Before unlocking his potential to energy cultivate, Dyon had relied on spiritual fruit to body cultivate. The reason why was simple. Spiritual fruit were naturally occurring, pure forms of energy that were already processed. In comparison, energy stones were rawer. They required talent to both purify and guide, whereas spiritual fruit needed no such thing.
This was a large part of why higher ranking clans and universes had an easier time raising fine warriors. With enough money, cultivation could essentially be supplemented by using these spiritual fruits as opposed to the conventional and much more difficult to use, energy stones. That said, as Dyon's bill at Heaven's Wine would attest, this method was very expensive and very few could afford to do so.
As such, to many spiritual fruits, whether that be due to a lack of talent or lack of resources, were the best option. However, they were only the best option given those conditions. If one had sufficient talent and money, spiritual fruits were best used as supplements to cultivation while energy stones would be the main course.
Although this may seem counter-intuitive, the reasoning is sound. Spiritual fruits came into being by utilizing the very energy veins that energy stones themselves were mined from. As such, they were processed versions of energy, and although that made them easier to digest, it also made them less potent and efficient.
In fact, this was seen on an even larger scale with intent fruits. These fruits were the very reason Focus Academy students were very willing to risk their lives in the Elvin forest, but, as Dyon's master would attest to: they hindered future will development despite helping in the short term. Although this wasn't the case with other fruits, the truth was that there was always a point where the short-cut provided by spiritual fruits could no longer match up to that provided by the very reason for their existence in the first place.
So, when Dyon thought of how much his Demon Sage essence blood had stalled, and how even saint fruits were no longer of help to his improvement, he came up with this solution. If saint fruits were of no help, what about saint energy?
Dyon had a goal. He knew his body would be on the verge of collapsing if he pushed the essence blood integration too far, but, his pain tolerance had reached new heights. All he had to do was continue enough for his soul to comfortably break to the next stage.
Knowing that a 6th grade peak Essence Gathering expert could withstand saint energy gave Dyon a bench mark. However, it was likely that this bench mark wouldn't be enough. Why? Because the amount of saint energy a 6th grade expert would need to reach the saint stage was far less than the amount of saint energy Dyon's soul was threatening to absorb.
However, what Dyon did have working in his favor was that his energy cultivation was much more robust than a 6th grade expert considering he was a peak 1st grade expert. Even now, it was likely that Dyon could fight with and defeat a mere 6th grade expert, even if they were well into their essence gathering cultivation. This meant that the fact Dyon's body still couldn't withstand saint energy meant he was absorbing an amount that far surpassed the wildest dreams of a 6th grade expert.
This was when Dyon got the faint inkling that maybe it wasn't just energy cultivation that had graded experts. Maybe the soul did too. And it was likely that those grades depended on innate soul strength… Which meant, Dyon's requirement for saint energy would be the peak-most among soul cultivators… Just how strong did his body need to be to accept that?
Dyon had no idea, so, everyone around him could only watch in awe as he continued to tear through saint stone after saint stone, his body reddening far more than a normal shade of blush or fatigue… It was as though he was becoming a true demon.
7%.
Dyon's demon sage essence burst into 7% integration. His body bulked to another size before collapsing in on itself and shrinking. The strain his bones and muscles were undergoing was unprecedented, and yet he kept pushing himself.
His Aurora raged, utilizing its keen energy controlling abilities to ram into the massive clumps of demon sage blood Dyon hid deeply within him.
The blood began to turn from its crimson red to a dense gold. It was so thick and viscous that it was like a melted metal. In fact, it felt just about as hot as such a thing to.
Dyon's body felt as though it was searing itself from the inside out. Even with the brand new reconstructing of his body, the demon sage's blood was just too domineering and seemed set on reconstructing Dyon yet again.
8%
Dyon's veins popped and reformed, his body's red-gold aura growing to a next level of sheen. Dyon had finally torn through the Meridian Formation cap on his body cultivation and had stepped into the essence gathering realm.
The red clouds above responded in anger, growing to another size and spinning even more viciously as Dyon continued to strain and hold back his soul from breaking through to the next level.
His body glowed, healing itself in what seemed like an instant. Dyon's cultivation break-through had gifted him with a new level of tolerance, but it didn't last long as his skin burst at its seams again. The lower essence gathering level just wasn't enough for his soul.
Seeing Dyon's breakthrough, the crowd got a new surprise – even Eboni and Ode stopped laughing. Just what was happening? Why was he surviving? In fact, why did it seem like he was improving? This wasn't how cultivation deviation was supposed to go. Dyon was supposed to be struggling with controlling the energy he wasn't ready to withstand, not using it to improve to he point where he could withstand it.
However, Livy Cavositas, the receptionist, wasn't planning on waiting for an answer. He immediately appeared in the sky with about five other saint level experts, intent on taking Dyon out.
Sneering, Livy's eye glanced over Ri who wasn't even paying attention to him, but rather focused on Dyon. His lip twitched in agitation. 'We'll see how long you can ignore me, then.'
Suddenly, Livy's voice boomed through the commotion.
"This disturbance is intolerable in civilized society. To protect the peace and safety of Arena City's civilians, this criminal will be detained and imprisoned."
His voice dripped with arrogance and condescension as though he was slowly and surely twisting a knife. He seemed to take some sick, personal pleasure in all of this. He still remembered the humiliation of his earlier interaction with Dyon and that scab wound seemed to have been festered by Ri's reaction. He would make sure to enjoy this.
Hearing his words, many recovered from their surprise and laughed happily at Dyon's misfortune. The Cavositas family seemed intent on disrupting Dyon's breakthrough and had even sent saint level experts! Even the slightest mistake in such a sensitive situation by Dyon would only mean his death, and that was exactly what too many seemed to want.
