A Chaotic World

Bright light flooded Lu Tianzi's vision, turning his entire world white.

He felt his body being lifted into the air by a mysterious force, one that was impossible for him to resist.

The next moment, the white world around him completely vanished, and Lu Tianzi found himself floating in a strange new world.

It was as though he was facing surfaces of water, with blurry yet visible waves spreading out all around him, illuminated by periodic flashes of light that added an even greater feeling of mystery to this world.

However, what was strange was that these waves were not just spreading out in a single plane.

There were some waves spreading upwards, as though it was defying the law of gravity. Some waves were spreading downwards, as though they were obstructed by an invisible force. Some were spreading diagonally, some to the left, and some to right.

It was as though Lu Tianzi had entered a world where the laws of physics no longer applied.

The mysterious force that Lu Tianzi had felt from before continued to guide him forward in this strange new world. He did not know where he was or where he was heading, but Lu Tianzi had no choice but follow.

At the same time, he closely observed these strange waves in this world.

These waves moved extremely slowly, yet seemed to possess boundless power behind them. No matter how Lu Tianzi looked at it, it did not seem like something that could be formed from liquid.

Were these waves comprised of World Origin Energy so thick that it materialised?

Without any ways to confirm his conjecture, Lu Tianzi could only continue guessing.

After a while, Lu Tianzi realised that he seemed to be passing through this world in an invisible tunnel that was completely untouched by these waves.

When the waves came into contact with the tunnel ahead, they were promptly reflected, returning the way they came. This interaction with the strange waves allowed Lu Tianzi to make out the shape of the tunnel despite it being completely undetectable by other means.

But just like how the waves were unable to penetrate through the walls of the tunnel, his perception was similarly unable to reach out to the waves.

Upon contact with the inner walls of the tunnel, it was as though his perception had crashed into an immovable wall of profound energy, impossible to proceed any further. As for the traits of this wall of energy, Lu Tianzi was unable to make sense of it at all.

He did not know about the waves, but this wall of energy definitely was not made of pure World Origin Energy.

But just what kind of energy was it?

Even though everything seemed a little peculiar within this strange world, Lu Tianzi could feel a boundless strength being emanated from every single thing he encountered.

If Lu Tianzi managed to take a glimpse into the profound laws governing all these profound energies, there was a chance that he might be able to recreate it on his own!

Wielding such boundless power at his fingertips, just what kind of concept would that be?

Just as he closed his eyes to try contemplating over this, the tunnel before him was suddenly cut short, giving out another flash of bright light as Lu Tianzi passed right through the severed end.

The wonderful sensation of floating was abruptly robbed from him as Lu Tianzi suddenly felt himself lying down on cold hard ground.

Surprised, Lu Tianzi slowly opened his eyes.

He saw that he had been sent into a spacious rock chamber, dimly lit by ancient looking runes that were engraved into the walls.

This place is…?

Lu Tianzi recalled immediately.

This was the chamber where he met Xihuang Yuanfeng!

He struggled to prod himself up so that he could look towards where he remembered the bed was, but the familiar ancient voice sounded out in his head at this time.

"Don't push yourself. The most important thing now is to recover your strength."

Hearing that voice, Lu Tianzi instantly stopped trying, lying back down onto the floor.

What happened to him over the past few moments were far too incredible, to the point where Lu Tianzi found it unbelievable.

Lu Tianzi even had a slight worry that perhaps this was all part of his imagination. Thus, he wanted to confirm with his own two eyes that he was truly back at the same chamber as before.

However, Lu Tianzi actually found out that he did not even possess the strength left to prod himself up!

Helpless to do anything about it, Lu Tianzi could only choose to listen to the voice and lie back down.

"What happened? Why am I back here?" Lu Tianzi asked while looking up at the rock ceiling.

Not far from him, Xihuang Yuanfeng sat cross legged on his bed, watching the bloodied Lu Tianzi with a complicated look in his eyes.

Back then, Lu Tianzi had decided to leave the chamber without acknowledging Xihuang Yuanfeng as his master. This caused Xihuang Yuanfeng to feel extremely regretful, especially since Lu Tianzi was such a promising young talent in his eyes.

With a solemn expression on his face, Lu Tianzi had stated that he needed to first carry out his revenge, promising to return after that was done.

For a matter such as revenge, risks were unavoidable.

Even so, despite his worries, Xihuang Yuanfeng did not have any right to stop the young man from doing so.

Thus, Xihuang Yuanfeng had chosen to take an alternative action.

"Do you remember that when you were about to leave, I had sent a wave of energy into your inner world?" Xihuang Yuanfeng asked in return.

"Senior sent a wave of energy into my inner world?" Lu Tianzi tried to recall.

Back then, Xihuang Yuanfeng had indeed sent a wave of energy at him. It was similar to how the ancient demon had aided him in increasing the unification rate of his Spiritual Essence.

However, because there were no apparent effects after that, coupled with the fact that Xihuang Yuanfeng chose not to say anything about it, Lu Tianzi did not think too much of it.

Could it be that this seemingly insignificant gesture was what saved his life in the end?

"It seems like you have realised it as well," Xihuang Yuanfeng continued. "This wave of energy had been staying dormant in your inner world, set to trigger the moment your lifeforce fell under a certain threshold. Upon its activation, it summoned a spatial gate in order to send you back here."

Lu Tianzi was startled.

With the ancient demon's capabiltiies, he was actually able to bury this wave of energy so deeply that not even Lu Tianzi was able to detect its existence within his own inner world.

If the ancient demon had meant him harm, Lu Tianzi could very well have been carrying a timebomb with him instead!

