The Strongest Businessman

The changes that were happening to Barry's Heavenly Lotus may seem subtle on the surface but it actually gave birth to a heaven defying ability of spiritual attack and spiritual defense.

The evolution of his Avatar was not solely reliant to the fusion of the Twelve Leafed Heavenly Lotus and the evolved Tri-fire Corrosive Venom. It was also brought forth by the presence of the tribulation lightning that the Heavenly Lotus was defending against.

Every time the Heavenly Lotus blocks, some of the tribulation lightning invades its body but due to its high resistance to elemental attacks excluding fire type attacks, it was able to absorb the residual lightning trapped inside its body.

With the influence of a Grand Poison and the absorbed tribulation lightning, the Twelve Leaf Heavenly Lotus started to mutate!!

Yes, a mutation occurred to Barry's Avatar. The ability of heavenly lightning to purge and defend against all ghosts and demons was altered into a lesser form of spiritual attack and spiritual defense!

It must be known that the nature of Avatars are hereditary and they are entities that cultivators rely on to grow stronger. Under normal circumstances, an Avatar of a cultivator cannot be changed or altered. Unless you reach a ceratin cultivation realm or eating a heaven defying treasure in which both cases upgrades your Avatar, it is impossible to change your Avatar.

Dylan's idea of fusing the poison to Barry's Heavenly Lotus already went against heaven's will as it was changing the nature of an Avatar. This incited heaven's anger and brought upon a Heavenly Tribulation.

However, due to this freak combination of factors, it gave birth to a rare case of Avatar Mutation. As the name suggests, due to some unforeseen occurrence or fortuitious encounter, a transformation of an Avatar may occur.

An Avatar Mutation is not always beneficial for it could also degrade a person's Avatar. This rarely occurs due to genetic defects or unfortunate encounter during pregnancy. But in Barry's case, the mutation of his avatar could be said to be an extremely advantageous change!

...

*Rumble* *Rumble*

Dylan and Rian watched as the second wave of the tribulation cloud was slowly gathering strength. The clouds of bright yellow lightning were already emitting great might ready to strike down the felon beneath it.

The might it emitted was already at the 16th level of the Origin Transmutation. As soon as the four lightning bolts were formed, they descended and fell onto Barry.

*Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom

But Barry was still being protected by the Twelve Leafed Heavenly Lotus, deflecting the lightning just by its awesome aura!

"This tribulation is much... slower compared to ours." Rian noticed that the Heavenly Tribulation was significantly slower.

From what they experienced it would only take a few seconds for the Heavenly Tribulation to halt its wave then a few more to gather strength. But this Heavenly Tribulation actually took half a minute to halt and another half to gather strength.

"Indeed, this must be because the first wave released two lightning bolts immediately." Dylan looked at the sky with a serious look on his face.

Seeing such a fierce lightning, Dylan and Rian could not help but worry for Barry.

To check his brother's condition, Dylan shot a glance at Barry and the solemn look he had was replaced by surpise. "This... Barry broke through?!"

"Hm?" Dylan's words caught Rian's attention so he also turned his head and looked. "What he's cultivation?! It increased again?!"

The aura Barry was currently emitting was no longer at the Initial 16th level Origin Transmutation but it was currently at the 18th level! What's more, it was even more abundant than an average 18th level Origin Transmitation Expert!

The most shocking thing is that his cultivation was still showing signs of increasing and at the rate at which it was enhancing, it seemed to be hinting that it won't stop with just this increase!

Rian looked at Dylan with confusion, "Didn't he say that the Heavenly Lotus could only increase his cultivations by 5 levels? Why did it suddenly become 7?"

"I'm not exactly sure what is currently happening to him right now." Dylan was strangely staring at Barry as he replied.

"Could it be... that the Heavenly Lotus increases 7 levels of cultivation?!" Even Rian whose origin was tightly connected to the Cosmic God and inherited some of the memories of his bloodline was startled by this thought! He did not know of such a heaven defying ability existed at least with the memories he unlocked as of now.

Dylan felt tingles when Rian shared his thoughts but he had a different opinion on this matter, "If that were true, then Barry would be really terrifying but I think that's not the case."

"What makes you say that?" Rian asked.

"Well, I'm positive that he did not absorb any more power after he chained the Poison Demon. So, I think it's not due to the Endless Vitality Domain. Another reason is because of my Heavenly Eyes. It allows me to see the flow of energy more clearly than others." Dylan pointed to his eyes.

"What about it?" Rian was rather confused that Dylan brought his eyes to this topic.

Dylan explained. "When Barry used his Endless Vitality Domain, the energy he absorbs from the surrounding lifeforms is integrated to his body. However this sort of energy is something that he could temporarily use since it was not refined. When present in his body, there is some sort of slight rejection but could still be jointly utilized with his own power. This is the distinguishing characteristic of the absorbed energy which differs to the energy that Barry refined on his own."

"However, this increase in strength seemed to not have any sort of rejection to his body but instead was already converted to his although not thoroughly refined. I'm guessing that it is due to the power of the evolved poison he is trying to fuse with." Dylan concluded.

"Whoa, didn't think that the creepy looking demon could have so much benefit to him. Hahaha." Rian laughed. But another thought came to his mind, a cunning grin suddenly appeared on his face, "That means once he refines the poison, you will be the weakest among us! Hahaha!"

This thought caught Dylan by surprise, but oddly, he did not seem irritated, he smiled as he looked at the crosslegged Barry and said, "You're right."

Rian could only blink blankly. He did not expect him to react like this. He thought Dylan was going to be annoyed and scold him but he actually smiled. He helplessly shook his head 'This... He doesn't feel even a lil' bit frustrated? His geniunely happy that his brother is gaining stregnth, huh... He really is a good guy.'

