For this particular practice session, with several hours more before the next strike, Lex dismissed his Jorlam form. Staying in that form would require him to continue using blood, not to mention it would get in the way of cultivating.

Turning back into his human self, Lex could not help but take a moment to reflect on the oddity of what had happened to him. It wasn't the unusual tribulation he was contemplating on. Rather, it was the fact that he had entered his Jorlam form, which effectively made his body huge.

In truth, such a transformation was not such a huge burden on him because the size of his body was more a reflection of the concept of the Jorlam rather than a physical imitation of their being. In essence, Lex was tapping into some very abstract laws to make the transformation happen.

Still, compared to a true Jorlam, Lex was absolutely tiny. In fact, his body had been smaller than the star that crashed into him, which might make him the smallest Jorlam to have ever existed - if he could count as one.

But his size was only small compared to a star. So how was it... that even when he grew so astronomically large, his body didn't even exit the lake he was drowning in? How had his clash with an imitation of an actual star not burned up the water? How had the surroundings now been affected at all?

It was as if Lex's size was only large with respect to the tribulation attack, and the attack was only large with respect to Lex, but with respect to the Primordial Garden, they were still tiny. Heck, Lex hadn't even grown as large as one of the trees. So he was simultaneously larger than a planet, and smaller than a tree... but the size of the tree itself was normal.

There were some unusual laws in play there, of that Lex was sure, but he couldn't dwell on it just yet. He did not have the time to spare.

Lex put on the Tyrants Mask, held the Butter Knife in his right hand, and grabbed the remaining Defiler core in his left hand. According to the guidance of his instants, he began absorbing Divine and Profane energy altogether, slowly feeling the changes happening in his body as he did.

Compared to the Primordial energy from the tribulation, which was very difficult to absorb and adapt to, these two energy sources were very easy. In fact, Lex was already used to controlling Divine energy, so it was only Profane energy which he was now getting used to.

Considering the inherent strength of his body, and the resistance he had already built up against Profane energy, the effects of his cultivation technique were rapid.

In fact, in merely a single hour his body gained the ability to minimally absorb Profane energy without backlash.

The moment that happened, though, Lex's instincts went wild. All the hair on his body stood up, as if he was being eyed by some kind of dangerous predator, forcing him to give up the cultivation and jump to his feet, ready to fight.

Someone... no, something extremely dangerous had locked onto him at that moment with extreme prejudice, causing him to feel like his life was in danger. The feeling disappeared just as quickly as it appeared, but Lex was already out of breath, covered entirely in sweat as if he had only barely avoided death. Yet... nothing happened. There was no one or nothing around him targeting him. In fact, as far as his spirit sense spread, there was no living animal or beast nearby, as if they were all avoiding getting involved with his tribulation.

Lex hesitated for a moment, looked up at the sky, and then clenched his jaw. Normally, if something like this were to occur, Lex would take a cautious approach. But with death literally hanging above him, he couldn't afford to hold back.

"You want to target me? Then let's see if you can deal with the consequences," Lex muttered, and pulled out some soil. Compared to the soil here in the Primordial Garden, the soil seemed much too ordinary - but only at a glance. This was soil he had collected right outside the final barrier in the strange forest inside Abaddon. There was nothing ordinary about that soil. But Lex's current use for it was deflection. He covered all his body in a thin layer of that soil, and used his karmic bead to temporarily fuse his karma with that of the soil.

Now, if anyone tried to target him through means of karma, at least, they would instead be diverted towards that soil. In a forest where even Dao Lords died casually, he'd like to see who had the audacity to strut about.

He closed his eyes and resumed his cultivation. Clearly there was something extraordinary about the combination of cultivating Divine and Profane energy simultaneously if cultivating them got him targeted by some unseen entity.

He couldn't be bothered to consider the secrets involved right now. If he survived the tribulation, then he'd think about what new mess he'd gotten himself mixed up in.

He began to cycle his cultivation technique once more, before absorbing Divine and Profane energy, ignoring all the Primordial energy all around him.

The moment the two energies entered his body, his cultivation technique began to slowly alter his physique, and immediately the previous sense of danger returned. The difference, this time, was that Lex did not stop his cultivation. Instead, using his cultivation technique, he began absorbing that aura as well! He could use it to polish his Domination.

Currently, Lex felt fearless! He was already staring death in the face, so what more could this new entity do to him? Kill him twice? With everything already on the line, Lex didn't fear taking more risks at all. At most, he would deal with new problems as they came!

Fortunately, the sense of danger did not last long - not even a whole second- thus allowing Lex to cultivate in peace. What he didn't know was that it wasn't the soil that protected him, for he wasn't being targeted through karma at all. He was, instead, protected by a very angry Eclipsecrawler who cut off access to her garden to the entity targeting Lex. After all, how could she tolerate someone messing around in her Seat of Power?