On top of that, it summoned a spatial gate?

This meant that Xihuang Yuanfeng was actually able to tap onto the powers of space-time!

Just what cultivation realm had Xihuang Yuanfeng reached?

The more Lu Tianzi learnt about Xihuang Yuanfeng, the more fearsome this ancient demon appeared to be!

"But despite how incredible it sounds, this has its limitations as well," Xihuang Yuanfeng sighed. "Relative to martial artists of your level, this wave of energy might be considered to contain immense power. But it was ultimately not sentient in nature. This was why it was unable to detect it when you were facing imminent danger."

Had Lu Tianzi been killed off instantly by his opponents, or if there was insufficient time for the energy to manifest into a spatial gate, then this little move of his could end up being completely useless.

Thankfully, this time it worked, and Xihuang Yuanfeng managed to save the life of this incredible seedling.

But Lu Tianzi knew that without Gong Shengjie stepping out for him at the very last moment, the outcome could have been completely different!

"So that is why…" Lu Tianzi finally understood. "Please pardon junior for not being able to thank senior properly right now."

"Still calling me senior? Didn't you say that when you returned, you will decide on the matter of acknowledging me as your master? Are you still hesitating even now?" Xihuang Yuanfeng asked.

"That's right…" Lu Tianzi took a deep breath as even speaking started to become overly strenuous to him. "Please pardon this disciple for not being able to greet Master properly for now!"

Xihuang Yuanfeng's lips curled up at the ends.

This was not at all the kind of scene that Xihuang Yuanfeng had in mind when he decided to take Lu Tianzi in as a disciple. In Xihuang Yuanfeng's eyes, the other party would have been overjoyed to be his disciple, excitedly kowtowing towards him!

But considering the current situation, Xihuang Yuanfeng did not mind settling for this.

With a wave of his hand, a pill flew out from one of the shelves beside his bed and directly entered Lu Tianzi's mouth.

"Even though you are severely injured, you actually were not inflicted with any internal injuries. That is a truly fortunate matter," Xihuang Yuanfeng said. "That is a Breath Recovery Pill, meant for healing external injuries of all sorts. For now, just concentrate on resting and healing up your injuries."

Xihuang Yuanfeng's voice contained an enigmatic power that served to calm down Lu Tianzi's nerves.

From first striking against Hu Yuanbo, to fighting for his life against the Formation of Heaven's Blade, Lu Tianzi had remained in an extremely tensed state for more than half a day. Even though he had a great stamina as a martial artist, his rate of consumption of energy was also far above mere non martial artists' as well.

In this exhausted state, he had been inflicted with such grievous injuries, further amplifying the strain on his body.

Even without Xihuang Yuanfeng's reminder, Lu Tianzi understood the current state of his body as well. With such heavy injuries, any ordinary Essence Condensation realm martial artist in his shoes would have lost consciousness by now!

However, he was afraid that the moment he allowed his consciousness to slip away, he would never awaken again.

That was the reason why he had forced himself to remain fully awake all this while.

But now that Lu Tianzi was subjected to the calming effect of Xihuang Yuanfeng's voice, he managed to relax entirely, and his consciousness gradually slipped into a state of deep meditation.

Upon reaching the Essence Condensation realm, a martial artist's body would experience a qualitative change.

Due to the nourishment of a unified Spiritual Essence within the inner world, the martial artist's body would become far more resilient than before.

This was also what caused the increase in lifespan of an Essence Condensation realm martial artist as compared to an Essence Building realm martial artist.

By driving Spiritual Essence through his body, an Essence Condensation realm martial artist could even slowly heal their injuries as long as said injuries were not as serious as a severed limb.

After all, martial artists who had lost a finger could not simply regrow one back in its place.

Thankfully, while Lu Tianzi had been sent to the very precipice of death, none of his limbs had been severed.

Furthermore, the fact that Lu Tianzi did not suffer any internal injuries meant that as long as he survived through the most crucial initial phase, it was not impossible for him to completely recover to his peak as long as he was given sufficient time.

However, for him to recover to his peak state, it would take far too long!

On the path of cultivation, the lifeforce of a martial artist played a big part in dictating their future achievements.

With a more vibrant lifeforce, it would generally be easier for martial artists to break through bottlenecks and climb through the cultivation realms.

But as they age, martial artists' lifeforce would decline. By then, due to their weaker lifeforce, it would be far more difficult for them to continue advancing, and their cultivation realms would usually stabilise. And that was even considering the fact that they had a greater understanding of cultivation at that point.

Of course, it only meant that it would become increasingly more difficult to advance, and not that it would be impossible to do so.

There were actually many cases of martial artists winning against the odds, breaking through to the next cultivation realm despite already having reached an old age.

Nevertheless, Lu Tianzi was currently at an age when he was still young and full of the vibrancy of life. This was the golden age for martial arts cultivation.

If he were to spent the next few months, or even years, recuperating from his current injuries, then that would be far too much of a waste!

Now that Lu Tianzi had acknowledged Xihuang Yuanfeng as his master, how would the ancient demon possibly allow his newfound disciple to suffer such a disadvantage?

Xihuang Yuanfeng might not be able to personally treat Lu Tianzi's injuries, but with the aid of the Breath Recovery Pill, the recovery process could be sped up by more than a hundred times, reducing what would usually take years to a matter of days.

In the eyes of martial artists within either Ivory Rock City or Shadowfront Fortress, such a potent pill would be considered as a supreme medicine, one that would make even Hu Yuanbo and Nanbai Zhaoyu salivate with greed!