Chapter 231 Rising Strength

When Li Yan opened her eyes, she found Zhan Qingyue and Kai Min lying beside her. A worried looking Li Shu was looking after them.

"Sister Yan", Li Shu called out after seeing Li Yan opening her eyes. A relieved look appeared on her face after she saw her sister trying to sit up.

"What happened? How much time I have been sleeping?", Li Yan asked Li Shu with confusion in her eyes. The last thing she could recall was her arrival on the third floor.

She successfully ran away from the violent monkeys and somehow dragged herself to the stone platform. Her curiousity got better of her as she chose to take a look at third floor without going for the exit of second floor.

She found herself standing on a desert after arriving on the third floor. Hot wind was blowing and there were golden sand everywhere as far as her eyes could reach.

She was just looking everywhere cautiously when a sudden attack came from the ground. Before she could react, the attack pierced her belly. Li Yan could only see a gigantic stinger and her vision blurred after that. She couldn't even use the escape Tasman as her eyes became heavy completely.

Now that she had woke up, she found herself lying on the stone surface of a gigantic corridor. There were bandages wrapped around her wounds. She asked Li Shu and found out that it was the Spirit palace cultivators who treated her along with other girls.

"Where is Zhan Chen? Has not he come out yet?", Li Yan asked Li Shu. Li Shu shook her head with a worried look on her face.

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"Windchaser sword", Zhan Chen murmured softly and swung his hand. A sword shaped energy materialized out of his hand and attacked the leaping creature infront of him.

"Boom", the energy sword exploded upon colliding with the body of the leaping creature. A dull 'thud' sound came as the body of the creature crashed onto the ground of the fourth floor.

"Roar"

"Roar",

roaring sounds came from the surrounding as a response to Zhan Chen's attack. Zhan Chen dodged immediately as two attacks rained on him from different directions.

Two palm deep holes appeared where he was standing before. Zhan Chen looked ahead and found two creatures looking at him menacingly. The creature who had just got hit by his attack stood up after a second.

'ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ No(ve) l Bi n',

The creatures had two large canines and they had black stripes on their back. He had already recognised the menacing creatures standing infront of him. They were Sabretooth tigers famous for their ferocity. Zhan Chen had to fight them in the fourth floor after finishing off the monster scorpions of the third floor.

He was currently at the peak of the seventh stage of the Core condensation realm. His advancement in strength came as a pleasant surprise to him after he finished off a huge number of monster scorpions.

He chose to cultivate a while before advancing to the fourth floor. That's why there was a delay in his arrival to the fourth floor.

Every floor had a safe zone and that was the area near the stone platform. Zhan Chen benefitted from this arrangement and now stood at the peak of Core condensation realm. One single push and he would jump a realm to the Martial ascension realm.

The pure energy of the sky tower was really beneficial for a cultivator. Zhan Chen found the challenges of the sky tower rewarding after he stepped into the fourth floor of the sky tower.

"I can easily accumulate enough energy to push myself to the Martial ascension realm", he thought to himself. He swung his hand once again and launched another attack towards the wounded Sabretooth tiger.

"Roar", a Sabretooth tiger opened his mouth and an energy gust came out from its mouth. It easily intercepted the attack that Zhan Chen had launched.

Zhan Chen was waiting for this opportunity. He used the Cloud chasing steps and appeared near the Sabretooth tiger who had just launched the gust of energy.

p He swung his hand and a thick energy slash flew towards the Sabretooth tiger. The Sabretooth tiger tried to dodge but its attempt proved futile.

Zhan Chen continued to attack the three Sabretooth tigers and it took him a while before he could finish them off. Another three Sabretooth tigers came to intercept him and a fierce fight ensured between Zhan Chen and the Sabretooth tigers.

Zhan Chen looked slightly exhausted after finishing them off. "Their cunningness has no use infront of me but the real challenge lies in the toughness of their bodies. It is almost similar to the fifth tier magical beasts", Zhan Chen thought to himself.

