That the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land contained spiritual opportunities was no secret to Luo Chen.
Back when the Alchemy Saint Hall was unsealed and Luo Chen cultivated the alchemy technique known as Refining Heavenly Mechanism within the blessed land, he had personally verified it.
Perhaps the quantity fell far short of the vast world outside, but for concocting pills, it was more than enough.
At this moment, as Luo Chen performed Refining Heavenly Mechanism, a tremor seemed to ripple through the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land, and a wisp of dense, misty spiritual opportunity drifted in from afar.
With his increasingly luminous Red-Eyed Golden Pupils, Luo Chen saw it with utter clarity.
*Rumor has it that Soul Formation cultivators must cultivate in lands teeming with spiritual energy, seeking out spiritual opportunities to comprehend the deeper truths of law and even construct their dharma manifestations to roam the ocean of primordial qi. If they commanded a divine alchemy technique like Refining Heavenly Mechanism, could they break free from the constraints of Tier-5 spiritual veins and cultivate anytime, anywhere?*
The fleeting thought vanished in an instant, and Luo Chen refocused on the alchemy at hand.
The wisp of spiritual opportunity quietly sank into the Hunyuan Cauldron.
With the infusion of this wisp, the medicinal broth—which had been reacting violently just moments ago—began to coalesce rapidly.
Dividing his focus between two tasks, Luo Chen kept an eye on the coalescing of the Empowerment Pill while closely observing the changes within the Hunyuan Cauldron itself.
The formation of the Empowerment Pill went exceedingly smoothly, as if the broth were naturally attuned to the spiritual opportunity, its speed accelerating considerably.
As for the Hunyuan Cauldron... everything remained completely normal!
Luo Chen furrowed his brows. Though puzzled inwardly, he did not lower his guard.
Yet even after three full days had passed and a rich medicinal fragrance wafted from within the cauldron, he still failed to detect anything out of the ordinary.
On the other hand, the onlookers below held their breath and focused their attention, their faces full of anticipation as the stray fragrance drifted down.
Luo Chen did not keep them waiting long.
Once he sensed the opportune moment, he executed his unique pill-retrieval technique to conclude the process.
Streams of flowing light flew out from the cauldron in succession.
One, two, three... By the fifth, the cauldron was finally emptied.
Below, Qu Lingjun held a jade dish in both hands. Only a series of soft chimes rang out as five glistening, golden pills settled quietly into the vessel.
"It succeeded?"
He could hardly believe it, murmuring, "On the very first try, it actually succeeded?"
This miraculous outcome instantly ignited the atmosphere on the mountain.
Many found it impossible to believe. Even though they had contributed to reconstructing the Empowerment Pill's recipe, they still had not dared to dream of succeeding on the first attempt.
Some even felt that even if Chu Yan, the Alchemy Saint of old, were alive today, he could never have succeeded so effortlessly!
Yet the Supreme Elder had concocted five pills with such calm, effortless poise.
Luo Chen cast a Cleansing Art to rinse the Hunyuan Cauldron lightly.
Facing the sea of fervent gazes, he shook his head with a faint smile.
"It was merely a stroke of luck to succeed on the first try.
"However, although the pills have formed, their medicinal potency remains unstable. If they are to reach an ingestible state, they must be nurtured for several years in a place of dense spiritual energy so that the potency can be thoroughly contained."
Even so, his words did nothing to dampen the disciples' awe.
Luo Chen paid it no mind and began preparing to concoct the second batch of Empowerment Pills.
With the Luotian Sect's foundations combined with Deng Taiyue's years of scouring, the ingredients gathered for the Empowerment Pills amounted to a vast quantity.
Leaving them idle was a waste, so he might as well strike while the iron was hot and refine them all in one breath!
Unfortunately, the subsequent attempts met with failure one after another.
On the second attempt, everything proceeded smoothly at first, but when it came to assimilating the spiritual opportunity, the medicinal liquid failed to coalesce. He could only watch helplessly as the broth was scorched into dregs under the true fire.
The third and fourth attempts met the exact same fate.
Three failures in a row, every one occurring at the exact same step. Even with Luo Chen's ironclad resolve, he could not help but feel frustrated.
The disciples, however, found no fault with him. What they witnessed was the Supreme Elder's horrifyingly stable alchemy, every single movement executed to absolute perfection.
