The Strongest Businessman-187 Chapter 187: The Thirteenth Leaf

"Argh..." Barry who was sitting crosslegged at the middle of the clearing, was now pale white in complexion.

"Again?!" Barry was still in the middle of recuperation but the next wave of Heavenly Lightning was already starting to prepare to strike him and his Heavenly Lotus levitating above him.

"Nature's Protection!" Barry chanted as he once again drew large amounts of life force by taking a part of the total life force of every grass, tree, and even the soil! These life force formed an emerald green barrier around him and the Heavenly Lotus!

Four blades of heavenly lightning collided with his Heavenly Lotus but it was somehow deflected due to the barrier derived from accumulation of the life force of everything around Barry.

The four lightning blades were eventually dispersed after a short period of collision. At the same time, the barrier of Nature's Protection also dissipated while the excess life force was devoured by the Twelve Leafed Heavenly Lotus.

The mindless Tri-fire Corrosive Venom which was unsuccesfully converted was actually integrating itself to the Heavenly Lotus! Brilliant white lines started appearing slowly on the leaves of the Heavenly Lotus.

Although he was able to avoid the heavenly thunder on time by using the durability of his Twelve Leafed Heavenly Lotus, he now had even more depressing problem that presented itself to him. The evolved form of the Tri-fire Corrosive Poison, the Poison Demon, was reacting with the otherworldly powers of the Heavenly Tribulation.

In Barry's sea of conciousness...

The intensity of the thunderbolts that collided onto Barry's Heavenly Lotus was so overwhelming that it caused a temporary breach in his connection with the Poison Demon which was forcefully formed by the Life Imprisonment technique. The order that Barry issued which was for the Poison Demon to slumber was momentarily broken.

A familiar voice arose from the depths of Barry's mind. The Poison Demon laughed, "Hahahaha! It seems like even the heavens wants you to die! To think, I would actually break through that life seal in the most opportune moment possible. Hahahaha!"

"The Poison Demon?! Wait, where am I? A world? A sea?" Barry opened his eyes and saw a world of white with a crystal clear sea bemeath him. A realization struck him as he scanned his surroundings. "Is this my sea of conciousness?"

'How did I enter my sea of conciousness?" Barry was flabbergasted by this. He remembered that only those at the Origin Foundation Realm are allowed to enter their sea of conciousness manually after they managed to form a single Origin Pillar.

"It's time for me to retake what's mine! Hahaha!" The Poison Demon materialized in front of Barry. He extended his right arm and used his will to gain control most of the poison except for twenty percent which was already converted by Barry. This discovery caused it to be dumbstruck, "Wait, you were able to refine the poison that fast?! How?"

The Heavenly Tribulation was not only a series of unfortunate events for Barry, there was still an unexpected benefit that he got from it. The ferocity of the poison also died down as Barry absorbed some residual energy from the heavenly thunder. To Barry's surpise, this energy was actually effective in suppressing the Tri-fire Corrosive Venom!

The reason for this is due to the heavenly thunder being the bane of all evil spirits and paranormal entities. The Tri-fire Corrosive Poison was originally a pure substance without any hint of evil but along with the birth of it's sentience, evil started to uproot in its nature. Using this accidental solution, Barry was able to swiftly refine a portion of the poison.

"Hehe, why should I even tell you? It's true that you are temporarily free but I have my means in defending against your attacks now!" Barry confidently said.

"You think that a small portion of my strength is enough to stop me?! Hahaha, you must be kidding! With the circumstances, I can devour you easily and take over your body! Hahahaha!" The Poison Demon glared evilly.

The Poison Demon levitated while a pair of three colored flames appeared on both of his long arms. Accompanied by a wide devious smile, it screamed while initiating a throwing motion towards Barry, "Die and offer your body to me, father!"

"I am not your father, you psychopathic demon!" Barry refuted as the grand aura of his Twelve-leafed Heavenly Lotus spread throughout his entire sea of conciousness. Nature-energy formed vines portruded at the lotus' base and lunged towards the Poison Demon.

