Inside the Wave-Swallowing Sea-Ingesting Pot, almost an entire small basin of blood was stored!
It was human blood!
And not just ordinary blood, but the essence blood of cultivators!
Every single drop teemed with incomparably rich vitality and spiritual energy, carrying even the innate qi born from a cultivator repeatedly shedding mortal bones and breaking through cultivation realms.
Every single drop was scarlet and translucent, resembling a blood bodhi bead.
Under normal circumstances, an independent Qi Refinement cultivator could extract ten drops of essence blood at most.
Any more would wound their foundation, forever barring them from advancing another step.
Even if one threw caution to the wind and extracted it by force, that amount would only rise to twenty or thirty drops.
Yet inside this Wave-Swallowing Sea-Ingesting Pot was a full small basin.
Luo Chen could hardly fathom how many cultivators Wang Yuan had slaughtered to amass this much essence blood.
Faced with Luo Chen’s shock, Wang Yuan merely offered a faint smile.
"Heaven offers and you do not take, you will surely suffer blame."
"The time comes and you do not act, you will surely bring disaster upon yourself."
"The chance presented itself. Certain things must be done when the time comes, or I might regret it for the rest of my life."
The reasoning made sense.
Yet to actually carry it out demanded ruthless resolve.
Killing for treasures was nothing out of the ordinary; such things occurred every day across the Eastern Wilderness cultivation world.
However, harvesting the essence blood of cultivators was an outright demonic practice.
Once discovered, one would face relentless pursuit and bounties from righteous sects.
Moreover, how many battles had to be fought, and how much mortal peril endured, to gather this much essence blood?
"I know you've always wanted to improve that Tier 2 pill formula."
Wang Yuan rose to his feet, clasping his hands behind his back.
"Yet you are only a Tier 1 alchemist right now. To deduce the Tier 1 Blood Burning Pill was already the feat of a generational genius. How difficult must it be to modify a Tier 2 recipe?"
"Inside this pot lies the essence blood of over a hundred cultivators. Some I killed with my own hands; others I extracted from corpses."
"I've calculated it: each drop can serve as one portion of raw ingredients. Together, they are enough to support you opening the cauldron over a thousand times."
"I'll do my utmost to gather the other two primary ingredients as well. When the time comes, all you need to do is focus on pill refinement."
Wang Yuan paused.
Turning around, he fixed Luo Chen with a piercing gaze.
"You should be close to achieving initial mastery in that Bright Spirit Fiend Shattering, shouldn't you?"
Luo Chen was taken aback. Indeed, he was nearly there.
Of the thirty-six acupoints involved, after months of painstaking effort, only the most critical and perilous head acupoints remained.
Still, why was Wang Yuan bringing this up?
Meeting Luo Chen’s puzzled look, Wang Yuan gave a light chuckle. "The Blood Fiend Pill belongs to the blood dao, but cultivators who don't practice blood dao can use it too—they just have to endure immense pain."
"Once you truly achieve initial mastery in Bright Spirit Fiend Shattering, your willpower should be sufficient to bear that agony."
"Luo Chen, don't you want a physical vessel strong enough to carry the Great Dao?"
In the early stages of cultivation, practitioners focused primarily on refining qi, supplemented by refining the spirit.
They paid little regard to the mortal frame.
In reality, however, unless one advanced to the Nascent Soul realm, a cultivator could never separate from their physical body.
If the body suffered severe trauma, it could easily derail one’s cultivation path.
Figures like Zeng Wen and Gao Tingyuan had all suffered deeply from this.
When Qin Liangchen lost an arm back then, he was even willing to forgo Bai Qi's legacy just to have the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect graft a new limb onto him, all to keep his path from being compromised.
Luo Chen was no fool. He certainly recognized that an exceptionally robust vessel would bring immense benefits to pursuing the Great Dao.
Listening to Wang Yuan, a spark of temptation stirred in his heart.
Yet glancing down at the Wave-Swallowing Sea-Ingesting Pot in his hands, bearing the lives of over a hundred cultivators, that stirring ambition cooled instantly.
A single simple question left Wang Yuan completely stumped.
