Inside the Scripture Transmission Pavilion, quiet voices drifted in calm conversation from time to time.
"Did you stir up immense trouble out there?"
"Why would you say that, Brother Wang? How do you view my current strength?"
"Unfathomable, as vast and profound as the sea. At the very least, I am no longer your match."
"Haha, exactly. With my strength as it is today, what kind of enemy could possibly count as big trouble?"
"Yet the urgency you display, along with this almost reckless drive to push your power, is practically identical to how you prepared before we launched the attack on the Yan Alliance all those years ago."
"The Yan Alliance? What a distant name..."
Before the desk, Luo Chen murmured under his breath as his right hand stilled the talisman brush.
A fourth-tier body-tempering cultivation method named the Hundred Poisons Body Tempering Art was inscribed upon the jade slip. Unlike the original, which required the assistance of poison gu, this manual had been simplified by Luo Chen, demanding only corresponding toxins to cultivate.
His current task was to record and leave behind the high-tier techniques he had acquired over recent years before his departure.
The Hundred Poisons Body Tempering Art was merely one of them. Arts such as Three Heads and Six Arms, the Moonlight Mind-Clearing Mantra, and various wondrous methods obtained from the Southern Border had all been transcribed onto slips.
Not only that, but Luo Chen had also engraved a record of his personal insights and experiences cultivating the Soul Splitting Art over the years.
All of these would be preserved within the Scripture Pavilion for future Luotian Sect cultivators to exchange for and cultivate.
Luo Chen picked up the newly inscribed body-tempering technique, rose, and walked toward a nearby bookshelf, placing it into an empty slot.
Beside him, Wang Yuan kept pace as he spoke. "Indeed. Back then, the Yan Alliance was honored as one of the Seven Jade Cauldron Sects, a genuine Golden Core great sect. Our Luotian Association wasn't even considered a first-rate force, unable to muster a single Golden Core cultivator. Yet under those circumstances, you whimsically set out to take them down. Through forming alliances, diplomatic maneuvers, and your own personal prowess, you persevered through mortal peril to utterly extinguish the Yan Alliance and its four-hundred-year legacy."
Luo Chen set down the slip and casually picked up a yellowed, damaged jade slip beside it on the shelf.
Sweeping it with his divine sense, five characters imprinted into his mind—Nether Sea Returning Origin Qi.
This was a high-tier cultivation method of the Mingyuan Sect. Exactly how high its rank once was remained unknown, as it was already badly damaged when Luotian Sect cultivators recovered it from the ruins, leaving only this fragment.
It roughly amounted to the third or fourth tier.
Dividing his attention, Luo Chen smiled. "In that battle, it was you and Chu Kui guarding by my side, wasn't it, Brother Wang?"
Wang Yuan nodded. "Yes. Precisely because I witnessed how mad you were back then, I know that beneath your calm demeanor today, there may well lie a madness even greater than before!"
Luo Chen paused, an inscrutable look in his eyes.
Back then, two entire tiers separated the Yan Alliance and the Luotian Association—the gulf between a major Golden Core sect and a second-rate faction.
Now, the Tianyuan Dao Sect he was to face seemed separated from the Luotian Sect by only a thin margin on paper, yet the reality was the difference between the heavens and the earth.
Could his madness prevail once again this time?
"Who is the enemy?" Wang Yuan stepped in front of Luo Chen, frowning as he asked, "Is it the Million Mountains? An ancient sect? Or a Soul Transformation sacred land?!"
By the end of his sentence, his teeth were almost grinding together.
Luo Chen gave a faint smile and returned the Nether Sea Returning Origin Qi to the shelf.
It was an ingenious high-tier method, wondrous and rare, reputed to borrow the qi of heaven and earth.
However, its threshold was exceedingly high, demanding that a cultivator cripple their own foundation before they could begin. The stronger one's original foundation had been, the more worldly qi one could borrow upon cultivating anew, and it even contained secret techniques to convert that borrowed might into one's own magic power.
