A Chaotic World

At the Origin Core realm, Spiritual Essence martial artists will absorb World Origin Energy into their inner worlds, refining it into Spiritual Essence to impact the origin core.

As more Spiritual Essence gathered upon the origin core, the origin core will inevitably grow larger and larger within the martial artist's inner world.

The larger it was, the more Spiritual Essence within, and thus the more energy at the martial artist's disposal.

However, there was still a limit to what the inner world could bear.

Once the origin core grew to a certain magnitude, it would no longer be able to grow any further.

At that point, a martial artist would have to forcefully shrink the grown origin core back to its original size once more, turning it into a point of singularity with an even higher density of Spiritual Essence than before.

This process not only preserved the total amount of Spiritual Essence within the martial artist's inner world, it also made it much easier to channel any amount of Essence energy, increasing the explosiveness of the martial artist's techniques.

By successfully shrinking the origin core after it reached its limit, a martial artist would have broken through to the next boundary, only to have the cycle repeat again.

That was why at martial artists at the Origin Core realm were ranked by the number of cycles they had already gone through.

This was essentially the same concept as the Slaughter Essence system.

However, one could not simply take the method to shrink a Slaughter Essence origin core and apply it to a Spiritual Essence origin core.

While the two origin cores might appear to be the same thing, their properties vastly differed.

Yet at the same time, one could not say that the two origin cores were completely different either, for the concept behind the two cultivation systems were starting to come together at this point.

That was why while trying to improve his Undulated Currents Breathing Technique, Lu Tianzi might have taken a bit of reference from the Heaven Devouring Divine Art, but the insights he obtained were still far too lacking for him to to apply it to his Undulated Currents Breathing Technique.

Now, however, he suddenly had a large number of Origin Core rank cultivation techniques at his disposal.

How could he not take this chance to crazily read through as much as he could?

Lu Tianzi did not know how much time had passed, but by the time he realised it, Young Master Xuan Hao and Ruan Ling were already standing by his side.

Nanlan Qianxue was there as well.

"Haha, Brother Tianzi must be really interested in studying strange cultivation techinques!" Young Master Xuan Hao laughed as he looked at the jade slip in Lu Tianzi's hands.

"It is indeed rather interesting," Lu Tianzi remained calm.

Even Overlords were unable see through him, so he was not afraid that someone like Young Master Xuan Hao would be able to do so.

"I'm afraid I have to leave once again," Young Master Xuan Hao apologised. "I have been away from the sect for far too long, so there are many things that I need to do. It is troublesome, but as an heir candidate, I can no longer avoid doing these responsibilities."

Lu Tianzi nodded.

It was understandable that Young Master Xuan Hao would be busy.

After all, he only just decided to treat his position as the heir candidate seriously. There were surely many things that he had to do in order to catch up to his competitors.

"You may not be able to remain here in my absence, but I can help you borrow the manuals that you are interested in. That way, you will be able to look through them even after we leave," Young Master Xuan Hao suggested. "Of course, you have to make sure not to lose these jade slips. Otherwise, I will be the one to get into trouble."

"Then I will have to take Brother Xuan Hao up on your offer!" Lu Tianzi clasped his fists towards Young Master Xuan Hao.

"Don't worry about it, just pass me any that you wish to borrow," Young Master Xuan Hao said with a smile.

Lu Tianzi did not stand on ceremony.

The Blue Ember faction's skills repository had around twenty Origin Core rank Spiritual Essence cultivation techniques, and Lu Tianzi took them all.

On top of that, he also decided to mix in a few manuals on the art of inscriptions and formations.

As for movement techniques, Lu Tianzi had not had the chance to look through them, so he would not know if there were any suitable ones. Because of that, he did not pick any.

Nanlan Qianxue chose a movement technique, while Ruan Ling chose a combat technique.

Seeing this, Lu Tianzi could not help but feel awkward.

The other two only picked one jade slip each, while he alone picked dozens.

Young Master Xuan Hao, on the other hand, was relieved to see this.

This meant that Lu Tianzi was truly interested in what the Young Master Xuan Hao had to offer, and that he was not just playing along to make him feel better.

After Young Master Xuan Hao repeatedly assured Lu Tianzi that it was all right, the latter finally decided not to return some of the jade slips he had picked.

Still, when Young Master Xuan Hao tried to check out the jade slips in his hands, the sect member tending to the exit counter could not help but look at him with strange eyes.

Originally, members of the Timeless Flame Sect were not allowed to bring out this many jade slips at once.

This was mainly to prevent sect members from being too distracted by the myriad of techniques available, pursuing a path of broadness without depth.

However, Young Master Xuan Hao, being the heir candidate, enjoyed a special privilege that allowed him to borrow any number of jade slips he wanted.

Even so, the sect member would originally still have stopped him from overdoing it, especially since he could guess that most of the jade slips would be for the three guests following Young Master Xuan Hao around.

It was only after he saw that the majority of the jade slips were Spiritual Essence cultivation techniques that he decided to close an eye.

If the guests were only interested in studying human cultivation techniques for fun, then the sect member saw no harm to it.

These jade slips were basically just there for fun anyway.

After returning from the skills repository, Young Master Xuan Hao offered to bring the three of them along as well.

This time, he would be going around to meet important people in the city. It was basically a way to build connections so as to try and strengthen his position as the heir candidate.

By bringing them along, he could also expose them to the people whom he would be meeting.

However, Lu Tianzi politely declined.

Right now, Lu Tianzi could not wait to continue looking through the jade slips in his possession, so how would he be in the mood to go networking?

Seeing that Lu Tianzi was intending to stay and cultivate, Nanlan Qianxue immediately refused as well.

