Yin Souls Crossing into Yang, Nascent Soul Transforming into Spirit

The proficiency panel operated on an underlying logic: to increase proficiency, one had to practice a skill as much as possible. Luo Chen had understood this rule ever since his Qi Refinement days. Whether concocting pills, practicing martial arts, refining qi, or cultivating spells, one had to strive with all one's might. If one merely went through the motions, proficiency would still increase, but only by a negligible margin. Conversely, the higher the focus during practice, the faster the proficiency grew! As for the Buddhist cultivation method known as the Moonlight Heart-Clearing Incantation, its purpose was to eliminate stray thoughts from the divine soul, condensing and refining it until a complete primordial spirit took shape. Yet the vaster the divine soul, the more wandering thoughts it harbored! This was especially true for Luo Chen, who not only possessed an immensely profound soul foundation but had also split off eight soul clones. Although all eight clones were dominated by his main soul, he could not entirely ward off the swarm of intricate notions and recurrent distractions. His Microdust Primordial Art, which once had the effect of steadying the mind and casting off stray thoughts, was gradually failing to keep pace with his current strength. Consequently, Luo Chen's mind had grown increasingly burdened and calculating over the years. For ordinary people, perhaps thinking more and considering things from every angle was advantageous. But for a supreme cultivator bent on breaking through to the Soul Formation realm, utter focus was the path of supreme sincerity! Luo Chen cultivated the higher-grade Moonlight Heart-Clearing Incantation precisely to sever those unneeded distractions. At this moment, under the immense pressure of the boundless, seemingly innumerable ghosts, the burden on Luo Chen surged tenfold. Even his Prison-Suppressing Soul Art, which had always been as solid as a boulder, began to tremble faintly. Yet this was precisely the state Luo Chen sought. He chanted the Moonlight Heart-Clearing Incantation with everything he had, severing tangled thoughts within while resisting the bewitching ghostly wails without. In doing so, his focus was pushed to its absolute limit! Cultivating the Moonlight Heart-Clearing Incantation yielded twice the result with half the effort, directly reflected in the rapid surge of his proficiency numbers. Time trickled by as the incantation slipped past his lips again and again. Eventually, faint Buddhist chants began to resonate through the cavernous hall. Had an outsider been present, they would have seen the lingering hostility concealed within Luo Chen gradually dissolving with every repetition of the chant. *** As time passed following their relocation to the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land, the Luotian Sect's development of this space grew steadily more complete. Beyond the initial five territories—Mount Dan, where the Supreme Elder resided; Piaomiao Peak, War God Peak, and Ghost Emperor Peak, where the three elders lived; and Mount Daluo, where the numerous disciples gathered—more locations were gradually opened up. There was Xuanming Lake, where the Black Tortoise dwelt; Mount Tian, belonging to Canglong's lineage; Shenxiu Peak, additionally developed by the Grand Alchemy Court; and more. Yet no matter how the Luotian Sect evolved, the towering Mount Dan remained the most revered place in the entire sect. Simply because the one dwelling within was the Supreme Elder who had founded the Luotian Sect! Ordinary disciples rarely set foot here, and even when viewing it from afar, they did so with awe and veneration. In recent years, however, many in the Luotian Sect had noticed dramatic changes occurring on Mount Dan. At first, yin energy intruded, wrapping the mountain in eerie ghostliness. Gradually, soul-chilling sounds of ghostly weeping and wolfish wailing would drift out from time to time. Some disciples who had gone to pay homage to Mount Dan were inadvertently struck, their divine souls suffering injury. In the end, Sect Master Li Yingzhang recalled Elder Bai of Ghost Emperor Peak. After an inspection, she set up an array around Mount Dan to cut off outside probing, sparing the lower-stage disciples from such senseless misfortune. With the passage of time, this phenomenon gradually subsided. In its place came occasional strains of Buddhist chanting. All who heard them felt peace wash over their minds, their thoughts of slaughter and conflict fading away. The disciples did not know the reason, only remembering to strictly obey the Sect Master's order: none were to approach Mount Dan lightly. Five years later. The Buddhist chants echoing from Mount Dan grew ever more majestic. Even the grand hall seemed to take on a sacred, solemn air, resembling a Buddhist shrine. More astonishingly, the multitude of ghost cultivators within had ceased their soul-rending wails. Over thirty Ghost Emperors had compressed their forms, prostrating themselves within the