Even if it failed in the end, it was merely due to a slight lack of luck.
Alchemy inherently required a measure of good fortune, to say nothing of reviving the legendary lost Empowerment Pill.
Luo Chen had no time to dwell on their thoughts, remaining thoroughly immersed in each subsequent attempt.
Gradually, Luo Chen realized where the issue lay.
Perhaps the problem was neither the formula nor the medicinal broth, but the alchemy technique itself—Refining Heavenly Mechanism.
The process of channeling a spiritual opportunity required circulating the true meaning of the law, allowing one's mind to blend with the world. A fraction of his attention had been siphoned off to observe the Hunyuan Cauldron, causing him to repeatedly miss the optimal moment.
As for the first success, it truly had been a stroke of sheer luck!
From that point on, Luo Chen stopped watching the Hunyuan Cauldron, pouring his entire being into refining the pills.
Although the fifth attempt also failed, out of the next seven batches, he succeeded in two full attempts!
When Qu Lingjun excitedly presented the jade dish, Luo Chen gazed at the fifteen golden pills, feeling a momentary sense of unreality.
All the ingredients had supported twelve batches in total.
And he had succeeded three times!
Such a success rate had completely surpassed the standard rate of entry-level proficiency.
In other words, he had broken the regular laws of the proficiency panel.
Such occurrences had happened before, but at most they had yielded one extra success.
This time, there were three whole successes!
*Is it a qualitative transformation brought about by my Grandmaster-level alchemy, or an amplification granted by the Hunyuan Cauldron?*
Luo Chen caressed a golden pill. It was impossible to evaluate their precise grade at the moment, but all fifteen were at least of the fourth tier.
He exhaled a long breath of turbid air. "Take them to Shenxiu Peak to be nurtured! Min Longyu has already set up the optimal Spirit Gathering Formation there, and he will oversee this batch of Empowerment Pills personally."
"Yes, Master!"
Qu Lingjun nodded respectfully, then led the weary disciples away in orderly fashion.
Mount Dan, which had bustled with activity for over a year, finally regained its tranquility.
Luo Chen's expression remained calm, but the doubts in his heart refused to dissipate. He stared in silence at the Hunyuan Cauldron, which he had not yet put away.
"Senior Brother Luo, your pill concoction was clearly a grand success. Why do you still look somewhat despondent?"
A gentle, elegant voice sounded from beside him. Luo Chen did not turn around, already knowing it was Canglong.
He pursed his lips and reached out, reclaiming the Hunyuan Cauldron, which still radiated lingering warmth.
"Merely some perplexities regarding my cultivation. Nothing worth calling despondent."
Turning around, Luo Chen looked at Canglong and asked curiously, "Did you need something, Junior Sister?"
This time, it was Canglong's turn to hesitate.
Luo Chen watched her with curiosity. The woman's delicate lips parted slightly, only to close again, repeating the motion several times without speaking.
Such indecisiveness was unlike the Fairy Canglong he knew.
He could only chuckle. "If there is anything you need help with, speak freely. If you don't say it now, I fear it may be a very long time before you see me again."
Canglong froze, asking in return, "You only just returned; are you leaving again?"
Luo Chen dusted off his sleeves, as if brushing away the smoky soot left by days of refining pills.
He walked toward Danchen Hall, speaking as he went: "I will leave, but not right now. Next, I will enter deep closed-door seclusion for a period of time. All matters within the sect, large and small, have already been arranged."
Having said that, he blinked. "Is there truly nothing, Junior Sister?"
Canglong tightly pursed her lovely lips.
Luo Chen smiled faintly. "Until next time, then!"
With those words, Luo Chen stepped into the quiet Danchen Hall.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the two heavy doors slowly swung shut.
Watching the disappearing figure, Canglong's shoulders slumped for some reason, and she seemed to let out a long breath of relief.
***
Upon returning to Danchen Hall, Luo Chen did not immediately begin his closed-door cultivation, choosing instead to sleep soundly.
This sleep lasted a full three days and three nights.
When he woke, he felt refreshed and invigorated.
The fatigue accumulated from his recent alchemy had been thoroughly swept away.
Inside the grand hall,
Luo Chen sat cross-legged upon a prayer mat and struck the hall's central hub with a strand of magic power.
