The group of hundreds of cultivators all rested there for a while. After all, all the leaders were injured in the fight just now and had to recover their strength. The cultivators were in high spirits as they had won a fierce fight. But, the leaders weren’t smiling at all. The fight just now was too intense for comfort. Although they had just defeated a Second Rank cultivator none of the leaders could put a smile on their face. They were all in deep thought. The only thing that was on their mind was how much of a difference in strength there was between the First and Second Rank.

Lelilio Pu’ Pei was only a Second Rank cultivator at the 1st Grade, yet, he was so much more powerful than them. They were completely at his mercy. If it wasn’t for Akata somehow being able to resist him they would have surely died just now. Yet, that wasn’t all. They knew that the fairy they just fought wasn’t even a true fighter. All of his “attacks” weren’t meant to directly injure people. They were more defensive than anything. This could be seen how its most basic skill was summoning a strong defensive leaf…

If it were another person in the 1st Grade of the Second Rank they wouldn’t have stood a chance. Let alone them, even Akata would have no way of fighting back against a true fighter at the Second Rank.

Thus, at this moment, they all secretly vowed to do everything they could to rise in strength faster. If they were overwhelmingly strong they wouldn’t have to worry about other opponents because they would be able to easily annihilate them.

Akata soon woke up but his face was still slightly pale. He had only recovered about half of his strength at this moment but even still he was full of energy. His eyes gleamed with excitement.

‘The soul of that fairy was really too powerful. It actually brought all of my cultivation bases to the 9th Grade. Now I can merge them all together and truly be peerless in the First Rank. Not only that, but the information his soul contained is truly priceless.’ Akata was ecstatic.

‘Fairies are really special creatures and are much different from every other race I know of. Their bodies are actually formed from an energy called aura and with that they can wield unimaginable might that others can’t even touch upon. The purity of their aura can be shone by how translucent their wings are. The fairy I just absorbed actually had a noble bloodline that made his aura extremely pure.’

With Akata’s skills in the Outer Elements of Souls he was able to gain much more information from the souls of others. As long as the soul wasn’t too powerful, such as a whole Rank above his own soul, then he could completely read that person’s soul thoroughly. All of its memories could be read by Akata in an instant.

Akata had yet to move so everyone thought he was still unconscious. ‘If I use this moment where everyone is right here I could take this time and breakthrough.’ Without any further thinking, Akata went straight to work.

Akata’s cultivation bases started to glow with a white light as they started to move closer to each other. A small tree that emanated plant energy started to wave its branches around and they soon wrapped around Akata’s mortal cultivation base figure. A bat-winged creature that overflowed with demonic energy flew over and landed on the figure’s head. A worm-like sea beast that was suffused with beast energy sprang up from the lake and coiled around the figure’s waist. A pair of translucent wings that radiated fairy energy shot over and hovered behind the figure’s back.

Those were Akata’s plant, demon, beast, and fairy cultivation bases respectively. Right now Akata was using the Single Existence Art to fully merge the five cultivation bases together. The Single Existence Art made all things into one so therefore if you used it you had to have a base to start with.

Just like when Akata made his own element he used the Inner Element of Clouds as the base to hold everything together. That was why his own element had a cloudy look to it. This time, however, he was going to use his mortal cultivation as the base. That was why all the other cultivation bases came to it.

The small tree started to shrink and as it did it merged into the white figure. The figure in turn started to change. It’s skin, which was originally smooth and even, started to become broken and hard. It actually started to resemble bark off of a tree.

When the small tree started to merge into the mortal cultivation base so did the other cultivation bases. The bat-winged creature, the worm-like sea beast, and the pair of translucent wings started to merge into the white figure. Akata’s mortal cultivation base soon took on many changes. It’s skin became like the bark of a tree, its head grew devilish horns, on its lower back a tail started to grow, and on its upper back a pair of translucent wings could be seen sprouting.

