As Tyler's divine sense permeated the world again, time slowed to a crawl. Everything around him became complicated once more.
Before his mind's eye, a mesmerizing choreography of innumerable Qi, True Essence, and Laws swirled together in an unfathomable and chaotic tableau that Tyler did not understand.
The tranquility Tyler had found when he reined in his divine sense earlier today had vanished completely. While going back to sorting through this complicated mess would be somewhat interesting, the current situation didn't allow Tyler any room to breathe as he could feel a wave of True Essence rush towards him through the ground.
It had an aura of Death, devouring all the remnants of life left in the soil. It was overpowering, chilling and relentless. It was as if the very essence of the lands had awakened, manifesting its malevolent will as the mysterious cultivator's attack passed through it.
The attack was also amplified as it passed through the roots of a mysterious and potent plant, making it that much more dangerous.
Tyler felt all of this happen, and everything felt... Boring. The oncoming attack, the land, the entrance to this undead lair, the potential source of all this a few kilometers underground, and all the cultivators. Everything felt solved.
Tyler put the sword back into his inner world, and his soul avatar took the stance for the One Finger, One Sword as he kept humming the Thundering Winds and Sword Clouds Method's mantras.
He knew he lacked the power to deal with this attack directly, but he also knew that this could be fixed by using only a tiny amount of True Essence from a Spirit Crystal. His body could handle that. What it couldn't handle was being flooded by True Essence like he did when facing Yoon Suko.
With a mental tug, Tyler absorbed a tiny amount of energy from a Spirit Crystal and summoned the multicolored sword. The last time he did this without using a tier 3 sword as a medium, he had tugged at the strand of Lin Jian's True Essence and seriously injured himself. However, Tyler wanted to explore that part of his body back then. Now, he just needed that power to explode outwards.
While he could just destroy this oncoming attack with a few swings of this technique and launch a follow-up Ten Direction Sword to destroy this early Sea Formation Undead Cultivator's soul, this was... Discovered territory. A solved problem.
Much like his time in the military, where he often delegated straightforward tasks to privates and less-experienced personnel so he could focus on more complex issues, Tyler was adopting the same approach here and tried something more complicated that could offer insights into different aspects of this new reality of his.
Tyler wouldn't change his ways, even when confronted with a potentially lethal situation. Addressing this attack normally felt akin to performing his ten-thousandth inventory check, a mundane and repetitive task devoid of any real challenge or opportunity for technical growth. It wasn't that he couldn't handle it or that he didn't want to; it was simply... boring.
Tyler had followed this pattern for more than a decade, rejecting promotions and sidestepping opportunities for upward advancement in every facet of his life. His aversion to accumulating more responsibilities was steadfast. What truly ignited his passion was lateral progression—devoting himself to perfecting his craft, delving into the intricate facets of his work, and exploring every nuance within it.
Driven by an adventurous spirit, eager to unlock every facet of his technique and his own body, Tyler channeled the entirety of his cultivation and the fragment of the Spirit Crystal into the sword. Simultaneously, he delicately tugged at Lin Jian's True Essence, hidden deep within his skin.
The moment these energies merged, the sword transformed. It shifted from its multicolored radiance to a deep, ominous red, the color of blood and slaughter. This power far eclipsed Tyler's own Qi. The fragments of True Essence he had obtained from the Spirit Crystals, nourished by the slaughter laws within his skin, now awakened in full force, supercharging the weapon with an almost primal energy.
Tyler swung the sword towards the ground with a resolve as firm as steel. This was no reckless strike; it was a calculated outcome that seemed preordained to work. His divine sense did not lie. As the sword moved, it sliced through the ground, a collision course with the incoming tide of deathly energy from below.
Tyler’s attack was literally groundbreaking as the earth was split apart, followed by a cataclysmic explosion of True Essence that rocked the very foundation of the dead land. The Slaughter Laws were extremely potent and voracious. The two attacks met head-on, an unstoppable force clashing against an immovable object. Tyler’s sword strike split the oncoming technique perfectly in two like a hot knife in butter, leaving room for Tyler to be unaffected as the Slaughter Essence ate its fill.
