The Great Ruler

Chapter 896 - Within Reach

Buzz! Buzz!

A spacious cave was filled with dense smoke that was slightly wriggling, as if there were fine buzzing noises emitting from it. The smoke was the purest essence of Spiritual Energy. Not even a First Grade Sovereign could refine a small strand of it, even if they were given a month.

So one could see the massive Spiritual Energy contained within the cave.

Within the quiet cave, the permeating smoke suddenly rippled, as if a vortex had appeared in the depths and the smoke disappeared along the vortex.

At the end of the vortex, one could vaguely see a boulder-like figure quietly seated. The smoke had entered his body through his nose.

That figure was naturally Mu Chen, who was attempting to break through to the Fifth Grade Sovereign Realm.

Along with more smoke entering into his body, Mu Chen's skin started to turn red and heated. Beads of sweat oozed from his pores. But the moment it came in contact with his scalding skin, those beads of sweat emitted hissing noises as they evaporated.

Mu Chen's brows were tightly furrowed together, since the Spiritual Energy essence in the Fallen Origin Pellets wasn't as easy to refine as he expected it to be. That's because the Spiritual Energy was too pure, so he had to thin it out with his own Spiritual Energy, if he wanted to successfully absorb it all before integrating it into his Sovereign Sea and turn it into his energy.

However, the process was simply too slow.

Mu Chen, who was in his cultivation, had frowned his brows. At the same time, when he was trying to refine the Spiritual Energy essences, he was swiftly pondering. According to his estimation, he would require nearly 2 months for him to absorb 20,000 Fallen Origin Pellets.

That time was clearly within Mu Chen's acceptance range. But he was no longer in the Nine Nether Palace, he was in the extremely dangerous Hunting War and anything could happen here. Not to mention whether they could wait for two months, the variable situations that could happen within those two months was sufficient to cause his cultivation to fail. If the situation was more serious, then he would even suffer the counterattack of his own Spiritual Energy.

Therefore, he had to shorten this period of time.

But it was clearly not an easy task. Mu Chen had integrated the Undying Flames into his own Spiritual Energy, so his refining speed was faster than an ordinary person's to begin with. But it was still insufficient, so one could see how tough it was to the refine the Spiritual Energy essence in the Fallen Origin Pellets.

Regarding refinery, the fire energy was clearly more effective. So if Mu Chen wanted to increase his refining speed, then he could only resort to an even more violent flame to increase the pace.

But it was not easy to accomplish this, since he had only integrated the Undying Flames into his Spiritual Energy. Although the Nether Demon Heart Lightning could also have some effect for his refining, it was inferior to the Undying Flames in terms of refining Spiritual Energy based on its characteristic.

"Other flames?"

Just when Mu Chen was pondering in his heart, an idea flashed in his mind after some time had passed. Shortly after, with a will of his mind, he had entered his Sovereign Sea.

In the majestic Sovereign Sea, the boundless Spiritual Energy whistled from the myriad layers of waves. It was an extremely spectacular scene and this was the origin of energy for any Sovereign Realm expert.

Spiritual Energy formed into Mu Chen's figure above the Sovereign Sea, while looking at the majestic Sovereign Sea before raising his head. At this moment, there was a constant amount of Spiritual Energy pouring in and was being refined into Spiritual Energy essence before merging into the Sovereign Sea.

But Mu Chen wasn't satisfied with this speed.

"Let's give it a try…"

Mu Chen briefly pondered, then he decisively gritted his teeth without any hesitation. His hands abruptly changed with afterimages into bizarre seals.

Buzz! Buzz!

Along with the changes of Mu Chen's seals, violent waves lifted in the Sovereign Sea as boundless Spiritual Energy whistled out before gathering in the sky. The gathering of Spiritual Energy lasted for ten breaths' of time, before a massive black pagoda appeared above the Sovereign Sea.

The black pagoda looked ancient and robust, while emanating an ancient yet mysterious undulation. Mu Chen was familiar with this object, because it was the Nine-Layered Pagoda that Mu Chen had not been using for a long time!

It was an object he had obtained from the Great Pagoda Art, but Mu Chen couldn't fully analyse how powerful and mysterious it was. Back then, in the Northern Heavens Continent, his mother had appeared in the form of a spiritual body and could refine the Yellow Dragon Sovereign along with his Sovereign Celestial Body, intimidating many experts. Although Mu Chen could also achieve it now, it was impossible to compare the strength of his pagoda with that spiritual body's.

But, even so, it showed how powerful the Nine-Layered Pagoda was.

