Page 91: Essence pond

Today was the 8th day since the essence pond was opened. In the sect, only the ones with the specific token can enter the place since it was locked by an array. Located in one of the mountain of the sect, the pond was actually in the base of the mountain. Once a person enters, there will be a long tunnel that leads to to center of the mountain. Since the mountain was huge, the radius, which is the length of the tunnel requires one to walk more or less 5 minutes.

Long Bai reached the central area and there he saw a bluish shallow pond that spans 5 meters on the ground. The ceiling was only 5 meters high and was full of stalactites which made some areas have a lower roof of only 2 meters. Water drip from them and eventually ends on the pond below it. Compared at the entrance, the essence inside was thicker but it was thickest in the pond itself. Underneath the pond, an essence gathering array was detected. Compared with other essence gathering array that he has seen, this was a huge one. Before, the essence gathering array he saw were just enough to create an essence crystal but here, the array was ten times larger. It seemed that the entire mountain itself was the array since it collects the essence on the atmosphere and condenses it as liquid which combines with the pond.

The array pattern resembled a prism. The surface of the prism

Seeing that there are things he can take advantage with, he started to work. First is to absorb the essence in the pond. He entered the pond and sat on a flat stone at the middle which was submerged three inches.

After the whole duration of thirty minutes, the water table has leveled with the stone table where he sat at. This just tell anyone who comes here that the essence in the pond was already sucked dry. Long Bai on the other hand was able to increase his cultivation just by one level. Lastly, he dunked the breakthrough pill which he received from the competition. Since he already took this kind of pill before, the efficiency has become too low. As of this day, he was able to gain two levels altogether.

[STATUS

Cultivation: Core tempering layer (6th level)

Core grade: Unique (multi-elemental)

Gate Channel opened: 2/8

-Gate of strength

*skills can become stronger with more essence used

-Gate of rejuvenation

*healing of wounds has become faster. ]

A little bit about the core tempering layer which he is at right now, it is true that the core is getting sturdier but its not getting any bigger at all. What usually happens was that cultivators mistaken this stage as to make the core bigger to accommodate more essence. However, this would lead to many complications in the future. A lot felt that that way was the correct path for the core foundation or tempering layer of the soul stage but only few chose to gamble it by strengthening it and not growing it bigger.

Long Bai's central core right now became denser due to it being forged by essence. Since it got denser, its gravity or pulling effect to the essence from the surroundings became stronger too. This means that it would be during this layer that would dictate how much its passive essence pulling ability would be enhanced. In addition, the more study the core, the more that one can level up more than 5 or more levels without suffering from instability. Last time during the absorption of the poison mist, the core was not yet enhanced which is why the system automatically redirected the extra essence to the new gate channel.

It was a let down that the essence pond can only replenish a small amount of essence. If it was as condensed as the millennium milk, the benefit could have been extraordinary. The case is that the pond is being visited often which is why the essence being gathered can't condense yet to become a treasure. Although he gained a little from the pond considering its size, it's considered not bad.

Since there are still a lot of time, Long Bai thought that he should make use of the resources present. If someday he can also make his own essence gathering array, it would become a great benefit for him.

[System notice: Analysis of the essence gathering array started. Estimated time of completion: 1 hour, 20 minutes]

'Huh? It's going to take more time than I expected. This array is just really huge. I wonder when I can manage to gather materials to make one...This island have limited resources and yet they have such sophisticated array implanted in a mountain. I wonder how they managed to do it..

Hm, wait, I remember the sect leader mentioning about benefits being received from higher rank sects from the mainland. Maybe that is the reason why they were able to afford something of this caliber.'

While waiting for the system to complete its work, Long Bai entered a meditative state. After reaching the bottleneck of the martial skills, he realized that there are still things to improve and not just its rank or tier. After seeing the self- created skills of Yue and the others, he planned to make something also for his own. It is true that the martial skill fundamentals were already mastered however he doesn't have an identity like them. Reflecting back, he tried to consolidate the information which he could use as an inspiration; combination skills, counter skills, etc. What could be something he have which he could integrate.