In this clash, Tyler's technique prevailed. The corrupting energy wielded by the undead cultivator was annihilated, or more precisely, devoured. These mysterious laws were unyielding, and in the grand scheme of things, they held a much higher grade than the Undead could hope to match.
The ground around the point of impact now had a large sword scar dozens of meters deep, a testament to the unimaginable power unleashed.
Standing amidst the devastation, Tyler sighed before proceeding with his follow-up technique, the Ten Direction Sword. This particular skill required no external movements and no intricate energy control. All he needed to do was focus his divine sense, mimic the Finger Sword technique, and will the swords into existence from his inner world. The controlling powers deftly manipulated his vast reservoir of Qi, summoning a dozen invisible swords that burst forth in the direction of the abomination.
The undead cultivator, still in its chamber in the underground facility, was reeling from the destruction of its technique and struggling to regain composure. It had neither the time nor the capacity to mount a defense or voice its pain. Before it could react, the Ten Direction Sword technique shattered its soul. In an instant, silence descended, an absolute and irrevocable end to the threat.
As the last remnants of the undead cultivator faded into oblivion, Tyler stood alone amidst the aftermath of his victory. The rain from his previous attack, now bereft of Qi, continued to fall gently, washing over the scarred earth. Analyzing his injury, Tyler reached out to a singular earth-grade tier 2 pill and consumed it, and his body was flooded with healing energy.
With his divine sense, Tyler effortlessly mapped out the entirety of the underground world, and as he surveyed the scene, another sigh escaped his lips.
In this undead base, approximately two hundred abominations in the Qi Gathering stage were engrossed in meditation within their chambers or attending to various duties, while two dozen Qi Transformation cultivators engaged in a wide array of activities—some teaching, others cultivating, and a few tending to their rituals and crafts.
At the heart of this subterranean domain, an exceptionally potent tier 3 Spiritual Plant stood proudly, its roots extending in a radius of ten kilometers, way beyond Tyler's observation range, draining the life force from everything it touched.
Seated adjacent to this formidable plant was yet another Sea Formation entity, one of the ghostly type with even greater strength than the abomination he had just killed. In addition to that, the twelve ghosts he had tracked here were seated in a perfect circle around the plant, constantly humming incomprehensible words.
Nevertheless, these newfound opponents were still within his capabilities to deal with, only a few Ten Direction Swords away. These cultivators hailed from outside any significant sects and lacked the proper cultivation methods and techniques such organizations offered. Tyler didn't foresee the need to subject himself to serious injuries to secure victory against this adversary. This person wasn't Yoon Suko.
Tyler was in a weird situation when it came to fighting prowess. When he restrained his divine sense, everything was unknown; he didn't know the other party's cultivation in detail, and at the very least, there was a chance that he could have a challenging fight. Otherwise, he would have never been hit by an arrow.
Talking of arrows, Tyler had long noticed that undead fleeing into the woods and sent a single soul attack that way, ending the potential for the runner calling for backup.
However, when he used his divine sense, everything was solved. He felt the areas where each attack was weak; Tyler knew the exact amount of energy required to counter a technique and what laws he could or couldn't deal with, as there was such a clear distinction between everything.
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Divine Sense was, well, called divine for a reason. This power should've been one reserved for gods. Or at least what humans considered gods in the old world. Perhaps not an entity capable of creating something from nothing, but at the very least, entities like Ares or Guan Yu who reveled in battle and were seen as invincible gods of war.
It did not make him invincible or a god. But it did make him untouchable from anyone under the Aperture Strengthening stage if he wished to avoid their detection. Despite being unable to conceal his cultivation since his injury, he could quickly distance himself from any potential threat, leaving them oblivious to his presence as he retreated from several kilometers away.
