"There was no need for that."
"Was there really no need?"
Inside the stone chamber, one man sat cross-legged on the bed, while the other stood before it with hands clasped behind his back.
*Cough, cough...*
Meeting Wang Yuan's gaze filled with emotion, Luo Chen could not help coughing twice.
He said softly, "You once told me that a true man knows when to yield and when to stand tall, never losing his heroic character. But when faced with a real choice, one must stay true to one's heart. Otherwise, once the will is broken, a spine bent low will never straighten again for the rest of one's life."
"I know yesterday's battle wasn't a choice I absolutely had to make."
"Still, I feared that when a true crossroad arrived, I would habitually calculate and weigh gains against losses, ultimately missing the chance and losing my original heart."
Listening to these low words, Wang Yuan was astonished.
It seemed Luo Chen was hinting at something deeper.
Just what had he gone through during the time Wang Yuan had been away?
Luo Chen did not let him dwell on it, merely forcing a smile.
"Besides, when it came to a talisman treasure's strike, someone had to take it."
"I could have taken it," Wang Yuan said resolutely.
"And would you have come out unharmed? Not only would you have been injured, but you would also have needlessly exposed your blood path methods and drawn the attention of the Foundation Establishment cultivators!"
Wang Yuan hesitated.
Luo Chen chuckled and shook his head. "See? If you took it, you'd be hurt; if I took it, I'd be hurt too. There isn't much difference!"
"Moreover, I didn't rush in on a reckless surge of adrenaline."
Indeed!
The intel that the Fu family possessed a talisman treasure was something both Luo Chen and Wang Yuan knew very well.
To be counted among the Foundation Establishment forces, a clan naturally had Foundation Establishment trump cards.
A talisman treasure sealed nearly thirty percent of a magical treasure's power, making it a supreme lethal weapon against anyone below Foundation Establishment.
From the moment they resolved to target the Fu family, Luo Chen and Wang Yuan had devised various plans to deal with that talisman treasure.
When that phantom giant hammer erupted into being, Luo Chen knew his planning had not been in vain.
"In the end, the person activating the talisman treasure was merely a cultivator at the ninth layer of Qi Refinement."
"In particular, his spiritual power had already been largely worn down by Duan Feng and the other rogue cultivators. Under the strain of consecutive fierce fights, the talisman treasure's supposed thirty percent magical treasure power had to be drastically reduced."
"I, on the other hand, was well-prepared, gripping my supreme-grade dharma artifact with the Blazing Sun Art primed to unleash."
"What did I have to fear!"
Wang Yuan nodded. With his rich combat experience, he agreed completely with this reasoning.
A talisman treasure, though a kind of talisman, was not quite like ordinary talismans.
When standard talismans were crafted, however much spiritual power had been sealed within would dictate the exact power released when triggered.
That was fixed.
Regardless of whether the cultivator was at their peak or in a slump,
as long as it was activated, the talisman would erupt with its full sealed might.
Yet a talisman treasure was different!
What it sealed was the power of a magical treasure.
That raised the question: how was the power of a magical treasure calculated?
What would its greatest power be?
That depended on the person!
If the Fu family ancestor who created the talisman treasure had only been at the Foundation Establishment stage, they could hardly seal much of a magical treasure's true might inside.
If it had been created by a Core Formation cultivator, that would be another story entirely.
From what Luo Chen had gathered from Sima Xian, earlier from Sikong Shoujia, and from others, the Fu family had never produced a Core Formation ancestor.
Their ancestral heritage was far from wealthy.
Before their Foundation Establishment ancestor passed away, in an effort to nurture a new Foundation Establishment cultivator for the Fu family, they had even exhausted their entire supply of Foundation Establishment Pills in Tianlan Immortal City.
Only then did the Fu family make the decision to relocate far away to Dahe Market.
Viewed from this angle, the Fu family's heirloom talisman treasure contained, at most, a magical treasure's power barely sealed by a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Moreover, once a talisman treasure was activated, because it manifested as a phantom of the treasure,
it still required the cultivator themselves to direct and control it.
Had Fu Zhang been in peak condition, it would have been enough to threaten even a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Unfortunately, he was already far from his peak at the time.
