"Where are you from, and what is your cultivation realm?"
"A native of Baixiu in the Yuanzhao State, third layer of Qi Refining."
"So low?"
The Merit Hall cultivator shot Luo Chen a look of distaste, then recorded his name in a thick ledger.
He then shouted toward the outside.
A pale-faced young cultivator came trotting in.
"He's a newcomer. Take him to the Mining Hall!"
"Understood, Deacon Mi."
The young cultivator responded respectfully and took Luo Chen out of the room.
Walking outside, he introduced himself with a grin. "What should I call you?"
"Luo Chen,"
Luo Chen answered in a low voice.
Seeing his downcast demeanor, the young cultivator slung an arm around his shoulders.
"Run into some bad luck? Tell me all about it—let this young master have a good laugh!"
Luo Chen froze, shook his head, and said nothing.
Soon, the young cultivator brought him to the Mining Hall headquarters.
A cultivator from the Mining Hall handed him a back basket and a shovel.
"You must complete your monthly quota of six hundred jin of fine iron ore."
Taking the tools, Luo Chen asked softly, "What happens if I don't finish?"
The man rolled his eyes. "If you don't finish, you don't get paid. Only by finishing it will you get ten spirit stones. For every hundred jin above the six hundred jin quota, you get one extra spirit stone."
Luo Chen opened his mouth, but in the end said nothing.
For a cultivator at the third layer of Qi Refining who wanted to make decent money, bitter manual labor as a miner was the only way.
When he stepped outside, the cultivator who had guided him over was still squatting nearby, playing with ants.
Seeing Luo Chen, he leaped to his feet.
"Got all your gear? I'll take you up into the mountains!"
"Let me tell you, that fine iron vein is on Mount Hualuo in the Guyuan Mountain Range. There aren't many demonic beasts up there, so it's reasonably safe."
"Since I'm the one who brought you in, you can come find me if you ever run into trouble."
"Remember my name—it's Tang Quan!"
*My name is Tang Quan...*
Luo Chen experienced a fleeting moment of daze.
Yet under the grinding pressure of survival, he still set off toward Mount Hualuo in the Guyuan Mountain Range with a trace of anticipation.
At daybreak, several hundred people with numb expressions entered the sprawling subterranean ore veins, carrying baskets on their backs and holding mining shovels.
Luo Chen was one among them.
On the very first day, he tasted the bitter toil of mining.
Both hands were scraped raw and bloody, and in the end, he barely managed to gouge out a small lump of raw fine iron ore.
When weighed outside, it was under ten jin.
He remained silent and returned to rest.
The second day went even worse; he failed to dig up even a single chunk of raw fine iron ore.
The cultivator receiving the ore gave him a harsh glare of contempt.
However, things began to improve by the fifth day.
"Twenty-two jin. Luo Chen, correct?"
"Yes."
"Alright, recorded. You may go."
Luo Chen breathed a sigh of relief and forced a faint smile.
He received a spirit rice ball—a privilege enjoyed only by miners who met their daily quota.
Clutching the rice ball, he stood in a corner and wolfed it down.
Watching the numb-faced rogue cultivators all around him, he swore he would never end up like them.
He had not joined the Mountain Breaker Gang to dig rocks.
He was here to earn enough spirit stones to keep refining pills!
When the first month drew to a close,
Luo Chen barely scraped by, having dug out six hundred jin of fine iron ore.
This gave Tang Quan, who had brought him in, a whole new level of respect for him.
Tang Quan had assumed Luo Chen would accomplish nothing in his first few months.
Who would have thought he would meet the quota in his very first month?
"You're a proper miner now!"
"No, I am not a miner!"
"Huh?"
Luo Chen did not explain. He merely continued gnawing on his rice ball in silence.
Just like that, five months later, Luo Chen once again amassed fifty spirit stones, with a few extra to spare.
He approached Tang Quan, with whom he had grown increasingly familiar, and asked him to request leave on his behalf.
Then he holed up in his room and began refining pills.
Tang Quan squatted to one side, watching him work.
And so he bore witness to failure after failure.
"Are you out of your mind?"
"A rogue cultivator trying to refine pills?!"
"Do you really think you're worthy?"