Perhaps Tyler wouldn't get a proper fight that could genuinely push his abilities without playing on the very edge between life and death. He had thought about it realistically. He had used his divine sense because he knew that he would undoubtedly die if this abomination's latest attack hit him.
He had the ability to deal with such an attack, but only because he had an inner world and the ability to perfectly manipulate his powers because of the control that offered. His cultivation was indeed abnormal, but remove his divine sense, and the only way he could defeat a Sea Formation cultivator would be by ambushing them like he had done with Luo Pang.
The level of martial prowess between a Qi Transformation and Sea Formation cultivator was like heaven and earth. In a normal setting, someone would take decades to reach the 20th level, and only martial geniuses would reach this point in under a decade. While Tyler's skills and learning abilities were out of this world with his divine sense, he would've been unremarkable without it. A little slow even.
What Tyler was missing wasn't power, but as he had figured out last night after retracting his divine sense, it was time. Time to master every aspect of his cultivation, martial arts and to build experience with every aspect of this new reality.
Knowing everything in advance about this place removed any and all ideas Tyler had about challenging himself. This entire endeavor turned into a solved equation that a toddler could solve.
The only unknown was the tier 3 plant at the center of this whole forest. Sure, the cultivator standing guard was impossible to beat without using his divine sense, but with it, it was as easy as collecting an apple that had already fallen on the ground.
Tyler walked forward, his divine sense still fully deployed. He was here to help a village full of mortals, and while he wanted to explore this place without it, risking the lives of over fifty people to satisfy his curiosity was irresponsible.
A single door allowed entry in and out of the base. Weathered and ancient, the door was made of dark, rotting wood, and its surface was etched with cryptic, glowing runes that seemed to pulse with otherworldly energy.
Tyler sent a slight gust of wind forward using his Qi, which opened the door while triggering a few energy explosions and alerted every single inhabitant here. Tyler knew these runes contained some type of power, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was, so he was cautious.
He stepped inside and found himself in a dimly lit, subterranean chamber. The walls were made of rough-hewn stone, covered in creeping moss and cobwebs. The air was cool and damp, with a faint scent of decay. Eerie, flickering torches lined the passageways, casting dancing shadows on the ground.
The base itself was an extensive network of tunnels and chambers, all carved out of solid rock. Some passages were narrow, while others opened into vast, cavernous spaces filled with ancient sarcophagi and shelves lined with dusty tomes of forbidden knowledge. Cryptic symbols and runes were etched into some of the walls, glowing ominously in the dim light.
More runes and defensive formations. Tyler thought.
The undead, alerted by his forceful entry, were rapidly approaching his location. Tyler could also see the Sea Formation cultivator move but wasn't afraid of anything in this place, so he grabbed that same tier-two blade he had used a few minutes ago.
Throughout the underground base, Tyler could hear faint whispers from no particular location, as if the spirits of the departed haunted these halls. These whispers' origins were unknown, and with every occurrence, laws fluctuated, so perhaps.. Tyler stopped himself there. He could figure it out later when literal waves of undead were not charging his way.
The atmosphere was heavy with a sense of dread and foreboding, a sanctuary for the undead to conduct their mysterious and sinister rituals.
Tyler was still trying to determine whether these undead were right or wrong, good or bad. His knowledge was insufficient to pass fair judgment. However, the rituals he had witnessed earlier in the day brought devastation to the village and the surrounding forest. In his eyes, they were evil. There were children in that village.
Everyone here was undead, ghost, or some other type of grotesque abomination, and if Tyler had to choose between human children who had done nothing wrong and the undead causing their plights, he'd choose the humans every time.
While he was prepared to talk to them and ask them what they were doing and why they were doing any of this, the first undead that came into range swung a sword his way.
Tyler dodged, "Really? Attack first, ask questions later, huh..." He punched the air as a Qi-infused spear came his way and shattered both the spear and its wielder.
