Moving after the coast was clear, the image flickered in his mind very briefly before he dismissed it along with any regard to Tang Bo. He tried to save him which was good enough in his book. Reconciling the information in his head made him feel giddy.

'The Flame Vortex can refine things and turn them into some qi for my Dantian or for itself to grow. But only certain materials can go into my Flame Vortex Core itself. But my Dantian is not that picky in the fact it seems to work with the Flame Vortex Core and gains Qi constantly. But metal can not be refined by it that easily compared to the other. I need to find stuff to increase the technique level of the Metal Seed in the center of my chest.'

The image of Tang Bo before was quite the thing though. The vast impurities in his body were coming out all at once. He looked a sorry sight as it came out both ends forcefully. But that was the least of his trouble at the time.

A cloaked figure stalked him in the shadows. Bidding their time before striking. The current situation only makes it easier to act against the Tang Family member.

"Urrp!" Tang Bo threw up some more black and green bile. It was the last of it but the aftertaste was almost too much. "Can't be!?" Moving his hands up, he marveled at some Qi lines that appeared and then vanished. "Did I break through?!"

*Fwish!* Rich flames appeared as Tang Bo felt he stepped directly into the Middle Ranks of the Qi Refining Realm. He recovered from Qi Deviation and even broke through! His energy was low but his body felt amazing. Considering what just happened anyway.

Inside the flames were small traces of lighting. Very minuscule traces that kept entering his Dantian.

"Who's there!?" Tang Bo turned on his heels as someone attacked him. His senses heightened due to his recent breakthrough. He attacked with all he had in fear. "Do you know who my family is!?"

Bravado in his voice but a lot of fear lingered underneath.

"Of course, I know!" The masked figure said evilly. "That is why you have to die!" As his hand turned to scales as he attacked, the figure didn't take notice of the attack Tang Bo gave in haste. The attack pierced the man's side letting a little bit of fire and lighting inside. 'Ugh, I was careless!'

*Rip!* A clawed hand ripped into Tang Bo. But he did not go down instantly. A small skirmish was fought. With a very likely result in the victor.

Leroy had moved through the woods like a phantom in the night. His mouth was covered to help keep his breathing low as Qi steadily fed inscriptions on his boots. He grabbed leaves and rubbed them all over his body to help mask his scent from demonic beasts that might pick him up. With the control of his qi, no fluctuation of power went out to far.

'Relying just on my body is definitely a way to go. I will need all my Qi in case things go wrong.' The Champion took the time to look at his screen right then. 'Hmmm, I still can not get over how Qi is not rising that much higher than when in the Body Tempering Realm. My Power and Defense are fair as far as I know but how much will it reflect when I break into the Foundation Establishment Realm and can I really have the benefits from the Life Buring Method to have a better Foundation?'

His hands gripped at the thought of making it to ruins or something and using a butt load of material to refine himself in one go. It gave the best improvement as far as he could tell but hurt something fierce.

Slipping past a small opening, Leroy ignored the students that were out doing some hanky panky. Good for them, best they get some in before something crazy as a Demon Beast stampede happens. Should pick a better spot though.

The Monument was visible so he was getting closer to it at least.

'My Willpower has barely gone up but not like anything major happen recently. Seen worse things in horror moves and during surgery at times.' Leroyu was not looking forward to something traumatizing for that to rise up really. Only extreme situations could really be held to test one's mental mettle. 'As for my Intellect.. that is definitely going to take a while. Unless I find techniques to help in that department. Really should have done something else after getting established as a plastic surgeon. But then again... that was hard as shit after the military.'

*Swirl!* Internally the Flame Vortex Core spun a little more. As if taunting him a bit to take the next step inside. Leroy shook it away not ready to be burned and ground down by it currently still. But if that is what it would take to get Spatial Sense to tech level 2, he may have to do it sooner than he hoped.

Whatever Connection happened to be, still blew him for a loop. So he left it for later thoughts. Unaware that the first one was the Old Tiger Bihan and only knowing the third happen to be Tang Bo. He had no idea about the second one at all.

'At least my Internal Space is spreading pretty quickly. Up to the size of a football field.' Leroy smiled happily at that. As well as the fact it was able to provide a small atmosphere inside it.

The problem was the size reflected the amount of air inside. Which was used up really quickly when he placed a live demonic beast inside and it died in like 10 minutes while the students hunted. Not counting the fact the more it struggled inside the area the more he felt his qi drain away. 'Need to study that more later too. But not now. Maybe get some dirt and trees in there to help?'

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An artificial atmosphere made from real components should help.

As Leroy made it to the Monument finally, elsewhere Tang Bo had finished the grisly encounter. He was left beaten and bloody in a hole as his assailant ran away. He would be found in the morning very easily as the attacker wanted. That was a mistake on his part of course.

Tang Bo's eyes did not die out just yet. A small light still burned within him. Slowly, the small traces of lightning circled his limbs and pathways to allow Qi to flow like a clear path. Keeping him clinging to life. A look of resentment as he stared out unmoving.

.

Crazy Monument-

.

As soon as Leroy made it he made sure to write all the words on the outside. Then he moved to get closer and when he was within 5 feet of the Monument, it reacted strangely. A pulse of light shot forward and invaded his mind in an instant. His response was to lead it to the Flame Vortex to fight it out as he did with the old Leroy, but common sense told him that would be a bad idea.

