20- Espush Plant

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Adel was at over 100 miles from the inner region's corridor by this point, and the further he went, the more he saw how the number of mid-stage beasts surrounding him was increasing.

He killed as many as he could, causing his energy stores to skyrocket, while simultaneously leaving himself free to combat the beasts in order to regain his strength.

He didn't advance to the next step, instead retaining the Ki, Nao, and Qi energies inside his mind door, which seemed to have evolved to receive outside energies to store for later cultivation...

Of course, such energies had to be obtained on his own through a cultivation technique he employed on one of the cultivation pathways. Or else, he wouldn't be able to send it to the door...

The mind door automatically directed the energies to the place where he had begun his cultivation, thickening it with the three primordial energies, allowing him to break through to the high stage of the first step in all cultivation pathways.

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Adel went on top of a tree and sensed everything 500 meters distant as night fell.

He was mentally exhausted, so he only sensed nonchalantly to check if any beasts were coming for his life and posing a threat to him as he slept.

He then wore an elated grin on his face as he 'accidentally' detected a deeply buried plant in a certain direction...

It was a mid-stage second step beast at the end of the path.

However, it was still around 80 meters away from the inner region, making the presence of such a beast strange.

However, it never seemed that the beast was attacking any disciples who came close to it. It merely stood there, resting on the ground, as if waiting for something to happen.

It was the Espush plant that Adel needed.

According to his memory, it had thick, diamond-shaped leaves that were normally yellow, making the plant seem to be a regular herb.

When one infuses their energies into it (either Ki, Qi, or Nao, depending on their cultivation path), it transforms into a diamond shape.

It was surrounded by many similar flowers, meaning that the beast had just discovered the herb by chance and felt it was special after seeing it morph into a diamond-shaped variant after he unintentionally, or somehow, infused his energy into it.

Adel struggled to locate it before, but it got easier after he discovered it beneath the beast, in its diamond-shaped form.

Then again, the plant requires years, if not decades, of energy from the environment to transform into its final form: sapphire-shaped leaves.

It looked as though the beast was feeding it with its own energy, speeding up the process by at least ten times the energy of a mid-stage second-step beast.

And it looked like it would take around three hours before it finally stepped into the next step...

Adel, though, would just keep the beast constantly nourishing it until it was only ten minutes before it bloomed, then go there and ambush the beast.

He needed to break through in order to have the strength to kill the beast, as it was a mid-stage second step beast and he was still a mid-stage first step cultivator.

Although there was a benefit to cultivating all three pathways, it wouldn't be apparent to anyone until the fifth step... And now he had to depend completely on his combat expertise to boost his power. Until then, it would strengthen his foundation for the many battles he would face.

He would be surprised, though, after he reached the high stage of the second step...

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As for what Adel needed the plant for, it was for a future pill recipe he'd gotten to know from the information back then.

The other ingredients weren't rare, but quite hard to find. To put it simply, they all had similar mechanisms to hide themselves, like the Espush. Making it extremely difficult to find them.

It required the sapphire form of the Espush plant, as well as several additional plants of similar value.

Nevertheless, consuming the sapphire variant of the plant would offer the beast around 10% more affinity in the body's cultivation pathway.

It would, however, be useless to the beast because it was already cultivating on the body cultivation pathway. Consequently, when employed as a pill component, it produced a very different impact...

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He was ready to fall asleep under a tree when he noticed a group of disciples 500 meters away wearing robes, signifying that they were inner disciples.

This group had three members, all of whom were female.

They were all protecting each other's backs, hoping the beast wouldn't take them off one by one.

The beast was a Kakkul with four wings, four limbs, and two legs, as well as a long, muscular tail.

They possessed four eyeballs on their heads that formed a big cube, giving them a terrifying appearance.

It had the strength of a second step at an early stage.

Adel didn't think too much, just shook his head before proceeding to sleep, since he was incredibly mentally tired and needed to at least take a short nap to restore it.

'When I return, the first thing I do is begin alchemy. ' Adel made a mental note of the importance of pills that helped invigorate the mind.

He had a lot of these recipes, and the ingredients were rare. However, if he sold a large number of pills in bulk, he would be able to recover the cost of the components and so earn a profit...

But once again, as he closed his eyes, he unexpectedly got an idea.

Adel saw that the most powerful of these disciples was a gorgeous lady in her twenties, with charming curves and a plentiful figure akin to Katrina's, who held a bright blue blade.

He sensed her energy fluctuations were at the peak of the first step in the soul cultivation route, but the other woman's strength was only in the middle of the first step in the body cultivation pathway and energy cultivation pathway.

He was surprised by the attractive looking lady, as she could reach this stage while still being twenty, and even be an inner disciple with her strength, which implied she had a terrifying background to enable her to come here, or was she merely being supported by the clan due to her talent for developing the soul cultivation pathway?

He wasn't astonished by her looks, since even if she was as beautiful as Katrina, he wouldn't run in to save a beauty because he wanted her to become his or whatever. No, he didn't want to go for the "rescue the damsel in distress" cliche and end up with her affection, and thus have her as his.

He knew the woman had probably been in similar situations in the past due to others wooing her because of her talent or background...

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When he wasn't at the clan, he only wanted her to be at Katrina's side and protect her. Plus, he had a lot of work to do on this plane. And he had no intention of staying here for the rest of his life.

Besides, having a beautiful lady with someone he considers a friend—Katrin—is better then having a male with her.

He was aware that he was being hypocritical to himself, but he decided to give his feelings more thought before determining what to do next...

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While pondering, Adel approached the three, having removed his disguise and [Misinterpretation] Spell to make them notice him....

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{ Author's Note:

Hmm, too many fortunate gains, right?

It might seem like I'm making MC way too OP, but everything will have a reason.

Edit after writing the 45th chap: just wait until 28th chap, it makes sense then...}