Meridian Refinement Stage

Clara was placed in her cradle as she got tired of their banter. She slept peacefully like a newborn kitten while embracing her legs.

"Fortunately, your grandfather managed to erase Fallen Extinction Lightning's consciousness before dying. The previous First Prince and his son got assassinated, so it is now ripe for the taking." Claire grinned mischievously.

"If you use that Lightning Elemental to cultivate your Essence Gathering Cultivation, then you will surely be more powerful than cultivators who cultivate in other Sky Grade Essence Gathering Manuals." Claire smiled resplendently at the thought that her son will only get more powerful steadily as time passes by.

Children only concentrate on one Cultivation System at a time, while Davis happens to cultivate all three Cultivation Systems at the same time. 

Hence, in Claire's eyes, her son was just becoming more and more powerful by the day, leaving his peers in the dust!

======

The next day.

At the Study.

Davis sat cross-legged while examining the Meridian Refinement Stage's cultivation process.

'Apparently, it looks like I have to refine the meridians in my body, and since I would cultivate with lightning attributed manual, I should make lightning pass through my meridians, a Sky Grade one at that. I'm done for! This is obviously shock treatment! Isn't this even crueler than Body Tempering Cultivation?' His mind floated with images of people being fried to charcoal by lightning.

"Davis, are you ready?" The door suddenly opened, and Claire walked in with a smile on her face.

"Eh? Ah? Yes, I'm ready." Davis gulped as that smile kind of looked evil to him.

They then proceeded to a place that is designed for closed-door cultivations, called Cultivation Quarters.

"Relax! Father and mother are here to help you suppress the Sky Grade Lightning Elemental, don't fret over it." Claire comforted him as she can entirely see his nervousness when she suddenly walked in.

Davis nodded and didn't say anything. They then made their way to a room in these quarters. There were more than ten rooms in this place.

Claire opened the door and walked inside, and he followed her.

Inside there was a formation that was capable of suppressing the power of lightning elemental to a certain extent.

Logan was seated at the side, obviously waiting for these two to come. Even though it was just easier for all three of them to send soul transmissions, they didn't communicate through that way. They didn't want to reveal Davis's Soul Forging Cultivation under any circumstances.

"Father, let's start!" 

Somehow, Davis didn't want to show weakness in front of his father.

"Well, aren't you hasty?" Logan commented and walked forwards.

He looked at Claire, and they both nodded their heads, "Let's begin then..." 

"Davis, sit inside the formation's heart and refine your meridians by circulating the energy while following the circulation method from Extinction Lightning Judgment Essence Gathering Cultivation Manual. You don't need to worry about the Lightning Elemental as we will help you in suppressing it."

Davis nodded as he took a deep breath before sitting in the middle of the formation. There were no words spoken further.

Logan and Claire used the formation to control and refine the Lightning Elemental through the unique formation and began sending the lightning essence energy to Davis with utmost caution.

Davis began refining his meridians as he focused his mind on the energy that entered his body.

The formation housed the Fallen Extinction Lightning as it also works as a suppressing formation; hence, the Lightning Elemental that would have instinctively fried them became suppressed enough to be refined. Furthermore, Logan and Claire took the brunt of the refinement of the berserk lightning energy and only sent the tamed and refined lightning energy to Davis.

Davis's meridians were already strengthened because he had reached the First Stage in Body Tempering Cultivation using Tyrant Body Secrets. As he slowly circulated the lightning attributed energy in his meridians, he felt a tingling sensation at the start, followed by a burning feeling. It felt as if he was electrocuted and corroded at the same time.

Nevertheless, its effects were negligible since it's being suppressed by both his parents and the formation.

'So this is the Fallen Extinction Lightning, a Lightning Elemental that equals Fifth Stage Powerhouses... really powerful...'

'It's not bad. I don't feel much pain...'

'It is a good thing that Mother and Father are here. If not, I would have to cultivate from the bottom of the food chain if I truly were to truly be an orphan again.'

His thoughts ran astray as he felt confident enough to cultivate even without the utmost concentration. He slowly repeated the circulation method again and again until he refined his meridians to a concise level.

The process lasted for about five long hours before he advanced to the Meridian Refinement Stage.

Just when he was about to shout out in excitement. A voice rang on his mind.

"Don't lose your concentration. We'll help you absorb the Fallen Extinction Lightning. Immediately focus your soul on absorbing it now!"

Davis could feel his soul being invaded by the lightning elemental. He had his eyes closed, so he didn't see the Fallen Extinction Lightning's form.

In any case, he began absorbing it into his soul as instructed.

*Bzzz!~*

"Arghhhhh!!!" 

Pain! 

Davis, was instantly filled with extreme pain that rocked his soul sea!

It felt like his thoughts were going haywire. He almost lost concentration but continued to grit his teeth. He knew he wouldn't be able to last longer, so he concentrated anew using his whole consciousness this time to succeed without caring for any repercussions.

The process lasted for a whole five minutes, which felt like an eternity to him before he fainted out of exhaustion.

Logan and Claire both heaved a sigh of relief. They knew he had succeeded in absorbing the Fallen Extinction Lightning but also knew it was only possible thanks to his powerful soul that at least possessed the capability to hold the Lightning Elemental in his soul sea.

======

After some time, Davis woke up.

He checked his soul sea and saw a pentagram shaped black lightning residing within. It maintained a certain distance from the Death Book.

Seeing that both didn't interfere with each other, he inwardly heaved a sigh of relief.

He then checked his surroundings and noticed that he was still in the same room. He saw his parents passionately… kissing each other...

"..."

They were so into it that they didn't notice him waking up. Even a slight movement should be able to alert them, but they didn't seem to notice.

Logan licked his lips with Claire's. He held her waist, and she cupped his cheeks. Her expression seemed to be sad as there were tears over her eyelids, and at the same time, her lips were savoring his taste as if it didn't want to let go. At first glance, it didn't seem like they were doing this for excitement.

Davis didn't make a sound. He stayed silent for some time before they separated from each other's lips. He didn't hear them talking, so he imagined that they must have used soul transmission to speak with each other.

After a few seconds, Davis trembled as if waking up just now.

At that instant, they instantly separated from each other's embrace.

Claire's face became red while Logan's lower garment had a tent. Davis chose to ignore it altogether before he closed his eyes and acted as if he was checking his state. That gave them enough time to be normal again.

'Something must have happened...' He thought, 'It isn't normal for them to act like that in front of me...'

'Wait, something seems to be wrong in my soul?' Davis became startled.

He immediately released his soul sense, and it extended up to 500 meters in a spherical radius.

"This... this... I reached Peak-Level Nascent Soul Stage!?"

He advanced straight from Mid-Level to Peak-Level while skipping High-Level. It wasn't as if his Soul Forging Cultivation just skipped; it was just he didn't notice that he entered High-Level Nascent Soul Stage when he fainted out of exhaustion.

Logan and Claire smiled as they knew the reason.

Davis forgot that lightning has the effect temper one's soul. Hence, absorbing the Low-Level Sky Grade Lightning Elemental became an incredible boon for him. He belatedly remembered that fact.

He then abruptly felt complicated since his father also seemed to train in Extinction Lightning Judgment, which meant that the Fallen Extinction Lightning is heavily useful to him as well, but they decided to let it be and passed on the big pie to him.

Not only was it heavily useful to Logan, but the Fallen Extinction Lightning can also perhaps increase Logan's Soul Forging Cultivation. However, Logan didn't take it selfishly and left the imperial treasure to him.

This also indirectly meant that they acknowledged him... That...

He... is their rightful heir!