Chapter 323: Tier 3 Peak

Chapter 323: Peak of the Third Tier

With money earned from selling Fire Source Elixirs, Li Wei purchased materials for crafting Vigor Elixirs.

Spending three days, he refined enough Vigor Elixirs to last a month.

To gather the materials, the Dragon Blood Tree nearly died under Li Wei's stripping.

Only a few good leaves remained on the tree.

Li Wei entered the Cultivation Secret Realm carrying a large supply of Vigor Elixirs.

Through an independent teleportation gate within the Ming Tian Realm, Li Wei could reach the realm without visiting the plaza.

He had made preparations for a war of attrition.

Students of the Purple Class received fifteen days of cultivation quota per month.

Li Wei still held nineteen days worth of cultivation card quota in hand.

If he wished, he could stay inside the Cultivation Secret Realm for forty-nine days straight.

However, longer cultivation time was not necessarily better.

Without sufficient stamina, staying within the realm would merely waste time.

Li Wei stepped into the Cultivation Secret Realm.

He walked towards the depths of the Cultivation Secret Realm.

The deeper he went, the higher the temperature, and the better the cultivation effect.

By the time he reached the rear, Li Wei had transformed into the Flame Lord.

In the depths of the realm, he spotted a familiar figure.

"Steele?"

Li Wei felt somewhat surprised.

This was his first time coming to such a deep place.

Previously, he could not endure the high temperatures here.

Nor could he enjoy the benefits this place offered.

Hearing the voice, the flames before Steele flickered briefly, shattering and vanishing.

Li Wei displayed a hint of confusion.

How did he feel like Steele was speaking to someone?

Steele turned back to see Li Wei in his Flame Lord state, showing confusion.

He failed to recognize Li Wei at a glance.

Li Wei only acquired the Flame Lord extraordinary trait after separating from Steele.

Thus, Steele had never witnessed him in this state.

"Who are you?"

Steele asked.

"It's me, Li Wei, who were you just speaking to?" Li Wei asked.

Steele showed a look of surprise.

"Li Wei?"

He quickly reacted, saying, "What are you talking about? I am alone here, who was I speaking to?"

"You must have seen things wrong."

Steele tried to cover up his tracks.

Li Wei had no intention of pressing further.

Anyway, as long as it didn't interfere with his cultivation, whatever Steele did was his freedom.

Li Wei asked, "Last time we were chased by the Fire Elemental Lord, how did you escape?"

Steele shrugged, saying, "I wasted a few spatial teleportation scrolls and shook off the Fire Elemental Lord."

"That truly wasn't easy," Li Wei remarked.

"Indeed, at that time I thought I was going to die."

Steele nodded, agreeing with Li Wei's sentiment.

What the two spoke of was actually not the same thing.

Steele was indeed chased by the Fire Elemental Lord and used several spatial teleportation scrolls.

But he was still caught and failed to escape.

The Fire Elemental Lord caught him but did not kill him.

Fire Elemental Lord Ragnar originally planned to throw him into lava to roast for days and torture him.

Later, encountering some matters, Fire Elemental Lord Ragnar abandoned the plan to torture Steele.

Instead, he signed a contract with Steele, becoming Steele's summonable object.

He obtained out of thin air a powerful Sixth-Tier Fire Elemental Lord summon.

Originally, this was something very worth celebrating.

Yet Steele could not bring himself to be happy.

Recently he had been trying every way to sever ties with Fire Elemental Lord Ragnar and dissolve their contract.

Li Wei was unaware of the matters between Steele and Fire Elemental Lord Ragnar.

After greeting Steele, he continued walking towards the deepest part of the Cultivation Secret Realm.

Until he reached the very deepest point of the Cultivation Secret Realm.

Li Wei had once seen Sean sitting on a stone right here.

Now, Sean had already left the Elemental Tower.

Heading to the outpost at the front line of the Ancient Battlefield Ruins; his figure could no longer be seen here.

Li Wei sat cross-legged on the smooth, rounded rock.

He began to cultivate.

The cultivation effect here was double that of the realm's edge.

A difference of ten times versus twenty times.

This could save Li Wei a vast amount of cultivation time.

He could even sense a faint spirit of fire.

This place was already very close to the Fire Elemental Plane.

As a fragment of space cut from the Fire Elemental Plane, this place had not completely lost contact with it.

Otherwise, the fire elements within the secret realm would have long since been depleted after centuries of use.

Water without a source cannot endure for long.

The Elemental Tower understood this truth well enough.

Thus, this was also the place in the Prime World nearest to the Fire Element Plane.

Li Wei immersed himself in cultivation within the training domain.

In the blink of an eye, a month had passed.

The crystal within his mind had fully transformed into a clear, translucent red.

Not a single trace of impurity remained within the red crystal.

His spiritual energy had been refined to the very limit of the Third Tier.

Such pure spiritual energy elevated Li Wei's control over mana to a higher plane.

[Crystal Meditation Technique (Third Tier Awakening)] 0/10000

Li Wei had cultivated to the pinnacle of the Third Tier.

The Crystal Meditation Technique had reached the realm of perfection.

There was nowhere left to advance.

To progress further, Li Wei would have to seek a higher cultivation method.

However, that was a concern for a Fourth Tier Great Mage.

For now, Li Wei only needed to focus on awakening a Fourth Tier Extraordinary Trait.

He cast his gaze upon the Flame Lord Extraordinary Trait.

Logically, he already possessed a Fourth Tier Extraordinary Trait; after reaching the Third Tier, breaking through to Great Mage should have been effortless.

It ought to have been quite simple.

Yet the awakening progress before him stood at zero, signifying Li Wei had not yet taken the first step toward becoming a Great Mage.

"Was merely possessing the Flame Lord Extraordinary Trait insufficient?"

Li Wei pondered.

According to the rule, each advancement breakthrough awakened two Extraordinary Traits.

Therefore, to advance to Great Mage, he would need at least two Fourth Tier Extraordinary Traits.

Li Wei produced the Spirit-Gathering Crystal.

Employing the deduced awakening ritual, he absorbed the Fire Spirit within the crystal to boost the awakening progress.

Moments later, Li Wei halted his cultivation.

For he sensed something amiss with his cultivation state.

The Fire Spirits absorbed into his body collided chaotically like headless flies.

They failed entirely to find the root of the breakthrough.

In the end, they were all assimilated into becoming part of the Flame Lord Extraordinary Trait.

If one were to compare cultivation to walking.

Until now, Li Wei had always advanced along a predetermined path.

Upon reaching the pinnacle of the Third Tier, the path ahead suddenly vanished.

Or perhaps, it could not be said that the path was gone.

A wall had appeared on the road, blocking his forward steps.

Relying on the Proficiency Panel to accumulate experience, Li Wei could chip away at the wall before him piece by piece.

But the efficiency was far too low.

Even after breaking through, the path revealed might not be the one he wished to tread.

Li Wei departed the cultivation secret realm.

He went forth to seek the path forward.

"What exactly was the difference between a Great Mage and a Mage?"

Li Wei felt he must first clarify this point.

Prior to this, Li Wei had never truly considered this matter.

For he had slain more than one powerhouse above the Fourth Tier.

He had not perceived many differences.

In terms of sheer combat power alone, the Fourth Tier was indeed many times stronger than the Third.

But that was all there was to it.

(End of Chapter)