Canglong's Heart, Nine Tribulations and Three Nirvanas

The Alchemy Saint Blessed Land. Where Mount Dan had once stood, a vast lake spanning a hundred li in circumference now lay. The lake’s surface was calm and unruffled, without the slightest ripple, yet its waters were utterly black, as if capable of swallowing all things. Lake Ming! That was the name of this lake. Originally, there was no Lake Ming in the blessed land; it had come into being nine years ago. On that day, the entire Alchemy Saint Blessed Land had quaked. A massive rift had torn open at the edge of the sky, and enormous torrents of black water and golden flames had poured in from outside, carrying a devastation fierce enough to tear the entire pocket world apart. At that time, Li Yingzhang, the sect master of the Luotian Sect, had urgently rallied all disciples and made preparations to flee the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land. Yet before long, the cataclysmic phenomenon abruptly vanished. The rift in the sky sealed itself naturally, and every trace of the terrifying golden flames disappeared. Only a vast expanse of black water remained behind, forming this daunting lake. It was said that the heavenly phenomenon nine years ago had been triggered by the Supreme Elder's cultivation, and it was ultimately resolved by the Supreme Elder stepping in personally. Yet precisely because of this, the Supreme Elder had suffered severe backlash, sustaining grievous injuries that plunged him into deep slumber. Lake Ming was where the Supreme Elder lay sleeping. As for when he would awaken, not a soul in the Luotian Sect could tell. Even so, the entire sect had designated Lake Ming as a forbidden zone, sealing it off completely and dispatching powerful cultivators day and night to patrol and guard it. This guard was by no means merely symbolic; the sect’s high priority on the matter was obvious from its personnel deployment alone. A Nascent Soul elder remained stationed there permanently, accompanied by five Core Formation cultivators. In addition, numerous Foundation Establishment True Cultivators patrolled the periphery all day long, barring anyone from drawing near. The rotation of the guard was tentatively set for once every ten years. For this first rotation, Fairy Canglong of Mount Tian Peak had volunteered to shoulder the task. In her own words, she had only recently stabilized her cultivation, and cultivating alone at the first layer of Nascent Soul offered little progress. Furthermore, she had contributed little to the Luotian Sect so far, so guarding Luo Chen would serve as her humble contribution. *** Under the mantle of night. Canglong stood quietly by the lakeside, gazing at the water with a complicated expression, lost in thought. Faint footsteps sounded behind her. Without turning her head, Canglong asked, "Has everything been inspected?" Fairy Jueqing gave an affirmative hum. "There are no issues with any of the formations; no one will be able to intrude. Honestly, inside the blessed land and under the protection of the entire Luotian Sect, who could possibly break in anyway?" Canglong said calmly, "It never hurts to be cautious." Fairy Jueqing walked up beside her, looking curiously at Canglong’s gentle profile. "Senior Sister, are you very worried about him?" "How could I not be? He is the founder of the Luotian Sect and its spiritual pillar. It is precisely because he is here that everything is unified. If anything happens to him, today's Luotian Sect will inevitably fall apart!" "Hiss... That extreme?" "Setting everything else aside, just look at the Piaomiao Peak lineage. Ever since Lingfengzi broke through to the mid Nascent Soul stage, their arrogance has swelled considerably. It is solely Luo Chen's reputation keeping them in check; otherwise, do you really think Lingfengzi wouldn't want to break away from the Luotian Sect and re-establish the Piaomiao Sect?" Fairy Jueqing nodded thoughtfully, but quickly came to her senses. "Senior Sister, I wasn't asking about his importance to the Luotian Sect. I meant, are you worried about him as a person?" As she spoke, Fairy Jueqing fixed her gaze intensely on Canglong, refusing to miss a single detail. Canglong frowned. "What do you mean by that?" Fairy Jueqing hesitated, but finally whispered, "A few years ago, before he returned, rumors were spreading throughout the sect about your relationship with him." "What relationship?" Canglong asked instinctively. Fairy Jueqing sighed