Chapter 210 - Piercing Sky Spear
The Star Plain Province was renamed ‘Bloody Totem Province’. For the first time in many centuries, this land had gained an absolute ruler, a tribe which was able to subdue all others and rule above them with an unbreakable grasp.
It would be easy for Yaan to drain these tribes dry, taking their resources, claiming their lands and slaughtering their powerful cultivators. Doing this would certainly allow him to increase his cultivation quickly, but this would only be a one-time improvement. Acting like this would be far too short-sighted, sacrificing the future for some trivial short-term gains.
Ever since he came to understand the structure of the War Flower Empire, Yaan realised that in order to cultivate in this place, his only choice was to integrate into their society and take part in this game of conquest. Since he had no interest in living beneath the power and authority of another person, Yaan decided to raise his own force.
The starting point of his force was not really important. He chose the Bloody Totem Tribe for two reasons; it was convenient, and the tribe leader was a person with ambition, an ambition which aligned with Yaan’s own goals.
In this tribe, Yaan could easily focus on spreading his conquest, whilst leaving all the trivial tasks to the Bloody Totem Tribe Elders. At first, they were hesitant and wary of him, but now, Yaan had conquered the entire province, bringing their tribe unimaginable glory and riches!
The elders simply felt like this was all a dream. At this point, they revered ‘Elder Red’ from the depths of their hearts. They no longer felt any reluctance towards his orders, they no longer doubted his strength…right now, Yaan had truly been accepted into the Bloody Totem Tribe as the leader of all matters pertaining to the tribe’s ongoing conquest!
Yaan managed the expansion whilst the tribe leader managed internal affairs, helping to quell the chaos following each battle. Obviously, she had never before experienced this sort of rapid expansion, meaning that she was far out of her depth by now. Even so, she was actually handling things quite well. She did not let down Yaan’s expectations.
In the end, Yaan’s existence made her job much easier. The newly acquired vassal tribes didn’t dare to act out, not when the Bloody Totem Tribe was being supported by such a terrifying demon of a warrior!
Yaan was not impatient, he did not rush to expand the tribe’s rule further immediately. There were many cases in history of powerful rulers biting off more than they could chew; attempting to devour more tribes before properly integrating those that you had already conquered was a sure-fire way to self-destruct an empire.
There was no rush.
Even though he could quite easily gain a rapid improvement in his cultivation if he went out and rampaged wantonly, stealing elixirs and devouring as much Slaughter Aura as he could find, doing so would lead to his eventual failure. It was better to establish his foundation in this world properly, as from there, he would be able to expand his territorial might steadily.
As a cultivator, Yaan knew the importance of building up a stable foundation.
As the Bloody Totem Tribe’s rule became firmly imprinted in the minds of the Bloody Totem Province’s people, Yaan cultivated in seclusion. He was not cultivating in the Bloody Totem Tribe’s Elixir Sky Tower, but in the Grand Martial Tribe’s own elixir cultivation chamber, the Piercing Sky Spear.
Similar to the Elixir Sky Tower, the Piercing Sky Spear made use of the increasing gravity and Spiritual Pressure at greater heights on the Blood Plane. Compared to the Elixir Sky Tower however, the Piercing Sky Spear was almost 50% taller, and the structure was shaped like a long and thin spear, piercing into the sky above.
The Piercing Sky Spear was not a building covered in formations, it was actually one giant formation! And unlike the Elixir Sky Tower, this formation could be used by multiple people simultaneously, though the effect would be amplified further when only a single person trained within the formation.
Yaan sat atop the spear tip. It looked like he was outside of the formation, but this was not the case. Even though he was sat on top of the spear’s tip and he was exposed to the outside elements, he was actually within the formation’s highest level cultivation chamber right now!
The Piercing Sky Spear was able to channel immense levels of Spiritual Pressure into a single point, that point being where Yaan was currently sat. In fact, the pressure was so strong that it was taking every ounce of his strength just to remain sitting upright!
If he utilised his dao of illusions, he could resist this pressure quite easily, but what would be the point in doing that?
To train his body, Yaan resisted the entire pressure with his cultivation alone. Once his body was exhausted to a certain level, he began urging his Psyche Power to support his continued perseverance. Once his Psyche Power reached a low level, he only then relied on his dao comprehension to forcibly continue enduring the pressure.
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Right now, Yaan was cultivating with yet another elixir, it was called the Greenwood Elixir.
As it turned out, Ga Shu’s home, the tree at the centre of the Greenwood Tribe, was actually an elixir bearing tree!
This tree was responsible for the production of the Greenwood Elixir. The Greenwood Elixir was amongst the most valuable and rare elixirs seen in the province, and usually, its existence was kept a secret from everyone aside from the tribe’s current ancestor.
Ga Shu did not hesitate to present Yaan with this green and black fruit, using the tribute to prove his loyalty.
There were a few elixirs of similar value throughout the province, but the Greenwood Elixir suited Yaan the best.
This was not only the most powerful elixir that Yaan had used, but it was also the elixir which best suited his constitution.
The Fae Tribesmen possessed smaller bodies compared to other body temperers. It was quite common for those with body tempering focussed bloodlines to grow much larger than normal humans as they cultivated, but even ‘ordinary’ human body temperer would grow far larger than any typical mortal, or even Qi refiner.
Yaan was different, he had never been a pure body temperer, his foundation was that of a fiend, not a specific body tempering constitution. When he stopped ageing due to the increase in his cultivation base, he also stopped growing, he would never be as large as those other body temperers, especially now that he was cultivating the Four Paths Cultivation Technique.