Add to that Luo Chen waiting with his strength fully gathered, armed with a Tier 2 spell like the Blazing Sun Art,
and Wang Yuan had dared to stand back and let Luo Chen take action.
The final outcome had concluded with Fu Zhang reduced to ash and Luo Chen sustaining only minor injuries, marking a complete success.
Wang Yuan remarked with feeling, "After this battle, you have earned yourself a solid place among the Qi Refinement cultivators of Dahe Market."
"Haha, didn't I have one already?"
"Uh, I was referring to combat prowess, not your ability to earn spirit stones."
Luo Chen waved his hand. "Alright, let's leave it at that. Over the next couple of days, I will use recuperating from my injuries as an excuse to avoid meeting certain people. Help me watch over the Luotian Association, and together with Murong Qinglian, take stock of our spoils and losses from this battle."
"You know my temperament. As for the families of the fallen cultivators... if they have any, provide them with appropriate pensions!"
"The refined Jade Marrow Pills can also be taken out for sale. Entrust this matter to Gu Caiyi and Zeng Wen."
Luo Chen gave one instruction after another.
They were meticulous and comprehensive, organizing the affairs of the Luotian Association in good order.
Listening to it all, Wang Yuan felt his head ache slightly.
After a long pause, he shook his head. "Just rest well and recover, and try to come back soon. I really can't stand handling these tedious matters."
With that, he left the stone chamber.
Only after he departed did Luo Chen press a hand to his chest and cough violently several times.
The external wounds were manageable, but these internal injuries would probably take some time to nurse back to health.
Nevertheless, they were purely physical injuries that posed no hindrance to his cultivation.
"Just as well. This period will allow me to cultivate in peace."
Making the best of a bad situation, Luo Chen activated the formation and quietly descended into the cave of the spiritual vein.
A familiar place, a familiar scene.
Looking at the increasingly translucent raw spirit stone ore, Luo Chen could not help but furrow his brow.
"The spiritual energy here has grown thinner and thinner."
"Could Mount Luofeng really be carrying out some project to upgrade the spiritual vein?"
"Never mind, no use overthinking it for now. At least for the moment, this place can still sustain my cultivation."
Reining in his thoughts until his mind was as calm as an ancient well, Luo Chen began circulating the Eternal Spring Art.
...
Four days later.
Luo Chen opened his eyes, coughed softly, and then broke into a look of pleasant surprise.
Ninth layer of Qi Refinement!
Opening the attribute panel,
Luo Chen browsed through it for the first time in a relaxed, delighted mood.
[Realm: Qi Refinement Stage, Ninth Layer: 1/100]
[Cultivation Methods: Eternal Spring Art (Great Perfection); Clarifying the Mind and Breaking Fiends (Entry: 71/100)]
[Spells: Fireball Art (Great Perfection); Carefree Wind Riding (Great Perfection); Attraction Art (Great Perfection); Breath Concealment Spiritual Art (Great Perfection); Entangling Art (Grandmaster: 810/1000); Spirit Eye Art (Grandmaster: 980/1000); Cleansing Art (Grandmaster: 775/100); Healing Art (Flawless: 470/500); Earth Mountain Art (Practiced: 250/300); Billowing Waves Art (Practiced: 210/300); Sound Isolation Art (Entry: 71/100)]
[Alchemy Arts: Jade Breaking Hand (Grandmaster: 510/1000); Pure Heart Hand (Flawless: 327/500)]
[Martial Arts: Mountain-Cleaving Stele-Shattering Palm (Grandmaster: 780/1000); Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers (Flawless: 319/500)]
[Skills: Tier 1 Alchemist: Fasting Powder (Great Perfection); Myriad Wonders Pill (Grandmaster: 730/1000); Jade Marrow Pill (Grandmaster: 850/1000); Blood Burning Pill (Entry: 62/100)]
[Achievement Points: 34]
Calculating carefully, he had stepped into the eighth layer of Qi Refinement back in early spring, around the third month.
Now, although the weather remained scorchingly hot, it was already entering golden autumn in the ninth month.
A full half a year had passed.
Over the past six months, he had hardly ever paused his cultivation of the Eternal Spring Art, purifying impurities from his spiritual power at every moment.