helplessly. "What else could it be? The disciples below were all saying that you would become his third Dao companion." "Oh, that..." Canglong gave a soft chuckle. Seeing her lack of concern, Fairy Jueqing grew a bit irritated. "Senior Sister, that is your reputation! How can you let people gossip like that? It was one thing when you didn't suppress the rumors before, but now that he is back, how can you just sit by and let them run wild?" To this, Canglong offered no reply. She simply stood quietly by the pitch-black shore, the moonlight accentuating skin so pale it seemed nearly translucent, making her appear like a solitary snow lotus blooming atop Mount Tian. Fairy Jueqing waited for an answer, yet her senior sister remained silent for a long time. Gradually, an incredulous look surfaced on Fairy Jueqing's face. "Senior Sister, you wouldn't..." "Junior Sister, do you know what I was thinking nine years ago, the moment Luo Chen's divine soul aura vanished?" Before Fairy Jueqing could finish, Canglong cut her off. Suppressing the shock in her heart, Fairy Jueqing asked curiously, "Worrying that the Luotian Sect would fall apart?" It was not unreasonable to assume so, as Canglong had just said as much moments ago. Yet Canglong shook her head and said softly, "Those were only conclusions I reached after calming down. At that very moment, only a single thought occupied my mind: regret!" "Regret?" Fairy Jueqing was baffled. "Regret what?" Canglong replied naturally, "Regret that I had never repaid his kindness. Luo Chen preserved the heritage of Ice Fort, rescued me, and even helped me break through to the Nascent Soul stage in a single bound. If he perished before I could do anything for him, I would regret it for the rest of my life." Fairy Jueqing said anxiously, "Still, there is no need to pledge your body to him!" Canglong countered, "Given who he is today, what else do you think I possess that could repay such kindness? This Seven Apertures Exquisite Body of mine might be of some small benefit to him." Fairy Jueqing opened her mouth, but every argument died on her lips, rendered utterly futile. That was an Alchemy Grandmaster who had slaughtered his way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood! A Demon-Slaying True Cultivator who had fought three Demon Emperors to a standstill without falling! The Luotian Supreme Elder who had suppressed dozens of Nether Ghost Emperors entirely on his own! In the face of an expert of such stature, what could an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator offer to move Luo Chen? Her senior sister's Seven Apertures Exquisite Body possessed the miraculous ability to forcibly elevate the cultivation of someone in the same realm by a full layer—an incomparably precious reward that surpassed any miracle pill. Fairy Jueqing swallowed hard. "So that's why you turned a blind eye to the rumors in the sect without stopping them? You wanted to go with the flow, let things fall into place, or even feign reluctance just to bring it about?" Perhaps Canglong had long since thought through every detail, for her demeanor at this moment was exceptionally composed. "More or less. As long as Luo Chen brought it up, I would not have refused." At this point, Canglong’s fingers slightly tightened around a lock of hair. "Yet after he returned, he never mentioned it at all, acting as though he didn't care about having helped me back then. I thought that if he had no interest, I would simply let the matter drop. But observing his actions in recent years, an aura of desperation surrounded him. He exhausted every effort to increase his strength, even acting rashly out of overeagerness and provoking such a calamity. It showed just how immense the pressure on him was. That was why I wanted to take the initiative back then, but when I stood before him, I simply could not bring myself to offer my bed." A cultivator's mind was supposed to be free of worldly attachments. Yet a woman was, after all, easily embarrassed. Canglong sighed. "When his divine soul aura dissipated, I felt boundless regret. If only I had been a little braver, his realm might have been one layer higher. When facing that heavenly calamity, he might have handled it with greater ease, and perhaps he wouldn't have had to die." "Senior Sister, how could you go that far?" Fairy Jueqing shook her head, thoroughly disagreeing with the notion. "He already has two formally wedded Dao companions!" Back when Luo Chen had advanced to the