Cultivation Through Artifacts

"Bleargh!"

Blood splattered everywhere as Khal spat out another mouthful of blood, painting the floor and even his silver robes into a sanguinary color while filling the cave with the smell of iron.

[Concentrate! You are almost there, you just need to bear it out a little bit more!]

Nova's voice sounded in Khal's head but in truth, Khal had no clue at all he was talking to him, much less what she was saying!

About ten minutes have gone by since he began to refine his heart and brain, but those several minutes, in reality, were like hell... No! Like the worst nightmare in the deepest abyss in existence!

Mind severing pain, chest piercing agony, and body splitting torment all at once! Except for those sensations and feelings, Khal was unable to feel a single thing much less hear the things that happened around him and in his head!

As a fact, he blessed the heavens above that he was still able to keep himself from losing focus and concentrate on controlling the essence in his body to refine his remaining two organs!

[Just one final push and you are there!]

BOOOM!!

The very moment Nova said those words that unfortunately reached no ears, a great tremor that was stronger and fiercer than any of the previous ones shook the whole cave while small cracks began to form on the walls, indicating it was only a matter of time before a wide hole was detonated there!

[Tsk! They are quite the annoying ones.]

Nova's irritated voice sounded, but strangely it held not a bit of anxiety or fear as it seemed she trusted Khal's abilities perfectly and didn't worry even a bit!

And just like she anticipated, in a few moments later when the cracks on the solid surfaces spread wide and far akin to spiderwebs, threatening the walls to collapse in any seconds, the blue light around his body detonated!

KA-BOOOOOM!!!

The walls on the sides turned to debris and the ground around Khal cracked! Powerful ripples traveled through the air, further destroying the surroundings around Khal before the azure light began to move and withdraw into Khal's body, indicating the refining process was a breakthrough and Khal succeeded to become a true Body Temperer!

[You have successfully refined your body!]

[All of your Power Cores have reached the Third Cultivation Stage!]

[Both of your Blessings have reached the Third Cultivation Stage!]

As the notifications about his success appeared in his mind, Khal's eyes snapped open, revealing a pair of sky blue eyes with a vertical crimson slit in their very center!

BOOOOM!

"I have found him! Right here!" a Night Crawler that has just appeared at the entrance of the hole which was created through force shouted excitedly, his revenge-filled eyes fixed firmly on Khal's figure.

"Now where will you try to r-"

Swish!

However, the Night Crawler didn't even finish talking when suddenly his pupils shrunk to the size of a needle and watched as the scenery around him began to rotate before everything turned black.

Thud!

Watching as the creature fell onto the ground lifelessly with its head rolling away to the side, splattering blood everywhere, Khal shifted his nonchalant gaze at the gap from where the creature just came from and showed a calm, but ice-cold smirk that was hidden with danger.

'Maybe I will change things up a little bit.'

In the beginning, Khal planned to fight with the Night Crawlers only when he broke into the Fourth Cultivation Stage, but after seeing just how easily did this creature die under his hand even though being at the peak of the Body Temperer Stage, he decided not to hide any longer and fight.

Furthermore, there was one crucial factor he realized and wished to see if it was true, thus for a few seconds, he did nothing but gaze at the corpse in front of him and wait.

1 second, 3 seconds, 7 seconds...

About 10 seconds of silent waiting later Khal's eyes suddenly brightened and his lips curved upwards, showing a joyous but greedy grin which was the first from him; the corpse in front of his feet turned into a yellowish substance just like the beasts he killed in the past!

It became a matter of essence that was waiting for Khal to be consumed!

'No wonder, how could have I forgotten this? All beasts and creatures in existence possess essence, including the many races out there! This means they can be turned into a source of the essence for us humans if killed too!'

Although it was deeply forbidden for humans to consume Human Essence in the First Realm, it was not the case when it came to the rest of the creatures in the Second Realm and above. As a fact, it was highly recommended as the amount of essence they could provide to humans was twice as much as a beast on the same Cultivation Stage could!

'If I would have remembered this sooner and wouldn't have burnt all the Berserkers corpses back on Planet Katrov into ashes, I could have saved a few days' worths of struggle!' Khal sighed inwardly, but he couldn't blame himself. He was just too focused on erasing any evidence that could bring him trouble in the future while also was not used to consuming creatures' essence from other races as this was something new even for him!

Thus he could only shake his head helplessly and extend his hand before consuming the floating yellow essence in front of him under a few seconds.

[You have successfully consumed 252 Beast Essence!]

"252 just from a single Third Stage Night Crawler?!" Khal exclaimed out aloud with utter disbelief as he couldn't believe it even after hearing the information and seeing the increase of units on his Cultivator Status, but alas, he soon realized it was indeed the reality, hence immediately shifted his gaze at the entrance that led the way outside and grinned.

Straightaway, Khal licked his lips and summoned Moonshadow into his right and Devil Fangs into his left, and with calm and relaxed steps began to walk outside, his gaze and aura exhibiting obvious signs of killing intent.