Lu Tianzi would try for a breakthrough again the next day, after he was done clarifying with his teacher Formation Master Beimu about the issues he had regarding the energy gathering formation.
With that out of the way, Lu Tianzi once again put away the hundreds of low ranked beast cores that were lying by his side.
For the time being, he had another matter to focus on.
Back at the Beimu Residence, his eyes had finally broken through the threshold required to practise the Limitless Mirror Eye.
Now, it was finally time to start working on this unique eye technique!
One special thing about the Limitless Mirror Eye was Lu Tianzi already had all relevant information about the technique in his head.
The only problem was that eye techniques had just too many differences when compared to other techniques. Without understanding the fundamentals, it was simply impossible for Lu Tianzi to figure out what the latter portions of the technique represented.
It was as though knowledge about the final form of the technique was concealed behind multiple layers of doors, and each of these doors could only be unlocked when Lu Tianzi's progress reached a suitable level.
After completing the refinement of the eyes, Lu Tianzi had finally opened the very first of these doors, allowing him to truly step into the world of the eye technique!
Limitless Mirror Eye.
As its name suggested, there were supposedly no limits whatsoever to this technique. The only limitation holding it back would be the strength of the individual wielding this technique.
This might seem to be the case for most other techniques as well, but it was even more so for the Limitless Mirror Eye.
After all, the Limitless Mirror Eye allowed for the creation of an entirely new dimension within the eyes, in which everything was dictated by the very will of the technique user!
Such power involved the power of space itself, and would only grow exponentially stronger as the strength of the user increased.
Unfortunately, Lu Tianzi still did not understand enough about this technique to understand its fullest potential.
But one thing was for sure – the technique itself had no means of direct offensive capabilities, or at least not at his current level.
Despite that, simply knowing that this technique involved the power of space was already sufficient to fill Lu Tianzi with great excitement!
One had to know that even most Origin Core realm martial artists were not qualified to dabble in the power of space!
The power of space had always been one of the most complex and strongest paths of cultivation. However, it was also far more elusive and difficult to grasp as compared to other forms of power.
Acquiring this technique had basically set him far ahead of his peers on the path to understanding the power of space!
But in exchange, the Limitless Mirror Eye was a technique that rapidly drained its user of Essence energy, as well as putting a huge strain on the eye organs themselves.
Any ordinary martial artist at the Primary Essence Condensation realm would never be able to summon enough Essence energy to use this technique in an effective manner in combat.
It was only because of his perfect transition into the Essence Condensation realm that Lu Tianzi possessed the energy capacity to do so.
Of course, if he decided to tap into both of his cultivation systems at the same time, using the technique freely would not be a problem either.
In this manner, Lu Tianzi spent the entire night in meditation, fully concentrating on taking the first step into practising the technique – forming the separate dimension within his eyes.
This separate dimension was not something as large and stable as the world he was currently in.
In fact, it was not even comparable to the space within his spatial ring.
On the other hand, it was just a temporary separate space, summoned into existence for just that few moments whenever required.
But even so, it was no easy feat to form this separate space within his eyes.
After trying for the entire night, Lu Tianzi still had not succeeded in taking this first step.
He was disappointed, but not dejected.
Lu Tianzi knew that after breaking into the Intermediate Essence Condensation realm, he would definitely stand a greater chance at forming this separate dimension.
By now, morning had already arrived.
Lu Tianzi ended his meditation and made his way to the Beimu Clan Residence once again, this time with a different purpose.
The Beimu Token was just as marvellous as promised.
After pouring in a faint amount of Slaughter Essence energy, Lu Tianzi felt as though there was a strange voice being transmitted from the token to his head, guiding him in the right direction.
Heeding the directions of the Beimu Token, Lu Tianzi easily manoeuvred past the multiple concealing formations that hid the location of the Beimu Clan Residence, quickly arriving outside Formation Master Beimu's bamboo house.
The other day, Beimu Fei had politely knocked on the door upon their arrival.
Lu Tianzi was not nearly arrogant enough to believe that he now possessed a higher standing than Beimu Fei. Just like she did, Lu Tianzi gave the door a gentle knock before taking a step back.
Formation Master Beimu's familiarly gentle voice once again came from within. "Enter."
Lu Tianzi pushed the door open and entered to see Formation Master Beimu sitting there waiting for him. This time, Beimu Fei was not present.
"Greetings, Teacher!"
After exchanging a few formalities, Lu Tianzi quickly got into the main topic, clarifying about the various points that he was unclear about regarding the art of formations.
Formation Master Beimu did not hold anything back either, generously teaching him tips and giving him various examples to illustrate her points.
Thanks to Formation Master Beimu, Lu Tianzi felt as though the fog shrouding his mind had been suddenly cleared up, granting him access to a greater plane of understanding!
Unfortunately, just like Beimu Fei, Formation Master Beimu was not an inscription master.