"Rain of Venom Shards!" The Poison Demon called out furiously. Red-violet crystal started to agglomerate around him that numbered to hundreds. Each shard emitted fatal poisonous gas that could kill Origin Transmutation with a scratch.

With the demon's command, the hundreds of venom shards were launched to Barry's direction. The demon added, "Each one of my shards could easily kill a Origin Transmutation Realm. You will die today! Hahahaha!"

Barry was unperturbed despite hearing the Poison Demon's words, "Let's see about that! Heavenly Vine Wave!"

With a wave of his hand, thousands, if not tens of thousands of vines shot towards the Rain of Venom Shards from the floating Twelve Leafed Heavenly Lotus above Barry. Each of the heavenly vines had pale white venacular patterns surrounding them which gave them a slightly different and mysterious feeling than before.

"Huh? How can I release this sort of strength when I am only at the Spirit Awakening Realm?!" The number of vines produced by the Heavenly Lotus shocked Barry himself because he knew that his limit should only be at 100 vines simultaneusly but right now, he actually witnessed a sea of vines that seemed to reached over 10,000 in numbers!

"I did not know once a Heavenly Lotus reaches twelve leaves, it does not only gain the power to devour life force but it also gains a spiritual attribute!" Barry blankly looked at the incredible attack he just pulled off.

In just a few seconds, the Rain of Venom Shards was completely swallowed by the sea of heavenly vines. The Poison Demon had no other choice but to retreat with his life on the line as he attempted to salvage his life, "How can this be?!! He's only at Spirit Awakening!! How can his attack power compare to a Mortal Severing!! This is not fair!!!"

"Hahaha, you can curse at me all you want. But with this new found power of mine, I will crush you!" Barry taunted the Poison Demon.

"Don't get cocky, you miserable brat! I can still scatter your soul!" The Poison Demon snarled angrily. He lifted his arms as poisonous substance started to gather and form a long spear that was nearly ten feet in length. Clearly, Barry's taunt was effective.

"Slaughtering Poison Spear!" The Poison Demon chanted as he threw the poisonous spear to Barry's Direction.

*Swoosh*

As it was released from his hand, a strange aura enveloped the spear. It kept increasing in size as it covered distance. The originally two inches thick spear became fives inches thicker and its length became twenty feet longer. In comparison, Barry looked tiny.

"Hehe. Heavenly Lotus: Vine Shiled" Barry smirked as he manipulated the over ten thousand lotus vines and created a large spiral shield which was nearly ten meter thick.

At the moment of impact, a large boom was heard. The spear had the power to even behead a peak Mortal Moulting expert or beast. But it was only able to penetrate 6 meters into the Lotus Shield.

'What's this?! How can he manipulate a power that he just acquired so skillfully?!' The Poison Demon was stunned as he watched his move penetrate thorugh Barry's Defenses.

The Poison Demon was not wrong. Typically, a cultivator cannot fully utilize a power they just acquired. For example, a cultivator that just broke through a realm needs to train and consolidate his strength before fully grasping it. But, there are a few that are exempt of such rules and they are what are called "geniuses".

"Now it's my turn to attack!" As if apart of his body, Barry wield control of the vines. He formed a spear hand and extended it towards the Poison Demon. At the same time, the vines from the Heavenly Lotus Shield rose and spiraled towards the direction of the Poison Demon. The spiralling vines constricted forming a sort of drill which rotated at an insane speed.

"Heavenly Lotus: Vine Drill!" The drill formed from the vine shot forth aiming to take down the Poison Demon.

"Don't underestimate me! I'm far stronger than you!" The Poison Demon released a pair of wings and actually flew straight to the Vine Drilk instead of retreating.

As the drill neared, the Poison Demon skillfully evaded the drill by maneuvering his body under the drill with merely centimeres between them. At maximum speed, the Demon went flying to Barry as he bared his killing intent upon him. "If you think you can kill me with this, think again! HAHA"

"Indeed, think again." Barry smiled in the face of the Demon's laugh.

Seeing this, the Demon's laugh halted as a bad premonition started to appear on his mind.

