"Darn why is it so dusty in here? Do these sect people never clean their precious lightning tower?"
Zhang Dong complained while trying not to get too much dust on himself. Thankfully he was powerful enough to create a little dust shield around his body that would also protect him from getting stuck in cobwebs.
At this point in time, he was making his way through this lightning tower. He had seen through all of the protective formations that were keeping all the secret entrances from him.
'I have to give it to them, these illusory formations are quite good. I'm not sure anyone that isn't at least a formation grandmaster would be able to get past this.'
It was a little bit odd that this room that he entered was so well protected. To get here he was forced into a secret passage that was barely large enough for him to fit through.
The moment he entered he noticed that the mechanism was quite old. It was as if it hadn't been operated in many years. On the inside, it also looked quite old and unused.
The only reason for this place being so unkept and unused was that it was probably some kind of old secret evacuation passage. Maybe it led all the way up to the most important parts of the tower but never found its use.
'Even if that's true, they could clean it up every year or something…'
The further he went the worse everything looked, finally after walking for about an hour he finally arrived at what looked to be the end.
'What is this?'
He scanned this place with his spiritual sense but could not feel any living being. Luck was on his side though as when he looked up he could see a large cristal.
This cristal would periodically give out a burst of light followed by a crackle of thunder. It was actually quite loud but a formation around this room was keeping all the noise from reaching outside.
'That was easier than I expected…'
Zhang Dong was convinced that on his way through this tower he would need to knock out a few guards. Maybe turn into them to sneak in further before he was discovered. Now on the other hand he was looking at a source of great lightning power.
This crystal was clearly absorbing energy from the storm and radiating power. It was then discharging the residual energy into the walls of this chamber. Each time it did the whole room glowed in a dim blue light.
This chamber looked like a crypt. In the middle, there was some kind of large coffin. Each time the room lit up strange runes on the ground would glow. After a few glances, Zhang Dong already had a theory about what this place was.
"The room seems to be purifying the lightning energy that the crystal is giving off. It's then injecting it into that coffin for some reason, is there someone in it?"
With another jolt of his spiritual sense, he tried focusing on the object in the middle of the room. Even when he tried he could not feel anything, the inside of this thing had no living being.
"Hm…"
Zhang Dong looked around, without seeing any traps he finally approached the large rectangular coffin. The room around it had some columns and on the walls, he could see some faded pictures with faces that were unrecognizable.
'Has no one been here for hundreds or thousands of years?'
He wasn't sure but he was still wary of the inside of this coffin. This world clearly had demonic beings in it. There was always a possibility of some kind of undead creature being in there. He did not feel the presence of any shielding formations but that didn't mean that there was nothing there. If something exceeded his current cultivation or his old one, he would not be able to detect it.
'Here goes nothing…'
It needed to be done, trying to cultivate with this unopened box of pandora would be dangerous. What if a bag of bones popped up and tried biting his nape or some kind of evil spirit tried to take over his body when he wasn't paying attention?
With a swift kick, the large slab of the coffin was removed. Zhang Dong jumped back while in a battle stance.
"Hm?"
He quickly dropped his guard as the only thing that was inside of this coffin were rocks.
"Wait… doesn't that look like a head?"
He approached and after looking everything over again he noticed that the rocky bits were shaped as a person. It looked like an old statue made from stone was there. It was clearly broken and crumbling. The moment he picked up what looked to be the head, it just crumbled into dust.
"Why would they put this in here…"
It was a big unknown, it looked like someone just placed a stone statue in here and locked it. Was someone trying to fake their death a thousand years ago or was there more to it?
"Hm?"
This wasn't all, on a part that used to be the right hand he noticed something shining. After looking this up he found a storage ring, it was quite old but still in working order. It was locked but for someone that studied craftsmanship, this was nothing. After a few minutes, he managed to unlock it and peeked inside.
In the spatial ring, he found a lot of old texts. There were various lightning techniques that were of a higher grade and belonged to this empire. One, in particular, seemed interesting but it was not complete.
'If someone used this thing they would suffer a large cultivation backlash, it's easy to fix though.'
With a quick scan, he had taken in all of the cultivation knowledge that was inside this ring. It didn't say much about the original owner though.
"Good sword."
