Chapter 155 - Null

During his cultivation these past eight days, Cale had examined a page from the Book of Endless Refinement and discovered something interesting - Elemental Cauldrons.

The concept was elegant and new in its simplicity. Elemental cauldrons could only be refined within elemental fields — fire fields, lightning fields, wind fields, and so on. Such fields were rare, though many major sects maintained them. If one successfully obtained elemental affinity from all five elements’ fields, the pills and elixirs they refined would become the absolute best of their tier.

A normal tier 5 pill versus a tier 5 pill refined through five elemental cauldrons was a massive difference in quality and potency.

Since Cale himself was the cauldron in this scenario, he simply needed to personally attune himself to these five elemental fields by visiting each one of them. No need to purchase a high-tier cauldron and risk drawing constant attention from those seeking to steal it.

Back to the present battle.

The massive black turtle launched its assault with devastating roar.

Tian screamed desperately.

"It’s going to attack with those pillars!"

As soon as he spoke, the water pillars began swirling like living ropes, targeting the ship. Only now did Cale understand the true purpose of the containment array — it wasn’t just to trap the beast, but to give the cultivators time to establish defensive positions.

Mark laughed.

"Hahaha! It’s still a mere beast anyway! At most, its strength is that of a half-step Sage. We can defeat it!"

Cale sighed.

’Can they? I doubt that. If this turtle keeps tanking their attacks, it will surely grow stronger within just a few hours.’

It was a fundamental rule of monster behavior. The more damage they sustained, the more they adapted and grew resistant to the same type of attacks. It wasn’t really adaptability, but rather survival instinct. Imagine invading a king’s territory and fighting the king while hundreds of potential usurpers waited in the wings — the king would naturally grow more ferocious to ensure his survival.

And Cale’s prediction proved correct within ten minutes.

The turtle stopped targeting the ship and array. Instead, it began targeting the casters positioned at the corners of the formation.

Energy bombs erupted from its mouth, each one striking accurately, covered with the beast’s intent.

Even Sesrir took a direct hit.

The array shattered.

As the turtle began forming another massive power bomb, Sesrir suddenly appeared like some hero from a storybook, slashing the attack in half with a perfectly executed air slash. The bomb exploded in the turtle’s own mouth, causing it to recoil in pain.

’Way to go.’

But Sesrir suffered passive damage from the massive explosion. The arm holding his polearm was likely fractured, the joints grinding painfully.

"Where are the others! Damn, are they hoping for me to hold on while they recover?!" Sesrir shouted in frustration.

Cale sighed heavily.

"Are you an idiot? Those dumbasses left already through the water! You were the bait here! Sigh... I crafted such a good plan to use them, but look, you became the bait now."

Sesrir was sometimes so naive that Cale wanted to smack his head. Yet somehow, this fool remained a mid-stage Emperor cultivator, and lady luck seemed to kiss his head passionately at every opportunity.

Sesrir climbed back onto the ship, soaking wet and injured.

"How do we escape now?" he asked desperately, looking to Cale.

Cale smiled.

"I’ve got an idea, hehe."

Sesrir stared back... "Well, what is it?"

"As if I’d tell a goody two shoes! Hmph."

Although transforming his centipede would consume more than half his essence — requiring at least fifteen minutes to recover, the Four-Winged Frost All-Devouring Centipede could easily dispatch this caliber of monster.

Cale jumped, flying high above the water.

Then, with a gesture, he brought out his centipede.

The creature, currently only the size of a human arm, crawled up his arm and coiled itself on his left shoulder.

Cale smiled, using his finger to nibble at its segments playfully.

"Oh, you like your food, don’t you? Now that I think about it, I haven’t given you a name. Hmm... well, how about Null?"

The centipede simply moved as usual, showing no particular reaction.

"Null it is! Haha, Null, go and eat that seafood," he said, a grin spreading across his face.

He threw Null into the air and injected his essence into the creature.

The transformation was instantaneous and spectacular.

The centipede grew larger and larger, expanding exponentially as Cale’s essence flowed through its exoskeleton.

Its segments gleamed with an otherworldly frost-blue sheen, each one radiating cold energy so intense the surrounding water began to crystallize at the edges.