At that instant, Barry's spear hand suddenly closed and formed a fist. He mischievously spoke, " Heavenly Lotus: Vine Cage!"

At the same moment, vines as thick as bears appeared on the Poison Demon's path. He immediately knew that something bad was about to happen so he changed directions. But as soon as he changed directions he saw that similar vines were erecting around him at an alarming rate.

'This is bad!' The Poison Demon thought as he halted and immediately retreated to the path he used earlier at full speed.

"Hehe, you can't escape from this!" Barry confidently said as he watched the Poison Demon become cornered.

"You think you can catch me with just this?! Tri-fire Demon form: Activate!" The Poison Demon's speed soared as his body made of poison transkuted into flames and successfully escaped.

Thinking of how he nearly got caught, the Poison Demon was enraged. He looked ferociously at Barry, "I'll end you!"

"Grand Poison: Burning Phantom!" Crossing his arms in front of his chest, his entire body flame turned black and enlarged nearly forty percent his original size.

With a crazed look, he flew towards Barry at a frightening speed. His strength was enough to easily slay a Core Transformation Beast! "Die!!!"

Instead of wearing a solemn expression, an unexpected smile aeared on Barry's face. It was as if he discovered something amazing. "Interesting... Let's try it out!"

"Wait, this is-!" The Poison Demon furrowed his brows and something happened beyond his imagination. Barry who was about to be hit by his attack suddenly disappeared!!

The Poison Demon scanned his suroundings, he did not expect something as unbelievable as this would happen! "How is this possible?! Where did he go? He only has a plant-attribute Avatar, how is he able to perform teleportation?!"

"Surprised? Hehe. But I won't tell you how I did it. Let's just say, I am invincible in this realm." Barry smirked concdescendingly at the Poison Demon which greatly infuriated it. He initiated a grabbing motion at the Poison Demon. Subsequently, a strange invisible force started to gather around the Poison Demon.

Sensing this strange phenomenon, the Demon was alarmed, "What is this-?"

But before he could do anything, the strange invisble force restricted his whole body and even sealing his mouth. Even "What did you just do?" Release me!! Mmppf..."

Barry coldly glared at the Poison Demon and said, "Weren't you going to kill me earlier? Heh, now you are powerless before me. You have made me suffer all these years and hindered my revenge! Now, it's time for me to settle this grudge!"

"Grrr..." Losing the ability to speak, the Poison Demon could only glare at Barry with ice cold killing intent.

"But I must thank you, after all. After I assimilate the poison, the heavenly energy and life force you possessed will be refined by me and I will be able to blast through one level after the other. Hehe." Barry let out a sneer and a mocking smile.

But, his expression quickly changed, "Now, it's time for you to die!"

With a flick of his fingers, the invisible force compressed fiercely. The Poison Demon tried to struggle. Despair filled its eyes and he even shot a hateful glance at Barry before his body was fully crushed by the invisible force.

After killing the threat, Barry sat crosslegged. He was about to continue the assimilation process of the poison and his Avatar.

'I did not think that having twelve leaves was this overpowered! I didn't know that it actually had the ability to freely control and defend my mind from any sort of invasion! No wonder grandpa kept this ability from me! It is too overpowered!' Barry enthusiastically thought as his confidence in defeating the Poison Demon increased.

Truthfully, Barry has not heard anything regarding the Heavenly Twelve-Leafed Lotus developing a spiritual attribute whenever he chatted with his grandfather or father. So, he thought that this spiritual attribute was something that was kept from him due to being too young.

He was dumbfounded that the Twelve Leafed Heavenly Lotus was able to fully control his mindscape akin to a deity! On his whim, he could reappear at any point and spot within his mindscape. He also felt that this spiritual attribute was not merely limited to his mind but can also be applied to the real world and deal devastating mental attacks!

But what he did not know that due to the fusion process he was doing and with the catalyst of the Heavenly Tribulation, his Heavenly Lotus started to slowly evolve which started to give birth to abilities that even his grandfather did not know of.

Unknown to him, back in the real world, a small extra leaf slowly emerged near the center of his Heavenly Lotus!