The connection between Luo Chen and Wang Yuan was not particularly complicated.
Back then, the two of them had arrived at Dahe Market as rogue cultivators around the same time.
Yet unlike Luo Chen, who possessed only the strength of the first layer of Qi Refinement, Wang Yuan had been an innate secular grandmaster who, through a stroke of fortune, transitioned from the martial path to the immortal path.
Because of that, Wang Yuan displayed impressive combat prowess as soon as he set foot in Dahe Market.
He even joined a hunting squad, daring to venture into the mountains to hunt low-tier demon beasts.
Luo Chen had possessed little strength in those days, but to eke out a living, he tagged along to help with odd jobs and haul cargo.
Back then, shaped by his disposition and past, Wang Yuan was unlike the cautious rogue cultivators around him. He conducted himself with bold, sweeping strokes, carrying the distinct aura of a martial grandmaster.
Yet in Dahe Market, that very demeanor brought disaster upon him.
A few mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivators ambushed him, stripped him of everything on his person, and beat him within an inch of his life.
After Wang Yuan nursed his wounds back to health, his temperament underwent a shift.
To raise cultivation resources, he planned to enter the mountains once again.
A few familiar acquaintances lent him supplies. Luo Chen had already learned to concoct Fasting Powder by then and lent him several bottles.
Demon beasts were countless throughout the Million Mountains of the Eastern Wilderness.
Cultivators entering the mountains hardly ever dared to light fires for cooking, which made Fasting Powder immensely useful.
On that occasion, Wang Yuan had stepped into the Guyuan Mountain Range all alone and in silence.
A month later he returned, hauling the corpse of a Tier-1 demon beast.
Not long after that, the cultivators who had once robbed Wang Yuan met sudden, violent deaths one by one. Everyone knew Wang Yuan had struck from the shadows.
Yet no one dared cause trouble for him, because Wang Yuan had joined the Mountain Breaker Gang.
As the largest local rogue cultivator syndicate, the Mountain Breaker Gang carried no small amount of renown. Backed by that and his own ruthless methods, Wang Yuan established a solid foothold in the outer city.
In the days that followed, Wang Yuan frequently sold artifacts and manuals at the market.
Those items were all of dubious origin. Remembering the rumors from when Wang Yuan had made his name, everyone grew even more terrified of him.
Thinking back, it was rather bitter. Luo Chen and Wang Yuan had arrived at Dahe Market around the same time.
Ten years had passed.
Luo Chen was barely at the third layer of Qi Refinement, while Wang Yuan was already a late-stage rogue cultivator at the seventh layer.
Truly, the gulf between one man and another was vaster than that between a man and a dog.
"He told me to join the Mountain Breaker Gang and said he'd look out for me. Why such a sudden gesture?"
After arranging his medicinal herbs, Luo Chen sat at the main door, turning over the iron token carved with the character for "Mountain."
"Out of old sentiment?"
"Or because I killed that short-lived ghost at the fifth layer across realms?"
Luo Chen had no way of knowing. He could only put the token away with great care.
***
The days that followed settled into a routine.
Processing raw ingredients, cultivating the Eternal Spring Art, and nursing his wounds.
It took nine days before the wound on Luo Chen's abdomen fully healed.
According to his original plan, he could officially begin concocting the Myriad Wonders Pills tomorrow.
Yet Luo Chen's attention was drawn to another item.
"This Soul Breaking Nail is actually a high-grade artifact!"
In his hands rested a pair of dark, heavy long nails, their tips needle-sharp and their ends thick and hefty.
Both nails carried a pungent stench of blood. Wisps of crimson lingered beneath the black sheen, looking rather sinister.
He channeled his spiritual power into one, making the nail hum softly before it shot forth.
*Thwack!*
At lightning speed, the Soul Breaking Nail drove deep into a large boulder before the courtyard, sinking out of sight.
"It's this sharp?!"
"Without a doubt, it must be inscribed with an Armor Piercing Formation!"
Artifacts were classified into low, mid, and high grades.
The standard for judging their grade lay in the quantity and quality of the formations inscribed upon them.
This pair of Soul Breaking Nails bore only a single formation, but the Armor Piercing Formation was a Tier-2 array, granting it immense power.
"No wonder I was gravely injured without any chance to fight back."
