The empire did exactly what Jack wanted; it abandoned everything else and devoted all its resources to researching a cultivation technique.
Through some surface-level confrontations between core formation masters of the two sides, the empire's higher echelon long knew the significant difference a cultivation technique makes. Those without a cultivation technique are like warriors using wooden swords, while those with cultivation techniques wield well-sharpened Steel swords. Wooden swords can still kill, but they are obviously far less lethal than sharpened metal swords.
One of the most influential advocates for rapidly developing a cultivation technique was Master Dimitri, the most powerful cultivator in the empire. His famous battle with a core formation cultivator from the Heaven's Way Sect particularly demonstrated the critical importance of having a cultivation technique.
In that battle, Master Dimitris was defeated by a first-stage cultivator despite being at the third stage of core formation. This devastating blow to the empire's morale led to their immediate withdrawal from the western capital, which they surrendered willingly to the enemy.
Developing a cultivation technique primarily relies on trial and error; no alternative method exists.
The empire has already successfully developed a base technique that leads to the 10th stage of energy gathering. To progress further, they need to make slight modifications to this base technique and have their 10th-level energy gatherers cultivate these new versions. If a practitioner successfully breaks through using the modified technique, it is deemed successful. However, failure results in death.
Developing a technique from scratch is extremely difficult, especially for those with limited knowledge of immortal concepts. It requires a substantial amount of manpower, along with individuals who possess both the ability and the willingness to make significant sacrifices for even minor advancements.
Many years have passed since the emergence of energy, and during this time, numerous groups worldwide, both large and small, have explored the path to immortality. Among them are two colossal forces: the Heaven's Way Sect and the Silvergold Dragontiger Empire.
Small factions lack the capability to develop cultivation techniques and are therefore not in the running. Larger groups can typically develop techniques up to the energy-gathering stage. However, only the Heaven's Way Sect and the Silvergold Dragontiger Empire have the potential to create techniques at the Core Formation stage and beyond.
The Heaven's Way Sect already possesses a robust technique and is not currently investing resources into developing new ones. Consequently, the Silvergold Dragontiger Empire is the only major force actively working on advancing a Core Formation technique.
Prior to the incident involving the Heaven's Way Sect, they were torn between prioritizing the cultivation of more Core Formation cultivators or focusing on refining their cultivation technique. However, following the incident, they have redirected their efforts towards advancing their cultivation technique. They recognize that without a superior technique, even a numerical advantage in Core Formation cultivators offers little chance of victory.
...
As Lucy gazed at the unassuming building before her—it was the residence of the Empire's most formidable Core Formation cultivator, Master Dimitri.
Master Dimitri's exceptional talent was widely recognized. In under 25 years, he achieved the fourth stage of Core Formation with limited resources. He undeniably ranked among the top three in terms of natural aptitude. Even Jack recognized the value of such talent, extending an invitation for him to serve as a guest elder.
Lucy had been busy with secret tasks in the last few years; her task was monitoring and recruiting talented scattered cultivators in the Far East.
The Far East is extremely vast, home to billions of people. Although the sect has, on paper, taken over half of the eastern continent, its rule is very weak in practice. It would take decades for a powerful and stable rule to be established here.
As a result, local lords, nobles, and even some immortal circles still rule and thrive even in the land nominally owned by the sect. The sect hasn't clamped down on this and allowed it to prosper. This is how Jack operates; he likes to allow wild elements to develop in case they bring any surprises.
There are small immortal circles in the Republic and Far West lands, too; the Heaven's Way Sect is undoubtedly the strongest but no longer the only immortal force. Jack is still undecided on whether to absorb them into the sect or let them keep their independence.
In any case, he could recruit any particularly talented cultivator among these wild forces, which Lucy is doing now.
To draw Master Dimitri out, she released her aura.
Lucy's aura was extremely hot, influenced by the Heaven's Way cultivation technique. Originally, her surroundings had many trees, but immediately after she released it, everything around her turned to ashes; they didn't even burn, they directly turned to ashes.
