Breakthrough!

Controlling the massive amount of Natural essence around Samael refined and absorbed them through his forehead, carefully guiding the energy through the Spiritual passes of the body.

The Spiritual passes were similar to the veins of the body, they also converge on the brain. The whole purpose of the Spiritual root realm is to refine and make sure that the body is strong and pure enough to shoulder the power of a Heavenly Spirit Core.

The Spiritual passes or the roots of the body has to be tempered and refined. This can be done by regularly cultivating or by purchasing and absorbing natural heavenly herbs.

Samael used the remaining Archaic Beast blood as a substitute for the Heavenly herbs. Normally Archaic beast blood is not advised as it can cause lingering effects on the user. But with the "Celestial Blood Leviathan," all these hidden dangers are eliminated and he can absorb the blood without any problem.

The blood themselves belongs to powerful Archaic beasts who have lived and cultivated to reach the realm that they had before they were killed. After death, their body would still have their Energy essence but only for three days. All of the energy that they've absorbed and refined throughout the years are stored in their cores, next to that is the blood. That is why it wasn't a problem for Samael to breakthrough even with only the blood of the Archaic beasts.

Soon, a bunch of wavy golden lines started to appear all over Samael's body and he suddenly felt like something broke loose.

"Finally! I broke through..." After a little bit of celebration then he quickly went back to cultivating.

A refreshing sensation filled his body as he continued to solidify his cultivation. After reaching 7-star in the Qi-Gathering realm, Samael felt his strength growing. With his current state, he could probably fight a 1-Star Foundation Building realm fighter and defend himself against a 2-star Foundation Building fighter for a short while. Satisfied with his progress, he headed back into the city.

For sure, Lina had already found out that he disappeared late in the night.

Didn't take him much time to stealthily sneak back into the City and into the Imperial Castle, with his new physical abilities this was too easy for him.

Sure enough...the Princess was fuming ordering the guards to go and find him.

"I'm telling you guys, go and search for him. Seriously! How can someone pass through you guys, the Royal guards?! Wouldn't that make it easy for assassins to kill us?"

Sigh, steeling himself to receive an earful Samael took a deep breath before walking over.

"That won't be necessary, Sister Lina. I'm here." Smiling warily, Samael spoke up.

Princess Lina quickly turned upon hearing the familiar voice, she rushed over and you can already feel the intensity as she approached.

"And where the fuck have you been?" She asked, having both of her hands on her waist. This made her look both fierce and charming.

After asking this, Princess Lina then revealed a stunned look before stuttering "Y-you broke th-through?!"

"Yeah." Samael nodded, not even trying to conceal the smug look on his face.

"When?!"

"Last night." Again, a nonchalant answer.

Princess turned around while kneading her temples before turning back, sighing "Seriously, what kind of monster are you? Do you have a special constitution or something? Or maybe you practice some heaven-defying art?"

"Both." Samael began walking back into the castle.

Princess Lina frowned before following then she asked "What do you mean?"

"I meant that I do have a special constitution and I am practicing a Heaven-defying art." He said. Well calling the Lightning Emperor's Nine Layered Heaven art and the Terminus Frozen Moon art just "Heaven-defying" may be an understatement.

The Princess was shocked, she didn't expect such an honest answer and she didn't doubt that Samael was lying to her, why would he lie about such a thing? Attention?

No!

She knew that Samael was too prideful to be seeking attention and it is probably because of that same pride that he feels for himself that makes him comfortable revealing this secret to her.

Should I be happy that he trusts me or should I be irritated by his nonchalant attitude?

"If you don't mind, maybe you can teach me a thing or two?" Though she did hesitate for a moment before asking, she still did it anyway.

She felt no shame or harm from asking Samael to teach her some moves. This was a guy that was able to contend with her Fiancee, who is probably the top 3 fighter in their batch, to a draw! Just this alone makes it clear that his talent is way above hers and he would one day surpass her.