Coupled with the aid of numerous cultivation resources such as Dust-Cleansing Pills, Spirit Calming Incense, and moonlight grass, his spiritual power had been maintained in peak condition at all times.
In particular, that bottle of monkey wine Wang Yuan had brought back from the Guyuan Mountain Range had provided him tremendous assistance.
Finally came that battle five days ago.
That fight had laid the firmest foundation for him to take this final step.
Now, with his condition restored to its peak, stepping into the ninth layer of Qi Refinement came naturally, like water flowing into a channel.
"Half a year... and the resources consumed amounted to over ten thousand spirit stones before I finally took this step."
"Which rogue cultivator could ever afford such extravagance?"
"Still, it was all worth it!"
Luo Chen felt an urge to laugh with abandon.
Though the cost was astronomical, advancing across a minor realm—and one in late Qi Refinement at that—in just half a year would sound unbelievable to anyone else.
"I haven't brought shame to transmigrators after all. In less than two years, I went from the third layer of Qi Refinement straight to the ninth."
Chuckling softly, Luo Chen first inspected his internal state.
At the very center of his dantian, a misty cloud of spiritual energy vaguely drifted.
This was the hallmark of a cultivator reaching the ninth layer of Qi Refinement.
Once one thoroughly purified their spiritual power to perfection, this unique phenomenon would form within the dantian.
Only when this cloud of spiritual energy took shape could one begin the final step of cultivation.
"According to Mi Shuhua's Insights on Qi Refining, one must fill the entire dantian with clouds of spiritual energy. Only then can it be called Qi Refinement perfection."
With a rough estimate, Luo Chen was slightly shocked.
The spiritual energy cloud currently inside his body took up less than a tenth of his dantian.
In other words, to fill it entirely would require ten times the time he spent on the eighth layer of Qi Refinement.
"No wonder so many rogue cultivators remain stuck at the ninth layer of Qi Refinement for their entire lives."
"Breaking through the eighth layer alone is fraught with immense difficulty, yet this final step demands ten times that."
"Even under my conditions with resources maxed out, it will still take five to six years, assuming nothing unexpected happens along the way."
"The only silver lining is probably establishing a root!"
Yes, establishing a root!
This spiritual energy cloud within the body served as the root of his spiritual power.
As long as a wisp of it remained inside him, even if he exhausted seventy or eighty percent of his spiritual power in battle, he would not need to spend massive amounts of time purifying it bit by bit when cultivating it back.
He would only need to polish it slightly to restore it to its original state, as pure as ever.
Of course, that applied to sect cultivators—sect cultivators who possessed complete cultivation techniques for refining pure spiritual power.
Rogue cultivators still had to rely on clumsy methods to grind and polish it step by step.
Yet at this stage, having a root of spiritual power still saved considerable time.
"So that's why Duan Feng fought on the Dao Discussion Platform—spending spiritual power freely, then slowly cultivating it back to continuously purify it!"
Having grasped this logic, Luo Chen was not disheartened.
What if it took ten times longer than before?
It was merely five or six years!
His lifespan was plentiful enough now; he could afford the time.
Looking away from his inner body, Luo Chen browsed through the other entries.
"Clarifying the Mind and Breaking Fiends is about to step into its second stage!"
Exclaiming softly, Luo Chen felt quite energized.
Back when he stimulated all thirty-six acupoints at once, Clarifying the Mind and Breaking Fiends had reached the entry level, subsequently appearing under the Cultivation Methods column of his attribute panel.
This matched his earlier assumption; Clarifying the Mind and Breaking Fiends truly counted as a cultivation method.
It was just difficult to categorize.
If one drew fiendish qi into the body to refine essence into qi, it would count as a Qi Refinement method.
Yet Luo Chen had not once drawn fiendish qi into his body so far.
Looking at it on its own, it served both to temper one's willpower and to slightly enhance the foundation of one's soul.
So was it an intent-refining method? A soul-refining method?
Furthermore, this method had been created by a martial arts grandmaster. Once fiendish qi entered the body, as long as one could endure it, there was an additional effect of tempering the physical form.
In that case, was it a body-refining method?
Hard to categorize—that was Luo Chen's assessment of it.
For now, he would simply keep practicing it!
