This Score Is Worth Taking!

In the murky, mysterious depths of the ocean, the currents flowed in steady, rhythmic murmurs as vast shoals of fish drifted freely past. Occasional rays of sunlight penetrated the layers of water, but after catching a glimpse of vivid crimson, they vanished into the gloom. For thousands of li around, this quiet coral trench could well be called a forbidden zone for living things. Any creature possessing even a shred of intelligence instinctively steered clear of the place. Beneath the gorgeous exterior of those clustered, blossoming mounds of blood coral lay heaps of bleaching bones. A layer of red light spread along the rock wall, holding the sea currents at bay. Deep within the rock face lay a rudimentary cave dwelling. Inside, a white-robed Daoist in loose garments sat in stillness. At first glance, he was silent and motionless, appearing no different from an inanimate object. Yet every thirty-six breaths, his lips parted ever so slightly, exhaling a long, dense breath. Motionless as a mountain, towering like an ancient pine, he gave the illusion of an ancient black tortoise walking the earth. Suddenly, the Daoist slowly opened his eyes. His calm gaze swept over himself, and he nodded in satisfaction. "Three months in seclusion, polishing my cultivation, have finally purged that impetuous, fiery edge." With a shift of his thoughts, the aura around him surged outward, climbing higher and higher, like a long-dormant volcano on the verge of erupting. Such overbearing momentum was unmatched by ordinary Golden Core cultivators; its terrifying spiritual pressure was something perhaps only Great Cultivators could rival. Then, abruptly, the aura receded like an ebbing tide, fully drawn back into his body. He became like a withered tree, a silent sparrow, showing not the slightest ripple. Looking at him now, he seemed virtually no different from an ordinary mortal. This release and retraction signaled that Luo Chen's realm had fully stabilized. He had thoroughly become a mid-stage cultivator of the fourth layer of the Golden Core! Even though he was merely at the fourth layer, Luo Chen possessed ample confidence that he could hold his own against a late-stage Golden Core cultivator. He raised his eyelids slightly and peered into the void. A transparent light screen unfolded like a drawn curtain. [Lifespan: 136/480] [Spiritual Roots: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth] [Realm: Golden Core Fourth Layer 1/100, Desolate Ancient Tier 3 67/100] [Cultivation Methods: Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture (Proficient 157/200), Convergence of Myriad Paths (Great Circle), Myriad Beast Scripture (Perfect 375/500)] [Spells: Tier 4: Dragon Slaying Art (Grandmaster 750/1000) Tier 3: Qingyang Great Handprint (Great Circle), Sevenfold Blazing Heaven Rings (Grandmaster 623/1000), Life-Severing Finger (Initiate 15/100)] [Martial Arts: Cloud-Seeking Divine Claw (Great Circle), Blazing Fire Miasma (Great Circle), Air Burst Steps (Perfect 486/500)] Great Circle Spells (Select to view details) Professions: [Tier 4 Alchemist] [Alchemy Arts: Scale Turning Hand (Great Circle), Crane Burning Hand (Great Circle), Great Circle Alchemy Arts (Select to view details)] Tier 4 Pills: Transformation Pill (Initiate 5/100) Tier 3 Pills: Starry Sky Pill (Great Circle), True Flame Pill (Great Circle), Mingyuan Pill (Initiate 6/100) Tier 1 Pills: Water Condensing Pill (Great Circle) Great Circle Pills (Select to view details) [Tier 3 Physician: Select to view medical arts details] [Tier 3 Formation Master: Tier 3 Formations: Yinwei Formation (Great Circle) Tier 2 Formations: Water Repelling Formation (Consummate), Nine Transformations Flame Dragon Array (Grandmaster 501/1000), Armor Piercing Formation (Proficient 215/300), Five-Wheel Rotating Stone Array (Proficient 207/300), Pill Solidifying Formation... Tier 1 Formations: Five Elements Basic Formations (Consummate), Spirit Gathering Formation (Consummate)] [Achievement Points: 151] Looking at the attribute panel, Luo Chen felt a profound sense of harvest. A full twelve years had passed since he fled Mount Cangwu. Twelve years was enough time for a wailing newborn to grow into a boy who understood the ways of the world. And for him, earth-shaking changes had taken place! First and foremost was the astonishing change in his lifespan. It had surged directly from 446 to 480—a leap of thirty-six full years. Aside from the fixed twenty-year increase granted by advancing from the third layer to the fourth layer of the Golden Core, the remaining sixteen years, by Luo Chen's estimate, stemmed from his feat back in the Xintian Sea Region, where he used the Wither-Bloom Fire to refine over ten thousand blue-ringed sea serpents in one go. Absorbing the boundless vitality of over ten thousand Tier 1 sea serpents had yielded sixteen years of lifespan. It was nothing short of an incredible pleasant surprise. Because of that boon, Luo Chen had briefly felt a strong impulse to hunt demon beasts on a grand scale; even his journey to the Xuanyan Sea Region to hunt demon crabs had been driven partly by that desire. Yet under the sway of that desire, he had done his utmost to restrain the