After going through everything there was one weapon of note. A white sword, it was radiating lightning energy and was actually a heaven graded item. With it being far above his current cultivation level he couldn't really use it but when he recovered it would be a nice replacement for his old one.
"This robe isn't bad either…"
Zhang Dong changed into his original appearance. The dark hair of Dai Rong that he used changed into snow-white as his body expanded into a more handsome and muscular man.
The robe that he found had the colors that he liked to use, it was mostly white. On the back of it, there were some characters that translated into 'Lightning Lord'. It was not quite the Lightning Emperor or Monarch title but would do nicely for now.
The robe was very similar to his old one as it was not one of the flowy ones, clearly more meant for hand-to-hand combat. There were even leg guards and armguards on it that were made from a shiny white spirit metal.
"Finally some luck, now it's time to cultivate."
The only thing that was missing from this spatial ring was a flying sword on which he could escape after he reached the core formation level.
After going through this chamber a few times he did not find anything else. Whatever this old statue was was unknown to him. There was no spirit in it and he could not find any traps that would turn on when he was concentrating.
With some muscle strength, he removed the coffin from the middle of the chamber. He also needed to alter the formation in this room. With a few alterations, he was now making it focus all of the energy into one point. That point was him.
While already dressed in his new robe he sat down. He was now in the traditional lotus position with his palms open. It didn't take long for the crystal above him to charge up and fire a concentrated lightning bolt towards Zhang Dong's forehead.
The moment the lightning bolt connected with his body he could feel the energies seeping into his foundation pillars. It was working, he could feel himself advancing further. The lightning strikes continued to descend and each time they hit they were swiftly absorbed.
One, two, three, ten, twenty, and then thirty. He took on all of the powerful lightning bolts before being able to fashion another perfect golden foundation pillar. His power churned and he could feel the electrical energy rising.
"Not enough, I need more!"
He looked up towards the lightning crystal above him. This treasure was somehow storing the lightning bolts but also hindering them from descending. It was like a small dam that only let a certain amount of energy through. For him to advance faster, it needed to go away.
From his eyes, a golden beam of light escaped and connected with this lightning crystal. The crystal unable to contend with this might soon burst into many tiny particles. The light from Zhang Dong's eyes didn't vanish but instead of the light being exuded it was now drawn in.
A giant suction force was created that was now continuously sucking all of the lightning energies from outside. Zhang Dong could feel the process being sped up tenfold and it was speeding up.
More and more foundation pillars were created. Five, six, seven, eight… and they continued with no end in sight. After he went through the fifteenth he realized that something was wrong.
There were far too many foundation pillars, they were exceeding what should be possible for a cultivator in this world.
'I just reached the late stage and I already have this much… how many will I get?'
His cultivation was reaching new before seen heights. The foundation pillars kept being created as he absorbed a massive amount of energy from outside. The whole room began to rumble as the walls were being strained by all of this might.
With this amount of noise, he also believed that he would be found out soon. This is also why he could not stop. Along with his opened eyes, he also opened his mouth and started to absorb everything.
He was not sure what was happening outside but he would not be surprised if the whole lightning storm wasn't being forced into this room. With another resounding boom, he reached the great circle stage of foundation establishment.
His whole body was now surrounded by a giant golden pillar of light. This pillar shot up and drilled through the ceiling. If they didn't spot him before, they would certainly be aware that he was here now. The pillar of light reached all up to the sky and he could feel all of the lightning energy being sucked in by him.
'Hey Bob what's happening, I should have broken through already...'
There were already over sixty foundation pillars and he had reached the great circle realm but it was still continuing. Without knowing what to do he finally asked his AI companion for some help.
"User's increased soul capacity has caused a unique cultivation variation… warning… user will die if he doesn't break through…"
'Well, thanks a lot…"
Zhang Dong concentrated, the pillars kept increasing and it looked like he would have to wing it. Finally, when the pillars started to approach seventy they started to slow down. Sixty-eight, sixty-nine, and then seventy.
Finally, as that seventieth pillar was formed he felt a jolt in his very being. He could feel something changing in his dantian and also in his soul. This was also followed by a bout of pain, pain that he had never felt before. It felt like his insides were being ripped apart by these energies.
He screamed out in pain as everything started collapsing around him. The whole place exploded and he shot up into the sky as a rocket. But even while in pain, he could feel it. He could feel his core being created and it looked like there was more than one…