"Cultivation knew no years. So I've reached the Twelfth Tier!" Lu Xiaotian looked at his own palms and murmured to himself. At first, he had kept track of how long he'd been in this void. But later, doing everything he could just to stay alive in here, he'd forgotten all about keeping time.
His eyes were fixed only on the endless, densely packed streams of Flameflow Stones. When he brought out the Demon-Suppressing Tower to withstand their onslaught, he seized every spare moment to replenish his depleted bloodforce. Once his magical power was exhausted and his bloodforce had yet to recover, Lu Xiaotian used the Devouring Soul Art to consume Nascent Soul-level beast souls.
Eventually, all of the Nascent Soul-level beast souls had been used up, and Lu Xiaotian turned to Purpleleaf Zhenwu. At critical moments, he even drove the severely injured, not-yet-recovered Cave Ape Corpse Puppet into battle once more. Later, the Cave Ape Corpse Puppet was beaten to the brink of death by the sky-obscuring Flameflow Stones, with more than half its bones broken. Only then did Lu Xiaotian recall it again.
The fiery liquor had long since run dry, and there was no time to brew more. Lu Xiaotian did everything he could to scrape together time to absorb Primordial Essence Stone Milk and temper his body with Ice Marrow Moon Sand. Twice, he'd been on the brink of death. Perhaps fate had not yet decreed his end, or perhaps it was his own stubborn persistence, but every so often the rain of Flameflow Stones would thin, or even pause for a brief spell.
Though these lulls were extremely short, they gave Lu Xiaotian precious moments to catch his breath.
The cycle repeated. Lu Xiaotian had no time to think about anything else; all he could do