Inside the quiet cultivation chamber, only the long, drawn-out sounds of breathing, spaced far apart, proved that anyone was inside.
Once another wisp of medicinal baleful qi was completely exhaled, the flushed redness on Luo Chen's face slowly receded.
Although much of the crimson hue faded, years of taking True Flame Pills and breathing out medicinal baleful qi still left his cheeks looking ruddy. Had he been built slightly more burly, he would likely have earned the moniker of "Red-Faced Brute" out in the world.
Not that it mattered.
In the path of cultivation, countless roads diverged, and each person relied on their own means to tread the ultimate grand Dao of longevity. Precisely because cultivators practiced distinct, wondrous methods and unique techniques, strange outward signs frequently manifested—such as red faces, purple visages, or sickly, waxen yellow skin. It was not even uncommon for those whose cultivation went awry to wake up with their hair turned white overnight, or withered and dry as tinder.
Luo Chen cared little about the complexion of his face. Still, the shifts in his skin tone indirectly revealed just how domineering the medicinal potency of supreme-grade True Flame Pills truly was!
"A single pill is easily worth ten low-grade ones!" Luo Chen muttered to himself, his eyes brimming with pleasant surprise.
For ordinary spirit pills, the medicinal efficacy tended to double with each rising grade: one, two, four, and eight, corresponding to low, mid, high, and supreme grades. This was a pattern Luo Chen had deduced through his own experience.
Other alchemists? With all due respect, among ten thousand alchemists, one might not even find a single person capable of concocting supreme-grade pills, so naturally they had no way of discovering such a rule.
And that was precisely why Luo Chen was so thrilled. Owing to the special properties of the True Flame Pill, its medicinal potency slightly broke that mold. Its progression scaled along the tiers of one, two, five, and ten.
In other words, once the True Flame Pill reached high grade, a qualitative leap took place, culminating at its absolute peak in the supreme grade! Such an increase far surpassed that of the Fanxing Pills he had taken year after year in the past. And that was merely the difference in scaling; when comparing actual potency, a single low-grade True Flame Pill already yielded fifty percent more medicinal efficacy than a Fanxing Pill.
The detailed figures involved were rather intricate, and only Luo Chen, the one taking them, could keep a precise mental tally.
After calculating for a while, his delight gradually waned, replaced by a lingering touch of regret.
"The cost-effectiveness is actually quite high, but unless I bleed the Flying Swallow Archipelago dry, they cannot sustain my cultivation."
In an ideal world, he would naturally take supreme-grade True Flame Pills every single day, maximizing his cultivation speed. One supreme-grade pill equaled ten low-grade True Flame Pills, which in turn matched fifteen low-grade Fanxing Pills. As long as his financial resources could sustain it and no medicinal resistance developed, Luo Chen could reach the Golden Core perfection stage in under two hundred years—perhaps even just barely over a century—even on a mere Tier 3 low-grade spirit vein.
The problem lay entirely in those "financial resources."
Evidently, the Flying Swallow Archipelago could not bear his daily consumption. Just the previous level of demands had driven the various clans to endless sighs, groans, and bitter resentment. If he consumed supreme-grade True Flame Pills daily, he would drain all thirty-six islands of the Flying Swallows to the marrow. Sooner or later, a rebellion would break out!
Therefore, after weighing his options, Luo Chen could only cap his daily dosage at the high grade. That way, ten portions of raw ingredients, assuming a fifty percent success rate, would yield five batches of True Flame Pills—fifty high-grade pills—which was enough to last him nearly two months. This was comparatively cheaper than using ten portions of ingredients only to produce a single batch of ten supreme-grade pills. Furthermore, without factoring in time, the total medicinal power he could absorb was somewhat greater.
Both paths offered cost-effectiveness—one aimed at cultivation speed, the other at financial practicality. After comprehensive consideration, Luo Chen selected the plan best suited to his present situation.
Feeling the Golden Core inside his body slowly absorb the remaining medicinal power, Luo Chen recalled his conversation with Wu Qi the day before.