He continued to fight the Sabretooth tigers and dense pure energy started to accumulate inside his body. After fighting for few hours, he finally stopped.

"I have gathered enough energy. It is time to improve my cultivation", he thought to himself.

He used the Cloud chasing steps and dashed towards the stone platform of the fourth floor. The Sabretooth tigers gave chase but they were no match for the speed of the Cloud chasing steps.

They finally stopped after seeing the stone platform ahead of them. Zhan Chen smiled after seeing the Sabretooth tigers backing off. He sat crosslegged and closed his eyes to concentrate.

He operated the Celestial yin yang sutra and thick strands of energy started to circulate all over his body. He used the energy to polish his core for a while.

It took some time but Zhan Chen was not impatient at all. He finally stopped when he couldn't polish his core anymore. "Now it is time for the Martial ascension realm", he murmured to himself.

'',

Martial ascension realm was a huge step in a cultivator's life. Among the seven stages of cultivation, the Martial ascension realm was the most difficult among all.

The number of Core condensation realm cultivators were very high in the central land. But when it came to Martial ascension realm, there was a sharp decline in their numbers.

The true path of cultivation started from the Martial ascension realm. That's why, there was the term 'ascension', to describe the importance of the realm for the cultivators.

Martial ascension realm cultivators could fly on their own. They also awaken soul consciousness with which they could observe the nearby area in details. A cultivator can't be regarded as a true expert unless he stepped foot in the Martial ascension realm.

The true challenge of the Martial ascension realm lied in its requirement. One needed to strengthen his soul even before he could think of attempting a breakthrough to the Martial ascension realm.

The true challange lied after strengthening the soul. It was the courage to break upon the energy core and carve out the energy sea in the dantian. If something went wrong in this process, then the person in question may die in the worst case scenario.

Many would cower to think of breaking apart their energy core but Zhan Chen was different. With the experience of his past life, he easily proceeded to step into the Martial ascension realm.

His soul was already that of a sage. So, he didn't have to think about the soul aspect. The only thing he needed to do was to break his core and form the energy sea at its place.

Zhan Chen cultivated for a while and made sure that he was in peak condition. He took a look at his core and with a thought of his mind, a tiny crack appeared on his core surface.

The crack widened gradually and finally his core started to break apart. A huge amount of energy came out from his core and threatened to damage his dantian.

Zhan Chen calmly wrapped his soul force around his core and made sure that energy remain confined to where the core was. Finally, his core completely broke and only a huge amount of thick energy remained in the place of his energy core.

The next step was the most important step, to carve the energy sea in the dantian space. With a single thought of his mind, he connected with the space of his dantian. He pushed soul force towards it and a wide space opened up in his dantian.

Zhan Chen let go of his soul restraint and pure energy flooded his energy sea. He applied soul force and the energy started to condense. Finally, the entire amount of energy condensed into few drops of liquid.

Zhan Chen cultivated for a while and made sure that he condensed every strand of his energy into liquid form. There was still a wide space left in his energy sea even after it accomodated all the energy contained inside his core.

That was the basic difference between a Core condensation realm cultivator and a Martial ascension realm cultivator. A first stage Martial ascension realm cultivator hade multiple times of energy than a peak Core condensation realm expert. Their level was entirely different where a Martial ascension realm expert could easily overwhelm a Core condensation realm cultivator.

Zhan Chen cultivated for a while. A small smile appeared on his face when he finally stopped cultivating. "Finally, in the Martial ascension realm. I wonder what extent of my soul force I can use now?", he murmured to himself with a smile plastered on his face.

He took a look at the distant Sabretooth tigers and a curious look appeared on his face. With a thought of his mind, a gigantic sword materialized infront of him.

He laid his eyes on the Sabretooth tigers and the gigantic sword flew towards their location. There was a loud boom as it fell on the waiting Sabretooth tigers.