"Look, Barry is waking up!!" Dylan exclaimed happily. Barry was currently opening his eyes and staring at the sky filled with terrifying lightning.

"Whoa, let's ask him how he's doing." Rian was also relieved when he saw this.

But, Dylan stopped Rian when he was about to send a spiritual transmission, "Don't disturb him."

"Why? Aren't you worried about him? I mean shouldn't we ask him if he was able to deal with that poison thing?" Rian was confused because he knew that Dylan would be more worried about Barry than him.

"Of course, I'm also worried about him. But if we disturb him now, he might lose concentration. You can also see the resolve he has on his face. He said that he wanted to take this tribulation alone as much as possible. It's best if we leave him be for now." Dylan explained his actions.

He smiled at Rian and meaningfully said, "Besides, him being awake could only mean one thing."

Rian instantly knew what Dylan was referring to and commented, "You're right. That punk must have already been taken care of."

....

In order to avoid anymore unnecessary trouble, Barry eliminated the consciousness of the Poison Demon which he restricted a few moments earlier.

With his newly acquired ability, Barry exited his sea of consciousness and returned to the real world. He sensed that he must have just passed the second wave.

When he opened his eyes to look at the sky, he saw that the tribulation clouds was already emitting the strength of the 17th level Origin Transmutation.

"The third wave, huh? My tribulation is a little bit different to what Dylan and Rian described theirs." Barry said in contemplation. He already noticed what Dylan and Rian discussed earlier.

But Barry did not lose faith in himself despite of this. Rather, he was confident. With the power of his Twelve Leafed Heavenly Lotus and his currently increasing cultivation, he was confident that he could surpass this trial. "With my current strength, the protective aura of my Heavenly Lotus alone should be able to handle the third wave."

At that moment, the tribulation clouds finished gathering and sent its attack to scorch Barry along with everything around him. Eight successive lightning bolts with the strength of the 17th level Origin Transmutation came and clashed with the protective barrier of the Heavenly Lotus.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* * Bang*

"What I need to do now is focus completing the fusion process." Seeing that he was able to succesfully block the ligtning, Barry immediately decided. His eyes were burning with intense determination. He immediately used the medicinal pots that he prepared. Each of the medicinal pots contained varying medicinal liquids, each having different effects.

Barry first used the medicine which would transmute the poison fire's composition which was already 90% fire and 10% poison due to the interference of the Poison Demon. But as the process of assimilation was already undergoing he could only reduce it to 70% fire and 30% poison.

However, asimilating this sort of poison fire directly may cause his Avatar to suffer irreversible damage so he also used his medicines which reduces pain susceptibility and increases resistance.

Still, the pain and stress to his body was still soul-rending. His skin turned bright red and he was perspiring an abnormal amount of sweat at a quick speed. To withstand this sort of pain, Barry clenched his teeth as tightly as he could.

However, Barry did not stop there. He used another medicine which would hasten circulation speed in order to increase the rate of fusion. This also increased the pain he had to endure. Nonetheless, he had no other choice if wanted to gain the strength to compete with this horifying tribulation.

Without the Poison Demon, the evolved poison no longer had any resistance in front of the pressure brought by the Twelve Leafed Heavenly Lotus. With the assistance of Barry's medicine, the fusion process went smoothly.

As the fusion process progressed, the same applied for his cultivation. Now he was already at the High 19th Origin Transmutation and his cultivation still has not shown any signs of stopping!!

"Success!" Despite the pain he was feeling, Barry smiled as he felt the integration of the two became even more evident! He was also able to feel the change in the aura of his Heavenly Lotus!

At that moment, the Heavenly Lotus bursted with vigor and energy and created a cocoon that enclosed it and Barry! It was undergoing a transformation that was never before seen. It was sending forth energy waves that amazed Dylan and Rian.

"Whoa!" The two exclaimed. They looked at the energy cocoon with befuddlement. They didn't understand what it was but they were sure that Barry was undergoing a metamorphosis!

The surrounding beasts all fled from the aura it was emitting. They felt natural suppression in it's wake. On the other hand, plants were rejoicing because they were gaining the power they lost by nearly three folds. It was as if a ruler was born!

...

Inside the cocoon,

The Heavenly Lotus now had a thriteen full mature leaves. It's veins were emitting white line while the originally vibrant green leaves were now darker and deeper in color. The shape of the leaves also changed into serrated flame-like shape.

'What?! Thirteen leaves?!' Barry was shocked by this discovery! He did not expect that there was such a thing. He always thought that the highest form of the Heavenly Lotus was the Twelve Leafed Heavenly Lotus. Never did he expect that there would such a form.

As he examined the newly formed Thirteen Leafed Heavenly Lotus, he discovered certain things that were not there before. He discovered the faint white light the veins were emitting had a spiritual aura! He also noticed that leaf shape and leaf color also changed!

'This light... Could it be that the spiritual attribute I have is not something from the Twelve Leaves but something gained from the thirteenth leaf?' Barry suddenly speculated.

The more he thought this way, the more he felt that he was right. No wonder his grandfather did not mention anything about a spiritual attribute. It was because he never had it!

'The change in shape in color must be from the poison fire but where did the spiritual attribute come from?' Barry contemplated. The poison fire had no ounce of spiritual attribute on it so how could it provide such ability?

'This should be a case of Avatar Mutation. That's the only plausible explanation.' Barry thought.

But the result he really desired from this fusion really came true! He discovered that the extreme invulnerability against fire has been resolved! He let out a loud howl of happiness, "HAHAHA, I DID IT!"

Barry felt even more jubilant because it seemed that his clan's greatest weakness has finally been resolved!