The ground under her melted into magma; fortunately, she had an immortal skill to avoid sinking into it.
...
Master Dimitri was over 100 years old but only looked like a man in his late 40s. As a Core Formation cultivator, he had a lifespan of 200 years, so being 100 or so years old was not particularly old.
His biggest regret was not having a cultivation technique. As someone in mid-core Formation, he knew how much of a difference a cultivation technique makes.
He was a master of formations and forging, a priceless helper to the empire who crafted many energy-gathering formations and immortal weapons for them.
Sitting cross-legged, he was busy trying to break through the 5th stage; without a cultivation technique, his best way to improve his strength was sheer cultivation level, making up for his weak combat power with overwhelming energy.
Suddenly, he felt a horrifying energy break out not far from him, at least a hundred times stronger than his aura.
"Heaven's Way! Bastards," he cursed; he was familiar with this aura.
Quickly standing up, he took his immortal sword and went outside. He knew he had no chance of running away, so it was best to meet the one who intentionally released their aura.
Flying in the sky, he saw a woman; it was the first time he had seen her.
Soon, he descended not far from the woman.
"Fellow cultivator," he cupped his hand.
Lucy did the same and said, "Fellow cultivator, your achievements in immortality are known and spread throughout the world. I come here today to discuss an important matter with you."
"Hmm, I am all ears, fellow cultivator," he said.
"Our sect is offering you the position of a guest elder; I wonder whether my fellow cultivator is willing to accept it," she asked.
Master Dimitri didn't think for long; he said, "Fellow cultivator, I am just an old man who dislikes controversy; please let me remain in my own seclusion."
Lucy said, "I am afraid that may not be an option."
"What does fellow cultivator mean?" he asked.
"Our master, Hero-sama, would not allow talented individuals like yourself to remain in the enemy camp; fellow Daoist, you can join us as guests or prisoners," she said calmly.
Hearing this, he sighed; he felt pity that his road to immortality would end so soon.
Master Dimitri was a loyal man; he was not the type to change sides to save himself.
Lucy said, "Fellow cultivator, what about a contest? I will only use the mana of the 1st level of Core Formation. As long as fellow cultivator defeats me with your full power, I will leave and allow you to do as you please!"
"Fellow Daoist underestimates me! Even though I do not have a cultivation technique, how can I lose to only the 1st stage of Core Formation?" He was surprised by how Lucy underestimated him. Even though he didn't have a cultivation technique, he was a genius who invented many spells and even forged an immortal sword for himself.
"Fellow cultivator, I'm afraid you underestimate the power of our cultivation technique. It is not just the cultivation technique; the purity of mana, the number of spells, and even my immortal sword and many trump cards. I can easily defeat my fellow Daoist with the mana of the 1st stage. My fellow Daoist underestimates the power of our Heaven's Way sect"
Feeling slightly offended at how the other side underestimated him, he felt obliged to defend his honor. "Then let us find a suitable battlefield to prove who is wrong!"
...
In the midst of a vast grassland, two figures soared on opposite trajectories, suddenly accelerating their flight.
"Heaven's Fire!" Lucy cast.
Heaven's Fire was an advanced fireball that burned not only physical objects but also energy and opponents' mana.
Feeling hot, Dimitri, who was on the other side, felt alarmed. The opponent's spell didn't have any visual effect. There was no fireball; only, as soon as the opponent cast her spell, he felt a burning sensation; even his core felt hot.
He had fought with other Core Formation cultivators before and had never seen this spell used.
As someone absolutely trusted by Jack, Lucy had access to the entire sect database, including all spells ever invented and recorded.
Dimitri was forced to use one of his trump card defensive spells right at the start of the battle.
"Expel!" he cast.
His vast mana of the 4th stage came in handy. It pushed all the invasive mana out, sacrificing 10% of his mana just to get rid of a single spell of Lucy. All this time, Lucy could have rushed forward and dealt him a blow, not allowing him to take his time to neutralize the invasive mana.
This battle was a show of force by Lucy, letting him know he was nothing special.
