Lou Ben used his newfound power in perception to take a look around at the hill and solidary tree.
It's surprised Lou Ben that there was no sudden changes.
Deep in his heart he had hoped that perhaps his cultivation was too low for the tower to react and did not show any sign to proceed because of this.
Unfortunately he was wrong.
One quick look around and there was still no change.
The hill was an average hill, and the tree was an average tree.
He looked up and saw the false sky, the false clouds, and the false winds.
Although he knew it was fake, the scenery was something that relaxed him at his core.
He felt a sort of comfort and strangely a sense that the energy within this tower is many times stronger than inside the village.
His breath was taking in a more dense energy of heaven and earth, slowly tmempering his body further.
Lou Ben smirked: "Things are never what it seems. This tower might not be something to conquer but maybe the reward that has been locked inside."
His thoughts were concluding that the small world he is in now is too perfect for cultivation.
Either this was a buffer zone, where one is to hone their cultivation before proceeding and challenging the next boss, or the tower itself is meant to hone the cultivation level by level.
All the evidence to Lou Ben pointed to these two.
Lou Ben brainstormed and dreamt of the perfect scenario: "If my space attainments were not low, I would take the lake and the tower and put it into a small world."
Lou Ben sighed, he felt like he was far from understanding and creating his own small world.
Although he was able to understand more about being a dao master, his attainment in space dao was considered average.
"If our clan had a deeper fundamental understanding of dao then perhaps I could breakthrough this dilemma myself."
Nodding his head he could only sigh and appreciate the heavenly gift to advance in realms.
After all it takes on average 10 to 20 years for people to advance from the Atmospheric Condensation to the Foundation Establishment.
This is only considered to be what Steward Wen Guoliang said as top 10%. The average dao master takes 30 to 40 years to condense their worldly energy within their meridians and grasp a deep enough attainment to break into the second realm.
The case for Lou Ben should be considered as horrifying and completely other worldly.
Now that Lou Ben was placed in front of a wall with no further path for advancing, he could only think about these small things.
When Lou Ben sighed once again, the tree made a slight change.
It would be hard to notice it normally but, Lou Ben had advanced and gained a surge in power to his perception!
There was a yellow light coming from the base of the trunk.
Lou Ben watched as this yellow light grew from the size of a pea to the size of a plum.
When it grew to be the size of a palm it stopped growing and instead changed form so that it was a complete rectangle.
Lou Ben approached the yellow rectangle on the trunk and placed his hand on it.
"Ouch!" He sneered in disdain as it pricked all five fingers and drew blood.
At this moment the world around Lou Ben flashed a bright white color and blinded him.
There was a large wind gust blowing his long black hair back and forth, as the scent of earth rushed towards his brain.
When the light dimmed and Lou Ben was able to look around, the round medieval-like tower was condensed into the size of a cup of tea!
Picking it up was easy, it felt weightless, and if one did not experience what Lou Ben did, then they would believe this to be a toy or sculpture for a city replica.
Lou Ben found himself back where the lake had ended and the path to the tower was.
He stuffed the tower into his abyss like sleeve and approached the lake once more.
He looked down into his reflection and saw himself.
Flawless skin, soul piercing eyes, long black hair, all he could think to himself was that the reflection was truly handsome.
He squat down to place his finger into the lake and watched the thick liquid cause rippled throughout.
Still hoping to grasp this heaven defying treasure he sat and wondered how he would do so.
"Each small world is created by using a purple crystal. Right now I have 35 left. Including the one etched inside my sword."
"Oh! The reminds me, I thought that this place should be historic for the monopoly on space techniques, but never thought to continue my investigation!"
It dawned on Lou Ben that after he got his sword he never put the swords dropped by other undead knights into his sight.
How could it be so easy to dig up history without having further evidence?
"Alright let's push this to the side for later. I should try to understand small worlds."
"When I saw Steward Wen Guoliang he used 5 golden crystals and finally a single purple crystal."
"Hmm those golden crystals should be used to create the world and the purple crystal should be used to contain it."
"Why else would the purple crystal be the only one being wrapped around the door? It served as a container!"
The thoughts of Lou Ben raced as he recalled his single experience where he watched a dao master create a small world.
Thoughts crossed and fought as he continued to brainstorm the initial steps to making a small world.
"Rather I'm not making a small world but trying to put something into a crystal!"
"So maybe I should experiment with the technique I already know!"
Lou Ben took out a purple crystal and opened his mind to the various techniques he learned under the teachings of Steward Wen Guoliang.
He focused on the technique Space Sleeve, this technique focused energy and went towards his clothing, but maybe he could inscribe it onto a crystal and use it like that!
5 minutes later he finished his inscriptions, and focused on the glyphs and pushed the energy into the crystal.
Bang!
The crystal exploded and knocked Lou Ben tens of feet back.
Lou Ben looked at where he came flying from and didn't see any crystal ash instead he saw a single globe.
This globe had nothing in it, or rather it could be said that the globe was simply devoid of anything.
Lou Ben scratched his head and tightened his eyebrows: "What does this mean?"
He circled around the globe, squaring up and down to look at every angle.
It was simply a globe that looked as delicate as a bubble.
It looked like a glass bubble solidified and floating in the air.
It made no sense to the current Lou Ben.
"So I used a space technique on a crystal, usually it should be focused on my sleeve and when I focus on my sleeve I… what do I do?"
Lou Ben noticed the discrepancy in his train of thought when activating the technique Space Sleeve.
"Hmm… maybe I should leave this globe here for a moment and focus on the technique I already know. Raise my attainments in this and perhaps deepen my understanding."
Lou Ben lowered his hand from his chin and began to repeatedly use space sleeve.
3 times… 5 times… 10 times…
He noticed the energy inside his meridians weaken and his body grow exhausted.
He needed to recharge and collect his findings.
Sitting cross-legged he pondered as he split his mind to both think and condense more worldly energy into his meridians.
He learned that when he uses space sleeve he already has an idea of what he wants to do.
Either wants to store or remove something, he already has a mental image.
He practiced without having a mental image but instead keeping his eyes open at the object he wanted to store.
He practiced without any specific object in mind and closed his eyes activating the technique.
When he did that he felt a gust of wind enter his sleeve.
That experiment made him realize that the globe floating in front of him now was full of wind!
He experimented with a puddle of the thick liquid, placing the liquid on top of his sword he brought both into his sleeve.
Both remained in a frozen state.
Then he experimented with a metal rock and some of the liquid, both entered and left his sleeve in the same state.
All his experiments had him gain a deeper understanding and attainment of this technique.
Firstly if he doesn't have an image in mind then he could use his perception to affect objects.
Secondly it doesn't have to be a singular item, it can be many items or combined items.
Finally, he experienced how much his body can handle this technique. Taking the full lake will exhaust him to his limits!
"Unless…"