"Judging by what that short-lived ghost said before dying, even Wang Yuan couldn't defend against it. Its piercing power has truly reached the pinnacle among artifacts."
Wang Yuan was by no means weak. Before turning to the immortal path, he had been a secular martial grandmaster.
After stepping onto the path of cultivation, he had slaughtered countless men and beasts alike.
His cultivation was high, and his combat ability was formidable.
For a fifth-layer cultivator to injure Wang Yuan, the Soul Breaking Nail had clearly played an indispensable role.
"Still, its drawbacks seem just as glaring."
"Unleashing a single Soul Breaking Nail drained half my spiritual power. If I fired both at once, wouldn't I be drained empty in an instant?"
"And what's more..."
Luo Chen continued urging his spiritual power, but the Soul Breaking Nail embedded inside the boulder did not budge in the slightest.
A one-way trip!
The strengths and weaknesses of this high-grade artifact were all too stark.
Its armor-piercing capability rivaled a supreme-grade artifact.
Yet its spiritual power consumption was enormous, and it could not be controlled; once launched, it could not be recalled with magic.
Only because its material was exceptionally sturdy and would not break easily was it kept from being a single-use consumable.
Perhaps that was why, despite bearing a Tier-2 formation, it was only ranked as a high-grade artifact rather than the legendary supreme grade.
Luo Chen broke open the rock, dug out the nail, and happily stowed it away in his storage bag.
"A one-way trip isn't really a flaw for me, since I never learned the Attraction Art anyway."
"Compared to that rusty low-grade flying sword from before, this is practically trading a musket for a cannon."
After savoring his delight, Luo Chen returned indoors and lit a stick of Spirit Calming Incense.
Amidst an aroma reminiscent of orchid and musk, his restless soul gradually grew peaceful.
A sense of profound comfort rising from the depths of his soul nearly drew a groan from him.
Yet Luo Chen had no time to indulge. He seized the moment to circulate the Eternal Spring Art.
A single stick of Spirit Calming Incense a day was enough to grant a cultivator five additional circulations of their primary art beyond their normal limit.
With Luo Chen's original limit of two to three times, he could now cycle the Eternal Spring Art eight times!
What did eight cycles mean?
One cycle restored twenty percent of his spiritual power, so eight cycles amounted to a hundred and sixty percent—enough to cast thirty-two Fireball Arts.
One could say that among his spoils, the value of the Spirit Calming Incense was second only to the storage bag and the Soul Breaking Nails.
It surpassed the low-grade robe, the bottle of Qi-Nourishing Pills, and everything else.
With this box of incense, he could practice repeatedly, grinding proficiency for the Eternal Spring Art as well as for other skills.
"Once I have money in the future, I won't just buy a house—I'll buy mountains of Spirit Calming Incense!"
Ending his cultivation session, Luo Chen felt that a small portion of the spiritual power consumed by testing the nail had already recovered, prompting his heartfelt sigh.
Under the calm, focused state brought on by the incense, his mind drifted back to the events of that night ten days ago.
Over the past ten days, he had replayed it almost constantly.
He had even relived the scene several times in his dreams.
That was the first time since transmigrating that he had stared death in the face!
He replayed it not out of fear, but because he needed to etch every detail into memory to prepare for any future encounter.
With the clarity of the Spirit Calming Incense, Luo Chen suddenly realized he could have handled that battle much better.
The Soul Breaking Nail was fast, but he had practiced Carefree Wandering; he could have attempted to dodge.
Even if he failed to evade it entirely, he would not have suffered such severe injuries and nearly died on the spot.
Moreover, the enemy had been in terrible shape back then. What if he had struck first?
Could he have caught the man off guard?
Striking first seized the upper hand, while hesitating brought disaster. In the end, he had still been indecisive, clinging to wishful thinking.
Even during the direct clash afterward, he had displayed glaring flaws.
The third fireball had clearly shattered the opponent's defenses. Two more would have been more than enough to finish him.
Yet in his agitation, he had squandered all his spiritual power in a single breath.
As a result, he was left completely defenseless afterward.
He had simply been lucky to run into Wang Yuan.
What if it had been someone else?
Would anyone else have recognized him? Would anyone else have spared his life?
Ha. Even an acquaintance would probably have been tempted!
The possessions of two Qi Refinement cultivators made for a handsome haul by any standard.
"My combat experience is still far too lacking!"
Chapter 18