Nanlan Qianxue understood that since her talent was lacking, she needed to work even harder than Lu Tianzi.

So how could she be wasting her time while Lu Tianzi stayed to cultivate?

Since both of them had refused, Young Master Xuan Hao naturally did not force them.

In the end, Ruan Ling was the only one who tagged along with Young Master Xuan Hao, while Lu Tianzi and Nanlan Qianxue remained at the residence to cultivate.

***

"Phew!" Elder Cuixiong let out a deep breath of relief after he stepped out of his pill refinement chamber.

He was covered in sweat from the exertion, but there was a faint smile on his face. It was obvious that the pill refinement process went well.

Seeing that his grandfather was in a good mood, the waiting Xuan Junwei felt a little more reassured.

"You were looking for me?" Elder Cuixiong asked.

With a flick of his sleeves, the sweat on his body vanished, and his clothes became as good as new. He then sat down behind his desk and started sipping tea.

"Grandfather! Can I ask what is happening with Junior Apprentice Brother Hao? Why is even Elder Renhao on his side?" Xuan Junwei complained.

"Elder Renhao is on his side? What do you mean? Tell me more about this matter," Elder Cuixiong was surprised.

"It's like this. I saw that Junior Apprentice Brother Hao is intending to bring outsiders into the skills repository and was afraid that such an act could jeopardise our sect secrets, so I kindly reminded Junior Apprentice Brother Hao to be careful about that. Who knew that Elder Renhao would suddenly appear and tell me to back off?" Xuan Junwei quickly summarised. "To do that in front of outsiders, this is really not giving me any face!"

"So something like that actually happened," Elder Cuixiong fell into thought.

"Did the elders decide on something that I am unaware about?" Xuan Junwei continued to probe.

"There hasn't been any decision that is of importance, but something did happen yesterday," Elder Cuixiong said. "That young man who followed Xuan Hao back this time... he managed to force Caixia to reveal quite a few moves before she could win."

"What?!" Xuan Junwei widened his eyes in shock. "That Third Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist did?!"

"It is not as exaggerated as you think. At that time, Caixia had suppressed her cultivation level as usual," Elder Cuixiong added.

"Then that's nothing at all," Xuan Junwei said in relief. "Caixia was probably not being serious then. If I went all out, he would surely have done even better. And in the end, Linye Caixia still won, didn't she?"

"You are right. Just this alone would not have been enough to put him in the limelight," Elder Cuixiong continued. "However, something else happened which made everyone reconsider their evaluations of the young man."

"What is it, Grandfather?" Xuan Junwei asked.

"Prior to this, Caixia has already heard about the young man from Xuan Wen, and Xuan Wen has already gone to meet the young man before they even stepped into our Timeless Flame Sect. Apparently, the young man's true potential lay in him being a talented inscription master!" Elder Cuixiong said.

"This..." Xuan Junwei frowned.

For someone like Xuan Wen to personally make a move, that alone was almost a guarantee that the young man was not to be taken lightly.

And if the young man's true potential was truly on the art of inscriptions, this must mean that the young man's battle prowess was lacking in comparison.

Even so, he was still able to stand up to the might of Linye Caixia in battle.

In that case, just how monstrous was his talent in the art of inscriptions?

More importantly, Xuan Hao actually managed to get someone like that on his side?

Elder Cuixiong continued, "Do you understand the implications now? This young man could have an extremely bright future ahead of him. Because of this, the elders' evaluation of Xuan Hao has improved as well. Perhaps that is why Elder Renhao allowed Xuan Hao to bring them into the skills repository without question. He might see this as a way to recruit the young man into the Blue Ember faction."

"Then what should I do, Grandfather?" Xuan Junwei asked anxiously.

"You don't have to worry too much about this. I will handle it for you," Elder Cuixiong said. "No matter what, I will help you become the heir candidate of our Blue Ember faction!"

"Thank you, Grandfather!" Xuan Junwei bowed in gratitude before taking his leave.

Xuan Junwei walked out of Elder Cuixiong's residence and into the open courtyard, basking in the sun as he thought about his current options.

Despite Elder Cuixiong's assurance, he could not help but feel a heavy burden weighing down on his mind.

If Xuan Hao really managed to solidify his position as the heir candidate, then what would be left of him?

He definitely cannot allow that to happen!

At this moment, Xuan Junwei noticed a little girl following some servants around in the distance.

As a Ninth Cycle Origin Core realm martial artist, Xuan Junwei's memory was impeccable. Despite the large number of servants in the Timeless Flame Sect, he could still remember all of their faces.

Despite that, he simply could not recognise this little girl.

"Who is that little girl?" Xuan Junwei stopped another passing servant and asked. "Why haven't I seen her before?"

"Reporting to Young Master Junwei, Bo'er is a new servant brought back by Young Master Xuan Hao. According to Lady Taomie's instructions, we are helping her familiarise with the layout of the place, as well as what is required of her as a servant."

"Oh? Bo'er? New servant?" Xuan Junwei took another glance at the little girl in the distance.

He vaguely recalled hearing something about this, but he had not thought too much about it at that time.

After all, it was just a little servant girl, nothing worthy of his attention.

However, things were different now.

He was Xuan Junwei, leader of the younger generation of the Blue Ember faction!

How could he be the only one to suffer when things go wrong?

If he really had to suffer because of someone, then he had to make sure that the other party suffer along with him!

And since he could not openly get back at Xuan Hao or Elder Renhao, a servant substitute would suffice for now.

Who asked her to be brought back by Xuan Hao, and who asked Xuan Hao to stand in his way?

"You can only blame it on your luck, my dear Bo'er," Xuan Junwei sneered as a cold light flashed across his eyes.

As servants, it's only right that they suffer a little for the sake of their masters!