Tang Yu was a bit stunned.
Regarding the "Intent Realm," his understanding was not much, having only seen it in the materials at the Mage Alliance before.
"The 'Intent Realm' of 'Kong' must have been cultivated recently, enabling the leap from the seventy-fifth to the eightieth layer in one breath. If 'Kong' had the Power of Ghost God like Nancy, with the combat abilities of the Intent Realm, he probably could have reached directly to the hundredth layer.
"So, the Trial Tower really does help with cultivating the 'Intent Realm,'" Tang Yu mused. "Old Man Yan did have some sense, and he wasn't joking after all."
However, the odd confidence on the faces of the other Awakeners, Tang Yu could only offer a 'hehe' as a sign of respect.
The Trial Tower might only be of some help in cultivating the 'Intent Realm.' If the 'Intent Realm' could be easily cultivated, it wouldn't still be a legend in the Fourth Epoch. Whether it was Yan Dingtian or several Great Mages like Ryan, they had only heard of the 'Intent Realm,' never truly witnessing it.
Cultivating the 'Intent Realm' required several prerequisites: the tier of Awakening, enough Comprehension... and most importantly, having enough Source Crystals to venture through the Trial Tower.
Without Consuming Crystals, how could one become stronger?
The army of Awakeners began challenging the Trial Tower, and Tang Yu was no exception. Compared to others, his achievement of reaching the seventieth layer without cheating meant that he was already quite close to the "Intent Realm."
After failing for the N+1 time at the seventy-first layer and returning to the transfer space, Tang Yu sighed, "So, what to do if I can't defeat it?"
No, that's not right.
Before the Intent Realm, there were two more tiers, Micro Level and Perfection...
Tang Yu thought for a moment, then entered the practice space.
Against the backdrop of a huge white space painted in grid patterns, he conjured flames in his palm, transforming them into a burning Fireball Longsword. The longsword then disassembled into pure flames, burning fiercely in his palm.
Tang Yu controlled the changing flames with his spiritual power, and the chaotic flames instantly condensed into a huge fireball, two sizes larger than a basketball.
With a swing of his arm, the orange-red fireball roared out, took a sudden turn mid-air, made a circle, and returned to his hand.
The fireball didn't explode but instead disintegrated into the purest Source Power.
"Micro Level, I've undoubtedly reached it, but Perfection Level..."
"Wait, if the Intent Realm treats the surroundings as a whole, then what about the domain?"
Tang Yu expanded his personal Territory, and instantly his senses were amplified, able to perceive the subtle links around him.
At first, his personal domain had a radius of less than one hundred meters, but as the Territory upgraded and the Fitting degree of the Territory increased, his current personal domain stretched out from him a full five hundred meters in radius.
He could almost perceive any changes within the range of his domain.
"Previously, I only treated the personal domain as a carrier for building defensive structures, but now it seems, the uses go far beyond that."
Countless Demonized Beasts appeared around him, with strengths generally at the twelfth and Thirteen Layers, much stronger than him. Without relying on defensive buildings, usually he met only one outcome…
But today, Tang Yu didn't deploy any major weapons, relying instead on the domain's expansion, and his perception of his surroundings, trying to leverage the environment and the enemies like 'Kong' to achieve the best effect.
Once again, he was killed, the pain of his chest cavity being torn open by claws seemingly still lingering.
After reviving, Tang Yu's complexion was somewhat pale, yet he was excited.
The time he lasted, compared to before, was longer!
His train of thought was correct!
In his personal domain, his perception remained undiminished; what he lacked was a comprehensive layout and predictive ability.
It clearly wasn't easy to enter the "Intent Realm".
Predecessors had no path to the "Intent Realm," but the "Trial Tower" provided a clear path, and Tang Yu, with his personal domain, seemed to have a real shortcut.
After a long battle in the practice space, Tang Yu finally stopped and caught his breath.
Even if he wouldn't truly die, dying repeatedly and being resurrected over and over brought considerable mental fatigue and psychological pressure.
He had also heard of some Awakeners who were so frightened after dying once that they dared not enter the Spirit Space again.
They were essentially rendered useless.
"Now is not the right time to challenge the 'Trial Tower'; it's best to wait until I'm on the last kick at the 'Intent Realm,' then break through in one stroke through the 'Trial Tower'."
"Now, having reached the Tenth Layer of Awakening, it's difficult to enhance the level of Awakening in a short time, not to mention that steady progress in mastering my own power makes it unlikely to err."
Having known about the Micro Level and Perfection, Tang Yu was even less willing to rely on absorbing soul power to rush to the twelfth and thirteenth layers; the power boost in such a short time would inevitably lower his mastery of power.
Moreover, at this point, refining a standard bottle of soul power was less beneficial than half a day's cultivation in the Number One Holy Land.
He seemed to have a feeling.
Soul power was like a gift that helped humans enhance rapidly when they were weak; but after reaching a certain level, this gift's effectiveness decreased, relying more on oneself.
For the Transcendent, refining ordinary soul power had no effect whatsoever, and killing Awakener-level Demonized Beasts released no soul power... this was something he had confirmed with Nancy and Old Man Yan.
Perhaps killing other Transcendent creatures might still disperse soul power, but it was impossible for the soul power obtained from killing a beast of the same level to be enough for a breakthrough, and cultivation would likely remain supreme in the future.
"People who don't understand Cultivation Skills, even if they have excellent innate talent and reach Awakening Tier Perfection, can't break through to Transcendence."
And cultivation was a matter of technique, time, efficiency... He had already cultivated for several hours today, approaching saturation. Continuing to cultivate wasn't impossible, but the efficiency was too low, somewhat unworthy.
"Either research the documents of the Mage Alliance or..."
Suddenly, Tang Yu remembered that previously in the practice space, he had been instantly killed by Yan Dingtian's Mirror Image. His instinctive reaction had been to erect a city wall, which didn't even hold for a second before being blasted into oblivion.
Therefore, Tang Yu felt that even though he had the capability to contend with Thirteen Layer Perfection, there was still a chasm-like gap when facing the Transcendent.
"I have been too crude in the use of my personal domain all along, without any flexibility!"
It was only today that he had come to value the subtle perception ability brought by the domain.
Then, in his personal domain, was there more room to develop the use of temporary structures?
Tang Yu raised his hand, and not far away, a towering black Arrow Tower began to solidify, quickly taking shape.
Temporary structures, composed of energy, solidified more than ten times faster than normal construction; however, at the high tiers of Awakening and at the Transcendent level, a second could determine victory or defeat. Such construction speed, while feasible when the enemy was distracted, was enough to let the opponent come at you directly if not distracted.
Tang Yu waved his hand, dismissing the Arrow Tower, then raised his hand to solidify it again.
He observed that defensive structures often solidified from bottom to top. What if it were reversed, or even if only the upper half were solidified?
As the thought occurred to him, the towering black Arrow Tower saw its lower half slowly disappear as if the lower layers of a collapsing building were falling off, quickly dissipating without a trace.
Only the top of the Arrow Tower remained, including the important parts like the shooting ports.
(PS: There's another chapter after this.)