"No problem, I was planning to teach you a Cultivation art that is very suited for you. Treat it as a thank you for accommodating me for the past few weeks and payment for the years ahead." Samael sneakily smiled.

Princess Lina revealed a surprised look and then she smiled. He got her, though his words were pleasant to hear, the underlying meaning wasn't.

She revealed a smile as she thought to herself "This kid is probably thinking of causing trouble in the future, that is why he's doing this. But this is an opportunity of a lifetime!"

Apparently, she didn't doubt if Samael really has a powerful art to impart to her.

Her joy was easily seen in her smiling face and those joyful moon-shaped eyes as they walked. In her moment of happiness, she forgot that she had an important message for him.

"That's right! I almost forgot everyone who was involved in the subjugation of the Monster in the Special space is being summoned by the Academy. Hurry! We're so late already." She then ran ahead of him and beckoned Samael to hurry up.

Sighing, Samael hurried as well thinking to himself "Why did you even forget such an important thing?"

Boarding the carriage, they road towards the Plaza where they saw two familiar people.

A man and a woman. The man wore silver armor with short, stylish hair. He looked valiant and a gentleman which added to his attractiveness. While the woman beside him was a mesmerizing girl, with black hair with a few brown locks. A stunning body, cute face, and finally a frail character? She was a keeper.

Samael naturally recognized who the girl was, it was Stella Ford. The girl he saved from an Idiotic noble child who was harassing her.

"Hey, Stella~ looking good as always, nice, nice. Did you get enough rest after the incident?"

"Uh, hello there, sir Samael. Yes, I think I got enough." Stella shyly lowered her head after hearing Samael's praises.

"Good, good." Samael nodded, smiling before turning to the man beside her.

But it took him a while to recognize who the man beside her was, he was avoiding his gaze whenever he looked at him. Then it dawned on him.

"Julius? Whoa! Nice haircut! I'm gonna be honest, long hair looked good on you but this is much better." Samael finally recognized him and started complementing Julius.

"Enough, enough. So what? I got a haircut, you got a problem with that?" Julius folded his arms across his chest, snubbing Samael.

Samael laughed seeing this then he said "Still don't like me huh? That's fine, just don't provoke me, Kid." Though he was smiling and sounded amiable, you could still sense the faint killing intent hidden within his words.

"Okay, enough about that. Julius, where's your brother?" Lina of course played the middle man and broke the two apart.

"Elder brother, had some important matters to attend to in the clan so he might not be able to come. He said he was sorry." Julius relayed the message.

Princess Lina's joyful expression slowly turned sour as she heard that Julian wouldn't be able to come with them. But after a moment, she recomposed herself telling the other three.

"Alright, let us head to the Academy now."

Whistle~

Lina whistled and soon a large figure loomed over them before landing. It was a large crowned eagle, it had a length of four meters with a wingspan of 8 to 9 meters. The three of them marveled at the beautiful creature before they were beckoned by Lina to hop on.

The majestic beast spread its wings and it started to take flight. Once they were in the air, Stella seemed to be afraid of heights so Lina offered her hand so she is assured. Julius seemed to have some experience with flying beasts. Among the four of them, Samael seemed to be the only one who had no guard or exerted no effort at all as he sat on the beast's back. Why would he be scared of this height? He had already fallen from the highest peak of the world...

It didn't take them a while to reach a mountain pass, upon careful observation, Samael found out that there was a concealment array and a bunch of other defensive arrays covering this mountain pass. This must be where the academy was situated.

The mountain pass had seven outer peaks and a central peak, the road towards each peak spanned about a few kilometers, covered in a screen of fog. The peaks themselves seem to have been both natural and man-made as they were arranged to circle around the central peak

From an aerial view, each peak almost had the same amount of buildings on them, except the central peak with had a large open stadium in the middle.

The academy must've existed for quite a long while, if not they couldn't have erected this many defensive arrays around the whole academy. They even carefully modeled the entire Academy from the Draco constellation.

The entrance, the seven peaks surrounding the central peak. This took time and effort!

This was a real cultivation institute, a real sect...