hall as they respectfully flanked a figure seated at the center. Feather robe, tall crown, and a serene countenance. His sharp facial contours had softened considerably beneath the resonance of the chanted Buddhist tones. Suddenly! The feather-robed Daoist chanted the word *svāhā* three times in succession. A miraculous transformation unfolded from his person. Golden light radiated outward from between his brows, enshrouding his entire body. The Ghost Emperors looked up together, a sensation of overlapping phantoms rising in their eyes. The Daoist now seemed to have split into two bodies, one internal and one external. The outer body still wore the feather robe and tall crown with a serene face, while the inner illusion clad itself in black armor, clutching a cauldron, bearing an expression of utter fruition. Had an experienced master been present, they would have recognized the essence of this phenomenon at a glance. Primordial spirit entering the flesh! At this moment, Luo Chen had clearly achieved the initial unification and fusion of his divine soul and Nascent Soul, successfully condensing a primordial spirit. Most striking of all, the golden light welling from his sea of consciousness showed no sign of stopping! A deluge of divine soul power poured from his sea of consciousness, merging continuously into the Nascent Soul and causing the primordial spirit—originally the same size as his physical body—to expand relentlessly. This was the advantage granted by his profound soul foundation, far exceeding his peers and rivaling Soul Formation masters, as he condensed his primordial spirit. From the very beginning, the primordial spirit he condensed was stronger than that of ordinary Great Cultivators, and was even climbing toward the level of a Soul Formation grandmaster. The phantoms staggered! The primordial spirit surpassed the physical body! It outgrew the flesh entirely, swelling outward to manifest beyond him. Gradually, it filled the entire hall, finally projecting out into the open world to overshadow the whole of Mount Dan! This scene bore an uncanny resemblance to the floating primordial spirit when Alchemy Saint Chu Yan ascended in the past! Only when it reached this stage did the expansion finally cease, as if Luo Chen's Nascent Soul had thoroughly accommodated the vast reservoir of divine soul power. At that exact instant, the spiritual qi that had accumulated within Danchen Hall over many years surged toward Luo Chen's primordial spirit. Not only that, but the vast amounts of fire-attributed spiritual qi in the earth veins of Mount Dan seemed drawn as well, rushing together toward the mountain-dwarfing primordial spirit suspended in the air. An immense outward suction even tore apart the perimeter array that Bai Meiling and Li Yingzhang had erected around Mount Dan years ago. Connecting heaven and earth, this suction began to draw greedily upon the entire sky. This spectacle instantly shook the entire Alchemy Saint Blessed Land! Cultivators of formidable cultivation, such as Lingfengzi, Canglong, and Wang Yuan, were startled in an instant. They took to the skies in unison, staring toward the distant landmark. Upon witnessing Luo Chen's colossal primordial spirit anomaly, every one of them sucked in a breath of cold air. "Transmuting yin souls into yang, the Nascent Soul transforming into spirit—this is the omen of condensing a primordial spirit!" "Spiritual qi erupting, drawing upon heaven and earth... What is Senior Brother Luo Chen doing?" "Could he be trying to break through to Soul Formation?" Even Yu Jiaolong, who had joined the Luotian Sect not long ago, halted her seclusion and hurried out. Beholding the sight, her eyes went wide. She had always considered herself exceptionally gifted, a heavenly spiritual root cultivator rare in the world. Had she not fallen captive at Mount Cangwu and been turned into a medicine thrall, she certainly would not have lagged behind her peers under normal cultivation. Yet, faced with the unfathomable Dao attainment Luo Chen displayed, she had to admit that even without those humiliating ordeals, she could never have attained such heights at his age. She let out a groan that questioned her very understanding of life. "Luo Chen isn't even three hundred years old, yet he can condense a primordial spirit. Is he the reincarnation of an immortal?" As the four Nascent Soul combatants stationed in the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land, they were naturally the first to notice the disturbance. As the colossal primordial spirit suspended above the mountain slowly opened its eyes, the tremors across this space grew increasingly pronounced, causing even several Core Formation cultivators to sense that something was amiss. Yet before the lower-stage cultivators could react, the enormous primordial spirit enshrouding Mount Dan abruptly vanished. In their astonishment, Lingfengzi and the other three converged. Exchanging bewildered glances, they still could not comprehend what had just transpired. "So... what just happened to Luo Chen?" *** Inside