A Farmer's Journey To Immortality

Only burning fragments littered the ground after Kalina’s display of power.

Even the poisonous mist was partially blown away by the tremendous heat.

The remaining vines throughout the barrier trembled violently. Large portions of the dome itself began shaking. The wooden structure continuously cracked under the overwhelming pressure.

Boom!

Another wave of fire burst outward. This time, the attack struck the barrier itself.

The entire dome shook violently. Countless cracks rapidly spread across its surface.

The sealing formation flickered repeatedly. Several array nodes collapsed one after another. The barrier looked as though it could collapse at any moment.

From somewhere within the poisonous mist, Aksai silently observed everything. His expression remained calm beneath the hood. Yet, even he could not deny what he had just witnessed.

’So this is how Spells amplified by Intent are supposed to be used.’

The difference between Kalina and the Purple River Lord became obvious once again.

The Purple River Lord might also have been a late-stage Lord. But against Kalina, he would never have achieved something like this. With a single Connate Spell, she had burned through nearly every trap surrounding her.

Only the remaining parts of the formation, reinforced by Aksai’s Spirit Essence and the surviving earth pillars outside her immediate surroundings, barely managed to keep the dome standing.

Even so, the barrier had already suffered heavy damage. And all of this had been achieved with a single spell.

In contrast, Aksai had needed to cast multiple Innate Spirit Spells, consume various pills, and even rely on Nuri’s almost cheat-like computational abilities just to fight Kalina on somewhat equal footing while ensuring his own safety.

The suppression caused by the difference in their cultivation realms was one factor. However, the greater difference lay in their mastery of Intent and the way they integrated it into their spells.

Aksai understood one thing clearly.

If Kalina were allowed to unleash attacks of this level without interruption, the Vine Barrier would be destroyed within half a minute.

Perhaps it would not even last that long.

However, to Aksai, this was already the perfect battlefield. He had turned it into a poison field in which he had many advantages. And these advantages would be stacked the longer he and his enemies remained inside the barrier.

Thus, he had no intention of allowing her another opportunity to destroy the barrier.

If she managed to cast another Connate Spell like the previous one, the Vine Barrier would most likely collapse from the Spirit Pulse of that spell alone.

That could not be allowed to happen.

As such, Aksai abandoned the idea of fighting her with more Spirit Spells after completing his preparatory spellcasting.

He had already spent too much Spirit Essence in a short time.

Even though he had both his original Spirit Core and the pseudo Spirit Core to draw from, he could not afford to keep casting so many spells one after another, even if they were only Innate Spirit Spells.

There was actually a reason why the gap between early-stage, mid-stage, and late-stage Lords was so obvious.

Setting aside the fact that a Lord’s mastery over their spells naturally improved as their cultivation advanced, or that stronger Lords had access to more life-saving methods and trump cards...

The biggest difference lay in the amount of Spirit Essence stored inside their Spirit Cores.

Early-stage Lords possessed Spirit Cores that were still in a gaseous state. They had only begun refining Third Order Spirit Essence within their bodies. As they progressed, the density of that gaseous Spirit Essence gradually increased.

Upon entering the mid-stage Lord realm, the gaseous Spirit Essence underwent a qualitative change. That transformation then led to a significant increase in the total amount of Spirit Essence the Lord could store.

When the same Lord reached the late stage, the liquid-like Spirit Essence condensed further into a solid core resembling molten gold that had completely hardened. This was known as the Golden Core.

With this transformation, the density of the Spirit Essence increased exponentially.

A mid-stage Lord typically possessed around ten to twenty percent more Third Order Spirit Essence than an early-stage Lord.

However, the difference became even more obvious when comparing a mid-stage Lord with a late-stage Lord.

A late-stage Lord generally possessed fifty to eighty percent more Spirit Essence than a mid-stage Lord.

Among geniuses, that difference could even reach ninety percent or more, depending on their physique, cultivation technique, bloodline, and various other factors.

This was why Kalina was still able to fight Aksai despite spending a considerable amount of Spirit Essence while displaying her strength before the Purple River Lord earlier.

