8- "Emperor's Skull"
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As they walked away, Katrina led Adel to his room, which was near to hers.
"Don't worry, junior brother Adel; if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask me since I'm here next door!
Don't forget to attend the clan elders' meeting every morning!
They provide crucial cultivation knowledge as well as facts about the cultivation world! "Katrina exclaimed enthusiastically, then turned around and went to her own room.
Adel shook his head and walked around to go inside his room.
From the exterior, this structure seemed to be warm and welcoming.
It was made of shimmering ores that looked to be rare ores valuable to mortals, as well as wooden symbols.
Small, rounded windows bring in enough light to brighten the space and have been added to the home in a somewhat symmetrical shape.
The roof was tall and square in design, with horizontal roof tiles covering it.
It had both melded into a style reminiscent of a medieval chief's estate on Earth.
It was a somewhat smaller and more sumptuous variant, with pure gold embedded in portions of the structure.
The interior of the room was a blend of grandeur and simplicity.
He then sighed as he remembered how, when he was nothing more than a lowly mortal, he was treated as if his life didn't matter to anyone at all whether he lived or died...
He was homeless in his early days, without even a bit of bread to eat, yet these clan members create an entire chamber out of pure gold...
Of course, he made it to school by working his a.s.s off, where he ran into several of his harem members. But that's another story for another time.
He shook his head, shaking those thoughts away before continuing to sit in a middle-sized bed made of fine silk, with a white sheet on top.
Adel then sat cross-legged, experiencing the connection with the three pathways...
But what he didn't expect was his soul traveling somewhere and retaining his body in the same spot shortly after attempting to restart cultivation with the connection to the three pathways...
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Adel looked around, perplexed. He was sitting cross-legged a few moments ago. But now he's gone somewhere else?
He took a glance around. It was an empty place with a spooky feeling about it...
A broad world greeted him as he took a step forward.
He could feel himself lifting off the ground, indicating that there was no Gravity Law in this world.
He looked around, amazed to see so many islands moving across the sky...
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He was cautious at first, but it was instinctive, coming from some deep part of his body, which he supposed was where he had a connection to this odd, new world.
He could feel a strong barrier on the other side of the world, which made him desire to travel there unconsciously...
But, just a few meters away, he noticed a gigantic, 30-foot-tall tree that appeared to be old, but had very significant energy fluctuations that kept him away from it.
He took a quick glance at it: the tree stood 30 feet tall and had an imposing canopy of innumerable arching branches with blue and green leaves that looked to be just starting to develop...
When he came closer to the barrier, he felt an immensely tremendous pressure; he couldn't even go near to it without his soul's prowess...
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While Adel was staring around the world, a deep violet-colored entrance, more resembling a giant gate, suddenly appeared in the center of all islands...
He drew closer and closer to it, causing it to open abruptly on its own.
He glanced at it, awestruck by its design.
The gate was well carved in wood and connected to a rather classic bridge.
It had runic institutions all over its edges, as well as enchantments, making the gate very appealing.
He took a quick look around before choosing to enter since the site had somehow attracted him, putting all his previous wariness to rest.
However, as he was only two meters from from it, it rocked fiercely before tremendous energy fluctuations began to leak out the entrance.
It went on for a few seconds until the pressure was great enough to eject Adel from the space, forcing him to return to where he was...
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Adel was once again confused when he returned to his body, wondering whether he had just suddenly ended in a dream.
But then he shook his head, eliminating those thoughts, as he remembered the sensation of flying in the air.
After a few seconds, a startling variety of symbols emerged in his consciousness.
There were no words or images; simply a highly archaic set of characters depicting a figure that seemed faceless and presumably genderless, breathing in an unusual manner.
The letters were floating in the air in front of his eyes.
They were portraying a genderless, faceless figure who drew a long breath and then took out two or three fresher, shorter inhales of breath.
Adel could see the three energies from the three pathways making a thick connection with his mouth. The more he breathed in, the more energy entered the individual's body.
The pathways were depicted in the symbols, indicating that the thick energy was emanating from them.
The scene changed to show the same individual breathing more and more breaths in a combined one and then letting it all out with two fresher, shorter breaths.
That person appeared to be attempting to follow a set of breathing patterns.
The characters then moved gradually, and that individual stopped breathing.
He gradually channeled all of the energy stored in his body to build a skull with a crown. Even though they were ethereal since they were simply formed of energy, they still emerged to be one.
The individual who had been seated cross-legged rose up and carefully allowed the skull to enter an unique area in its body...
A magnificent, cold, and emotionless voice had resonated into his ears from the characters, and he could plainly understand what the person was saying: "You will only be able to make the skull enter the Semium space after successfully completing the *@th step.
Until then, this breathing method will come in handy."
After the figure finished speaking, the scene blurred until it totally vanished, and a series of words strangely imprinted themselves deep within Adel's soul: "Emperor's Skull."
These terms suggested that it was an unique cultivation technique.
As for the language in which they were written, they were made up of words that neither Adel, who previously lived in his soul before fusing with Adel, nor the current Adel, who had a past life of 80 years into Earth and its dimensions, recognized, which is a serious risk if he thinks about it.
