Matt was close to Spirit Spring city, bringing up his status screen, his brows were furrowed and his face was showing a frown.

Name : Zhang Dong Affiliation : Zhang Clan Spirit Points : 223267 Cultivation Base Qi : Core Formation [Late Stage 2 %] (Empowered Lightning Core) Cultivation Base Body : Core Formation [Late Stage 7 %] (Golden Body) Techniques : Empowered Lightning Qi cultivation art, Golden Body Arts, Thunderlight Sword, Thunder Movement Art... Dao : Dao of Heavenly Lightning, Dao of Smithing and Crafting Other : Senior Aura, Impartation of Knowledge, Mentor's Eyes, Apprisal...

There was a big problem there, three weeks had passed and he had gained a small number of points. The plan was to find a breeding ground of some demonic beasts or insect-like beasts. He was aiming for creatures like ants, that multiplied rapidly, aiming for quantity instead of quality after failing to find anything at the core formation level. He did find a burrow of some termite looking monsters after a while, there were many of them but soon a problem arose. He wasn't getting any points, he stopped getting points for creatures below the 12th Qi condensation level and for those he got 1 point.

All the spirit points for foundation establishment beings also dropped by half or more, so killing monsters or anything for points became a hassle. This all happened after he reached the late stage, if he knew this he would just remain at 99% and wipe out some insect monster nests for quick points.

*God fucking dammit, I screwed myself over...*

He scoured the surroundings for more monsters to hunt, but due to his increased level, the mobs just kept running away. He couldn't hide that much due to the fact that his aura was radiating out as he flew on his sword. If he didn't fly around, he wouldn't get anything done as the world was vast and the distances between places were ridiculous. In the end, he managed to get some cores and demonic beasts at the foundation level, but not nearly enough to get to one million points.

There were some points though, he could get some battle skills to up his powers. He found one that would work nicely in tandem with his avatar form and his golden body.

Spiritual Condensing [Earth Perfect Grade ] This skill lets the cultivator compress his spiritual energy into his body, works well with techniques that exude aura or enlarge the user via energy constructs. It compresses the energies to bring out a dramatic increase in both power and speed. It can't be sustained for a long period of time, or the cultivator might suffer a backlash.

This looked like a skill that would work well with his avatar form. So he bought it and immediately tested it out. His body ballooned up past what he was able to achieve in his avatar form while being in the mid-stage of core formation. After reaching his maximum height he activated the condensing skill, his avatar form started shrinking and shrinking giving out strange crumpling sounds in the process. After reaching about two meters it stopped, he looked like a miniature version of his avatar form but he could already feel a difference.

He did some side dashes, utilizing his movement technique. But due to his now increased stats, he misjudged where he would end up as he did the sidestep. He promptly ended up hitting the side of a big boulder, pulverizing the stationary object in the process. You could see a deep blue glowing energy being walking out from the crushed boulder, lightning energy crackling with each step he made.

*Okay, this will take some time getting used too.*

He did a couple more tests, utilizing various attacking skills and defensive ones as he tried to feel out his new form. But after a couple of minutes he felt drained, his new form started flickering as he had trouble of keeping the two techniques stacked together, finally going down to one knee and panting.

*Damn, the power increase is there but I can't keep it up for long.*

His hands felt twitchy and he could see his veins pulsating on his forearm, he felt that if he kept the form up for too long that his veins would start bursting from inside. The power and speed increase was immense, this was a trump card that could be used scarcely. He tried using the technique without the avatar form, it made his frame flicker with energy. The drain on his stamina was lessened but the increase in power and speed was lowered as well.

Just as the explanation said, the skill forcefully stopped his energies from leaving his body. Condensing them together for a short term power explosion. Matt also felt that the backlash was milder than it should be, this was probably due to his body refining skill that made him quite sturdy. Probably without it, he would be covered in his own blood by now.

*Damn, buying these skills without proper training isn't that smart. If I got this thing in the middle of the battle, I could burst like a tomato.*

He wanted to get more skills to get more powerful, he also wanted to save the points for his advancement. He thought he was covered in most places, he wished he could get some healing skills but without the holy element, he couldn't use them that well. He even tried using the Zhang clan healing arts but he found another problem. Besides his lightning affinity that was in the S grade, all the other elemental affinities were of the F grade. He would need to study up on the other elemental daos if he wished to use them.

*Guess this is the downside with a specialized build...*

Heavenly Lightning Terrain [Earth Grade Perfect ] This technique creates a limited field around the user, passively discharging lightning energies that damage the opponents without affecting the user. The field fills the area with lightning qi thus lowering the battle power of enemies that aren't versed in the lightning dao.

This skill worked well with the new one he got and with all of his other skills. It was more or less an active buff to all of his skills, all of his attacks would be empowered in this field while the people that he fought would get a debuff and even receive damage over time effects.

He was back at the Zhang Clan compound, his edgy army had just left the pocket dimension and was packing up. Luckily due to the spatial ring technology, there wasn't really much to carry around, so they just needed to say their goodbyes before heading out. The trip to the secret ground would take about a week so they had to leave now.

He had all of his things in his ring as well, he looked at the people that were hugging their family members. Some were crying, some were cheering their elder brothers and sisters on. Some looked angry, some looked dejected there were various expressions plastered on their faces.