But when Mu Chen arrived in the Northern Region, he did not use it that often. That's because, back then, when he left the Northen Heavens Spiritual Academy, Ling Xi had warned him not to reveal the Nine-Layered Pagoda so casually before he had the power to protect himself. If he was discovered, then it might attract disaster upon him.

That's because this Nine-Layered Pagoda concerned the mysterious clan that his mother belonged to. With Mu Chen's current strength, he was clearly still not qualified to come in contact with that mysterious clan.

Mu Chen stood in the sky and quietly looked at the Nine-Layered Pagoda, then pursed his lips and slowly balled his hands.

Perhaps his strength was still insufficient at the moment, but he could sense his own growth. Nearly two years ago, when he arrived in the Northern Region, he was just a First Grade Sovereign and he had not even refined his own Sovereign Celestial Body. But right now, he was already making an attempt to break through to the Fifth Grade Sovereign Realm. Furthermore, based on his means and the power of Battle Will, he wouldn't even fear Sixth Grade Sovereigns.

His growth was extremely swift, so he was confident that there would be a day that the weakling he once was could grow up into a genuine expert.

At that time, be it the Luo God Clan or the mysterious clan that his mother belonged to, he wouldn't have to fear any of them.

He was confident that he could stand in this world alongside with many other powerhouses. He just needed time.

Huff.

Mu Chen deeply inhaled a mouthful of air and suppressed his surging emotions. He cast his gaze at the Nine-Layered Pagoda that he had just summoned. With his current strength, the Nine-Layered Pagoda that he had summoned was not only larger than it was in the past, it was even more refined with dragons carved on every level of the pagoda. The entire black pagoda looked even more mysterious and prestigious.

Mu Chen stared at the Nine-Layered Pagoda, then slowly formed seals. Along with the changes of his seals, the dragons carved on the Nine-Layered Pagoda had started to light up.

Roar!

Dragon roars that trembled the heavens and earth abruptly resounded between the heavens and earth. The Nine-Layered Pagoda was brilliant with dazzling golden light as numerous golden dragons flew out. In just a few breaths' time, there were over thirty golden dragons that flew out and charged into the pagoda.

Sizzle! Sizzle!

When the enormous dragons charged into the pagoda, they turned into golden flames and gathered together. The flames had permeated the pagoda, as if they could incinerate anything in this world, emanating extremely overbearing ripples.

Those flames were the abnormal flames of the Nine-Layered Pagoda that Mu Chen required.

"Such overbearing flames, the effect must be pretty good to refine the Spiritual Energy essences."

Mu Chen looked at the golden flames in the Nine-Layered Pagoda. Along with the increase of his strength, the Nine-Layered Pagoda that he formed was clearly stronger than in the past. Previously, when he used the Nine-Layered Pagoda, there were only five golden dragons. Now, it was six times more than that!

And back then, when his mother used the pagoda, there were hundreds of golden dragons. There seemed to be some gap between him and his mother. A Spiritual Array Ancestor, which was comparable to a Heavenly Sovereign, was indeed terrifying…

Mu Chen shook his head, suppressing the sigh in his heart. With a will of his mind, space was torn apart above the Sovereign Sea as a rolling azure smoke whistled in. It was like the coming of judgement day.

Buzz! Buzz!

The Nine-Layered Pagoda buzzed and trembled. It soared into the sky with Mu Chen's control, then the body of the pagoda gently swayed, before a terrifying suction force exploded forth.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Those whistling rolls of azure smoke were drawn by it like numerous dragons that charged into the Nine-Layered Pagoda.

Sizzle! Sizzle!

The golden flames in the Nine-Layered Pagoda started to turn violent and then charged out, enveloping the azure smoke that had entered the pagoda, and unleashed a terrifying temperature without any hesitation.

The azure smoke surged as it divided. The azure smoke rolled with pure Spiritual Energy, like a current that erupted.

Rumble!

The Nine-Layered Pagoda trembled, before numerous currents of Spiritual Energy poured down from the Nine-Layered Pagoda as the azure smoke continued to enter it. They rumbled as they fused with the Sovereign Sea down below.

Therefore, the entire Sovereign Sea violently surged. Violent Spiritual Energy fluctuations constantly whistled as the massive Sovereign Sea surged for a long time, before it started to increase.

Watching this scene, Mu Chen finally felt heavily relieved and had gently smiled, before sitting down. With the assistance of the Nine-Layered Pagoda to help him with the refinement, all he had to do was to wait now…

The Fifth Grade Sovereign Realm was within his reach.