Gritting his teeth, Dimitri cast his trump card attack spell, "Manmade Tribulation!"
The sky, originally clear, suddenly became covered with massive red clouds, all above Lucy's head. At the same time, Master Dimitri wielded his sword and flew with quick speed toward Lucy, targeting her neck.
Lucy wasn't moving, still not taking him seriously. Master Dimitri only had a low-quality core, much worse than Lucy's near-perfect quality core. Lucy's 1st stage was only slightly worse than Dimitri's 4th stage.
The secrets of the core's quality are still entirely unknown to the forces of the empire. They had no idea about the next realm and no idea about the core's color; even now, they believe the core should be dark blue; dark blue core, in fact, is a sign of low purity.
Until now, Master Dimitri only fought with the weakest cultivators of the western Gabe branch of the Heaven's Way sect, who also had, at most, medium-quality cores and little access to precious spells.
Now, fighting with Lucy, it was normal to be unable to resist.
Lucy pointed her right hand at the sky and cast "Scatter" while using the other hand to catch the incoming sword with her bare hand.
Dimitri saw this and felt cold. Was this confidence from strength or arrogance? Was she trying to catch a core formation-crafted sword with her bare hand? Dimitri thought the only way Lucy could do it was by using power beyond the first stage of Core Formation, which would end the battle, as Lucy promised to leave if she failed to defeat him with the power of 1st stage.
Lucy's scatter spell hit the sky; the Manmade Tribulation spell, which was close to exploding with lightning bolts, started dissipating unwillingly. It tried to gather itself together to at least explode with one bolt of lightning, but in the end, it failed; the sun returned to the newly cleared sky.
Midway, Dimitri changed the sword's direction, targeting Lucy in an unexpected location. He aimed at the area between her legs; if hit, it could split her into two halves. Of course, if Lucy used her 7th-stage core power, she could resist it completely with her skin alone, without needing to use any spells.
There is no honor in battles; winning is winning. Targeting where nobody expects is a smart move.
Lucy, however, was faster; she predicted the sword's direction and caught it with her hand, not moving back one step to dodge it.
Dimitri had no time to change direction again, so the sword hit the palm of her hand.
Lucy had poured her pure, nearly perfect energy into the palm of her hand to resist the sharpness.
In immortal battles, the determining factor is the concentration of energy; the side with higher concentration wins against the side with lower concentration. Immortal weapons can gather mana in one place, increasing concentration.
The sword, strong enough to cut 5th-stage Core Formation cultivators, hit and stopped, unable to move forward; it was as if it had hit an unbreakable stone.
"What?" Master Dimitri was shocked. He was sure Lucy only used 1st-stage mana; how could his magic sword fail to damage her? As a last measure, he drew a massive quantity of mana from his core, increasing the concentration of mana in his sword. Finally, the sword cut into Lucy's skin before stopping again; it could not cut beyond the surface of her skin.
It couldn't be helped; Dimitri's impure mana was not good enough to overcome Lucy's near-perfect mana.
Smiling, she punched directly to Dimitri's chest with her free right hand. Until now, she hasn't attacked much; if she had been willing to kill him, he would have died at least 100 times, even using only 1st stage Core Formation energy.
Dimitri felt hit by a mountain; he shot to the ground like a cannonball, making a huge impact felt by a few faraway villages.
Laying at the bottom of a ten-meter hole, his blurry eyes observed as Lucy wiped the blood off her left hand that was injured after catching the sword.
"I give it to you! I cannot completely defend against you without using spells; that's something, be proud!" she said.
Dimitri heard this and felt bitter.
"Does a cultivation technique make this much of a difference? We are not at the same level at all," he thought before passing out.
Seeing this, Lucy picked him up, returning to the western branch.
This Dimitri is actually very talented; the spells, such as Manmade Tribulation and Expel, are masterful. They are weak only because of Dimitri's impure mana; if Lucy used them, it wouldn't be so simple to get rid of Manmade Tribulation.
Now that he knows the difference in power, he may finally accept working for them, and in return, he may be granted access to the Heaven's Way cultivation technique.