Regrettably, the latter portion was missing.
Wondrous though the technique was, Luo Chen cared little for it.
Who would willingly discard a lifetime of painstaking cultivation just to practice a technique reliant on borrowed power?
Just as Luo Chen had walked his path to this point, standing before the road to Soul Transformation, he would never give up his foundation.
With a solemn expression, Luo Chen fixed his gaze on Wang Yuan. "Brother Wang, do you wish to help me?"
Wang Yuan countered, "Are you looking down on my meager cultivation?"
Luo Chen shook his head. How could he ever hold such contempt? An extra hand was always a blessing.
Yet knowing how hard it had been for the Luotian Sect to survive, he had never intended to drag them into this.
Now that Wang Yuan pressed him so relentlessly, he no longer concealed it.
"It is the Tianyuan Dao Sect."
Wang Yuan's pupils shrank, and his voice caught in his throat.
Weaving between the bookshelves, Luo Chen looked upon the Luotian Sect's three centuries of accumulation—a dazzling array of cultivation methods, secret arts, and various heritages—and let out a quiet sigh.
"Don't worry too much. If all goes smoothly, we might not even fight. After all, the Tianyuan Dao Sect is plagued by internal strife and external threats right now; they won't necessarily pay much heed to a small pawn like me."
From behind him, Wang Yuan replied resolutely, "If that day truly arrives, count me in!"
Luo Chen looked back. Sunlight streamed through the window onto Wang Yuan, making his frame appear all the taller.
Brother Wang was still Brother Wang; after all these years, he seemed not to have changed at all.
Luo Chen smiled and stepped out of the Scripture Pavilion.
As he passed the entrance, a grey-robed sweeping Daoist bowed his head and saluted him.
"Farewell, Supreme Elder."
"Mm."
Luo Chen acknowledged him and vaulted into the air. Rising higher, he cast a downward glance.
The grey-robed Daoist bore no aura of magic power whatsoever—he was a mere mortal. How could a mortal be permitted to sweep the Luotian Sect's most vital Scripture Pavilion?
He wondered how Wang Yuan, the Scripture Transmission Elder, had made such an arrangement.
Muttering to himself, Luo Chen returned to the Luotian Grand Hall.
Since Pill Mountain had been destroyed by the catastrophe, he temporarily resided in the Luotian Grand Hall.
Before leaving, he needed to refine a batch of artifacts capable of traversing the Netherworld Abyss; conveniently, Luotian Sect cultivators could deliver the necessary materials directly to the grand hall.
Luo Chen asked no one for assistance during this process, relying entirely on his own hands.
Dense moisture seeped out from time to time despite the concealing formations.
Inside the Luotian Grand Hall, streams of Ming Water gushed from the suspended spring eye, which Luo Chen then refined into small black boats.
Luo Chen could hardly be bothered to invent a new name for this batch of artifacts, simply reusing the name "Nether-Crossing Boat" from the vessel the Luotian Sect had obtained previously.
Their purpose was virtually the same anyway, and the ones he crafted were far superior in performance, conserving much more magic power.
With these Nether-Crossing Boats, Luotian Sect cultivators could freely enter and leave the Netherworld Abyss in the future.
Bai Meiling had swept away the low-tier ghost cultivators in the surrounding area, ensuring Luotian cultivators would not be harassed by them.
Haoranzi remained in Shangyou Waste City, establishing an external foothold for the Luotian Sect so the sect would not remain blind to the outside world.
As long as they managed things properly over the next few centuries and digested the legacy of the Mingyuan Sect, the Luotian Sect was bound to prosper.
Luo Chen would have no lingering worries left.
His gaze now fell upon the spring eye.