The difference in size also meant that certain elixirs were more useful, and some were less useful for Yaan compared to others. The Fae Tribesmen also experienced this difference, and the Greenwood Branch Tribe was no different.
This branch of the Fae Tribe had settled in Greenwood Forest due to this Greenwood Elixir tree. The Greenwood Elixir was extremely suitable for smaller, more slender beings, making it perfect for the Fae Tribesmen…and also for Yaan.
Even though this elixir was no more powerful than some others in the province, Yaan was able to absorb its power with twice the efficiency!
He had been sat atop the Piercing Sky Spear for 100 days now, but he was only one third the way through his cultivation session with the Greenwood Elixir. More powerful elixirs had a tendency to last for longer periods of time, and this elixir was no exception; the total duration of effect was 300 days, almost an entire year!
He was only using a single elixir, the value of one elixir was nothing substantial to Yaan. However, maintaining the activation of the Piercing Sky Spear for 300 days was extremely extravagant.
After cultivating for 100 days, the formation had already depleted the energy from over 100 Rank 4 beast cores, multiple Rank 5 beast cores, and a dozen 4-Star Realm Vital Cores. Not only that, but this formation needed to be continually sustained by 12 4-Star Realm warriors!
In order to train within the highest cultivation chamber under the strongest Spiritual Pressure, Yaan ordered 12 of the recently surrendered Grand Martial Tribe Elders to activate and sustain the formation for him. Like this, he experienced the greatest levels of Spiritual Pressure and gravity.
That wasn’t all, though. The Spiritual Pressure within the spear tip possessed a sharp quality, causing Yaan to constantly feel as if he was being forced down by a monstrous spear, aggressively pressuring him into the ground under the weapon’s might!
Resisting this pressure was a unique experience.
After 100 days, Yaan finally stood up. After exhausting himself completely, then recovering to his prime condition, time and time again over these past 100 days, he already felt that he had made significant improvements. At the very least, he now had the ability to resist the sharp Spiritual Pressure with his body and Vital Qi alone!
Yaan steadied his legs with difficulty, then took a long and deep breath, before exhaling heavily.
After stabilising his breathing, he took a good look around for the first time since entering the chamber.
Before the formation activated, he could not actually see the inside of the chamber. To reach the chamber, Yaan needed to fly up the inside of the spear. The formation was activated the moment he reached the spear tip, at which point, the tremendous pressure forced him down to the ground. From then on, it took all of his efforts just to remain seated.
The sharp Spiritual Pressure caused Yaan’s vision to become blurred as he tilted his head back and stared upwards. Even though he was currently stood atop the spear point, when he looked upwards, he actually saw the spear pointing directly down at him!
The pressure was immense, but Yaan merely snorted coldly.
“A trivial illusion.”
He did not even need to exert any effort to see through an illusion like this. The image of a spear above him was only a reflection of the spear formation below his feet. When he saw this spear above him, Yaan immediately began to understand the sharp Spiritual Pressure on a deeper level.
The imposing Piercing Sky Spear built up sharp pressure over its years of dormancy. When the formation was finally activated at 100% output, the pressure was reflected to a point just beyond the spear tip, where it would then proceed to weigh down on the person undergoing cultivation. This created the illusion of a giant spear within the sharp pressure, the illusory spear was essentially formed from the decades of accumulated spear intent!
“Intent…will…” Yaan muttered to himself.
These were concepts that he had encountered before, but did not really understand. However, what he did know, was that ‘will’ and ‘intent’ could only be produced by living beings, a formation was not capable of creating spear intent from nothing.
It was very likely that this formation contained the lingering will of its creator, and that their spear intent was being continually amplified by the formation.
Yaan continued to study the spear intent, now feeling intrigued by this ‘lingering will’.
Formations which were left being by powerful cultivators often contained a remnant will. The will of the creator lingered within the formation, allowing it to continue functioning as intended, so long as it was continually supplied with enough energy to sustain itself.
The Burning Lotus Formation was an example of this. Back when Yaan defeated the Burning Lotus Tribe, he first had to wipe out the will from the tribe’s protective formation before he could gain control over it for himself.
Spatial rings and other treasures were similar, though the will contained within these treasures often dissipated following the death of their owner. This was not always the case though, and Yaan suspected that at higher levels of cultivation, this lingering will would become increasingly significant.
As Yaan stared up at the sharp spear intent, blood began to pour out from his eyes. His gaze became hazy and a sharp pain shot through his brain, but he ignored this and continued to ponder.
“Spiritual treasures are bound by Qi, yet they also contain their owner’s will. The same is true for soul treasures, vital treasures, and perhaps other treasures. So, will can manifest through all forms of power…wait!”
As Yaan thought of something, his eyes shone.
“Don’t spells and techniques also contain will? After a spell is used, it does not dissipate instantly, it continues to act according to its caster’s will! Formations can also continue to function according to the creator’s will, even after the creator has died…”
Thinking this, Yaan suddenly realised something else.
The illusions created by his sword arts, or really, any manifestation of his dao comprehension in the physical world…was this not caused by his own will?
“I understand now! Will is simply an extension of a person’s dao, their resolve, their…heart…”
Yaan frowned slightly, before shaking his head, not dwelling on that last bit.
“Anything can be imbued with will, so long as the person is strong enough to create such will. In a way, ‘will’ can be considered the most fundamental power that a cultivator possesses.” Yaan concluded.