The next instant—
*Buzz...*
With a deep, resonant hum, the dimly lit hall instantly brightened with radiant brilliance.
Formation patterns flickered one after another, and node after node began expelling spiritual energy. The qi of Mount Dan surged toward Danchen Hall, and several nearby large-scale spiritual veins even began channeling energy in this direction.
This arrangement was something Min Longyu had personally set up with his subordinates during Luo Chen's ten-plus years away, all to provide him with the finest cultivation environment.
Sensing the density of the spiritual energy, satisfaction surfaced on Luo Chen's face.
Though far inferior to the Tier-4 peak-grade immortal cave on Mount Cangwu, it was at least at the Tier-4 mid-grade level.
"Still, it is not enough!"
With a thought, Luo Chen retrieved the Myriad Formations Gu and laid down another formidable Spirit Gathering Formation.
With both grand arrays reinforcing one another, the speed and range of the qi extraction expanded dramatically.
With Mount Dan at the center, spiritual veins across ten thousand li seemed summoned, converging to feed a torrential flow of spiritual energy into the great hall.
"A concentration like this is sufficient to rival a Tier-4 upper-grade cave dwelling!"
Having arranged everything, Luo Chen brought out the Hunyuan Cauldron.
*Clang!*
His gaze fell upon the gray cauldron as a contemplative look crossed his face.
"Should I refine the Ming Water Spring Eye right now?"
In his hesitation, Luo Chen decided to test the waters first.
Circulating his magic power, a vigorous blaze enveloped the Hunyuan Cauldron.
Within the cauldron's inner space, the tranquil spring eye began to tremble violently, as if encountering its natural predator.
Refining the spring eye did not mean grinding it into nothingness; it meant wearing down the wisp of nascent consciousness born within it and replacing it with his own divine sense.
Only then could he gain complete mastery over the Ming Water Spring Eye.
The Wither-Bloom Divine Fire was merely an external threat; the true focus of the refinement lay in the realm of the divine soul!
Without hesitation, Luo Chen mobilized all eight of his divided souls alongside his primary soul. Unfurling his divine sense, he surged into the Hunyuan Cauldron.
In an instant, Luo Chen's expression stiffened.
Time slipped past rapidly.
After roughly the time it took for an incense stick to burn, a sudden flush of crimson washed over Luo Chen's rigid face.
*Pfft!*
He coughed up a mouthful of blood as the flames blazed fiercely, his eyes snapping open.
Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Luo Chen's expression turned grim.
A failure!
It was within reason, yet outside his expectations.
Suppressed by the Hunyuan Cauldron, the Ming Water Spring Eye was indeed incapable of fleeing.
However, the moment he attempted to erode its consciousness, it unleashed a massive backlash. That consciousness even tried to corrupt and assimilate his divine soul.
Unwilling to concede defeat, Luo Chen had clashed head-on against it using his immense soul foundation, yet he had still fallen short by a hair.
*Is this why Ghost Emperor Wang failed?*
His soul was not strong enough; no matter the quantity, he could not obliterate a will that seemed naturally birthed by heaven and earth.
Luo Chen sank into thought once more.
After a long while, the gloom on his face gradually faded.
Swallowing a top-grade Great Soul Pill left behind in the Luotian Sect to restore his soul foundation, his complexion steadily improved.
"If my soul's strength is lacking, then I shall make it stronger!"
"If divine sense cannot do it, then divine intent will. If the Nascent Soul cannot, then the primordial spirit shall!"
"In any case, I already planned to cultivate in that direction!"
Murmuring to himself, Luo Chen began silently chanting Buddhist scriptures.
It was none other than the Moonlight Heart-Clearing Incantation imparted to him by Master Xuan Du, the master of the Glazed Pure Land. This incantation could aid him in cleansing his divine soul and forcefully condensing a primordial spirit.
As he chanted, the eight divided souls in his sea of consciousness merged toward the primary soul, instantly coalescing into a towering golden giant that seemed capable of cleaving heaven and earth.
This was Luo Chen's complete primary soul!
If the Nascent Soul could thoroughly fuse with this divine soul, it would form the primordial spirit that countless Nascent Soul experts dreamed of, leaving him only a single step from the Soul Formation stage!
With a thought, the barrier of his Purple Palace opened wide, and his Nascent Soul escaped, soaring out through his celestial gate.