"Originally, I intended to use the remaining water lotus seed to refine an avatar and infiltrate the Tianyuan Dao Sect to reclaim my missing life soul. But the water lotus seed ultimately lacks sufficient foundation; the avatar's strength wouldn't rise quickly enough to gain the Dao Sect's attention. If I refine this spring eye into the avatar, could I forge an incarnation endowed with monstrous talent?"
Luo Chen muttered to himself, his eyes glowing brightly at this sudden inspiration.
His plan to reclaim the life soul was not yet fully fleshed out; he possessed only a rough outline.
According to the intelligence Youquan had provided him, the Central Continent had split into five continents, with the severed Heaven and Earth Peak felled by Primordial Sovereign Qixia occupying one continent alone.
The Tianyuan Dao Sect held the other four continents.
Back then, the supreme Great Desolation beast, the Diaohun Desolation, had driven the Yellow Springs Sea all the way west, smashing and sinking the West Continent along the way. All living beings upon it had been swept into the Yellow Springs Sea, with no survivors.
Thus, Tianyuan Dao Sect cultivators now inhabited only the East, South, and North Continents.
The Dao Sect's mountain gate in the Lanke Mountain Range was situated on the East Continent. It was safe to assume that the Dao Sect's Soul Transformation mighty figures would also cultivate on the East Continent following their return.
What Luo Chen needed to do was avoid the East Continent, send his incarnation into the Dao Sect's branches on the other two continents, and cultivate at breakneck speed to the Nascent Soul stage.
When the time came, the Tianyuan Dao Sect would inevitably collect his life soul according to their tradition.
Seizing that opportunity, he could rely on the soul connection to locate his missing portion and then escape the Tianyuan Dao Sect.
Throughout the entire process, he might not even cross paths directly with the Dao Sect's mighty figures.
Yet if things did not go smoothly...
"Then I will have no choice but to fight a battle and wrest back my life soul by force!"
Luo Chen narrowed his eyes, a perilous glint flashing within them.
He knew where his missing life soul was!
Back then, when Mo Shouzhuo took his life soul as he entered the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven, the method used had been "Phantom Chess."
And Phantom Chess was clearly a derivative technique of the spirit treasure Lanke Chessboard.
Considering the Lanke Chessboard's powers to guard divine souls, gather spiritual opportunity, and suppress an entire province, it was undoubtedly a treasure meant for capturing souls as well.
According to intelligence from Mount Cangwu, when the Central Continent shattered and spiritual opportunity scattered in that great war, the Lanke Chessboard had suffered backlash.
Under such circumstances, seizing the Lanke Chessboard through open warfare was another means of retrieving his life soul.
Yet until a critical moment arrived, he was unwilling to do so.
Doing so would mean openly declaring war against the Tianyuan Dao Sect. The Dao Sect's mighty figures were no fools; they would either destroy the Lanke Chessboard or seek out his life soul and crush it directly, leaving Luo Chen with nothing for his efforts.
Therefore, it was best that everything be carried out in secret!
...
Half a month later.
At the entrance of the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land, a crowd stood in silence, the atmosphere solemn.
Luo Chen's gaze swept over everyone present.
The steadfast, unchanging Wang Yuan, the furtive-eyed Lingfengzi, the radiant Yu Jiaolong, the reverent Li Yingzhang...
Luo Chen said nothing to them; instead, before the assembled crowd, he beckoned over Sima Huiniang and the other two women.
"I am about to depart. Why do I not see Lingxi?"
Sima Huiniang, whose face had been etched with worry, hurried to explain upon hearing his question: "Lingxi has already entered seclusion to prepare for breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage. He wants to raise his realm so he can help you sooner!"
Luo Chen felt a momentary daze. Was his son already on the verge of Foundation Establishment?
He should succeed; his spiritual root talent was decent, he had renowned masters guiding him, and the Luotian Sect provided him with unrestricted resources.
Even a pig would succeed in establishing its foundation under such conditions!
If he failed, Luo Chen wouldn't mind overly much, taking it merely as his earlier efforts having gone to waste.