The process of merging the cultivation bases was actually extremely smooth without any hiccups at all. There was a good reason why this was. Akata’s cultivation bases were originally a part of him and therefore there was nothing he had to comprehend about it. Not only that but the cultivation level of all of them were the same. Because of these things the merging process was extremely smooth.

It wasn’t like when he was creating a new element because forming a new element required insights into the elements you were fusing, so they had to be at the same level. It wasn’t that difficult for Akata but it did take some time. However, since he knew everything about himself, the merging of his cultivation bases was just about instantaneous.

Instantly, Akata’s strength, aura, pressure, and even presence increased by a huge amount at the same time. It was so abrupt that a burst of energy actually escaped his body and swept out into the surroundings. This burst of energy was too shocking and caught everyone off guard.

Akata gradually opened his eyes and took in a deep breath then exhaled slowly. He stood up and swept his gaze across everyone in his view. Not to mention the regular disciples, even the leaders were terrified of his gaze. Cold sweat formed on their bodies and they even took a step back. That look in Akata’s eyes was too dominating.

“What… What just happened? Did Akata suddenly become much stronger?” Cho Re who even had thoughts of sparring with Akata before instantly crushed that idea into nothingness. His will to fight was broken just like that from one look at Akata. If it was said that the fairy before was a wave that could topple a tree, then Akata at this moment was a wave that could obliterate a whole forest. The two weren’t even close.

Even though Akata looked like his regular self, his true form was completely different now. His true form would have a tail, a pair of translucent wings, horns, and skin that looked like bark. That was because although it was his cultivation bases that merged, those cultivations originally came from the soul energy of the creatures he had absorbed and that soul energy had transformed his own soul and therefore his own body. Luckily, however, he could remain looking like his regular self since his own soul was the base of everything.

It must be understood that when Akata used the Single Existence Art to fuse his cultivation bases together, it didn’t only fuse those cultivation bases, It actually fused everything those cultivation bases came from. It was a complete fusion of himself.

His crimson rune first converted soul energy and then spread it throughout Akata’s body to nourish it. Therefore the energy used to make his cultivation bases was actually all throughout his body. In order to fuse his cultivation bases together, he had to fuse all the mixed energy in his whole body. Luckily all that energy was on the same level otherwise with those different energies colliding together trying to merge it would’ve destroyed his body from the inside out. The strongest energy which was his mortal energy would’ve forcibly eaten everything else which, in other words, would’ve made him devour himself. Akata knew this which is why he didn’t dare try merging his cultivation bases together before they were at the same level of strength.

Akata stood there and gave a light smile. His energy had only burst out for an instant but it already caused everyone in the vicinity to be scared witless. There was good reason for this. His strength right now was even above the fairy they just fought. And that was with him not even being fully recovered.

Since everyone was in shock because of him, it was only right that he speak up to dispel this situation. “I just happened to make a breakthrough in something very important and it happened to raise my strength some. Since this is still a test I think that we should carry on with it and complete our tasks so we can return to the sect faster.” Akata rubbed the back of his head while he spoke, giving off a playful and innocent appearance.

But, with his words just now he had jolted all the leaders into clarity.

“I’ll take my leave first.” Fang Zuwa was the first to speak and as he did he waved his hand telling his group to follow behind him. In a few breaths of time his whole group had merged back into the forest to continue their test.

Cho Re and Sno Re weren’t slow either as they too bid their farewells and called their group mates and led them back into the forest.

Peizhi Xiuying looked deeply at Akata for a moment before she left with her group as well. Only until Akata confirmed that the other leaders had left did he let out a long breath and shake his head. ‘It seems she noticed something.’ Akata thought to himself.

He looked up at his group and soon called them over. “It’s about time we finish this test up. We’re going to charge straight into the Center Circle and complete this test.” Akata looked at every single one of his group mates. If before his gaze struck fear into the hearts and souls of these disciples then now it made them think only one word.

Unparalleled!