The Moluo Stream.
Blood Nightmare Moluo.
The Twelve Stream Masters.
The Canghai Alliance.
Finally, his thoughts lingered on the ten-year timeframe the man had mentioned.
Given the current circumstances, in ten years, he should steadily step into the fourth layer of Golden Core—the mid-stage Golden Core realm. When that time came, his strength would undergo another qualitative leap. Confronting Wu Qi again then, he would hold a seventy to eighty percent chance of victory.
Yet, that was merely Wu Qi!
And a Wu Qi who had not even exhausted all his methods.
*In the cultivation world of the Northern Sea, where demons and monsters run rampant, the combat capabilities of the cultivators here far exceed those of the domains in the Eastern Desolation. Perhaps only the cultivators from those few new domains bordering the Millions of Barren Mountains possess combat prowess that does not lag behind their peers.*
Trading blows twice with local cultivators of the same realm had already given Luo Chen a taste of just how formidable the cultivators of the Sea of Demons were. Consequently, he adjusted his evaluation of his own strength.
At the third layer of Golden Core, he could battle mid-stage Golden Core cultivators, but against a late-stage Golden Core grand cultivator, he definitely could not win—though he could escape. This only barely met his prior criterion of "sufficient for self-preservation."
And "barely" was the operative word; he still had to run. Standing his ground would have to wait until he reached mid-stage Golden Core.
This left Luo Chen somewhat unsatisfied.
He had painstakingly cultivated so many magical techniques, day and night tempered his array of magical treasures as much as possible, and practiced a cultivation art hailed as the ancestor of fire methods, yet in the end, he could only achieve this much. It was genuinely a bit of a blow to his confidence.
Had outsiders known what he was thinking, they likely would have cursed him roundly. *Scheming to battle late-stage grand cultivators while merely in the early and middle Golden Core stages—what do you take other people's centuries of bitter cultivation for?*
"Not enough!"
"Far from enough!"
"Now that my cultivation speed is secured, I must enhance my combat prowess once again."
"A hope for longevity is nothing to celebrate; emerging alive from a hundred battles is the true path."
Through his many years of cultivation, Luo Chen's goal had long ceased to be simple longevity. So-called long life was merely a shift in lifespan. As one's realm advanced, boundless lifespan would naturally be granted. Yet cultivators of this generation still faced the risk of falling. Thus, possessing boundless combat strength alongside boundless lifespan—that alone was "true longevity"!
Moreover, by Luo Chen's repeated estimates, there was a very high probability he would reach the perfection stage of Golden Core within two hundred years. In that case, he needed to start planning early for the resources required to form a Nascent Soul, lest he end up scrambling in haste and rushing about in every direction when the time came. He had no desire to follow in Fu Jiusheng's footsteps, venturing out to search for Core Formation resources only after reaching the Foundation Establishment perfection stage.
Therefore, ten years from now, whether he joined the Moluo Stream or not, he would have to leave the Flying Swallow Archipelago and make acquaintances with more Golden Core cultivators in the Northern Sea's cultivation world, trading with them for more resources related to Nascent Soul formation—especially the three primary ingredients of the Nascent Soul Formation Pill: Divine Iris, Purple Monkey Flower, and the Five Elements Lotus Platform.
Expanding his network might carry risks, but just as Han Zhan had said, how could the path of cultivation ever be smooth sailing? Risk was inevitable!
"Aside from tempering my natal magical treasure, my current means have essentially hit a wall."
"If I want to boost my combat power further, my only option is to look elsewhere."
Luo Chen evaluated his current state, ultimately setting his sights on body refinement.
Replenished by substantial amounts of high-quality blood food, his physique had reached [Desolate Ancient Tier 3: 40/100], firmly situated in the mid Tier 3 level. Over five years, he had advanced ten points of progress, far surpassing what decades in the Jade Cauldron Domain had yielded. Even so, Luo Chen still felt it was too slow.