"If you ask me, you'd be better off taking those earned spirit stones to buy cultivation pills. Once you hit the fourth layer of Qi Refining, I can even transfer you to the Battle Hall."
"The Battle Hall might be dangerous, but the rewards are huge!"
Luo Chen forced a smile, then fell silent.
He had exhausted his savings, and the few remaining spirit stones were not enough to support further attempts at the Myriad Wonders Pill.
So he returned once more to the Mountain Breaker Gang's Mining Hall and resumed mining.
This time, it took him only four months to amass fifty spirit stones.
Seeing that he was about to buy medicinal ingredients again, Tang Quan grew frantic.
"You brat truly don't know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth!"
"Without guidance from a master, and without supplies from a major power, how could you possibly concoct a first-tier pill?"
Luo Chen brushed past him and walked straight into Hundred Herbs Hall.
"Shopkeeper Liu, ten portions of fire hound whip, jade conpoy..."
Tang Quan stood behind him, shaking his head and sighing.
What a stubborn fellow.
Yet how could a mere rogue cultivator ever become an esteemed alchemist?
Ah well, after a few more failures, he would surely give up!
Tang Quan's prediction was right, yet not entirely right.
Luo Chen continued to fail. Over the years, the failures piled up until the count was lost.
Yet he still did not give up.
Ten years passed.
Tang Quan had reached the sixth layer of Qi Refining. No longer an errand-running miscellaneous cultivator, he had become an honorable member of the Battle Hall.
Luo Chen, however, remained stuck at the third layer of Qi Refining.
From years of mining, his posture had grown stooped, and he had turned quiet and withdrawn.
Only his expression differed from the other miners—it was not dull, numb, or indifferent to the world.
When he had once again scraped together fifty spirit stones and intended to ask for leave to focus on refining pills, the Mining Hall deacon stopped him.
"No more leave."
"Do you think the Mountain Breaker Gang is some undisciplined, disorganized rabble?"
Luo Chen looked up blankly. *Aren't you?*
"Hmph! Step out of that door, and don't bother coming back. Not a single other hall will take you!"
Luo Chen pressed his lips together and gave him a nod.
Then, without hesitation, he walked out of the Mining Hall.
Returning home, he washed up and looked at his rough, calloused fingers.
Luo Chen smiled faintly. "Perhaps I truly am not suited for pill refining."
"What alchemist has a pair of rough hands like this?"
"Still, the Myriad Wonders Pill must be refined. I have to do it!"
Gritting his teeth, he lit the firewood.
After another failure, he slumped dispiritedly against the doorway.
"Failed again?"
Tang Quan stood over Luo Chen, carrying a hare.
The other man said nothing, leaving Tang Quan feeling awkward.
"Forget it, I can't be bothered with you. I'll do the cooking today, so you can see my skills!"
His culinary skills were naturally abysmal.
At dinner, facing the charred hare meat, there was hardly anything edible.
Luo Chen, however, seemed to snap out of his stupor and began tearing into the hare meat in large mouthfuls.
Tang Quan frowned deeply. "Why go this far? Why push yourself to this point?!"
"No, you don't understand."
Luo Chen swallowed a mouthful of hare meat, a fierce look in his eyes.
"Right, I don't understand, you understand!"
"If you understood so well, you wouldn't have spent your whole life accomplishing nothing, stuck as a puny rogue cultivator at the third layer of Qi Refining."
"These past ten years, you've acted like a man possessed. Eight horses couldn't drag you back!"
"I'm done dealing with you."
Cursing under his breath, Tang Quan threw down the hare leg and stormed off.
Luo Chen watched his receding back without saying a word to stop him.
He simply retreated into his room in silence and lay down on the bed.
Early the next morning, he scrambled up, prepared to refine pills.
Staring into the roaring flames in the hearth, Luo Chen's resolve was forged like iron.
"Have I become possessed?"
"No, I haven't!"
"No matter how many failures I endure, I will never give up. The Myriad Wonders Pill is my chance to change my future—I must seize it!"
Clinging to this singular obsession, he began refining once more.
When a distinctly different aroma wafted from the iron pot,
Two streams of tears spilled uncontrollably down his cheeks.