Core Formation stage, he had held a Core Formation Grand Ceremony. That celebration had doubled as a Dao companion ceremony for him, Sima Huiniang, and Gu Caiyi. Coincidentally, Fairy Jueqing had attended on behalf of Ice Fort. In her view, having two Dao companions was already an indulgence for cultivators pursuing peace and detachment; how could he possibly add yet another wife or concubine? Judging by Luo Chen's conduct over the years, he clearly harbored no such thoughts. For her senior sister to push herself forward would only invite gossip and ridicule. Moreover, Gu Caiyi was rumored far and wide to be fiercely jealous! Canglong gave a faint smile. "Since he already has two, why can't there be a third? For a great man like him, having a bevy of wives and concubines is only natural." Fairy Jueqing stared in disbelief, barely able to recognize the senior sister before her. How could Fairy Canglong—who had once placed Ice Fort above all else and conducted herself with supreme dignity—utter such shameless words? Had being frozen all those years damaged her mind? Or had she completely cast off her inhibitions after shedding the sect's burdens? Or had Luo Chen secretly employed some bewitching technique on her while treating her back then? Fairy Jueqing had no idea, and Canglong had no desire to explain. In fact, having voiced her thoughts, the tension visibly drained from her frame. "Fortunately, Luo Chen is fine. His divine soul aura reappeared shortly after it faded. Once he awakens, I will state my feelings directly!" "Senior Sister!" "Wait!" Their conversation came to an abrupt halt. Canglong raised her hand, cutting off whatever Fairy Jueqing was about to say. Her beautiful eyes fixed upon the distant center of the lake. There, a whirlpool was slowly forming. "He seems to be waking up!" Canglong spoke with pleasant surprise, then immediately instructed Fairy Jueqing, "Go inform the rest of the sect at once!" With that, she conjured an ice bridge and flew across the increasingly turbulent waters of Lake Ming toward the center of the vortex. *** At the bottom of Lake Ming. A massive cauldron stood firmly anchored in place. Ming Water enveloped it completely, yet failed to corrode the cauldron's surface in the slightest. Instead, thick moisture flowed into it, as if the two shared the same origin. Inside the cauldron, however, it was unexpectedly dry, radiating an unbearable heat. A figure sat cross-legged within, enveloped in a faint layer of golden light. Looking closely, one would find that the golden light was composed of flickering tongues of golden flame, burning without pause. Yet this flame did not incinerate physical matter; it burned away something ethereal. Suddenly! The Daoist's long-dormant eyelids twitched, looking as though they might open at any moment. Within his sea of consciousness, a vast divine soul had already taken shape! Though still somewhat illusory, its appearance and demeanor were identical to Luo Chen's physical self, indistinguishable in every detail. Moreover, what set it apart was its astonishing resilience; it appeared entirely immune to heavenly lightning, earthfire, blazing sun, and astral winds! This was truly astonishing. Normally, a cultivator's divine soul was exceedingly fragile; only after condensing a primordial spirit could one withstand the masculine, yang elements of the outside world. Hence the saying: *The yin soul crosses the yang; the nascent soul transforms into godhood.* Luo Chen had not expected that even without forcibly consolidating a primordial spirit, his divine soul alone could reach such a state. 'Is this the transformation brought by completing the final nirvana of the Nine Tribulations and Three Nirvanas?' 'It directly exhibits the signs of Soul Formation!' The *Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture* recorded a method of transformation known as the Nine Tribulations and Three Nirvanas. The Three Nirvanas corresponded to the Three Treasures of essence, qi, and spirit—namely, the Body Nirvana, Mana Nirvana, and Divine Soul Nirvana. Each transformation involved three distinct aspects. The Divine Soul Nirvana comprised the Hun Nirvana, Po Nirvana, and Will Nirvana. The reason Luo Chen had failed his first attempt at the Divine Soul Nirvana on Mount Cangwu was obvious in hindsight. Insufficient willpower! Back then, he lacked the resolve to seek life through death, even taking a gamble by attempting the nirvana with a split soul. Failure had been