After all, his body refinement realm had initially outpaced his Qi refinement realm, but now Qi refinement was about to catch up. Furthermore, the further one advanced in body refinement, the more difficult the physique's transformation became, and the pace might very well slacken.
Because of this, Luo Chen had long been searching for external supplementary resources superior to blood food and spirit meals. With Han Zhan's awakening, that problem had been resolved: Black Emperor Paste!
Over the years, Luo Chen had already devised a plan for refining the Black Emperor Paste. The Flying Swallow Archipelago would not do; the conditions were lacking, so he would have to venture out to another location.
"Before setting out, though, certain matters must be prepared in advance."
"If nothing else, I must prepare enough True Flame Pills for my own use."
At the thought of refining True Flame Pills, a faint smile surfaced on Luo Chen's face. Now that his proficiency with the True Flame Pill had reached Great Perfection, it was the perfect time to test the so-called "refining a hundred pills at once"!
***
Following the battle between the Wu clan ancestor and Demonic Lord Qingyang, the Flying Swallow Archipelago plunged into an eerie silence.
The past grumblings and bitter complaints vanished completely!
Demonic Lord Qingyang's slaying of Yan Nantian had showcased a prowess exceeding that of the previous master of the Flying Swallows, but that had still fallen within the estimates of Cheng Dou and the others. After all, if one lacked the diamond chisel, how could one dare take on porcelain work? At the time, the strength Luo Chen displayed had merely seemed on par with an ordinary Golden Core cultivator.
Yet once Luo Chen boldly intervened and repelled the illustrious Wu clan ancestor, Wu Qi, everything changed.
That was a grand figure at the sixth layer of Golden Core! Short of late-stage cultivators making an appearance, he was an existence who could walk unchallenged throughout the cultivation world of the Northern Sea. Even such an existence had to "speak courteously" with Demonic Lord Qingyang. What right did this batch of Foundation Establishment cultivators have to complain so much over merely contributing some herbs as tribute?
Under this "quiet atmosphere," the various clans tacitly ramped up their tributes to Luo Chen. Every conceivable ingredient for the True Flame Pill was gathered as diligently as possible and delivered into the hands of Fairy Yaoyue, Cheng Haixin.
Luo Chen was exceedingly pleased with this outcome!
Was this not like having a pillow handed to him just as he grew drowsy?
He had just been preparing to conduct several large-scale pill refinings, yet his previously stocked herbs were only enough to support three attempts. His own intention was to carry out at least five, ideally seven or eight, so that he could assemble the quantity of True Flame Pills needed for a full decade. Now that his subordinates were so diligent, it rounded out his plan perfectly and saved him the trouble of wasting his breath.
Time trickled by.
Three months had passed since that great battle.
During those three months, the various clans took action to repair the damage wrought by the conflict as much as possible. Even so, four islands had permanently sunk beneath the ocean waves. Those four islands lacked spirit veins of significant grade, possessing only the Tier 1 low-grade level, and were mostly inhabited by mortals in ordinary times. That was also why, after the battle, the various clans were unwilling to expend the effort to dredge them up.
As a result, the thirty-six islands of the Flying Swallows became thirty-two. The four missing islands happened to correspond to the flank wings of the "flying swallow" on the map. Viewed from high above, the two wings of the swallow had become somewhat asymmetrical.
At present, no one cared about such things. All eyes were fixed on a single matter: the Demonic Lord was about to refine pills!
***
On this day, the white mist across the ten-li tranquil lake dispersed completely.
The blazing sun hanging high in the heavens shed boundless golden light, spilling across the water's surface until it shimmered like undulating golden waves.
Along the shores encircling the lake, thousands upon thousands of people had gathered in succession, dominated mostly by Qi Refinement cultivators. Clustered before various Foundation Establishment True Cultivators, they gazed toward the small isle in the center of the lake, murmuring in hushed tones.
"Is the Demonic Lord truly going to refine pills publicly?"
"Indeed. I hear the spectacle might be immense!"
"Tsk, how immense could it be? Could it truly rival the pill refinement assemblies held by the legendary grand alchemy sects?"
