"I don't have much time… they will notice that something is off soon…"
Zhang Dong looked to the pile of disabled slave collars that he absorbed previously. Along with the Thunder Stone before him, it would need to be enough.
He was a bit surprised about how much of a bottomless pit his own cultivation had become. Ever since returning it felt deeper like he needed more to retrace his old steps. This was all due to his increased understanding of the Dao he studied and also because his soul had expanded.
With all of the energy that he absorbed from these common higher quality common grade items, he should have normally been able to create his perfect foundation pillar. That wasn't so, he needed to go further beyond and absorb all of the energy that this prison facility had to offer.
Zhang Dong had already fiddled around with his system. There were some problems related to his cultivation. Due to it being so low most of his system functions were turned off or limited.
The map's range had shrunk to about a hundred meters and he could not access things like his crafting abode. For that, he would need to wait till he achieved the core formation level. The teleportation function was also offline and so was his clan building window.
Without it, he could not check for his family members nor his disciples. He had no idea if they were alive, how much time had passed, and even where he was. After cultivating he needed to gather more information before deciding on his next destination.
'I need to focus… the system is not helping me with this anymore…'
In the beginning, he mostly relied on the system, he could even spend spirit points directly to achieve breakthroughs. Now on the other hand it was all up to him but he wasn't afraid. His Dao was supreme and he had all the knowledge that he needed. The only problem were the cultivation resources and time.
Before sitting down in front of the Thunder Stone he took out the sword that he got from the White Tiger elder. He started slicing the ground in front of the crystal, soon it took the shape of a combination of a magic circle and a formation.
Thanks to his time in the world of magic he had learned a few tricks. With this specialized formation, he would be able to hasten the process while also making it much easier. With it, there would be no wasted energy and he would be able to absorb it to its fullest.
He finally sat down in the lotus position and started to concentrate. The orange thunder crystal was radiating electrical power but soon it started to flow into his dantian. Everything became dark and he knew that the people outside might notice this.
It started to materialize as if it had always been there. A large pillar started to form inside of him. It was longer and thicker than it ever had been before, pure gold and radiating holy lightning energies.
The whole place rumbled as he opened up his eyes. Yellow light and electricity escaped from them and lit up the darkened room. The people outside heard a strange thunderclap below ground which was followed by an earthquake.
Thanks to Zhang Dong's special formation the spiritual energy was contained to this room. The people outside would not notice that he was breaking through but he could not do much about the quaking.
'Be formed… my prime pillar!'
He willed it into place and it formed inside of him. It stood tall like a monolith and it was just the first one of many. Around it, he would fashion even more pillars which would then be used to create his golden lightning core. Its might would eclipse the previous one just as this prime pillar overshadowed the old one.
"Whew…"
He gave out a sigh of relief after successfully going through his first major change. Due to the purity of the way he cultivated there were no impurities in his body.
After standing up he started checking if he made any mistakes and how much power he really had.
'This… I'm much stronger… about the level of a great circle foundation establishment cultivator…'
He was a bit astonished by the jump in levels, he was only in the early stage but with this amount of power, he would be able to contend with the strongest masters in this realm. This was due to his repeated enhancements of his cultivation skills and due to the increase in his soul power.
'I'll absorb these later, I should go…'
After stashing the broken slave collars he left this room. They had no lightning energy in them anymore but could be used to bolster his silver body further.
"Elder, what has happened…"
Zhang Dong was quick to return above ground. Before the guards could look into the dungeon prison below he was there to block the path.
"It's nothing, the prisoner was a bit tougher than I expected, I had to use some strength to get rid of him…"
The dungeon below was reached by elevator which led to a checkpoint. They were now at this point, this room had been previously cleared out by him which raised some concern with these men.
"Elder, where are the other guards…"
"Don't worry about them, they need to do some cleaning, now let us depart."
He gave the older while giving the two men here a stern look. They quickly clasped their hands and headed towards the elevator. The good part about being in this world was how the seniors were treated with reverence.
