A Chaotic World

Chapter 320: Reaping the Rewards of Others’ Labour

"Argh!" Nanlan Qianxue cried out involuntarily when the stream of Slaughter Essence energy rushed into her inner world.

Unlike the Slaughter Essence that could be drawn out of an ordinary beast core, this stream of energy was far more violent and intense.

It flooded into her inner world like a raging tide, her meridians barely able to hold together under the incredible strain.

Right now, the pain coursing through her body was incomparable to anything she had ever felt!

Yet not for a single moment did she even consider giving up and rejecting this injection of Slaughter Essence.

In order to endure through this agony, Nanlan Qianxue clenched her fists so tightly that her nails cut into the jade-like skin of her two hands, almost to the point of drawing blood.

She knew that this was an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity given to her by Lu Tianzi, and she must not let it go to waste!

With the sudden infusion of Slaughter Essence, her cultivation soared rapidly, quickly reaching the very limits of the Essence Condensation realm.

She was now ready to break through to the Origin Core realm!

All that was left was the refinement of impurities in her inner world.

The greater the amount of impurities she refined from her inner world, the further she would be able to go in the future.

And after being in constant contact with Lu Tianzi, Nanlan Qianxue had already gained a fairly good idea of the optimal way to do so.

She stopped absorbing the stream of Slaughter Essence energy that was entering her inner world. Instead, she started using it as fuel to burn through the impurities within her inner world.

However, while she managed to speed things up by doing so, it was only by a little.

On the other hand, to sustain her actions, Slaughter Essence energy from the sphere of darkness was being burned up at a mind-boggling rate!

This method of refining the impurities in her inner world was extremely extravagant and inefficient, made possible only because she was suddenly gifted this huge wealth of Slaughter Essence.

Still, there was a limit to this wealth of Slaughter Essence obtained from the ritual.

In addition, the rate at which she could refine the impurities in her inner world only slowed down as time passed. The more impurities she refined, the harder it would be to pick out the remaining impurities.

At the rate that she was going, even if she expended the entire stream of Slaughter Essence, she would not even have refined a tenth the amount of impurities in her inner world.

Realising that, Nanlan Qianxue was slightly disappointed, but not too surprised.

After all, she knew just as well that the refinement of impurities within the inner world was not something that could be accelerated this easily.

Otherwise, descendants of powerful influences would never have been stuck at the Peak Essence Condensation realm for decades.

Able to receive this huge boost to her cultivation level, Nanlan Qianxue was already more than satisfied.

This boost had come at a great cost of lives, but going through the war against the the Dragon Cauldron Kingdom had toughened up her mind. Back then, the number of deaths happening before her eyes far exceeded the amount tonight.

The current Nanlan Qianxue would no longer falter at the thought of the dead. All she was thinking of right now was to at least take full advantage of their sacrifice, so that the resources here would not go to waste!

This was also something that Lu Tianzi had repeatedly reminded her the night before.

Nanlan Qianxue could tell that Lu Tianzi had been worried that she would not be mentally prepared to accept a boost that came about from others' sacrifice.

At this thought, Nanlan Qianxue could not help but let out a bitter smile.

It seemed that in his eyes, she was still more of a burden than a partner.

But that could not be helped.

After all, the gap between the two of them was still far too great!

What Nanlan Qianxue did not know was that while she was thinking about Lu Tianzi, Lu Tianzi had similarly diverted his attention, his perception landing upon Nanlan Qianxue.

Lu Tianzi had yet to end his beastial bloodline transformation, and there was only a single thought running through his mind at the moment what a waste!

There was a gargantuan amount of Slaughter Essence gathered from the sacrificial ritual, but the way that Nanlan Qianxue was using it up was so wasteful that he felt speechless just by looking at her.

Ridiculous this insect is actually my comrade?

This will not do.

If I really have to bring her around with me, then I'd have to give her a hand!

Lu Tianzi's outstretched left wing flapped once, calling forth a gust of wind that blew over Nanlan Qianxue.

At that very instant, Nanlan Qianxue felt a sudden change happening in her inner world.

In addition to the stream of Slaughter Essence coming from the sphere of darkness, a second stream of energy had entered her inner world from another direction.

Nanlan Qianxue could not help but frown.

She never expected that at this juncture when she was expending all of her energy to refine her impurities, a foreign source of energy would actually take this opportunity to invade her inner world!

But before she could act to resist, Lu Tianzi's voice sounded out in her head.

"Do not resist."

These words explained nothing, but they could not be more reassuring coming from someone who had managed to form the legendary true origin core.

Nanlan Qianxue immediately relaxed, taking on the role of an observer even though this was happening in her inner world.

Lu Tianzi's Origin Force immediately got to work upon entering her inner world.

It formed into a massive green vortex, sucking in Nanlan Qianxue's liquid Slaughter Essence, refining the impurities within, and then ejecting the purified Slaughter Essence from the other end.

It was like a filter funnel, rapidly trapping and removing all impurities from the liquid Slaughter Essence that was running through it.

At the same time, this green vortex drew in the Essence energy provided by the sphere of darkness, tapping on it to sustain itself as an autonomous entity.