A one-sided affair followed as the Qi Transformation cultivators led the charge to meet the intruder. Equipped with his divine sense, Tyler perfectly avoided all the techniques and countered with the Azure Sword Arts or a Qi-infused fist to stop the various attacks.
Tyler strolled forward, and eventually, people stopped coming. Tyler thought, Is this all there is? Me killing people, over and over? As much as he wanted to fix the village's problem, Tyler was starting to grow unsure about how he was doing things.
As he contemplated his life choices, a voice came from the approaching Sea Formation cultivator. "So, it would seem you dealt with Kragk Art outside? How did a Qi Transformation pup like you manage to kill him?"
Tyler sighed as the sword in his hand was slung over his shoulder. "That was his name, the other Sea Formation undead, I mean?" Tyler asked. "Is this all you wanna know? Really? Why is it always the only question people ask?"
The ghost laughed, its voice echoing across the entire underground. "Insolent!"
Tyler felt the ghost start to accumulate True Essence and shook his head. "Fine, have it your way." From his shoulder, he flung the sword forward more metaphorically as the Ten Direction Sword did not need any of this. The hallway suddenly had a massive gust of wind pass through it, carrying over three dozen invisible swords as it drained over half of his remaining Qi reserves.
A fraction of a second later, the ghostly form of this unnamed ghost dissipated into a puffy white mist. The entire base had just come at him. No one had wanted to talk other than this one ghost, and now, he was alone again.
Tyler's divine sense scanned everything again, seeing tons of books in the chambers, some scattered amidst the mountains of dead abominations. Seeing as nothing seemed urgent, he slowly walked from room to room and put every book and shelving he found into his inner world. Eventually, he would run out of things to read and wasn't that big on erotica and dual cultivation techniques.
He also noted that the plant at the center of the complex was utterly inert and seemed to pose no danger whatsoever. Other than that, it spread death as far as his divine sense could see, of course.
Finally, after an hour of walking around, he finally got to the center chamber with the giant spiritual plant and a few more books and bookshelves. He put almost everything into his inner world but two books. Those books were “Essence Transformation, Life and Death—A Circle” and “Liferoot, The Life Bringer.”
Looking through the two books, Tyler started to understand. This plant had been transformed through continuous rituals. The ghosts would go towards one of the Liferoot's extremities every night and corrupt the land, using the laws of the night to accomplish their leader’s goals.
It's goal? According to the book on the Liferoot, if this spiritual plant were continuously fed and allowed to grow, it would eventually bloom into a tier 4 Life Bringer. There were even notes in the book that said there was potentially a tier 5 version of this plant, but the author had no idea. Some of the notes in the Essence Transformation tome appeared to be from the ghost, as specific annotations referred to pages in the other tome on Liferoot.
Were the ghost plan brought to fruition, this would've been disastrous for the environment, bringing death instead of life. Tyler wondered why someone who was such a huge nature lover like Maximus allowed this type of thing to happen on his territory.
Tyler sat down and started reading through both books more thoroughly. He needed to revert this plant to its natural state if he wanted to save the village from starvation. Hours passed as he read through the thick tomes, trying to find a solution, but no matter how long he read, there was no quick and easy fix to this situation.
The book was instrumental in understanding the plant's properties, how to grow it, maintain it, and how to care for it. Tyler saw through his divine sense that everything the tome said to do was reversed. The soil composition, the Qi levels, the types of True Essence to feed it, and even the types of plants that aided it. Everything was reversed.
After almost a full day of reading through both books, Tyler started to understand what needed to happen to revert this plant's growth, but he had no idea how to proceed.
So, since there was nothing he could do from outside and he didn't want to spend years cultivating to the Sea Formation stage so he could use his own True Essence to alterate the plant on top of learning transmutation, Tyler did the only thing he could.
With a series of forceful cuts, Tyler spent most of his remaining Qi destroying every root connected to the plant and, in one fell swoop, ate the giant Deathroot.
Or rather, he swiped it into his inner world. At the very least, in there, his control over the space would prevent it from causing more damage to the environment.