"Even if I manage to refine the Blood Fiend Pill, how many can these materials actually produce? To what realm could they support our cultivation? What happens when the essence blood runs out?"
As Wang Yuan hesitated, Luo Chen said in a low voice:
"Will we have to go on a slaughtering spree until we draw the attention of the great sects?"
……
Wang Yuan left, taking the Wave-Swallowing Sea-Ingesting Pot filled with cultivator essence blood with him.
It was not safe kept with Luo Chen; it was better for Wang Yuan to hold onto it for now.
Wang Yuan had not entirely failed to consider the issues Luo Chen raised.
It was just that amidst the atmosphere of the Golden Core ruins in the Guyuan Mountain Range, he had been unable to resist collecting so much essence blood.
As he had said: Heaven offers and you do not take, you will surely suffer blame. The time comes and you do not act, you will surely bring disaster upon yourself.
Yet he had misjudged one crucial detail.
He assumed the essence blood of over a hundred cultivators would suffice for Luo Chen to refine a substantial number of Blood Fiend Pills.
He did not understand alchemy, nor did he realize what an absurd defiance of nature it was for a Tier 1 alchemist to craft a Tier 2 pill.
Even someone as formidable as Qing Yuanzi had relied on pill-nourishing techniques to cross tiers and cultivate a Tier 3 pill.
Only after Luo Chen explained did Wang Yuan realize that an alchemist attempting pills of a corresponding tier had to endure countless failures just to achieve a single, marginal success.
And even after succeeding, replicating and refining the process still entailed a high probability of repeated failure.
To say nothing of attempting it across tiers.
The essence blood of over a hundred cultivators seemed like a mountain of material, but the final pill yield would be scant at best!
It could never sustain Wang Yuan’s cultivation in the long run, let alone leave enough for Luo Chen to share.
Only after hearing the full explanation did Wang Yuan calm down completely.
He plainly stated he would give the matter careful thought.
Either they would wait until he possessed enough combat power to shelter Luo Chen,
or until Luo Chen advanced to a Tier 2 alchemist, at which point they would reevaluate the situation.
In the end, he had not abandoned the idea.
Before departing, however, Wang Yuan shared a crucial piece of news with Luo Chen.
"Mi Shuhua returned early!"
This news sent a jolt of shock through Luo Chen.
When did Mi Shuhua return?
And why did none of the other Mountain Breaker Gang cultivators know anything about it?
Right now, the Mountain Breaker Gang was reeling from catastrophic losses and teetering on the brink. Shouldn't his return be announced to steady morale?
Wang Yuan did not know the specifics either.
He merely passed along the information, mentioning that the Golden Core ruins' formation had collapsed, drawing in a host of Tier 2 demon beasts.
After a fierce clash, the human Foundation Establishment cultivators had scattered like birds and beasts, each deploying their own means to flee.
Luo Chen buried this news deep in his heart and told no one.
In the days that followed, he continued refining pills and cultivating as usual, acting as though nothing had happened.
Until three days later, when Zhou Yuanli quietly approached him holding a voice transmission jade token.
"The Gang Leader requests your presence!"
……
This was Luo Chen's first time visiting the Mi family ancestral grounds.
Flanked by Mi Junping and a man at the ninth layer of Qi Refinement, he made his way step by step toward the restricted grounds of the estate.
Though called a restricted area, it was really just Mi Shuhua’s private secluded cultivation chamber.
As he walked, Luo Chen observed the demeanor of the Mi family members.
He could not detect anything amiss; each of them appeared quite high-spirited.
It seemed that having an independent cultivator gang like the Mountain Breaker Gang to leech off of had allowed the Mi family to thrive over the years.
In just a short stretch of the path, Luo Chen noticed numerous young clansmen in the early and mid stages of Qi Refinement.
"We've arrived. Zifan, go tend to your duties. I'll take him inside," Mi Junping said.
The ninth-layer Qi Refinement man accompanying them nodded.
Yet before turning to leave, the look he cast at Luo Chen carried a trace of distinct resentment.
Luo Chen was exceptionally perceptive, and with the Spiritual Eye Art rooted in his vision, he caught that sliver of hostility immediately.