inevitable! Had he not possessed a Nirvana fire spirit, he would never have even stepped through the doorway of the complete *Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture*. Yet this time, suspended between life and death, facing the collapse of the blessed land and grasping for his future path to Soul Formation, he had taken that step without looking back. Only because of that had he barely endured the final nirvana. Having crossed this threshold, Luo Chen finally realized just how immense the benefits would have been had he completed the Nine Tribulations and Three Nirvanas earlier in his cultivation. One could directly possess compatible mana, a terrifying physique, and a divine soul bearing the marks of Soul Formation while still in the Core Formation stage. Having only just reached this step in the late Nascent Soul stage, his progress had indeed been a bit slow. 'Fortunately, it is not too late!' 'With my divine soul so stable, once it integrates with the Nascent Soul to form a primordial spirit, it will be vastly more powerful than before.' 'Perhaps I can even use this to attempt breaking through directly to the Soul Formation stage!' Luo Chen felt a faint, distinct intuition. With such a robust foundation of the divine soul, he could very well force an assault on the Soul Formation stage without worrying about the sliver of life soul severed by the Tianyuan Dao Sect. This was no groundless arrogance. Having completed the Nine Tribulations and Three Nirvanas, he could clearly perceive the state of his divine soul. This was another of its marvelous effects. The three ethereal souls of Heaven, Earth, and Life were clearly visible. The seven corporeal souls also resided within various parts of his body. The missing sliver of his life soul was minuscule in the extreme. Perhaps because it was so insignificant, Luo Chen had failed to notice when Mo Shouzhuo secretly severed it using a spirit treasure all those years ago. To the present Luo Chen, that sliver was merely a drop in the ocean of his vast divine soul foundation; it might not truly impede his breakthrough to Soul Formation. 'Should I take the gamble?' The moment the thought surfaced, Luo Chen crushed it. After witnessing that primordial energy tornado descending from the heavens, he would much rather contend with mortals than test the whims of the damned heavens. If his breakthrough truly failed just because of that missing sliver, he would have nowhere to weep. 'I should still proceed step by step according to my original plan!' After inspecting his divine soul, Luo Chen shifted his attention to his physical body. What he saw shocked him to the core. Throughout his body, every meridian and acupoint was crammed with a colossal amount of mana. 'This mana is far too impure!' Sensing trouble, Luo Chen hurriedly sank his awareness into his purple palace. Sure enough! The Nascent Soul, which had previously grown to mirror his physical appearance and build, had now swollen to grotesque proportions, looking like a water-filled balloon on the verge of bursting at any second. A verdant fire tree had spread its lush branches, wrapping tightly around the Nascent Soul and continuously releasing vast vitality to maintain its stability. The instant Luo Chen's awareness appeared, the verdant fire tree transmitted an exhausted thought. Luo Chen could only comfort it softly, "You've worked hard." The Wither-Bloom fire spirit slowly drew back its branches, and Luo Chen's divine soul immediately took charge of the Nascent Soul, rapidly working to untangle the chaotic, overwhelming mana within his body. Back when the water and fire Dao origins had clashed, they had triggered an influx from an ocean of primordial energy. The sheer volume was staggering, vastly exceeding the measure of a single Dao origin and far surpassing the capacity of Luo Chen's Nascent Soul. The resulting consequence was the scene before him. His mana had become chaotic and impure, his Nascent Soul bloated beyond recognition, and even his meridians and acupoints had begun to warp under the strain. Had his physical body not been tempered through body cultivation, he would have exploded alive. Had the Wither-Bloom fire spirit not stepped forward once more to protect its master during the Divine Soul Nirvana, Luo Chen would never have survived these nine years. Even so, the lingering perils remained severe. Luo Chen had known for a long time that the primordial energy of heaven and earth was a composite