Luo Chen's gaze shifted to Gu Caiyi, and he gently stroked her soft hair with tenderness.
"I know you have always been proud and unyielding, but in cultivation, it is better to take things slower and not rush so recklessly."
Gu Caiyi's magic power fluctuated distinctly at this moment, showing clear signs of the eighth layer of Golden Core.
How long had it been since she stepped into late Golden Core?
Not even thirty years in total, yet here she was at the eighth layer—it was truly alarming.
Gu Caiyi started to explain, but her gaze was drawn to a box Luo Chen brought out.
"This is a Nascent Soul Formation Pill I specially reserved for you. However, I have placed a seal upon it that requires at least a century to undo. During this time, you must comb through your magic power and adjust the state of your three treasures: essence, qi, and spirit."
"Husband..." Gu Caiyi's voice choked with emotion. Only now did she realize that Luo Chen had never overlooked her; he had prepared a Nascent Soul Formation Pill specifically for her, something even Sima Huiniang did not have.
Luo Chen smiled and met Canglong's eyes.
Though worry lingered in her gaze, a smile graced her face.
"Depart with peace of mind. I will help look after affairs at home for you."
Fairy Canglong spoke with calm grace and easy composure.
Sima Huiniang's expression turned slightly subtle, as if recalling something, but she said, "My son and I will await your return."
Luo Chen waved his hand and drifted out from the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land.
Behind him stood the disciples and elders of Luotian, each bearing a different expression.
Before him was Bai Meiling, who had hurried back riding a black tortoise upon his summons.
"Master, are you leaving again?"
"Mm." Luo Chen nodded, then extended his hand. "Show me the fruits of your past twenty years."
Indeed, twenty years had passed in the blink of an eye since Luo Chen returned to the Luotian Sect.
During that time, condensing his primordial spirit, refining the spring eye, comprehending the Water Origin, and undergoing the nirvana of his divine soul had completely filled those twenty years.
If there was any respite, perhaps only those few days of lingering intimacy with Canglong counted as true relaxation.
And in those twenty years, Bai Meiling had done only one thing.
The pitch-black Soul Refining Banner settled into Luo Chen's hand. As his fingers closed around it, an inexplicable weight rose instinctively from within.
"Master, Little Bai has not failed your expectations. I have roamed across more than half of the Netherworld Abyss, gathering a full million low-tier ghosts. Please inspect it!"
Luo Chen's eyes lit up, and his divine sense immediately sank into the Soul Refining Banner.
Countless shrill wails and agonized shrieks echoed out.
Sensing the entry of a living being's soul, innumerable vicious ghosts surged toward Luo Chen in unison.
Yet before they could draw near, an innate, overwhelming pressure froze them where they stood.
In an instant, the myriad ghosts fell utterly silent!
Watching this, Bai Meiling gasped in admiration. "As expected of Master! With a single thought, you suppress a million ghosts. Lately, I felt as if I could hardly control this Ten Thousand Soul Banner anymore."
"You have worked hard." Luo Chen produced a wooden box and handed it to Bai Meiling.
Inside lay a soul stone, one he had brought back from the Soul Severing Cliff.
For a ghost cultivator, such an item was an immense tonic!
After instructing Bai Meiling on how to refine and absorb it, Luo Chen returned his attention to the Soul Refining Banner in his hand.
"Ten Thousand Soul Banner?"
"A million ghosts—it already possesses the foundation of a Baleful Soul Banner. All it lacks is a fierce soul capable of devouring gods and consuming ghosts."
He took out his Soul Nurturing Banner and cast all several dozen Ghost Emperors within it into the Soul Refining Banner.
After sensing within for a moment, Luo Chen shook his head.
Not enough!
Using these dozens of Ghost Emperors to fuse into a Ghost God comparable to Soul Transformation was still not enough.
As he pondered, Bai Meiling leaned close to him.
"Master, on your journey this time, can you take me with you?"
Chapter 1018