabre strike continued to replay in Lu Tianzi's mind, leading to Lu Tianzi attempting to mimic it for himself.

With each swing of the Torrential Sabre, powerful sabre light flashed across the cave, smashing into the rock walls and causing powerful tremors that reverberated across the entire cave.

Nanlan Qianxue, Young Master Xuan Hao, and Ruan Ling immediately ended their meditation and stood up in alarm.

Each of Lu Tianzi's sabre strikes seemed to be done casually, yet the force behind them was shocking to the extreme.

Not just that, but the power contained within each strike continued to rise as time passed, creating an increasingly fierce storm of sabre light.

”This...” Young Master Xuan Hao felt the corner of his lips twitch.

Fortunately for the rest of them, Lu Tianzi's sabre strikes were all directed towards the depths of the cave, sparing them from harm as long as they stayed behind him.

This was fine for Nanlan Qianxue and Ruan Ling since they were unable to advance further than Lu Tianzi in the first place. Only Young Master Xuan Hao felt aggrieved that he was being forced to retreat.

But even so, Young MasterXuan Hao did not choose to interrupt Lu Tianzi.

He understood that for Lu Tianzi to suddenly enter such a seemingly crazed state, he must have stumbled upon in a state of epiphany that rarely came for martial artists. For Young Master Xuan Hao to disrupt Lu Tianzi's thoughts in such a situation was rather selfish.

Thus, all he could do was to stay back temporarily while Lu Tianzi continued with his practice.

As for Lu Tianzi, his consciousness was still deeply immersed in observing and emulating the heaven defying sabre strike by the old master.

While trying to master the use of Battle Intent, Lu Tianzi was subconsciously learning the ways of the sabre as well, refining his mastery of the weapon.

The old master had reached an incredibly high level in his mastery of the sabre. Just from shadowing his moves, Lu Tianzi was able to glean great insights in regards to sabre techniques.

Lu Tianzi's sabre mastery had always been lagging slightly behind his sword mastery, but now this difference was rapidly reducing by the minute.

***

Hidden a distance away outside the hidden cave, the skinny man who had been keeping an eye on the entrance frowned.

At the same time, the dark yellow glow in his eyes dimmed significantly in his attempt to conceal his presence even further.

He hurriedly backed up into the shadows and sent a message through his communication ring. ”There's movement! Some people are coming – five of them – and they don't seem to be pushovers!”