of all kinds of spiritual energy. Compared to single-attribute spiritual energy, its advantage lay in its vast quantity and omnipresence. Although Soul Formation experts were said to command the primordial energy of heaven and earth in battle, that applied only to combat; during cultivation, they still meticulously separated and selected the elemental energies suited to themselves. At this moment, Luo Chen's body was inundated with vast, unrefined primordial energy, which had caused his cultivation to surge from near the seventh layer of Nascent Soul straight to the ninth layer. Yet Luo Chen did not want this. Power that could not be mastered was nothing more than a castle in the air, no matter how high the cultivation realm appeared. He had to find a way to strip away the impure primordial energy. Even though this was a blessing bestowed by heaven and earth upon comprehending the Dao of laws! Luo Chen began attempting to isolate, dredge, and refine it, but putting it into practice proved far more difficult than anticipated. The volume was simply immense! Refining it strand by strand would take an eternity. Moreover, a substantial portion of it leaned heavily toward the water attribute, a direct consequence of comprehending the Water Origin. Yet his comprehension of the Water Origin had been an opportunistic shortcut, gained by studying the Ming Water spring eye rather than innate affinity. His natal cultivation technique was of the fire attribute, meaning that refining and purifying this water-heavy energy was as painstaking as picking grains of sand with a needle. It would even cause opposing mana clashes from time to time, damaging his already precarious meridians and acupoints. 'Earlier, I actually thought about transplanting the Ming Water spring eye into my purple palace to cultivate it into something like the Wither-Bloom fire spirit. Thinking about it now, that was pure suicide!' As the thought flashed through his mind, Luo Chen let out a bitter laugh. Though his purple palace, forged from five spiritual roots, was vast enough to accommodate both the Wither-Bloom fire spirit and the Nirvana fire spirit... Wait, why had the Nirvana fire spirit grown so majestic and massive? Surprises followed one after another. Luo Chen discovered that the Nirvana fire spirit, once merely resembling a tiny sparrow, had become extraordinarily magnificent. Every feather was distinct, its feathered crest burned like a blazing sun, and as it danced gracefully near the weary Wither-Bloom fire spirit, it appeared remarkably imposing! 'Could this be because I fully completed the Nine Tribulations and Three Nirvanas?' 'In that case, can my Nirvana Holy Fire now incinerate the divine souls of cultivators?' With each completion of the Nine Tribulations and Three Nirvanas, the Nirvana Holy Fire underwent wondrous transformations. From incinerating physical flesh, to burning mana as a source of energy, and finally, to even consuming divine souls! This was precisely how Monarch Qixia had single-handedly suppressed countless ghost cultivators within the Nether Abyss. Luo Chen had no time to test the changes in the Nirvana Holy Fire, just as he had no time to test the duration of his primordial spirit. Having just awakened, a thousand tangled threads vied for his attention, leaving him momentarily at a loss for where to begin. Right at that moment! An ice bridge extended from the outside. A graceful figure stepped along the bridge, entering the Hunyuan Cauldron that barred the foul Ming Water. "Senior Brother Luo Chen, you truly are awake!" Canglong asked in delight. Luo Chen had already opened his eyes. Looking at the newcomer, he gave a slight nod. "These past years, I have caused everyone much worry." Canglong smiled with relief. "It is enough that you are unharmed." "Unharmed?" Luo Chen muttered softly to himself, a wry smile creeping onto his face. With his body bloated by impure mana to the point where he could barely move, how could he possibly be unharmed? Seeing this rare look of helplessness on his face, Fairy Canglong couldn't help asking with curiosity, "Senior Brother, what is wrong? Is there anything I can do to help?" Help? Luo Chen suddenly recalled something. His burning gaze swept over the elegant, mature woman before him. "Junior Sister, did you truly mean what you said by the lakeside earlier?" *Whoosh!* In an instant, the woman who had been utterly composed just moments before flushed scarlet all the way down her slender neck.