Training

Delilah was able to find the technique and deliver it to Orion within 5 minutes since she had spent most of her time in the library and was extremely familiar with it. After delivering the technique she went to help Lucius brew the medicinal bath, Lucius controlled the fire and stirred the brew while Delilah just put in the ingredients at the time that she was told to. Within 15 minutes the brew was made and Delilah delivered it to the Cultivation room. Lucius proceeded to make another body cleansing treasure knows simply as a body cleansing bar. It was like a breakfast bar or a power bar but it was used for body cleansing instead of for energy. It worked by absorbing the impurities from within the organs as it travelled through ones body and once it was done it would be let out when one went to the toilet. The bar was a recipe that Lucius had pulled out from the Cosmological Arts body refining section instead of his alchemy books. The recipe required a solid body refining treasure. Most body refining treasures were in liquid form so solid ones were quite rare. Especially ones that could be farmed like the Golden Apples. Lucius would be able to farm an endless amount of them, he would be able to eat it as a snack or mix it into the food he made.

Orion had said before that the process of cleansing would be a soothing one but this had changed with the various happenings. Firstly, the fact that Johnny's meridians were blocked meant the cleansing would be extended for far longer and would take around 2 weeks with the limited resources that Lucius had. Next was the fact that Johnny had a divine rank constitution that was of the wood element. This was important as he could now absorb and refine the essence from the herbs, this would help speed up the cleansing but it also meant he had to be awake to circulate the World Tree Guardian Scriptures which meant he would have to feel the excruciating pain.

Johnny had actually not been swayed by the pain but instead used it as a method to cleanse his mind. The pain made him feel alive and started to remove the feelings of self blame and ridicule. He began to accept that it wasn't his fault that his family had died. He had now made a further resolve to make sure to get stronger for the future.

The cleansing had taken a week to complete and Lucius and Delilah weren't idle during this time. Instead they began to gather the resources of the Gold Kingdom during this time. Lucius had emptied the space crates that contained the ruined palaces resources into a store room and then went back to Bakre with Delilah. They started with the golden palace and cleaned out the treasury. Delilah had spread flames throughout the entire royal estate and since these were tier 2 flames, no one could break through and loot anything. Nearly everyone had evacuated out of the Golden Heart city since all the important and powerful peoples places had been burnt down with flames that were too powerful to go near. Only squatters and criminals stayed in the capital, but they stayed at the outskirts, using the barren city as a cover. Delilah began to dissect the golden palace while Lucius was cleaning out the treasury, since the palace was essentially a giant golden block. The gold hadn't melted down but all the wooden beams and infrastructure had burnt to ashes, making it even easier to break down for Delilah. They then proceeded to loot the other two palaces belonging to Jamal and Hugart. After that they looted the estates of the 3 colonels, and the officials and merchants that had dirty dealings with the king. Most of the treasuries had been built out of strong stones so they didn't burn down, all of the treasures were fine and well kept.

In the end they amassed a good haul of goods. There was around 2,500 tonnes of Gold, 4,000 tonnes of other ores, 5,000 herbs, 200 zero rank cultivation manuals, 6 low rank manuals and a heck ton of jewels and gems. Although only the royal family could have gold, the other families stocked there treasuries with all kinds of diamonds, sapphires and rubies. The gems and jewels were able to be used in formations and such to enhance the effects. They were also simply pretty, and as a woman, Delilah was overjoyed to find that many jewels.

Lucius used the gold to extract metal essence and further his metal cultivation, he then used the herbs to cultivate his other elements. The pills he made were semi elemental pills as true elemental pills were too strong for his Spirit Gatherer Cultivation. In this time Johnny had finished the cleansing and began to train the World Tree Guardian Scriptures to the first layer, condensing a World Seed. The Scriptures had 9 layers corresponding to each tier, the first tier was condensing a World Seed and now that his meridians were clear and from all the resources that Lucius gave him, he was able to reach this stage effortlessly. He then took another month to grow out a sprout, reaching the second layer and breaking through to the Spirit Gatherer realm. In this time Lucius reached the Spirit Refiner realm and Delilah reached the second level of Elemental Ascension. The Elemental Ascension realm did not have three sub realms but 9 minor realms. The Qi and Spirit levels had 27 minor realms each but the Elemental Ascension realms were much more powerful and each gap was far greater than the gap between Spirit Gatherers and Spirit Condensers.

Johnny also started training his techniques and sparring with Lucius, Delilah and Orion. He was developing his combat abilities at an accelerated rate as he began to train harder and harder. The techniques and cultivation techniques all had rankings too which followed the same as the affinities rankings. These rankings were the established rankings that were used widely in the higher realms. The rankings were thought of and normalised by the great Edward Verdansk and were thus called the Verdansk Rankings. The rankings correlated to each of the ten tiers of cultivation. Johnny having a divine rank cultivation technique meant he would be able to reach the 9th tier with it. Lucius and Delilah trained in Emperor grade cultivation techniques passed down from their ancestors. Lucius' was the Cosmological Art while Delilah's was the Planet Devouring Art! In terms of pure power, Delilah's Art far exceeded Lucius' but this was because the Cosmological Art wasn't meant for battle or power. It was made to fully utilise the Basil bloodline and its true might would only be unleashed once Lucius unlocked the royal bloodline ability of the Basils.

The royal bloodline ability was limited to the royals of the Basil clan only and it was recognised as the most overpowered bloodline ability among all Emperor grade bloodlines. The ability was [Bloodline Absorption]! This ability could refine blood from someone with a bloodline and help the user gain their bloodline! If Lucius were to refine phoenix blood then his vitality and regeneration would be boosted to heights far surpassing his abilities. It usually took the blood essence and hearts of 5 people with a bloodline to gain that certain bloodline though so it was quite difficult to achieve as phoenixes wouldn't just clean there necks and wait for death. This bloodline ability could only be rivalled by the royal bloodline ability of the Lazarus but since Lucius would have this too, he could be seen as the one person with the strongest bloodline within the universe! A marriage between royalty of the Lazarus and Basil clans had never actually happened before so Lucius was the first of his kind!

Johnny received the wood primordial rune from Lucius and used this as a basis for his World Seed so he had already begun his journey to wood mastery. The battle techniques he trained in were mainly wood related while he had a few other elements for diversity though. The techniques had ranks of completion and understanding too, these were : low (20%), mid (40%), high(60%), peak (80%) and mastery (100%). Lucius had reached the peak rank in all his elemental skills. Delilah had reached mid rank for water, peak for wood, metal and fire, and mastery for earth! Johnny had started later than them but he had already reached high rank for wood, mid rank for water, earth and metal, and low for fire. Johnny and Delilah had been training since a year or so ago, while Johnny only had around a month so it was clear that he really was talented when it came to wood cultivation.