Instead, he leads it to his Flamelighting Dantian. If something happens to it well.. he had his Flame Vortex Core still. The Qi seemed to be mostly Life Qi in a way. It smashed into his Dantian like a hammer against an ingot. Trying to destroy it really for being inferior.

"Kuff!" Leroy coughed up some blood in response. He did his best to try and move against the effects ravaging his body. The Monument released small pulses that sent waves of Qi attacking his body. "Welp, this was dumb!"

Nothing in the journals or legends said anything about this. Then again this must be what caused the near death of those who survived.

The Monument was attacking him with both Spiritual attacks and Qi attacks. Apparently, its secrets are activated at any night time and not during the day. That, or Leroy had bad timing. It was not even a clear sky as he moved before to this location.

Not giving in, The Champion circulates his Dantian in resistance to the utmost. The Life Qi continued to hammer away at him. Each strike changed him a little. Making him weaker and threatening his Cultivation Base to crumble on the edges.

"Rah!" Leroy focused and gave a punch to the Monument in utter defiance. The momentum pushed him away just a little before he stopped. "Shit!" The ground underneath not helping at all to slow him down. He started to get pulled back towards the Monument. Almost in a gravity well of sorts. "Damn you!"

Circulating his Flame Vortex Core Qi he pushed it all toward his legs. His legs lit up with blue and white lines. His muscles overexerted as he took a few steps back and then jumped back entirely. For safe measure, he moved even further away every chance he got after timing the small relief in the pulls.

It took some time but the Qi waves had a rhythm that allowed the Champion to get away.

"I almost.. died. To a none moving, inanimate object!" Leroy cursed under his breath. Never did he feel so.. dumb. "This place.. is just not right. Demonic Beasts sure, Spirit Treasures sure, but Monuments attacking, hell no! I swear if I am attacked by a disguised treasure chest one day, I am going to lose it!"

*Fwish!* A ball of blue flame appeared in front of him with a thought. Composed of his Flamelighting Martial Arts qi, he tossed it at the Monument. As soon as it reached five feet, it dissipated as the Mounment basically consumed it.

"Well.. that is just Prime!" Leroy said indignantly. He did not move from his position as he was trying to recover quickly enough to die later. Not only was his Flamelighting Dantian damaged, the remaining Life Qi inside was attacking his body relentlessly still. It turned into Antilife Qi the moment he got away from the Monuments suction force. "Just because I am not a Life Martial Artist, this is b.s. man!"

The Qi's clashed and solidified into unusual shapes.

The damaged cultivation pieces turned into a hard-like substance that floated around his Dantian. Circling around as if it was trying to trap it. Slowly energy was produced that slowed his body down somewhat in response to his thoughts.

Leroy fought back with his Qi as best he could. Circulating a bit of his Flame Vortex Core Qi, he got an idea next. If it was able to change Qi a little before by mutation, maybe it could change this to fix the situation.

Fire-lighting Body was pushed to the limit to push against any attacking outside force. His flesh was eating up the qi as best it could to prevent the damage from spreading. One Qi fought against the changing Antilife Qi as the Flame Vortex Core Qi latched on to it and eat away at the invading force.

"Kukk!" Leroy grit his teeth grinding the top and bottom against each other as he stifled the pain.

Blood blisters appeared over his body as he fought to contain the rampant energy inside. The waves of Qi that left the monument were lingering at first but followed a stream directly towards him after he got to far away. The little he understood about cultivation warned him that if it escaped out on its own, he would be a dead man with no Qi!

'Memo to self, find things in the woods to heal me! And soon!'

Unfortunately, nothing in the library in the school hinted toward healing techniques really. Well not that he found yet anyway. Only techniques that Life and Water Martial Artists could use.

Lots of stuff to look over when he gets back. If he makes it back.

As Leroy fought back against the Antilife Qi inside his body, he barely noticed that he slid forward just a little. Visibly he caught the sight of hands reaching for him from the Monument made of Qi. The hands were guiding Antilife Qi to apprehend him.

"Nope! A whole bunch of nope!" Leroy turned to get away further. Instantly blood spurted from several blood vessels ruptured that he was soothing. The pain was ignored due to survival but not good in the least overall. 'If those hands get ahold of me, I can kiss my short cultivation life goodbye!'

*Fwip! Fwip!* Both hands stretched faster than he would have been able to see if he was looking back. Luckily it missed Leroy's hair. But a finger barely brushed his back sideways. Where it touched pulled against his Flamelighting Martial Arts Qi. Using that as a Bridgeway to attack his Dantian again.

Crawling a few thousand feet away, Leroy finally felt safe. The Antilife Qi no longer hurting his body. Under the guidance of the Flame Vortex Core Qi, he circulates the method to push his body to heal as fast as possible.

'Need to figure out what happened, and quickly!' Leroy checked his body over and over again. The only good thing that came from this is that he found a way to help speed up recovery internally. The Flame Vortex Core Qi mixed with his Flamelighting Martial Arts Qi worked really well. 'This is too exhausting though. And basically just encouraging my body to recover faster. Not really a technique directly.'

Frustrated the Champion thought the matter over once more. As well as everything that happened when he cultivate the first few times. Something had to be missing really that he overlooked.

Back at the Monument, a figure looked out in Leroy's direction. A look of loss since it was unable to obtain him. Soon the figure retreated back into the pillar and returned to a dormant state.

The only thing visible that something odd happened recently, was the overturned ground and scorch marks scattered about from Leroy's resisting.