The Nascent Soul hovered above Luo Chen's head, gazing curiously at the world with its large eyes.
Countless rays of golden light spilled from Luo Chen's sea of consciousness, enveloping the Nascent Soul in an attempt to fuse with it.
Yet as the forced fusion progressed, the tiny Nascent Soul showed growing distress.
*Pain?*
*Is the Nascent Soul still not strong enough to bear the divine soul? Or are there too many stray thoughts within the soul, preventing absolute fusion?*
Thoughts raced through Luo Chen's mind before he made his decision.
Raising a hand, a streak of flowing light flew forth, hovering above the Nascent Soul.
It was none other than the Dust-Karma Immortal Mirror he had painstakingly refined years ago!
Back then, aside from saving Canglong, Luo Chen had refined this treasure with the aim of tempering his divine soul.
Later, however, with the aid of the Great Soul Pill and his fortuitous encounter at Broken Soul Cliff that yielded a massive hoard of soul stones, he had long ceased to need the mirror's modest tempering effect.
Now, however, the Dust-Karma Immortal Mirror found its perfect use!
Beams of brilliant light rained down. The tiny Nascent Soul felt as though it had entered a dream, and even the agony of the soul fusion seemed greatly alleviated.
Amidst the permeating golden light, the fusion accelerated.
Yet several days later, Luo Chen let out a muffled grunt and was forced to break off the fusion process.
With a beckoning wave, the precious mirror returned to his palm, and Luo Chen shook his head.
"The illusions granted by magic treasures are ultimately just mirages. To achieve true fusion, the key still lies in the Moonlight Heart-Clearing Incantation."
Indeed, he had cultivated the Moonlight Heart-Clearing Incantation for too short a time; his attainment was insufficient, leaving him unable to condense a primordial spirit.
"In that case..."
A thoughtful gleam appeared in Luo Chen's eyes, replaced by a flash of ruthlessness.
If he had to confront a Soul Formation cultivator in the future, he had to ensure he possessed no weaknesses whatsoever.
Be it divine abilities, magic treasures, physical body, or primordial spirit.
He had to bring the Moonlight Heart-Clearing Incantation to great accomplishment within a short time, to the point where he could condense a primordial spirit.
Therefore, he had to take a shortcut!
And Luo Chen had already arranged this shortcut for himself.
The Nascent Soul returned to the palace; the divine soul resumed its seat.
The precious mirror hung high in the pavilion, while Buddhist true words rolled from his tongue.
A massive banner unfurled with a roar, centered upon Luo Chen.
Instantly, gusts of sinister wind blew, and countless wailing ghosts and shrieking wraiths besieged Danchen Hall, their cries even piercing through the hall to torment the entire expanse of Mount Dan.
Watching the shrieking, vengeful souls hurtling toward him through the chilling winds, Luo Chen's face was set with sheer resolve.
This Soul Nurturing Banner housed all the ghosts that had been transferred from the Soul Refining Banner.
Among them were dozens of entities at the Ghost Emperor level!
Although they were suppressed by the banner, unable to escape or employ their full array of techniques, their instinctual soul attacks remained unaffected.
Now that he stood within the Soul Nurturing Banner, their pent-up resentment found an outlet.
Had it been anyone with a slightly weaker soul, the initial onslaught would likely have scattered their soul to the winds.
Yet Luo Chen stood firm as a mountain.
The eight divided souls re-emerged, the Prison-Suppressing Soul Art guarded his sea of consciousness, and the Dust-Karma Immortal Mirror unfurled layer upon layer of illusory formations to mask his true body.
Luo Chen drew a deep breath and declared boldly:
"Aid me in my cultivation!"
Enraged by this arrogant proclamation, all the ghost creatures erupted with even more ferocious soul attacks.
This clash was no longer a contest of spells or magic treasures, but the purest and most perilous contest of divine souls.
As overwhelming pressure rolled over him like crashing mountains and surging seas, Luo Chen remained unyielding as an ancient peak, the incantation tumbling from his lips with mounting speed.
Subduing the restless mind and taming wild thoughts, the moonlight cleared his heart until absolute serenity was achieved.
And upon the attribute panel, the proficiency of the Moonlight Heart-Clearing Incantation began to skyrocket at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Chapter 1009