Danchen Hall. The Soul Nurturing Banner stood planted to one side, all the ghosts having been recalled into it. Luo Chen remained seated upon his meditation cushion. His eyes were closed, but his quivering eyelids revealed his inner turmoil. Just a moment ago, he had forcefully condensed a primordial spirit, giving birth to myriad thoughts from thoughtlessness! The instant the primordial spirit formed, it had even stirred heaven and earth, manifesting the signs of an impending Soul Formation breakthrough! This had been entirely unforeseen. Yet according to numerous ancient records, such an outcome was only logical. Simply because the scale of his primordial spirit vastly outstripped this realm. Furthermore, he commanded two law insights—the Wither-Bloom of Wood, and the Fire Origin. Yet in the end, it had still failed. There were many reasons for the failure. Without needing to ponder deeply, Luo Chen could list several off the top of his head. Insufficient magic power, a soul foundation that still fell slightly short; a spiritual vein of inadequate rank, resulting in a shortage of spiritual opportunities—his ability to stir heaven and earth had merely been fueled by the amplification of two law insights; and most crucially, his primordial spirit had been forcibly condensed, unable to withstand the majesty of heaven and earth. Luo Chen slowly opened his eyes, parting his lips slightly to exhale a stream of white qi resembling a dragon. "Xuandu did not deceive me. Although the Moonlight Heart-Clearing Incantation can temporarily condense a primordial spirit, the duration is too brief to support a forced breakthrough to the Soul Formation stage. Even with this art cultivated to the Master tier, even having grasped the Deficiency-Mending Mantra, my life soul remains incomplete!" "Still, that Deficiency-Mending Mantra is truly potent. If I cultivate the Moonlight Heart-Clearing Incantation to Great Perfection, could I disregard the missing life soul and force my way into the Soul Formation stage?" Luo Chen pondered this possibility carefully. The incantation contained a core mantra known as Deficiency-Mending, designed to patch shortcomings. It was through this very mantra that a missing life soul could be compensated for. Over the past five years of high-pressure, all-out cultivation, Luo Chen had comprehended the Deficiency-Mending Mantra, using it to push the technique to the Master tier and even condense a primordial spirit. Yet even after endless contemplation, he still could not make up his mind. He had no way of knowing how long a Soul Formation breakthrough would take, or whether a forcefully condensed primordial spirit could endure until total success was achieved. Furthermore, now that his incantation had reached the Master tier, those ghosts could no longer exert meaningful pressure on him, causing the growth rate of his proficiency to plummet instantly. If he wanted to cultivate it to Great Perfection, there was no telling how many years or months it would take. "In the end, I must still make a trip to the Central Plains!" Luo Chen sighed. He set aside the plan of using the Great Perfection incantation for a forced breakthrough as a backup option; reclaiming his life soul remained his top priority. Collecting his thoughts, he inspected himself. His sighs and reflections vanished, replaced by a flash of joy. Aside from successfully pushing the Moonlight Heart-Clearing Incantation to the Master tier, there was another unexpected boon. He was on the verge of the seventh layer of the Nascent Soul stage! On the panel, the Qi Refinement progress bar under his realm had reached [Nascent Soul Layer Six: 90/100]. He was merely one step away from the late Nascent Soul stage! This was an unadulterated surprise. Cultivation in the Nascent Soul stage grew increasingly arduous the further one progressed; each step was a hard-won footprint, each layer an entire realm of its own. That was why the Nascent Soul stage, like the Core Formation and Foundation Establishment stages below it, was divided into nine minor layers, rather than being split into mere early, middle, and late phases like Soul Formation and Void Refinement. Luo Chen had not expected to approach the late Nascent Soul stage so soon, considering his cultivation speed was already blisteringly fast. Yet when he condensed his primordial spirit and stirred heaven and earth, he had swallowed all the spiritual qi accumulated on Mount Dan over the years in one breath, and had even siphoned off more than half the spiritual qi within ten thousand li via the spirit-gathering arrays. Only through such whale-like consumption could he have taken such a solid, massive stride forward. It stood to reason that merely cultivating steadily for ten to twenty years would make stepping into the late Nascent Soul stage as natural as water carving a channel. Naturally, Luo Chen understood priorities. Compared to advancing this single minor realm, refining the Ming Water Spring Eye as previously planned was the true task of paramount importance. "Now that the primordial spirit has formed, even if I cannot break through to Soul Formation, obliterating the spring eye's will will be effortless." Luo Chen smiled faintly, turning his gaze toward the Hunyuan Cauldron. *** Outside Mount Dan. Several figures had gathered, waiting in silence. Only after a long while did a gentle voice drift from within. "I am well. None of you need worry." Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Aside from the four Nascent Soul combatants led by Lingfengzi, four Core Formation cultivators stood present. They were Sect Master Li Yingzhang, Luo Chen's disciple Qu Lingjun, and Luo Chen's two Dao companions, Sima Huiniang and Gu Caiyi. Lingfengzi, ever the steady elder, offered comforting words. "I told you Senior Brother Luo Chen is blessed by heaven and would come to no harm, yet you all insisted on following." Li Yingzhang shook his head. "The Supreme Elder is the pillar that supports our Luotian Sect. No amount of concern could ever be excessive." Qu Lingjun called out toward Mount Dan, "Master, the Empowerment Pills have finished their nurturing!" As he spoke, he produced a large gourd. In an instant, the gazes of Lingfengzi, Canglong, and Yu Jiaolong snapped to it, their eyes betraying an uncontrollable greed as their breathing grew ragged. This was the fabled, renowned ancient pseudo-fifth-tier divine pill! It possessed miraculous efficacy for Nascent Soul cultivators. From within the mountain, Luo Chen chuckled softly. "You have worked hard." A strand of magic power reached out across the distance, seizing the gourd and whisking it back into Mount Dan. "Going forward, I shall continue my secluded cultivation. Unless a matter of life and death arises, do not disturb me." With those parting words, Mount Dan fell completely silent. Lingfengzi watched the gourd fly away with deep regret, the pace of his beard-stroking quickening considerably. That Luo Chen had concocted Empowerment Pills was common knowledge throughout the Luotian Sect. And there were quite a few of them—fifteen in total! Rumor held that a cultivator could consume only one Empowerment Pill in their lifetime. Deng Taiyue would ask for at most a single pill. Wouldn't the rest belong to the Luotian Sect? Wang Yuan was a body cultivator and had no use for them, but surely he and Canglong could benefit! Yet Senior Brother Luo Chen showed no sign of sharing any with the cultivators of the Luotian Sect, leaving Lingfengzi thoroughly tormented by anticipation. "My husband has his own plans. Why be so impatient, Elder Lingfengzi? What is meant to be yours will be yours, and what is not cannot be forced," Gu Caiyi said coolly, neither servile nor haughty before a Nascent Soul Perfected Cultivator who stood a realm above her. Sima Huiniang stepped in to smooth things over. "Now that the pill recipe has been deduced, with my husband's alchemy skills, finding more ingredients later will allow him to refine as many as he pleases. Elder Lingfengzi, there truly is no need to fret." Faced with this coordinated act of good cop, bad cop, Lingfengzi had no retort. After all, they were Luo Chen's Dao companions. What could he say? Besides, their words did hold truth. Yu Jiaolong was only at the first layer of the Nascent Soul stage and in no rush to advance toward Soul Formation, so she cared little. Fairy Canglong, however, wore a look of hesitation. "Senior Brother Luo Chen just made a breakthrough. He ought to have relaxed a little, so why enter seclusion again so quickly?" "He seems... very hurried!" The others froze at her remark. It did seem true! Ever since Luo Chen's return, although every matter was handled in an orderly fashion, beneath that seamless order lay a suppressed urgency. Deng Taiyue had come and gone. Bai Meiling had been dispatched to scour the Nether Abyss. It was as if he were preparing for something. And after returning, aside from healing Luo Lingxi and refining the Empowerment Pills, Luo Chen had barely interacted with anyone else. He had not even shared tender moments with his two Dao companions. Nor had he offered much guidance to his disciples. He had even relegated all sect affairs, large and small, to Li Yingzhang. In everyone's hearts, Luo Chen was by no means a cold or unfeeling man. Why, then, was he acting so indifferent to everything? "There must be a powerful enemy watching from the shadows—that is why he is acting like this!" Wang Yuan spoke abruptly, his tone carrying an unmistakable certainty. The crowd was stunned. With the strength Luo Chen had displayed, what sort of powerful enemy could make him so anxious? Wang Yuan said in a heavy voice, "I know him. In the past, whenever a formidable foe appeared, he was always like this. The reason he hasn't told us is most likely because he believes we cannot be of much help, so he has taken all the pressure onto himself." Sima Huiniang blurted out, "Then what should we do?" Wang Yuan took a deep breath, looking up at the solitary Mount Dan. "We can only cultivate bitterly and increase our strength. Perhaps then we might be of some small help to him!"