Zhang Jin was standing next to him, not saying much as the two looked on. After some time, Zhang Kuo came to report that everything was ready and they could depart at any moment.

"It's time to leave..."

Matt said with a solemn tone, then nodded at Zhang Kuo the man just bowed before leaving. Matt looked to his elderly grandpa, this time it was he who placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Well, I'll leave the place to you, don't stay up all night bothering the ladies old man."

"Hah, leave it to this Zhang Jin I'll protect the city while you are away!"

Zhang Jin just smirked, giving his grandson a nod as the two parted. The defensive formation has been upgraded slightly as well during Matt's upgrading spree, so it could work for months at maximum output. The clan would be safe for some time, but how long they would be gone was still a mystery.

Zhang Dong hopped up onto the large dragon head on the front part of the ship, while Zhang Zhi and some other clan members remained at the helm. He could see the citizens from the city along with the other clan members sending them off, they were bowing and waving while also cheering. The junior members were doing the same, they toughened up during the training a bit but still, you could see some tears in their eyes during the departure.

"Okay everyone, I want you all to reinforce your cultivation further, the trip will take about a week."

His tranquil mind technique had spread through the clan, so even though everyone was nervous they could keep a sharp mind. The days passed and the surroundings started changing, the trip was quite uneventful most of the creatures that wanted to try their luck were quickly dispatched by the Patriarch that seamed more than willing to deliver a killing blow to anything that came close to striking distance. His officers offered their services as they didn't want their clan leader to do all the dirty work, but their offer was refused. They only heard something about having to get more points while the lightning bolts rained down from within the ship. The junior members looking on in awe as they felt the strong energy fluctuations from those lightning strikes.

The other people didn't want to bother their Patriarch, so they just cultivated in peace. There wasn't much talking on the way there as everyone concentrated on getting stronger, each second counted. Soon enough they arrived at their destination and could already see some other flying ships stationed in the area.

The entrance to the secret area was close to a mountain range. The thing was shaped like a huge cylinder and it stretched right into the heavens going past the clouds. It was huge as a mountain, how it looked reminded Matt of tower dungeons that had levels to them. Maybe you climbed it as you passed the trial?

They weren't the first to arrive, but they weren't the last. They came to a stop, the people that were already there looked at them but everyone was still sitting on their own flying ships not descending down. Matt could see some people down below though, they were wearing the dark palm insignia on their back. They were probably waiting for everyone to arrive first before ordering them to move, they needed all ten groups to take part in the expedition.

While they were waiting, Matt took his time to look at the other core formation participants from the group. The closest group to them had a red-haired man sitting in a throne, he was drinking wine and some beauties were serving him food. You could see his muscular chest as it was only covered by a vest that was open and had fur at the collar area. He didn't even react when he was getting stared at and was enjoying himself, he didn't look like someone that was forced to come here.

There were two ships with the same insignias, they looked like firebirds making Matt think about a phoenix. More than likely this clan was a fire-based one, when he looked to the other side he just saw more regular old uncle looking cultivators with more ships as well. There were multiple core formation cultivators there, there probably weren't many downtrodden clans like the Zhang clan that came with just one flimsy core formation Patriarch.

The other clans gave them some attention, mostly because everyone on their ship was wearing a strange looking battle robe that gave them a ferocious look. The time started passing as everyone waited, the dark palm sect people looked a bit annoyed as they waited. With his increased hearing Matt could hear what they were talking about, apparently, everyone was here besides one clan that was taking their sweet time.

"Well that clan Matriarch is a bit... but she will be here, if she didn't turn down the young master, she wouldn't be here. Such a shame, she is quite the looker."

One of the dark palm elders said while chuckling to another member of his clan. Speaking of the devil, the moment the sect members started talking a large flying ship appeared. It was very long and had many white sails all around it, light green energy was radiating off it and you could feel the dao of the wind coming off it. Matt craned his neck to take a peek, he noticed that most of the people on the large ship were females. He tried focusing on the strongest person there, looking for core formation members he managed to spot two.

The weaker signal was coming from an older looking lady, she looked quite docile and was wearing a modest robe. The only thing out of the ordinary was that she looked like a baked potato. Matt opened his eyes wide, quickly looking through the people on that ship his eyebrows twitching. He looked at the woman next to the baked potato elder, she had a healthy tan to her and she was wearing a short light green robe with ample cleavage showing and she had quite a lot to show there. The female was quite curvacious but that wasn't the interesting part, her nails were long her hair was light pink and she had a lot of makeup on.

*Is... is that a Gyaru...?*

Matt looked through the females on the flying ship, they all had bleached hair and tanned bodies. The makeup looked funny on some while fitting on some others. They all were showing some amount of skin and looked like typical 'gals' with the strange-looking hairdos. The girls had facial accessories like shiny things plastered close to their eyes that didn't go well with the overused mascara and eye-shadow. He went back to staring at the Matriarch, she wasn't as overdone as the rest of them having the makeup fit her face giving her a more mature look.

Before he could examine the woman further he felt an oppressive force wash over the whole area. He never felt something like this before, he got goosebumps and started feeling weak. He felt like someone stuck underwater, trying to breathe but not being able to. This was the first time Matt experienced an aura superior to his own, this was indeed someone in the nascent soul!

"Feng Clan, you are late!"