Wings — four massive, chitinous appendages that seemed crafted from frozen starlight unfurled from its back, each one lined with spikes of pure ice that dripped with an ethereal blue luminescence that no normal cold could produce.

When the transformation completed, Null was the size of a massive sea dragon, a centipede of truly crazy proportions, its hundred legs each tipped with crystalline points, its head bearing mandibles that could crush stone, and its entire body radiating an aura of primordial frost that made even the ocean water around it seem sluggish and weak.

But Cale’s next action was something he’d only recently discovered through experimentation.

He always wondered why the heavens would gift him a mere caterpillar, or rather a centipede as a spiritual pet instead of something more powerful.

After this trick, he’d finally found the answer.

The centipede’s structure was primarily exoskeleton-based, with only essential organs contained within. Unlike other spiritual beasts, it relied almost entirely on frost element manipulation. But that frost could be controlled down to zero, meaning it was just a normal centipede when he willed it to be.

When Cale had tested injecting his own qi into the creature, something miraculous happened.

The centipede could store and utilize his attacks.

Not just the frost energy — but the chaos flames, the phoenix flames, even combinations of his most devastating techniques. It was as if Null functioned as an extension of his own power, capable of channeling every element in his arsenal.

"Since it can manifest phoenix flames, the turtle, which is far too weak in the monster hierarchy will panic slightly seeing such power emanating from it. That momentary hesitation is all Null needs to pounce and sever at least a limb or two while flooding the wounds with chaos flames."

If burned from chaos flames deep within the wound, even attempting to heal through diving underwater or channeling vital qi would be impossible. The corruption would spread, preventing regeneration entirely.

Cale snapped his finger.

SNAP!

"Attack!"

Null moved swiftly.

The enormous centipede crawled around the turtle’s pointy back, it couldn’t attack there directly without harming itself. With a spine-chilling hiss, it buried its fangs directly into the turtle’s nape, drawing thick black blood.

The turtle roared with fury, shaking its massive neck violently, trying to dislodge the parasitic creature attached to it.

It dove deep underwater, but Null’s grip never loosened.

The struggle continued beneath the waves, the water churning with the violence of their conflict.

A few minutes later, the turtle resurfaced as half-dead, bleeding heavily, its movements sluggish and pained.

That’s when Cale jumped onto its weakened body.

He patted Null’s massive form happily.

"Good job, boy."

Then he placed his hand on the turtle’s nearly lifeless body.

What was he doing? Well, of course... he was absorbing its potent soul.

The creature’s essence flowed into Cale like liquid and smoke alike, its centuries of accumulated life force funneling into his waiting consciousness in a torrent of soul energy.

[Soul absorbed, Affinity with water elements increased by 5%]

Cale smiled, watching as Sesrir stared in absolute shock from the ship, his entire worldview was visibly crumbling...

’Hehe.’

The battle was over within minutes.

Sesrir definitely wasn’t thinking straight anymore.

’Huh? Aren’t I the Emperor here... why is a Master Stage cultivator killing Sage Stage beasts like flies!’

Wasn’t he supposed to be the one showing off to a Master stage, and telling him the difference in their realm and reputation!

He pointed at Cale with a trembling hand.

"Y-you... what did you do? How the hell... no wait, what is your real realm? Tell me! I know you can’t be Master Stage!"

He was seriously going to have a panic attack if Cale didn’t answer right away.

Because there was a very small, but existing possibility that Cale was someone above Emperor stage.

What would he do then?!

Beg, of course!

Cale grinned, enjoying the moment of revelation.

"Hmm, well, now that it’s done, I’ll say it. I’m at Apex Stage," he replied, waving his hand.

Sesrir’s eyes widened like a comic character,

"What! How... how can you...?" Sesrir stammered, then suddenly grabbed Cale’s collar with desperate eyes. "No, what super rich family are you from to get an artifact to hide cultivation? Introduce me too!"

Cale laughed, patting the Emperor’s shoulders.

"What family... I’m just a random guy with plain white clothes. I don’t even have money, didn’t you see me getting it loaned."