"Is that Mi Zifan? The one who was once ranked in the top ten of the Prodigy Roll?" Luo Chen asked, feigning casual curiosity.
Mi Junping hummed an assent and said with a touch of regret, "Unfortunately, after losing once to that man named Duan Feng, his ranking dropped. Now that the Dao Discussion Platform is closed, he has no chance to fight his way back up, bringing shame upon our Mi family for nothing."
At the mention of Duan Feng, Mi Junping looked at Luo Chen with a half-smile.
"If I recall, weren't you and Qin Liangchen the ones who vouched for Duan Feng to enter the Mountain Breaker Gang?"
Luo Chen offered a mild smile. "Yes. He's currently registered under the Pill Hall, though the gang doesn't pay him a fixed stipend. He's running a little private business of his own right now."
"Then you'd better watch out. Mi Zifan might go looking for revenge against Duan Feng."
As she spoke, the corners of Mi Junping’s mouth curved slightly upward.
"I almost forgot—you and Mi Zifan already had bad blood between you. With new grudges piled onto old ones, he probably hates you even more now!"
*I have bad blood with Mi Zifan?*
Luo Chen blinked.
For no rhyme or reason, when had he ever made an enemy of a ninth-layer Qi Refinement cultivator?
Seeing Luo Chen's bewilderment, Mi Junping softly uttered three words.
"Spirit Gathering Formation."
Instantly, Luo Chen understood where the grudge had come from.
Back when he was ambushed by bandits from the Snow Lotus Market, he had used the incident as leverage to hole up inside the inner city, refusing to leave.
To appease him, Mi Shuhua had specifically sent someone to deliver a Minor Spirit Gathering Formation.
It was precisely thanks to that Minor Spirit Gathering Formation that Luo Chen had raised his cultivation efficiency to match the standard of a dual-spiritual-root cultivator.
Yet one could easily imagine that such a precious item as a Minor Spirit Gathering Formation would be highly prized even within the Mi family.
How could it ever have been an idle, unused trinket?
Evidently, the original owner of that Minor Spirit Gathering Formation had been this ninth-layer Qi Refinement expert, Mi Zifan.
This grudge was certainly not unfounded!
Luo Chen gave an inward wry smile.
Catching the upturned corner of Mi Junping’s mouth from the corner of his eye, a thought suddenly struck him.
Why was she going out of her way to warn him about this?
Could it be that she and Mi Zifan did not get along either?
Yet she was of the second generation of the Mi family, while Mi Zifan was merely her nephew.
He posed no threat to her, and they shared blood ties.
No matter what, blood ought to be thicker than water.
Besides, his own relationship with Mi Junping was hardly intimate.
While Luo Chen pondered this, Mi Junping led him forward, their path sloping steadily downward.
It was as though they were heading deep underground.
Abruptly, the two halted before a stone door.
"Go on in. My father is waiting for you inside."
Luo Chen took a careful look at Mi Junping. Seeing her calm expression, he drew a deep breath and pushed the stone door open alone.
The moment he stepped inside, before he could take in the surroundings, the heavy stone door slammed shut behind him.
Luo Chen’s heart leaped, and he took an instinctive step back.
Only then did he realize that this small stone chamber—less than ten square meters in size—was utterly extraordinary.
Spiritual energy!
Spiritual energy so astonishingly dense it felt like an ocean.
Merely standing inside made Luo Chen feel as though his Eternal Spring Art were revolving on its own, eager to drink in this rich spiritual energy.
"A Tier 2 spirit vein!" Luo Chen blurted out.
"Unfortunately, it is not."
From the center of the chamber came Mi Shuhua's aged voice.
It sounded old and weary, devoid of its former robust vigor.
Luo Chen froze. Channeling his spiritual eyes, he looked closely and discovered an unhealthy, sickly pallor across Mi Shuhua's face.
The man sat cross-legged upon a prayer mat woven from gold and silver threads. Beside him rested numerous bottles and jars.
Luo Chen could clearly sense an exceptionally rich source of spiritual energy emanating from beneath the prayer mat.