Now after reaching the foundation level his disguising technique was able to shrink down his body to mimic the White Tiger Clan leader fully. Only a core formation cultivator above the early stage would be able to notice this disguise.
They all headed up and before leaving he gave the order to not let anyone descend into the dungeon for the day. With this, he would have some time to go through this clan's library and gather some information.
"You."
"Yes, Elder?"
Outside he found some White Tiger Clan members lazing about.
"I need to visit the clan's library, guide me to it, junior."
"Ah… of course elder, follow me."
The young man looked a bit surprised at the order. Zhang Dong knew that the person he was impersonating probably knew where the library was. Luckily for him, a junior would not ask any questions even if he acted a bit out of character.
"You may leave."
The young man clasped his hands and was on his way. The building that he was led to was quite large and inside he found quite a number of scriptures.
'They sure like to keep a lot of texts in this world…'
Even though this clan wasn't really that big, they owned large buildings like this one. The city was also highly populated which in the magical land would be seen as gigantic. This structure had the usual oriental feel to it, with lots of dragons and qilin ornaments all over the place.
Zhang Dong's system at least kept its knowledge gathering function but he needed to give each book a poke before it could be started. So he got to work, tracing his finger along with the book covers while moving next to the bookcases.
Most of it were just cultivation methods for the younger generation. Inner Aura techniques and a few Martial Master scripts. This was more of an open library, it made sense that the quality would be lower than what the inner circles had access to.
This didn't matter much to him, he was mostly interested in the lay of the land. Where he was and where the Azure Dragon Empire was located from his location. After wondering for about thirty minutes he finally found what he wanted, a large world map.
'This is different than the maps that I remember…'
He rubbed his chin while bringing up the image of the Azure Dragon Empire. It was a holographic image that only he could see. After moving it around a couple of times he was able to connect it to this map.
This Emerald Phoenix Empire's west border somewhat aligned with the Azure Dragon Empire's east border.
'By the looks of it… I'm all the way here…'
It didn't look too good, he was all the way on the other side of this country. The United Element's Sect location was also on the edges. The traveling distance was immense and he wasn't even a core formation cultivator so flight was not a possibility.
'How am I going to get all the way there…'
He knew that the journey would be dangerous. This world was filled with many demonic beasts, evil cultist organizations, and people just waiting to stab a person in the back. The lack of his original cultivation was a problem, it seemed that getting it back would be the best option.
The new calendars that this empire offered also didn't answer his question about time. His system window's clock had also been reset along with the reboot so he had no idea about how long he was missing.
From his standpoint, some months had passed which in this world didn't mean much. His sect still had some nascent soul elders to protect it. Unless the news of his disappearing was announced he didn't see other sects attacking, not after he easily defeated those nascent soul elders on the sect meeting and also crushed that sword sect Patriarch.
'I'm no use to anyone if I die… I need to at least reach the core formation level and gain access to my crafting abode.'
A plan formed in his mind, there was no helping it, he wasn't strong enough. There were many Martial Saints that were about as strong as Core Formation cultivators from his empire. They would pose a large threat to him so he needed to be careful.
He needed to find a good place to cultivate, a place with lots of lightning energy. Then the other option was to gather items like those Thunder Stones. Luck was a bit on his side with that part as he was in a clan that studied the Dao of lightning.
It was clear to him that somewhere in the deeper regions of this clan there were cultivation resources that he could use. They had already crossed the line with him so he would not feel bad if he stole them all.
The only problem would be their strength, he felt like he should be on par with someone at the great circle of foundation establishment but that was only in theory. Was this Martial Grandmaster a bit stronger than what he believed? Only after clashing with someone like that would he know.
"There you are Elder, I've been looking for you, did you take care of that slave?"
While Zhang Dong was contemplating his next move he heard someone call out to him. The tone and voice sounded familiar. He just turned around while grasping his red beard, his eyes on the young man and the girl next to him.
"Mmm, it is done… Young master…"