"Hard to say. All I know is that over these past few months, Demonic Lord Qingyang hasn't refined a single pill. He has been conserving his energy and recuperating, while waiting for the people below to process all the raw ingredients in advance."
"What are you lot muttering about? Being able to witness a Tier 3 alchemist refine pills with his own hands might very well be the only boast of your entire lives. Why aren't you watching carefully?"
"Senior's reprimand is just! We were rash."
"Indeed. If we are lucky enough to pick up a trick or two and pass it down to our descendants, it wouldn't fail as a family heirloom trade."
Amidst the wave-like murmurs of discussion, a succession of figures walked out in fluid order on that quietly standing small isle, guided systematically by a tall female cultivator.
Each person took up a distinct position, then retrieved various medicinal herbs from their storage pouches. Upon closer inspection, the herbs retrieved by each person belonged to the exact same variety, without the slightest deviation.
Eighteen people in total stood far apart, yet upon careful look, they clearly formed a wide circle, leaving an open clearing in the center.
The onlookers exchanged bewildered glances. Could that empty clearing in the middle be the site for the pill refinement?
Yet no special preparations could be seen! Nor were there any of the fire-repelling bricks, fire-amplifying formations, or other auxiliary implements typical of ordinary pill chambers.
Just how was Demonic Lord Qingyang going to refine pills?
While the crowd wondered in astonishment, an uproar suddenly arose.
At some point, a man clad in a loose white Daoist robe had appeared at the center of the circular plaza. He merely stood there quietly, his tall silhouette like a towering mountain that left people breathless in awe.
It was none other than Demonic Lord Qingyang!
Suddenly, the Demonic Lord swept his broad sleeve, and a small cauldron flew spinning through the air.
The small cauldron was a light ash-gray, seeming to stand outside the five elements, yet also appearing to encompass all creation, yin and yang, and the five elements within itself.
The moment it took flight, it swelled upon meeting the wind.
Three inches, seven inches, one foot, one zhang, three zhang...
Along the lakeshore, several low-tier cultivators could not help blurting out, "Is that a fucking alchemy cauldron?"
By the end, before everyone's dumbfounded gazes, it transformed into a colossal cauldron nine zhang tall—resembling a high-rise tower—slamming heavily down upon Yaoyue Island.
With three legs and two loop handles, its body was plump and rounded, encircled by rich medicinal fragrance. It was indeed an alchemy cauldron, only truly immense in scale.
Luo Chen observed the scene with satisfaction, then opened his mouth and exhaled.
A wisp of green flame drifted leisurely forth. Reinforced by his magic power, it likewise swelled upon meeting the wind, transforming into a raging inferno that completely enveloped the Hunyuan Cauldron.
Not only that, but he leaped upward, flying high into the sky to look down below. With a wave of his broad sleeve, the prepared herbs nearby streamed continuously into the Hunyuan Cauldron like streaks of light.
One portion, two portions... until a full hundred portions of raw ingredients gathered within the single cauldron did Luo Chen finally halt his movements.
At this moment, his expression turned noticeably solemn.
The test had arrived!
If refining a hundred pills at once succeeded, he would be able to save vast amounts of time squandered on alchemy throughout his future path of cultivation. He could concoct numerous pills in a single batch, redirecting the conserved time toward other pursuits.
Within Qingyang Hall on Yaoyue Island, a black banner leaned against the doorway.
Upon the black banner, a pair of eyeballs formed from coalesced ghostly qi gazed intently at the silhouette hovering above the giant cauldron.
"Such a grand spectacle used to happen only once every ten years in the Medicine King Sect."
"Even in an alchemy powerhouse like the Azure Pill Valley, it is rarely seen."
"Such scale, such composure, such grace—it does not pale in the slightest before those Tier 4 alchemists of the Nascent Soul sects!"
"Luo Chen, haha... the cultivators here only know your name as Demonic Lord Qingyang, yet remain ignorant of your Daoist title, Danchenzi. What a true pity."
Chapter 540