Choking with emotion, he said:
"I, Luo Chen, truly do possess talent in alchemy. My persistence was not wrong!"
Pushing open the front door, the evening glow greeted his eyes.
In the distance, a familiar figure carrying a hare was walking over.
And an illusory, snow-white figure flickered past in an instant.
...
"Why am I crying?"
Inside the spirit vein cave, Luo Chen wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes.
He looked around in a daze. The wood-attribute spiritual energy drawn in by the Spirit Gathering Formation was remarkably dense.
This was a cultivation environment he had never once enjoyed in that dream.
He looked down at the clean, white, high-grade robe he wore—so elegant and luxurious.
All of this had been earned through refining pill after pill.
Luo Chen smiled.
"How could persisting in alchemy ever be wrong?"
Rising briskly to his feet, Luo Chen departed from the spirit vein cave.
He walked all the way into Mount Changyin.
It was winter now. Frost and snow had fallen, and icicles hung high from tree branches.
This crystalline expanse of ice and snow matched his current mood—open, broad, and thoroughly exhilarated.
A swelling, buoyant sensation filled the depths of his mind.
Luo Chen felt as though his thoughts were turning far faster than before.
"A dream of ten years, ten years in an instant!"
Amid his sigh, Luo Chen used the biting cold air to cool his head and began summarizing the effects of the Nether-Passage Pill.
*1. It possesses a simple dream-inducing effect derived from the Phantom Nether Grass and the snow fox demon blood. This effect has both pros and cons, likely caused by the lack of an ingredient in the reconstructed recipe to suppress the snow fox demon blood.*
*2. The pill recipe is not yet perfect and requires subsequent refinement.*
*3. Entering the dream realm presents a simple trial. As long as one holds firm to their original heart and passes it, there will be gains.*
*4. This pill must not be used by those with weak wills. Otherwise, at best, their Dao heart will be damaged; at worst, they will fall into obsessive delusion and sink into inner demons.*
When he reached the third point, a flash of relief crossed Luo Chen's expression.
Fortunately, he had consistently maintained his cultivation of Bright Spirit Fiend Shattering.
His willpower was steadfast, vastly superior to what it once had been.
Otherwise, the dream of the Nether-Passage might have lasted even longer.
*5. The duration of the medicinal efficacy varies from person to person. The longer it lasts, the better the effect; the shorter it lasts, the poorer the effect.*
Though Luo Chen had called that dream experience "ten years in an instant,"
In reality, a full stick of incense's time had passed in the outside world.
And within that single stick of incense, he felt as though he had genuinely lived through ten whole years.
Over ten years, the multitude of experiences was enough to turn an infant into an adolescent who gradually understood the ways of the world.
The resulting growth of the soul went without saying.
Luo Chen could sense that his thoughts turned with greater speed.
Several doubts and perplexities from his past cultivation now felt as thin as a paper window, ready to shatter at a single touch.
This feeling was precisely the manifestation of an enriched soul foundation.
Rumors spoke of reincarnated almighty experts who were born with formidable souls, able to rapidly grasp and master anything new.
Right now, he faintly experienced that same sensation.
"Still, this Nether-Passage Pill cannot be taken frequently!"
Luo Chen rubbed the bridge of his throbbing brow, a lingering aftereffect of the sudden surge in his soul foundation.
Such an aftereffect required time to soothe gradually.
It was not something external aids like Spirit Calming Incense or moonlight grass could disperse.
Looking across Mount Changyin, where all sounds were stilled under a blanket of ice and snow,
A thought suddenly struck Luo Chen.
"Perhaps I can resume practicing the God-Deterring Technique!"
He had acquired this spell from Gao Tingyuan, though it originally came from Rogue Cultivator Gu Yue's True Soul Refining Art, and he had long since reached the Beginner tier.
However, entering the threshold was one thing; continuing to practice was another.
Every practice session required activating the God-Deterring Technique.
Yet casting the God-Deterring Technique was unlike casting the Fireball Art or the Earth Mountain Art, which could be released into empty air.
It required a target.
And that target had to possess a soul and spirit!
The backlash should the God-Deterring Technique fail had always worried Luo Chen.
Consequently, after reaching the entry level, he had shelved it.
