Chapter 242 Difference in Strength Between Cultivation Realms
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Currently, in the skies above the royal castle of the Wolf Kingdom, Ethan floated as he finished absorbing the demonic Qi of the two demons.
He had to admit that defeating them had been much easier than he anticipated.
It was as if a Fifth-Stage cultivator of the Mortal Realm were fighting a First-Stage one.
At first, he wanted to see what the two had in store for him, but after a short while, he got tired of their failed attempts to overpower him and decided to end the fight.
Once done, he wasted no time and absorbed all their demonic Qi. As he did, he noticed how their bodies began to disintegrate into particles, which were subsequently absorbed by him as well.
This only confirmed what he had heard from Bai Yu, that these beings were products of negative spiritual energy.
As such, their entire essence was negative energy that he could absorb, leaving behind practically nothing.
Ding!
[You have gained +231 STR]
[You have gained +200 AGI]
[You have gained +115 INT] Explore more stories with empire
[You have gained +72 Soul Strength]
He had to admit that this method of gaining stat points wasn't bad at all, and if he were still in the Mortal Realm, this stat increase would be equivalent to dozens of levels.
Unfortunately for him, this wasn't the case in the Spiritual Realm.
While this amount of stats was good, considering all the changes in strength he had experienced during his ascension to the Spiritual Realm, it no longer seemed that significant.
Ethan opened his status screen to check the percentage increase in his demonic physique.
After all, this was the only known method to improve it, so he needed to get an idea of how much it could grow by absorbing two low-level pure demons.
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[------------------------------
Name: Ethan
Cultivation: Soul Awakening (Basic)
QI: 23M / 50M
Physique: Heavenly Body of the Sacred Flames
Strength: 9890 → 10121
Agility: 8900 → 9100
Intelligence: 6040 → 6155
Soul Strength: 269 → 342
[Shop]
[Storage]
[System points]: 518 M
-------------------------------]
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All of Ethan's stats had increased almost tenfold after ascending, which was a considerable boost to his power.
Right after finishing his ascension to the Spiritual Realm, he had immediately noticed the explosive strength contained within his body.
He could confidently say that a normal punch of his could most likely kill a Fifth-Stage cultivator of the Mortal Realm, something that was previously unimaginable for him.
He could only wonder how strong Bai Yu would become once she restored her previous cultivation base, which was much higher than his current level.
That said, he had noticed that the only stat that hadn't increased when he ascended was his Soul Strength.
He wasn't sure why, but if even ascending to the next realm didn't increase it, he wondered how cultivators who had reached the Divine Realm had managed to do it, considering it was an important component for ascending to divinity, or at least that's what he had heard from Bai Yu.
However, even she seemed to know very little about it.
He had asked her some time ago how beings in the Spiritual Realm increased their Soul Strength, and she explained that they had to continuously absorb rare materials and spend decades cultivating to strengthen their souls, something he managed to achieve simply by leveling up.
In fact, Bai Yu had vented to him about how, due to the Amphora, he had an enormous advantage in this aspect.
He wanted to say that high-level creatures like her had naturally much stronger souls than humans, but he decided not to rub salt in the wound.
From what he understood, unlike the Mortal Realm, which had five cultivation stages, the Spiritual Realm had six. Instead of being divided into ten levels, it was categorized by levels of comprehension.
Ethan was still new to this realm, so his understanding of how it worked was minimal.
If he remembered correctly, instead of ten levels, there were comprehension grades ranging from basic to high for each stage.
He was currently at the first stage, and his progress within this stage was only at the basic grade, meaning he was still at the very beginning.
Ethan planned to take some time after this to further stabilize his new cultivation base and explore this new realm of cultivation more thoroughly.
Switching to the screen that displayed his secondary physiques, he saw that the percentage of his demonic physique had increased by 0.2%.
"..."
"Well, I guess it's better than nothing," he thought, closing the system screens with a hint of disappointment.
He had been expecting an increase of about 1% or 2%, yet he hadn't gained much at all.
He wondered how high he could push it after dealing with the Demon Continent.
He didn't know how many demons were present on the continent, but he was certain that a significant portion of the population consisted of half-demons, individuals infected by demons.
He only hoped that the actual number of demons wouldn't be too low.
That said, with his spiritual sense still covering the entire continent, he could sense that the infection hadn't been fully unleashed yet, which was a good sign.
Raising his palm, he condensed a series of symbols materialized using his pure spiritual Qi.
The symbols appeared one after another until what seemed like a luminous disk formed in his palm, with the symbols arranged in various points across its surface.
Bai Yu, who was nearby, couldn't help but ask upon seeing the formation:
"Is that a formation?" she asked uncertainly.
From her knowledge, formations could vary greatly, but they generally required a certain base and specific anchor points to sustain them.
The disk in Ethan's hand seemed to encapsulate those points within a circular ring, something she had never seen before.
Hearing the dragon woman's question, Ethan simply replied as he allowed the formation to float upward.
"Yes, it's a bit different from the usual ones, but its function is similar to those you're familiar with," he said.
He had been inspired by the magic circles often seen in novels and manga from his previous world.
He chose this form because he found it most suitable for the task the formation would perform.
He knew he couldn't go from individual to individual to extract traces of demonic Qi from them, as doing so would take an eternity.
Clearly, this wasn't the most efficient method.
So he came up with this formation, which was basically a simple formation that produced rain and manipulated the air in the environment to condense it into water droplets.
He modified and upgraded it from a Level 2 formation to a Level 4 one, making it powerful enough to handle the task he needed it to perform.
As the formation floated higher, it began to spin slightly while its size visibly increased.
Its diameter grew from 10 cm to 1 meter, then to 10 meters.
It kept expanding, and within a minute, its size covered the entire continent.
Bai Yu had to admit she hadn't expected this, but she still didn't understand how it would help them get rid of all the demonic Qi.
Just as she was about to ask Ethan for further explanation, she sensed a slight change in the environment.
"This…"
***
In the Dragon kingdom , at the peak where the royal castle stood, Han Wei sat on his throne with a disappointed expression, wondering what he had done wrong to end up being betrayed by his own son.
He had struggled greatly to accept the fact that his son was not only a traitor to their race but also wanted to eliminate his family for the throne.
For him, this betrayal had been a much harsher blow than he had anticipated. Yet, despite this, he suppressed his personal feelings and ended Han Lei's life with his own hands.
As the ruler of the kingdom, he had responsibilities toward his citizens but also toward his family.
He could tell that the hatred his son harbored, now that he had been turned into a cripple, was not something that would fade with time.
He knew there was truly no possibility of redemption for him, so he decided to end his life in the most painless way possible.
The discovery of Han Lei's betrayal had not only been a severe blow for him but also for the rest of the family, especially for Han Ling, the queen.
She was in an even worse state than he was.
As he was lost in his thoughts, he was momentarily distracted as he raised his gaze upward with a confused expression.
He had suddenly felt an enormous spiritual power in the air and tried to determine what it was.
He appeared directly above his castle, and that's when he saw it.
"In the name of the heavens, what in the world is that..."
He murmured, stunned by the incredible sight of the enormous formation that seemed to stretch for miles.
He couldn't even see its end, and this realization terrified him even more.
He wondered whether another calamity was about to strike their continent.
Just like him, the entire population of the continent witnessed the majestic sight of the enormous formation that covered the entire sky of the continent.
Whether they were from the dragon kingdom or the other Kingdoms, everyone could see this shocking phenomenon.
Needless to say, this created widespread panic everywhere. However, the cause of this phenomenon couldn't have cared less.
As Ethan saw that the formation was finally set, he activated it and began watching the grand spectacle that was about to unfold.