Cultivation Through Artifacts

"What? The legendary World Devouring Strike which can demolish half of a continent if used by a Celestial Ruler?" stood up Connor abruptly, his palms trembling from the shock.

"Yes," nodded Jas, but then continued, "Though, because she is still on the Fifth Cultivation Stage she can't bring its full potential out, not even close. If I should say, that attack right now was only... 0,5% of what the true World Devouring Strike could do."

"!?"

Many in the room turned speechless, their face unable to hide their awe. Even Jane, who always looked collected and calm seemed now dumbfounded by Jas's statement.

"0,5%... Haha... Then whoever can master such a terrific Art could be considered as a God amongst us 'weak' Cultivators." sighed Connor, his body dropping back into his seat.

"But there is none who was able to master and utilize it perfectly," suddenly Jas talked, confusing Connor and the others right away.

"What should that mean?"

"It means, mastering the World Devouring Strike perfectly only one in a million can do. So far, only one person was able to achive that feat, but unfortunately, even he died before he had the chance to use it."

"..."

Seeing everyone's confused gaze, Jas proceeded on to explain, "The World Devouring Strike is indeed a powerful Secret Art that can compete with any Cultivator Level Arts, but it differs slightly from the rest."

"It's concept is about collecting a so-called World Essence from nature over time and turning into mass-energy in the body. However, it does not require the Cultivator's Essence Path like many Cultivator Level Arts as it can be used without that."

"However, if one does use their Essence Path during the Secret Art, the effect it can achive could soar even above the heavens! The more Essence Path one uses during the process, the greater the results will be. Let it be drying the ocean or erase mountains from existence, the World Devouring Strike can do all of it."

"But you said no one can truly achive such a feat, and even the sole Cultivator that did, died right away. Why is that?" asked suddenly Jane from the side, her interest piqued.

Tilting his gaze at her, Jas asked calmly, "What do you think World Essence is?"

"World Essence is the purest form of Essence Particles throat can be found everywhere, even here but can't be consumed as our body is incapable of doing so."

"Yes, your statement is true indeed, but the part where Cultivators can't consume World Essence is a false statement."

"How so?"

"World Essence can be consumed, but only once one purified their body completely. Flesh, bones, blood, and even the Essence itself. Once all those had been purified, one can consume World Essence without further ado!"

After giving them a moment of silence to comprehend what he meant, Jas continued to talk, "However, exactly because the World Essence is pure, it holds a greater amount of Essence than any Beast Essence in this world. So here is the question; what will happen if one's body was not strong enough, but still continued to consume Wold Essence as though it was normal Beast Essence?"

Everyone before Jas obviously knew the answer, hence remained silent and began to ponder.

If what Jas just told them was true, then the chances for Khal to win was closer to nil than to one!

-

-

-

Hours have passed in silence, and Khal did nothing but remained in his little hideout, relaxing and waiting for his strength to replenish.

His Diamond Skin was gradually healing which cause Khal to feel relaxed, however, his legs were the biggest problem here.

Normally this wouldn't have happened with him if his Body Essence were still at 100 units, but because he increased it by a huge margin, his Body Essence was exceptionally huge compared to normal Cultivators.

Because he didn't watch how much Essence he used during his time when he used the Emerald Snake Dance, his legs were so numb even after hours that let alone walking, he couldn't even stand up properly!

He needed at least a few more hours to get back a bit of a sensation into his legs, but even that won't be enough for him to continue with his original plan.

"Well, it's not like I can do anything about it so I will relax for the time being." sighed Khal and pushed himself even deeper into the hole to camouflage himself more.

He even told Rubie to lower her presence as he didn't want any unwanted dangers. If he was found here either by Seila or a Beast with a strong defense akin to the Crystal snake, he could be referred to as a dead man.

Time flowed imperceptibly and half a day passed in the blink of an eye. Under half a day Khal did nothing but rest and made sure his legs continued to heal at a steady pace.

There were times when Beasts with lower Cultivation Stage walked past him, but thanks to his presence less state and Rubie's lowered aura, none of them were intrigued to check him or simply didn't notice them.

Swish!

Sometime later as Khal's legs were about to heal completely, Khal took out his Cultivator's Badge and glanced at it.

But what surprised him, that except for the one section he came from there were no other sections! All of them vanished from the last time and what replaced them were long black lines connecting to another section far away.

Some were two sections away but there was the one that was so far that the black line crossed through 4 previous sections!

"If she decided to follow me, hunting for Beasts here or going back should be a foolish move as she could find me in no time at all." pondered Khal, and his gaze shifted to one of the black lines that connected into another section that remained.

'...'

-

After waiting for a bit more and moving his legs around, Khal climbed out of his hideout and examined his surroundings. Once he made sure Seila was not in his proximity and didn't hide from him to ambush him, Khal didn't hesitate and began to run.

On his way, he met a few Beasts akin to panther with the sole exception that their fur and the skin below them was sapphire-colored vines, while their teeth and claws were black in color.

Obviously, they were Plant Beasts. In the jungle that was filled with Sapphire trees all over, these Beast were the natural predators without question!

However, because they were still on the Third Cultivation Stage and had hardly any defense, before Khal's Devil Fangs they were sliced and killed in a flash, increasing his strength even further.

[Notify! 'Heaven's Eyes' has consumed 4 'Artificial Beast Essence'!]

"So this should be it, huh..." exclaimed Khal loudly after he killed another Beast at the border of this section.

Right before him, a long and wide bridge made out of black jade could be seen, vanishing into the distance where the expected other section was.

But the greatest sight wasn't the bridge that miraculously arose once the section disappeared from the map, but the sight below it.

About a hundred meters below, a vast and infinitely deep ocean could be seen, filled with hundreds of aquatic Beasts of different sizes and shapes their Cultivation Stages varying.

It was apparent that once one fell into the water only death waited and nothing more. Or at least if one couldn't fly by accident, though only one out of a thousand should have such Talent.

Shifting his gaze from the water to the bridge Khal pondered for a while and stepped onto the bridge.