If nothing else, Luo Chen's tolerance for pain had already reached a terrifying degree.
How immense had that talisman treasure's attack been?
Yet after taking a direct hit, Luo Chen had still managed to force a breezy smile and maintain a debonair bearing before countless rogue cultivators of Dahe Market.
Clarifying the Mind and Breaking Fiends deserved a share of the credit for that!
There was not much to say about the Spells column.
He had acquired three new spells. Earth Mountain Art and Billowing Waves Art were preparations for the Tier 2 spell Landslide.
Sound Isolation Art was something he had picked out from a pile of spoils; he sought no great might from it, only practical utility!
On the other hand, Healing Art had progressed very quickly lately.
Thanks to his injuries, he had been casting it on himself whenever he had a spare moment.
"Wait, Spirit Eye Art is about to reach Great Perfection?"
Luo Chen's gaze had been sliding toward the Alchemy Arts column, but it snapped back instantly.
[Spirit Eye Art (Grandmaster: 980/1000)]
"Only twenty proficiency points away..."
Luo Chen stroked his chin. The beard he had shaved off not long ago had sprouted into stubble again after four or five days in seclusion.
Rubbing his chin gave him an itchy sensation,
just like the itch in his heart right now.
"When it broke through to the Grandmaster tier, a phenomenon rooted in my eyes appeared."
"If it reaches Great Perfection, won't it take off completely?"
Of course, the effects that appeared upon a spell's perfection were not necessarily qualitative leaps.
Just like the Great Perfection of the Attraction Art, it merely made Luo Chen exceptionally adept at using paired sets of dharma artifacts.
When using a single dharma artifact, however, the improvement compared to the Grandmaster tier was not very large, merely extending the operational range of the artifact by a bit.
"Perhaps it also has something to do with my own constitution?"
Luo Chen thought of the Moisturizing Pearl Liquid.
The Moisturizing Pearl Liquid he had obtained added up to about six bottles.
He had used every last drop, yet no extraordinary effect like seeing through the Nine Nether realms had appeared.
According to his guess, it was probably still too little in quantity.
Or perhaps the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect had held back, and the Moisturizing Pearl Liquid sold to outsiders was far inferior in quality compared to what was used inside the sect.
So when Qing Yuanzi originally said that this stuff was immensely effective for alchemists, it was premised on the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect providing the genuine article.
"Never mind that for now. Next, I'll put in the effort to push it straight to Great Perfection in one breath."
Scrolling down the attribute panel, Luo Chen curled his lip at the Alchemy Arts column.
Having only two alchemy techniques, Jade Breaking Hand and Pure Heart Hand, was truly too few.
If only he could master the several legendary alchemy arts recorded in the Qingyuan Alchemy Exposition.
"Legend has it that the Washing Brook Hand provides exceptional processing effects on water-attribute spirit materials and all sorts of liquid ingredients."
"If I could learn it, it would be adding wings to a tiger; I would even dare to directly refine the Blood Fiend Pill."
The primary ingredients of the Blood Fiend Pill were Underworld Yin Fiend, cultivator essence blood, and dried human placenta.
Among them, both Underworld Yin Fiend and essence blood could be counted as water-attribute, liquid-type spirit materials.
The reason Luo Chen had hesitated to attempt it for so long was that he had zero confidence in handling the primary ingredients during the refining process.
If it were possible to achieve entry level outright, that would be fine, but this happened to be a Tier 2 pill recipe that did not belong to his corresponding realm.
The system's entry process also took his own capabilities into account.
If his baseline capabilities fell short of the mark, the achievement points required would increase.
That was why Luo Chen yearned so deeply for an alchemy art like the Washing Brook Hand.
"Washing Brook Hand, Qi Ingestion Technique, Spirit Merging Technique... Who knows when I will finally possess these marvelous alchemy arts!"
Time for some daydreaming!
After his flight of fancy, Luo Chen curled his lip, almost suspecting his mind had become unsteady and developed inner demons after breaking through.
Bah, where would low-tier cultivators get so many inner demons!
Glancing past the martial arts and skills, Luo Chen finally looked at his achievement points.
He could not help murmuring:
"Thirty-four points now. I wonder if that's enough to achieve entry in a Tier 2 pill recipe."
Chapter 153