'Hm, most of the ones I have seen are physical reinforcement. Reinforce? Ah yes, I forgot about that. Since I have the five spheres, I can imbue different kinds of elements.'

Long Bai entered his pocket world and thought of practicing his skills in there. He tried imbuing his weapon with the elements he had and observed their properties. When he imbued a sword with fire essence, the sharpness of the blade has increased. If he concentrated the fire essence on the blade as a thin line, the temperature has reached extremes that it would be able to cut ordinary metals like butter. This property could be useful when cutting down beasts with hard scales.

[System notice: Would you like to name the new skill created?

Skill name: Plasma sword]

Next one was imbuing it with a ice essence, it didn't have any special use. Instead, he remembered how Ko Lan used her skills. As he tried condensing the cold essence in the empty air, he was able to create ice shards that he can throw as knives during battles. Although it doesn't look useful to him, he thought of using it for making some bloodless kills. Sometimes, the blood splashes on him which forces him to change his clothes due to its smell.

[System notice: Name the new skill?

Skill name: Icicle knife ]

.

[System notice: Name the new skill?

Skill name: Poison edge ]

Long tried the ones he knew but the most interesting he found was using the lightning essence. When he imbued lightning essence on his sword, its penetrating ability was devastating. In addition, he can extend the range of the sword using the lightning attribute. In a fight, even if the sword or rapier, whether which he willl use would not physically reach the enemy, the lightning extension can do the job. Aside from that,the lightning attribute can be emitted up to five meter distance and go like a lightning strike.

Although they would seem to be fancy, the conversion of Earthly essence to elemental essence was taxing. The conversion rate was higher from 1:2, 1 for the earthly essence he naturally absorb from the surroundings while 2 for the elemental essence.

For the poison essence, he didn't need to convert since he had some of it stored in the green sphere. On the other hand, the other spheres don't have any natural contents yet since he never encountered any great fire sources nor any cold attributed treasures. If he needs to use fire essence, it would require him to convert the inner essence from the central core back into the red sphere.

With all of these realizations, he didn't really have to change his fighting style but instead just give them additional properties which would make it more unpredictable during battles. Since he believes that there are still more to have in the future, he can't just be satisfied with the current improvement and settle to it permanently.

.

.

*Martial grounds

On the stage, Ah Mu, Ling Tian, and Yue were the only ones fighting vigorously. The two alchemists were back on their abodes trying to improve their alchemy skills while Chen Weimin was out of the ring still spellbound by the scene in front of him.

He was been watching them fight this way for more than five days already however he still haven't get used to it. After seeing them fight so well, he started to recognize their skills and at the same time feel jealous of what they are capable. Everyday, he tried asking Yue to teach him the martial skill but still his avail has been denied. Due to this, he felt like he became the weakest among the group.

He once tried to join the rumble fight but just after two minutes, he was already thrown out of the stage. After that, he was embarrassed to join them again even with them inviting him.

.

.

*Elder Council Hall

"Sect leader, how confident are you with these kids? We even excluded the seniors to join the martial competition. Was this really a good idea?"

"Having the seniors join would just be useless since they have reached an age almost the cutoff. You know that the mainland would only take in talents and the kids who just won are the keys. They are still 10 years old and below and yet they have reached such levels in just a year. If the mainland would notice this growth rate, they would definitely notice them. They will be our hope to sustain our sect. We have been resourceless for a long time. We can't afford to fail this time. Trust me, these kids will make it, especially that first placer in the alchemy test."

"Sect leader, what do you think about that young lad? It seemed that you know something?"

"It is just my speculation but I think that young alchemist came from the mainland."

"Mainland? How can that be?"

"Elder, I have had my fair share of experience in there. I learned that there are families that sends out their young ones on the outside world to develop themselves on their own. Do you think that such level of skill is something that someone from this place can have?"

"Sect leader has a point. We tried to investigate his background and all we know was that he came from a merchant family which was killed by bandits. If he was from such background, he could be an adopted child which might have come from the mainland."

"That is the most logical thing indeed."

"I also agree."