Then again, who in their right mind would believe someone who had transported him into a mystery area, then sent a technique and then vanished?
Will he just accept it and utilize it to enhance his strength?
No! All of his previous caution towards others would be for naught! He may even be a fat sheep, and once strong enough, he'd be murdered to extract all of the stored energy. After all, he wouldn't be stupid to believe that everyone in the world would want to assist him in some manner.
The symbols that made up the cultivation technique—[Emperor's Skull]—were a mix of faint ancient letters.
Though he was perplexed, he was able to clearly understand that the implication these symbols made was [Emperor's Skull], as if it was already something profoundly inscribed in his spirit.
But before Adel could even raise his guards against the person, a wide eye that seemed formless and invisible to anyone, including Adel, opened itself from his soul, dispelling his doubts as if it was a cultivation technique he inherited in a previous life but never got the chance to use due to it requiring no cultivation...
The eye closed once again, as if it had never opened in the first place...
Adel's body trembled slightly with excitement as he recalled the cultivation technique [Emperor's Skull]...
Cultivation techniques were for a single cultivation system, as they assisted them in cultivating all the way up to the precise step described at the start of the book.
They were separated into numerous ranks, although Adel isn't sure if they were the same as on Earth or if they took on new titles in this universe.
Based on the notion that this cultivation technique was unique enough that it consisted of three parts:
The body cultivation section, the soul cultivation part, and lastly the energy cultivation part, each of which only contained six sectors, and the remainder appeared to be sealed for the time being since his power wasn't sufficient to unlock them...
The name of the body cultivation section was "Five Elements Transcendent Body."
After looking at it, he seemed to obtain some form of vision that showed him two cycles in which we are included:
A light green cycle encircled a circle with a blue light ball in the lower left, which subsequently changed to a brownish tint.
The brownish light ball then turned into another flaming red ball.
The light ball was converted from its original flaming red tint to a darker shade of brownish tone.
The deep brown light ball then changed into a silver-like ball before returning to the original blue light ball farm and repeating the process.
According to the approach, body grades were graded beginning with the mortal grade, but then all other higher grades were clouded, which meant his power didn't enable him to know it for now...
The blue light ball represented the body, which would be nurtured by utilizing a specific treasure to achieve the power promised by the cultivation technique: 'A body as hard as a high-ranked mortal beast when trained to its pinnacle.'
Though he was disappointed that he wouldn't be able to learn more, he understood that his power needed to be far greater than it was at the moment in order for him to learn more.
Then there was another cycle, this time deep black, encircling a circle that did the exact opposite of what the bright green ball did, starting from a silver light and ending with a blue light, repeating the process over and over.
For a few seconds, he speculated on what the cultivation technique may be.
He remembered something called a Five Elements Diagram of creation and destruction from Earth, but he wasn't sure if it was the same for this cultivation technique or not, so he could only wait till he began cultivating it.
The Ki energy acquired throughout the cultivation process seemed to be directed to the skull's left side.
As he began cultivating the three techniques at the same time, faint threads could be seen approaching his mouth...
The skull took around three hours to finish.
Though something was different from what the image depicted—energy did not continually grow into the skull.
It was separated into two parts: one at the brain, which seemed to hold Nao energy, and what was left, which was divided into two parts:
The left side was for Ki energy, while the right side was for Qi energy.
He realized that the figure wasn't employing the three primordial energies, but rather Chi energy, which was a combination of the three...
He nodded in understanding before turning to examine his soul cultivation method...
It was called "Drop in the Ocean"...
The method itself consisted of changing the Nao energy threads that were approaching him into liquid form, totally filling up the region of the brain that contained the Nao energy.
It then included converting all of the liquid into a gaseous condition. Then it changes into vapor before returning to a liquid state.
Though the true reason it was named a drop in the ocean was that the same procedure was repeated many times to create one drop that is purer and far more powerful than all the other liquids...
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Moving on, the last one is the energy cultivation one.
It was known as "Primordial Cosmos."
What was the technique? It was strange?
It mentioned in the description that it might turn the entire universe into one's dantian...?
Adel was taken aback as he read the description, but he didn't pay any attention to it, simply nodding his head lightly before continuing to read about the cultivation process...
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{A.N: Nope, no cliffhanger. 2100 words...
Enjoy reading!
Don't forget to leave a review to help the book though...}
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Regarding the cultivation process, it was stated that it was relatively straightforward at first, but becomes more wild in the later phases...
However, what was referred to as 'simple' was anything but.
It involved killing monsters and capturing the Qi energy that was released after their death and utilizing it to cultivate...
The cultivation and technique's names were contradictory; he didn't know much, nor did he think too much about it.
As for the energy from beasts, it returned to the pathway, just as their cultivation returns to the pathway to replenish it and maintain it always restorative of its own.
The energy of deceased beasts passes into the pathway, leaving their bodies empty and soulless, while their souls transfer to be judged by karmic laws...
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Meanwhile, deep within Adel's soul...
The figure yawned in boredom because it hadn't had any exciting activities to witness for the past day. Making it confirm its decision to sleep...
Unbeknownst to it, several unanticipated occurrences occurred, making the first calamity far more difficult than it was meant to be...