After putting in more effort to open the door, John finally managed to slip into the room.
Before him, a large, expansive room came into view. The room was even larger than the previous, and taller as well.
"Is this...a medicinal field?"
Covering almost the entire room was fertile soil. A brief scan of his divine sense showed that the soil stretched deep below into the palace, and a steady stream of Qi infused into the soil from below.
Above the soil high in the air, a single chandelier hung from the ceiling. The chandelier contained a round ball of transparent material from which light was emitted from. However, the light was not from a formation or spirit crystals.
"Is that...is that a fucking sun?"
John couldn't help but exclaim out loud as a ball of roiling plasma revolve around within the translucent sphere. It burned brightly like the sun in the sky, but unexpectedly, gave off a soft and warm heat.
John shook his head, not even wanting to comprehend how such a thing was possible. His vision once again returned to the field before him, in which several dozen plants could be seen growing.
The plants gave off an incredibly dense aroma, making John feel incredibly relaxed. His eyes lit up in excitement.
"These plants have been growing here for who knows how long. They must be incredible by now!"
John approached the plants growing in the field, his excitement growing with every step. However, upon reaching the plants, his excitement turned sour.
"Are these...tea plants?"
John had been hoping for incredibly rare medicinal ingredients that could be used to raise his cultivation, but all he saw in the field before him were tea plants. Dozens and dozens of tea plants. While the aroma's the plants gave off were incredible, and John had no doubt the tea would be amazing, he was still disappointed.
"Oh well. At least I know that plants can grow here. I should be able to use this in the future to store any medicinal ingredients I run into in the future, instead of leaving them behind."
While John was still slightly disappointed, he was still happy with this room. It would be very helpful for him in the future.
"Now, I still have one more goal to accomplish here."
John strode back out into the main lobby, and nodded his head with satisfaction. The excess clutter was no more, returning the palace to its regal glory. John strode down the main hallway, into the massive chamber containing the holy gate.
The translucent sphere still hung high above the ground in front of the gate, the blood within forever revolving in a circle.
John had already received his blood drop when advancing both his body and essence dantian to the Core Formation Realm, but had not yet touched the chains.
John thought about saying some words to the gate, which he now knew contained the mysterious man, but decided against it. He had asked the man questions in the past, but he had ignored John's questions, and so John didn't bother anymore.
He approached the gate and reached out to the nearest chain.
Clank!
As soon as his hand touched the chain, the chain snapped and dissolved into nothingness. The holy aura that emanated from the gate exploded out with great intensity, washing over him. John bathed in the aura as he felt his soul grow in strength. The slight damage that the mask had inflicted on him was slowly erased away.
John remained like this for some time before once again opening his eyes. He strode over to the side door, and quickly entered the sinister room. A malevolent aura washed over him, filling his mind with murmurs and attempting to drive him insane.
John ignored the murmurs, and strode deep into the room towards the sinister gate. He reached the gate, and reached out towards one of the chains.
Clank!
The chain snapped and dissolved as expected, and the sinister aura emanating from the gate exploded out with far greater intensity. John grit his teeth as he struggled against the aura, which was now strong enough to threaten him.
He remained in front of the gate for some time, tempering his will to the best of his ability, before the strain became too much. Each removed chain would increase the power of the sinister aura greatly, making it much harder for John to endure.
However, this is exactly what he wanted, as only something that drove him to the brink of insanity could temper his will to this level. Murmurs filled his mind, threatening to drive him mad, while all he could think of was destruction, devastation, and death.
John pushed himself to the brink, and finally reached his limit. He quickly turned around and retreated out of the room.
Growl!
An incredibly soft and muffled growl echoed out behind John, nearly destroying his mind.
"Gah!"
John was going to walk back to the holy aura room, but the unexpected growl that filled his mind had nearly killed him. His soul and mind were nearly overwhelmed, but he just managed to hold on enough to send himself out of the palace realm and back to the real world.
Ragged breaths escaped John's lips as he struggled against the remnant murmurs which assaulted his mind. Only after quite some time did John manage to fully erase the murmurs and return himself to normal.
'What...the hell...was that?"
John thought back to the moment of the growl.
"That guttural, beast-like growl...came from the sinister gate! If the mysterious man is contained within the holy gate, then it makes sense that something is within the sinister gate. However, just the growl, which was mostly blocked by the gate, nearly managed to shatter my mind and soul….just what the hell is within that gate?"
John shivered in slight fear at such a thought. If whatever was inside that gate escaped somehow, he was as good as dead.
"That mysterious man is too crazy," John couldn't help but grumble out loud. It was no different than putting a ticking time bomb inside his body. Sooner or later it would explode.
"The chains I touch lessen the restraints on that gate. When I undo the last one…"
John shivered slightly once more at the thought. The entity within the gate was most likely the source of the sinister aura. If it was so sinister and powerful, despite being restricted by the gate, then just what was the entity's true nature and power like?
John could hardly imagine such a thing. His mind suddenly thought of the mysterious creature within the Lighting World Illusion Formation, as they had given him similar vibes, but shook his head after careful thought. Both were completely sinister, but were not exactly the same in nature.
The creature he had seen in that formation was more about power, while the aura within the gate was the epitome of evil.
After calming down more, John put such thoughts aside. He was far too weak to concern himself with such things. Not only that, but the entity seemed to be properly contained by the chains for the moment, and so John was not too concerned of whatever existed inside escaping.
John calmed his mind, and several pills suddenly appeared before him. They were some of the pills he had obtained from the spatial rings, one's which he had identified as cultivation pills.
Pill after pill was consumed, sending waves of Qi into his dantian, which he would refine, slowly but surely increasing his cultivation. His dantian, which was compressed twenty times, was incredibly dense, and required an incredible amount of energy to advance.
After consuming over half the pills before him, John felt his essence dantian reach the tipping point. From his recent battles, his comprehension levels were already incredibly firm, and he did not have a bottleneck.
Boom!
A muffled sound rang out within John's body, as the power emanating off him surged greatly. His eyes snapped open in delight, as he once again advanced. Minor realm advancements were less eventful than major realm advancements, and were usually done in a much smoother manner.
"With this, both my essence and body dantian are in the Middle Core Formation Realm! However, my recent battles were incredible, and my fight with the Divine Youth gave me incredible insights. I think I can push my cultivation further even more!"
Advancing two minor realms in a single cultivation session was usually impossible, as one would have to have the appropriate cultivation insights to advance, as well as a firm enough foundation.
However, John's cultivation insights had improved by leaps and bounds after fighting the Divine Youth, as well as his life and death battles with the Bloodfiend Sect. These battles had pushed him to the very edge of death, and as a result, had brought his comprehensions and insights regarding essence Qi to a new level.
As for his cultivation foundation, it was more than firm enough to increase two minor realms without much concern. His twenty compression dantian continued to show its incredible advantages. However, even he would need to pause after doing such a thing, and would not be able to push for three realms at once.
John once again closed his eyes and began to consume pill after pill. While doing this was not the best course of action, as each pill had impurities that would harm one's foundation, John was not too concerned about this.
His foundation was incredibly firm, and a few impurities would not harm it. Not only that, but after advancing once more, John would take some time to erase those impurities, ensuring that they did not linger when he advanced to the Meridian Forging Realm.
Several hours later!
Boom!
An even louder boom echoed within John's body, as his power surged greatly once again. His eyes snapped open once more, filled with glee.
"Late Core Formation Realm! My essence cultivation is now at the Late Core Formation Realm. Now, I need to find some more human blood essence to raise my body cultivation to the Late Core Formation Realm!"