This was similar to the filter that Lu Tianzi had formed while refining his own impurities, possible only because the Law of Origin allowed him to see through the grand cycle of all existences.

While Lu Tianzi had not truly reached the stage of seeing through the grand cycle of all existences, what he had comprehended allowed him to at least create this green vortex that could autonomously pick out the impurities that did not belong within the system.

Only that this time, Lu Tianzi was allowed to tap upon the external source of power in the form of the sphere of darkness, kicking things up a notch and increasing the rate of refinement multiplefold!

With the appearance of this green vortex, Nanlan Qianxue's rate of refining her liquid Slaughter Essence suddenly skyrocketed!

"The rest is up to you," Lu Tianzi's voice sounded out in her head once more.

Nanlan Qianxue was speechless.

The rest was up to her?

What's left for her to do anyway?

All she had to do was channel her liquid Slaughter Essence through the green vortex, and everything else would take care of itself!

Lu Tianzi really is amazing

That was the only conclusion that Nanlan Qianxue came to.

After lending Nanlan Qianxue a hand, Lu Tianzi returned his focus to his own inner world.

Right now, his true origin core was hungrily devouring the stream of energy from the sphere of darkness, growing rapidly in size.

Double

Triple

Quadruple

The energy gained from this sacrificial ritual was far too terrifying!

Lu Tianzi could only imagine just how much crazier it would have been if he had not altered the formation, allowing the sacrificial ritual to reach Bog Town as well.

By the time the last bit of Slaughter Essence energy from the sphere of darkness entered Lu Tianzi's inner world, his true origin core had already reached its limit.

Lu Tianzi wrapped his Origin Force around his true origin core, forming a thick layer around it.

And then compress!

His true origin core immediately collapsed upon itself, unable to withstand the immense pressure of his Origin Force.

It was an extremely violent process, and a surge of pain coursed through Lu Tianzi's body, almost as though one of his internal organs had been crushed.

But the single-winged Lu Tianzi did not even flinch.

Along with the beastial bloodline transformation, his physical prowess had gone up as well, and so did his endurance towards the feeling of pain.

In Lu Tianzi's inner world, his collapsed true origin core quickly reformed itself within a cloud of Origin Force, returning to the shape of a small sphere of condensed Slaughter Essence that it had been from the start.

Only that this time, it was far more compact, and contained Slaughter Essence far denser than before.

A suppressed shockwave of energy spread out in all directions with him as the epicentre, sweeping the dust and pebbles off the ground.

Lu Tianzi closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, relishing in the intoxication of power surging through his body.

Second Cycle Origin Core realm attained!

This time, he had really been in the right place at the right time, allowing him to reap the rewards of others' labour!

He gently opened his eyes and cancelled his beastial bloodline transformation, his physical appearance gradually reverting to the norm.

And then the pain set in.

His body was still not able to withstand the strain from his beastial bloodline transformation. The sound of his heartbeat throbbed loudly in his ears, and every smallest movement caused his whole body to hurt.

Thankfully, there was no longer any immediately threat in the surroundings, and he could take his time to recover.

Lu Tianzi turned his attention back towards Nanlan Qianxue.

Right now, Nanlan Qianxue had already entered the final stages of her impurities refinement process.

This was not to say that she had almost refined all the impurities in her inner world, but at least those that could be detected easily.

Unfortunately, Lu Tianzi's comprehensions into the Law of Origin were still considered shallow.

Since he did not know Nanlan Qianxue as well as he knew himself, the green vortex within Nanlan Qianxue's inner world was unable to pick out every last bit of impurities like what he had done for himself.

In fact, even Lu Tianzi had to spend a couple of months slowly refining the last bits of impurities in his inner world.

But this much was already more than enough.

After all, refinement of impurities was a process that usually took years to complete!

For many martial artists, they might even spend decades stuck at the Peak Essence Condensation realm simply because of this reason.

On the other hand, Nanlan Qianxue only took a few hours to do so, all thanks to the help of Lu Tianzi and the sacrificial altar.

When the last bit of Slaughter Essence energy from the sphere of darkness entered Nanlan Qianxue's inner world, the green vortex formed from Lu Tianzi's Origin Force had already vanished.

After all, the next step was something that Lu Tianzi could not help her with.

Nanlan Qianxue slowly drew in the liquid Slaughter Essence in her inner world, forming it into the shape of a ball.

She then gathered the last remaining bits of Slaughter Essence energy from the sphere of darkness, smashing it repeatedly against this ball of liquid Slaughter Essence.

This process brought about an excruciating level of pain, but Nanlan Qianxue gritted her teeth and pressed on.

She was already obtaining all the benefits without doing a thing. If she were to fail at breaking through despite all that, just how pathetic would that be?

She would rather die than to experience such humiliation!

Lu Tianzi let out a gentle smile as he examined Nanlan Qianxue's current state.

There was no doubt in Lu Tianzi's mind by now.

Nanlan Qianxue's talent was not small by any measure. With such beneficial conditions laid out for her, there was no way that she would not be able to break through successfully.

And he was right.

Just as the first ray of the sun descended upon the land, Nanlan Qianxue finally managed to form her own origin core.