With her basic level of understanding regarding the art of formations, she was only able to give vague answers to Lu Tianzi's ideas on combining the two fields of study.
As for the specifics, Lu Tianzi had no other choice but to slowly figure it out himself.
"This should be about right," Formation Master Beimu nodded in approval after seeing the energy gathering formation that Lu Tianzi had set up. "Even I would not be able to do much better than this."
"Thank you, Teacher!" Lu Tianzi grinned with pride.
Since he was already here, Lu Tianzi had decided to directly set up the energy gathering formation on the fifth storey of Formation Master Beimu's house.
While Lu Tianzi had taken his test there, it was originally a space that was meant for testing out various formations.
Now that his teacher was present, Lu Tianzi would naturally not miss this chance, asking her to give his formation a thorough inspection.
With that, Lu Tianzi no longer needed to be afraid of missing out anything.
This was definitely the best energy gathering formation that the current Lu Tianzi was capable of designing!
After thanking his teacher, Lu Tianzi went ahead and sat in the middle of the formation.
With a single sweep of his spatial ring, his entire stash of low ranked beast cores came pouring out around him.
Perhaps due to its location that was nearer to nature, the Beimu Clan Residence had always boasted a higher World Origin Energy density as compared to Scarlet Moon City itself.
This fact, coupled with his enhanced energy gathering formation, meant that Lu Tianzi's chances of breaking into the Intermediate Essence Condensation realm was now that much higher.
As expected, he made the right choice by exercising patience the day before!
A few houses away, Beimu Fei abruptly turned her attention towards the skies as she felt the World Origin Energy in the surroundings churning wildly, rapidly drawn towards her master's house as though they were called upon by an undefiable edict.
After the initial moment of shock, she could not help but let out a faint smile.
It appeared that her master had managed to take in quite the student this time!
---
Be it by being caught up with experiencing the bustling streets, or by taking the time to prepare for the upcoming event, the various martial artists in Scarlet Moon City saw the next few days pass by in a flash.
Before they knew it, the day of the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet had already arrived.
At City Lord Nanlan's residence, Lu Tianzi gathered up with the rest of the group from Bluenight City as they prepared to head over to the site of the event – the palace of the king himself.
The situation in Scarlet Moon City was unlike that of Bluenight City, where the autonomous Nine Suns Sect was comparable or even stronger than the City Lord's Bluenight Palace.
In the capital, the king had the entire Scarlet Moon City firmly under his control, and the scale of his palace was a good measure of this fact.
The Scarlet Moon Palace stood right in the middle of Scarlet Moon City, taking up a huge area far larger than that of the Nine Suns Sect's territory. It would not even be too much of an exaggeration to call it a city within a city!
And on this day, this usually forbidden ground was finally opened up to the public.
Of course, the public here was still only referring to the rich and powerful. Only then would they have the right to participate in the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet.
After all, the Scarlet Moon Kingdom controlled an extremely large territory, counting billions of people within its population.
If every other person was allowed to enter, then even the majestic Scarlet Moon Palace would be far from sufficient to accommodate them all!
When Lu Tianzi's group arrived at the entrance of the Scarlet Moon Palace, there was already a huge crowd congregating outside.
The Scarlet Moon Palace had already assigned ushers who were able to quickly guide their guests to the actual venue within the palace grounds, but there were still many onlookers who were here just to soak in the atmosphere.
This was an once-in-a-lifetime chance to personally witness the various influences within the entire kingdom gathering together at the same place.
Many of them did not wish to miss such a rare opportunity!
Lu Tianzi's group paid these people no heed, and promptly approached the assigned ushers.
The ushers quickly separated them into those of older generation and those of the younger generation.
Even for those of the older generation, only those who had broken through to the Origin Core realm were allowed to participate.
Those at the Origin Core realm were then immediately ushered to the actual venue for the Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet, while those of the younger generation still had an additional step to go through.
Each of them was given a number from one to twenty, seemingly allocated to them at random.
Among them, Lu Tianzi was the last one to receive his number.
"What number did you get, Brother Nanlu?" Nanqing Haowen immediately came over to ask.
"I am number three, what about you guys?"
"Fourteen," Nanlan Qianxue was the first to answer.
"That's good!" Nanqing Haowen let out a sigh of relief. "I am number twelve. It seems like all of us are in different groups at least, senior apprentice brothers Nanhuang Jiansheng and Nancheng Shu are also not in our groups."
"So these numbers represented our groups eh?" Lu Tianzi nodded in understanding.
He had spent most of the time in the past few days trying to increase as much of his strength as possible. Thus, it was inevitable that his knowledge of the event was slightly lacking as compared to the others.
But it turned out well and good.
Now that all five of them were in different groups, they would not be forced to step over each other in a bid to rise above the rest in this Scarlet Moon Heroes Meet.
Lu Tianzi let out a meaningful grin.
Compared to when he had just arrived at Scarlet Moon City, his strength had already risen to a whole new level.
Now, it was finally time to test out just how much stronger he had become!