There was blood everywhere, and mountains of corpses scattered about, Kai was standing there completely wounded and barely breathing, his energy was already running low. At that moment, he saw a black figure with a bone crown on his head appear not far from him.
- King Envy! You've got to be fucking kidding me! - Kai smiled wickedly, already mentally creating a Shadow Seal ten meters away, preparing to retreat.
Looking at him, the King of Envy's sharp bone, almost as long as he was, began to grow out of his palm, breaking it off, and now he had something like a bone spear in his hand. Calmly glaring at Kai, he lunged to attack. His movements were lightning fast.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! There was a series of sounds, the King's blows were very sharp and precise, and the circular movements of the spear swept everything out of the way. Kai was constantly dodging as he stepped backward approaching the mark. When he could not dodge, he defended himself with two daggers at once, flying away from the blow, after each block of such a spear swing, Kai's hands went numb. And the King nonchalantly continued to advance!
Kai had a plan that he wanted to realize... He was leading him to the mark, as if trapping him. Enduring incredible blows they slowly approached the prepared spot, Kai needed the element of surprise.
They slowly passed the Shadow Seal so that it was in the air not far from the back of the King's head. At that moment, he made a direct stab with his spear straight into Kai's chest! The spear flew towards him with incredible speed, even the sound of the spearhead cutting through the air could be heard. When it was about to touch his clothes, Kai disappeared and appeared behind the King, lightning fast, stabbing the back of his head with his dagger! He saw his dagger heading for the fatal point as if in slow motion, all his senses heightened to the max!
But the King's reaction was amazing, at that moment he hit the front of the spear shaft with his free hand to create an overbalance, so the opposite side of the spearhead started to move up, quickly hitting Kai right in the chin, almost at the moment he was about to touch the King's skull with the blade.
- Aggh!"- Kai felt his jaw being shattered, but at that moment he struck with his other hand, driving the dagger into the King's shoulder. Unfortunately, it was his last blow, as his opponent lightning fast turned around and hit his elbow right into his chest throwing him flying several meters away.
At this moment, Kai was lying with his ribs completely broken and his jaw shattered, he couldn't even move as his energy dropped to zero.
- Phaaaah! - Returning to his room, he began to take large gulps of air, he was incredibly exhausted right now. The last cycle in Asura's Hell had been incredibly fierce, but he was beyond excited, he had finally injured one of the Kings!
And then Kai's eyes widened, he felt a strange change in his body, an incomprehensible energy began to enter his skeleton, crackling right into his bones, he could feel his skeleton getting stronger.
"Hmmm, what is this feeling?" - Kai watched the changes in his body intently.
"So that's what it is! That's what I'm supposed to do!" - Kai realized that when he wounded the Kings in battle, he would be able to absorb some of their energy. That way he would amplify himself in the realm of the King he wounded:
"King of Lust - Heart and Blood.
King of Pain - Muscle and soft tissue organs.
"King of Envy - Bones
King of Rage - Sense organs.
King of Terror - Brain and all the nerves," Kai repeated each one in his head.
"And what happens if I can kill them! Would I swallow them whole? Ha ha ha!" - Kai laughed ecstatically!
"So it turns out I defended myself against them for nothing? Now every time I meet one of them, I'll go for any damage just to deal damage in return. That way, I can become many times stronger and gradually absorb each and every one of them!" - Kai began to realize in his head.
Although Kai couldn't die in Asura Hell, but any injury, any scratch or fracture, felt real, even a tear in your muscles or a through and through wound would be indistinguishable from reality. Without a strong will, any other master would simply go mad with terror and pain!
But now that he understands the principles by which he can absorb the Kings, he will receive any wounds, but in return, he will take a bit of their energies with him every time.
- Heh-heh, Torture of the Invisible Kings? It lives up to its name! - Said Kai in a kind of manic admiration. He was indeed becoming more and more imbued with cultivation and striving to reach the peak.
If even at his cultivation level, he had already seen so many incredible things and wanted to know the answers to them. Then what would be waiting for him at the very top? Also, he never forgot about his most mysterious and deepest secret, that inky-black Sphere. Deciding that he would reach the pinnacle of martial arts by all means, and sat down to absorb the energy.
Kai watched as the flow of energy began to be absorbed tightly through his entire body, through the air he breathed, through his pores and even through his fingertips. As it entered his body, it flowed to the Energy Center and was processed there into his own energy, then spread throughout his body.
Observing the different energies that were in the external environment, Kai could even recognize a little whether the energy was coming from the wind or the sun, or was something else. The other masters didn't even realize that energy wasn't really something monolithic, but a mishmash of dozens of other variations of it.
Only in various marvelous cultivation zones or forbidden lands could masters say that there was more energy of a certain attribute, such as near a volcano or at the bottom of the sea. But that didn't mean that other energies weren't there, just that they were less concentrated and suppressed by the energy of heat and fire or another dominant element.
Watching the process of his Energy Center constantly recycling different energies into his own, which was inherent in his body, he was constantly making mental notes, he studied each change. He even noticed that if he gave his recycled energy the same laws and the same essence that he saw in the energy of the wind. And then send it into his lungs, it would be much better assimilated. He was always cautiously experimenting, and when he found something that would improve the process, he would start applying it on a regular basis. It was amazing, it was as if he could understand such subtle details that others had no idea existed.
It was as if Kai was in a whole other wonderful world, independently and cautiously discovering the principles upon which that world was based. He was seeing things that others simply weren't able to realize.
"I've thought about this before, but it's like I'm seeing the Essence of all Being... Where did this Sphere even come from within me? It's kind of awkward to call it that, it's too broad a name, I should give it a name... Let it be... Let it be... Exactly! Sphere of Essence!" - After thinking about it, Kai and chose that name in his head.
He continued to absorb the energy, and again he noticed that his vortex of energy had gotten a bit bigger, it was getting stronger and stronger. He was already firmly entrenched at the beginning stage of the Cultivator stage.
He now knew the rough outline of what he needed to do. To begin with, constant cultivation in Asura's Hell and slowly absorbing Kings, the second was to continue absorbing energy and exploring its patterns.
And lastly... And there was a problem with the last one... You couldn't get stronger just by cultivating, you needed real life-and-death situations, battles, and real life experiences. You need to broaden your horizons and see other strong masters to understand what to strive for and what variations of the martial arts path even exist. Asura's Hell was an incredibly marvelous place, but it was still an illusory world. Kai always realized that he couldn't really die there, but he couldn't go crazy with his will.
The skills he had learned in Asura Hell needed to be practiced in reality. He needed real fights, and he didn't quite know where to get them yet. Just provoking everyone was definitely not a good idea. Because one day you'll provoke someone much stronger than you, and then you won't even know how you died. He doesn't have any incredible power behind him that could protect him if he's threatened by a wizard much stronger than him... He'll have to be careful for now.
He had found himself an adventure on his ass for the first time, and soon it should begin to materialize. He wanted to kill this scum called Lord Flick, such people should not exist, his death would make the whole region feel better. This would be the final and finishing touch to his revenge. Now he even already has an invitation to the banquet, he will just have to wait for the opportune moment to kill.
Kai had already realized the approximate strength level of this city. According to his estimates, if he wanted to escape, there would be no one to stop him. At most he would be badly wounded, but being constantly hardened in Asura's Hell didn't scare him much.
Kai decided that he would go to the banquet and observe the situation first... Since there would be an official from the capital, he would have to be careful, in case there would be stronger masters there. Then he would need to change his plan a bit....
"We'll deal with problems as they come. In the meantime, I'll use the time I have left to my advantage." - Thinking about it, he closed his eyes and continued cultivating.