It also explained why she had found Aksai’s earlier spellcasting so unbelievable after she vaguely sensed the Spirit Pulses of spells that were born one after the other.

He was merely a mid-stage Lord. Yet he had cast so many spells almost simultaneously.

Wasn’t he worried about exhausting his Spirit Essence before the battle had truly begun?

Ordinarily...

Any mid-stage Lord would have been.

Aksai would never have dared to fight a late-stage Lord through repeated stacked spellcasting under normal circumstances. Previously, he had dealt with Arkaal by wearing him down as well because he couldn’t make full use of the Vine Barrier.

However, the battlefield wasn’t a Nascent Soul’s cave abode as was the case with Arkaal. He had more freedom to make full use of the Vine Barrier.

Plus, he possessed Verdant Elder’s pseudo Spirit Core.

Although it could not completely bridge the gap between him and Kalina’s Golden Core, it compensated for a large portion of his lack of Spirit Essence reserves.

Even so, Aksai knew where to stop. One round of stacked spellcasting was enough.

If he continued fighting from a distance like that, he would never outlast Kalina’s late-stage Golden Core. More importantly, he still needed to conserve enough Spirit Essence for the decisive moments later in the battle.

Because of that, he allowed the effects of his previous stacked spellcasting to continue while refraining from casting any more Spirit Spells for the moment.

Instead, he chose the method he trusted the most under such restrictive circumstances.

Martial Arts.

The Martial Arts he had learned in Martial World Sharang.

His Aurous Realm Body quietly released a faint golden glow beneath his robes.

Although he had only reached the early stage of the Aurous Realm, it was more than enough to support close combat against Spirit cultivators.

He knew it would not be enough to defeat Kalina quickly. She was still far stronger than him in terms of cultivation.

However, victory did not always belong to the stronger cultivator.

Sometimes, it belonged to the one who could slowly wear the other side down.

Kalina had already lost almost everything that allowed her to fight at her peak.

Her supporting artifacts. Her precious treasures. Her pills. And most importantly, her sword.

Aksai still did not understand exactly what made that sword so special. Among everything he had stolen from Kalina, only that sword had given him an indescribable feeling.

It felt dangerous. Not because it could effortlessly injure him. But because his soul instinctively warned him not to touch it.

That strange feeling had made him store the sword directly inside the Enchanted Everwood Farm instead of placing it together with the other stolen items inside his storage ring.

It had been a completely instinctive decision.

He had not even attempted to wield it. If he had, he would have immediately discovered that the weapon rejected anyone except its true owner.

Its Spirit Imprint remained deeply connected to Kalina. Forcing such a weapon into submission without removing that imprint would only result in backlash.

And even if someone managed to erase the imprint through special means, the Natal Artifact itself would never remain the same.

Much of its spirituality would disappear. Its power would greatly decline. It would merely become the empty shell of what it once was.

Fortunately, Aksai had unknowingly made the best possible decision. He simply stayed away from it. His powerful Aether-refined soul had silently guided him toward the correct choice.

His full attention returned to the battle.

***

Inside the barrier, Kalina’s lips slowly curved upward. She could feel it.

The barrier was already close to its limit.

One more attack.

She slowly raised her right hand.

Fire-element Spirit Essence rapidly gathered around her palm. The terrifying fluctuations of another Connate Spell quietly began forming.

She intended to completely destroy the barrier with this attack.

Just then, every hair on her body suddenly stood up.

Danger.

An overwhelming sense of danger exploded inside her mind. Without thinking, her battle instincts took over.

The half-formed Connate Spell instantly changed direction.

Instead of attacking the barrier, she swung her hand behind her. At the very same moment, her body twisted sharply.

She shot toward her front-left at incredible speed.

Boom!

The fire behind her exploded violently. Almost at the same instant, a shadow silently emerged from the poisonous mist.

Aksai’s fist tore through the very spot where Kalina had been standing only a fraction of a second earlier. His punch carried terrifying physical force.

The compressed air exploded as his fist pierced through it.

The attack missed.

Only by the smallest margin.

Aksai’s eyes narrowed beneath his hood.

’She... she dodged?’

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