Even now, it sat at barely a few proficiency points, clinging precariously to the Beginner threshold.
Now that his soul had surged considerably, although he did not yet know its precise strength,
His soul foundation had originally been stronger than that of cultivators of the same rank. After this surge, it was bound to be even more formidable.
As such, he no longer had to fear suffering a backlash.
"The God-Deterring Technique must be practiced. Aside from anything else, the numerous ghosts inside the ghost city of Dahe Market remain a major threat."
No one could say how long that ghost city would persist.
If the vengeful spirits and ghosts inside ever broke out one day, the situation would spiral completely out of control.
At present, most low-tier rogue cultivators had no effective means to deal with ghostly entities.
And according to its description, the God-Deterring Technique was undeniably a spell that inherently countered ghosts and spirits.
Having made up his mind, Luo Chen hesitated no longer.
...
Early the next morning.
After finishing a batch of Jade Marrow Pills, Luo Chen called over Zhou Yuanli and Liu Qiang.
As he was leaving Crescent Moon Valley, he called out to Qu Lingjun, who happened to be passing by.
"Oho, not bad—second layer of Qi Refining already."
Qu Lingjun scratched his head, flashing a clear, boyish grin.
Luo Chen pinched his cheek.
"Go bring out that potted Soul Nourishing Tree for me."
Qu Lingjun tilted his small face up. "Didn't you say I was supposed to raise it until it grew big?"
"Just go when I tell you to. What's with all the questions?"
Luo Chen put on a stern face, and Qu Lingjun pouted before running back home.
A moment later, he came running back, clutching the small flowerpot.
"Cultivate diligently. When you're free, go help out over at the Pill Hall. Your Sister Mi Li has been exceptionally busy lately."
"Oh..."
The boy replied dejectedly, staring at the potted Soul Nourishing Tree he had personally cultivated, utterly reluctant to let it go.
He had been promised that he could raise it.
Luo Chen shook his head, patted the back of the boy's head, and departed with Zhou Yuanli and Liu Qiang.
Before long,
The three of them arrived at the wasteland behind Crescent Moon Valley.
"President, are you practicing spells again today?"
"Yes."
"Should Old Liu be your sparring partner?"
Liu Qiang volunteered eagerly.
Luo Chen glanced at him and nodded slightly.
"That works!"
Liu Qiang was quite excited. The president's spells were extraordinary, and sparring with him always yielded great benefits.
However, Luo Chen's next instruction caught him completely off guard.
"Head into Mount Huiye and catch some wild beasts. If you encounter any weak demonic beasts, bring some back as well."
"Remember, capture them alive if possible!"
Liu Qiang was thoroughly baffled, but he still obeyed Luo Chen's orders.
After Liu Qiang departed, Luo Chen sat cross-legged on the ground.
Closing his eyes to nurture his spirit, he silently recited the circulation method of the God-Deterring Technique over and over.
Zhou Yuanli stood to the side, scanning the surroundings on full alert.
With him standing guard, Luo Chen felt completely at ease.
Circumstances were different now. Two months ago, Zhou Yuanli had successfully broken through to the ninth layer of Qi Refining.
He had become the twelfth cultivator at the ninth layer of Qi Refining within the Luotian Association.
Considering that he was already fifty years old and had virtually no hope of Foundation Establishment, Luo Chen had granted him a titular post in addition to his security duties:
Law Enforcement Elder!
Although he did not yet have a single subordinate under him,
With this title, it was justifiable to grant him a higher stipend.
In the season when heavy snow sealed the mountains, wild beasts were rarely active.
It took a full hour before Liu Qiang finally trudged back.
Carrying a large burlap sack over his shoulder, he looked sheepish.
"I only managed to catch a few pheasants and a hyena."
"That's enough!"
Luo Chen kept his eyes closed and instructed Liu Qiang to take out a pheasant and set it before him.
The next instant!
He snapped his eyes open!
Two beams of eerie green divine light shot from his eyes, fixing straight onto the pheasant.
The pheasant, which had been thrashing and struggling wildly a moment before, instantly froze stiff as a wooden decoy.
Seeing this, Liu Qiang subconsciously took three steps back, his face filled with shock.
Chapter 169