It was remarkably similar to the spirit vein tributary cavern he had discovered beneath Crescent Moon Valley, only slightly more concentrated.
*Is there a massive chunk of raw spirit stone ore beneath that as well?*
*Yet even a tributary of a Tier 1 spirit vein shouldn't be able to generate such an immense, surging spiritual environment!*
Just as Luo Chen was wondering, a crisp crack echoed in his ears.
Following the sound, Luo Chen looked toward the southeast corner of the chamber, where a pile of translucent, whitish rhomboid crystals collapsed, turning into a shower of stone powder.
"Spirit stones—medium-grade spirit stones!"
With just a glance, Luo Chen could count that the pile held a full ten stones.
And that was only one corner.
The chamber's other eight corners each had identical piles of medium-grade spirit stones.
That meant eighty medium-grade spirit stones lay arranged across the floor, equivalent to over eight thousand low-grade spirit stones!
"This place was originally a tributary of a spirit vein, belonging to Tier 1. Under my arrangements, not a trace of spiritual energy can leak out."
"Not only that, but I used a Tier 2 Spirit Gathering Formation to draw out vast amounts of spiritual energy from medium-grade spirit stones, mixing it with the natural energy here to ultimately create a Tier 2 spirit vein environment suitable for a Foundation Establishment cultivator to train in."
"Luo Chen, don't you think cultivating here would be vastly superior?"
Mi Shuhua stared intently at Luo Chen, his eyes gleaming.
Luo Chen immediately broke into an overjoyed smile. "It would undeniably be far better. Gang Leader, you wouldn't be thinking of lending me this place to cultivate, would you?"
"Well, that is not out of the question. Going forward, I could permit you to cultivate here once a month."
Mi Shuhua smiled faintly. "Furthermore, beyond accelerating cultivation, this place offers considerable benefits for attempting to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm."
*Temptation!*
*The old man is clearly dangling bait before me!*
From the moment Mi Shuhua began describing the chamber's cultivation environment, Luo Chen had realized this.
When the man mentioned it aided breakthroughs to Foundation Establishment, his suspicions were confirmed beyond doubt.
Yet why was he tempting him with this?
"Luo Chen, what thoughts do you have regarding Foundation Establishment?"
Without hesitation, Luo Chen answered at once, "My heart yearns for it; I wish for nothing more than to become a True Cultivator of the Great Dao!"
"Commendable ambition!" Mi Shuhua praised.
Luo Chen shook his head with a bitter sigh. "Alas, the Great Dao is arduous, and my aptitude is wretched. In this lifetime, I fear I may never even touch the threshold of Foundation Establishment."
"Oh, you belittle yourself far too much."
Under Luo Chen's astonished gaze, Mi Shuhua chuckled and said, "From the eighth layer of Qi Refinement to Foundation Establishment, only a single minor realm remains. You have great promise!"
*He knows I'm at the eighth layer of Qi Refinement!*
*Can a Grandmaster-level Qi Concealment Incantation not evade the inspection of a Foundation Establishment cultivator?*
*Or did Deacon Miao from the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect tell him?*
Suddenly, Luo Chen remembered that trace of exquisitely pure spiritual energy left upon his shoulder.
*Damn it, I couldn't see the forest for the trees!*
Someone had planted a tracker directly on him. No matter how well he masked himself, it was like applying makeup right under their noses.
No matter how strange the disguise, the other party could see right through to his original appearance at a glance.
Luo Chen forced a strained smile, offering hollow flattery: "Gang Leader, your venerable self truly possesses eyes of blazing insight."
He did not mention his reasons for hiding his realm.
Nor did Mi Shuhua press him on it.
Some things were best understood tacitly between them.
Calling it out would only make things awkward for both sides.
Furthermore, Mi Shuhua produced an immense temptation that set Luo Chen's heart racing.
"At your pace, you will likely have half a foot across the threshold of Foundation Establishment within ten years. When that time comes, what plans do you have?"
Luo Chen was puzzled. What plans could he possibly have?
It would be nothing other than seeking a Foundation Establishment Pill!
And then, a Foundation Establishment Pill was set right before Luo Chen's eyes.
Chapter 132