greed in his heart. In some matters, excess was as bad as deficiency. What did a higher lifespan ceiling matter? If one's cultivation realm failed to keep pace, it remained nothing more than a reflection of the moon in the water, a flower in a mirror. Conversely, embarking on a widespread slaughter would only bring fatal disaster upon his head. He had merely hunted demon crabs for five years, yet it had already provoked a coordinated ambush from the Demon Spider Crab clan. If he truly cast off all restraint, who could say whether the next entity knocking on his door would be some Demon Emperor? Setting aside the changes in his qi-refining realm, the other pleasant surprise was his progress in body cultivation. Yet because he had kept a close eye on his physical growth over these past five years, he was no longer as overly thrilled about it. Desolate Ancient Tier 3 had reached sixty-seven percent. This meant he had entered the late stage. Desolate beasts did not take human form; they walked the path of pure strength, renowned for their immense physical might. A Tier 3 late-stage Desolate Beast physique was enough to completely overpower the vast majority of Tier 3 demon beasts in the present Mountain Sea Realm. It might even match some Tier 4 demon beasts that did not emphasize body cultivation. "This is the fruit of my five years of bitter cultivation after fleeing to the Xuanyan Sea Region!" A faint smile touched the corners of Luo Chen's mouth. In five years, advancing from newly entered mid-stage to the late stage had brought him formidable combat power. Yet alongside his joy, a faint worry lingered. "This physique of mine requires increasingly higher grades of external resources. Right now, Tier 3 Black Emperor Paste still works, but it no longer provides the explosive efficiency it once did. "If I want to maintain rapid growth in the increasingly difficult late-stage cultivation, I will likely have to look toward Tier 4 Black Emperor Paste. "But Tier 4 Black Emperor Paste..." Luo Chen felt troubled. The primary material for Tier 4 Black Emperor Paste was Tier 3 demon beasts! Any demon beast capable of cultivating to Tier 3 was an overlord of its region, worthy of being called a demon king, far from weak. The demon crab clans best suited for brewing Black Emperor Paste were especially prone to clustering in tight-knit groups. In all these years, it was only three months ago that he had slain three demon kings and collected two intact crab carapaces. Ah, right. The Tier 3 Demon Spider Crab captured alive was already gone. Its carapace had been refined into medicine. Its meat had been shared and devoured between Luo Chen and the Black King. The pair of giant pincers and eight crab legs were carefully preserved as forging materials, which he planned to deal with after leaving the Xuanyan Sea Region. The demon core was kept as well. The remaining scraps were bestowed upon the Black King to swallow and refine. Finally, there was the demon soul. Luo Chen had personally drawn it into the Soul Refining Banner, making it the third Ghost King-level main soul of the Ten Thousand Soul Banner. Under Han Zhan's control, it would unleash considerable power. It could be said that this being, whom Luo Chen had only recently addressed as "Fellow Daoist," had been stripped to the bone and exploited to the absolute limit. Returning to the matter at hand. The thought of refining large quantities of Tier 4 Black Emperor Paste left Luo Chen in a bind. In fact, it was not merely Tier 4 Black Emperor Paste. Now that the grass had been disturbed and the snakes alerted, even hunting low-tier demon crabs to brew Tier 3 paste would prove difficult. "One step at a time, then. "No matter how much I plan, it cannot outpace changing circumstances." Luo Chen shook his head, his gaze drifting downward. Of his two primary natal cultivation methods, one progressed slowly while the other was completely perfected—there was no need to dwell on them. The *Myriad Beast Scripture*, used for subjugating demon beasts, had reached the Perfect level of proficiency, which was an unexpected boon. It likely owed to his frequent command of the Black King and Tianxuan. Directing them over an extended period had given Luo Chen some practical insight into the art of taming beasts. Therefore, for a technique of only the second tier like the *Myriad Beast Scripture*, such rapid growth in proficiency was only natural. "Speaking of which, there is the renowned Myriad Beast Sect in this realm. Though only a Nascent Soul upper sect, an ancestor of theirs was suspected to have been a Soul Formation mighty figure. A pity that sect is neither in the Eastern Desolation nor in the Northern Sea, but in the Southern Border, where people pale at its very mention." Muttering softly, Luo Chen let his gaze continue downward. The renamed Qingyang Great Handprint had reached the Great Circle a decade ago. His self-created defensive spell, the Sevenfold Blazing Heaven Rings, had progressed swiftly thanks to its self-devised nature and had already reached Grandmaster rank. The Cloud-Seeking Divine Claw and Blazing Fire Miasma, practiced for many years, were at the Great Circle. The self-created Air Burst Steps had also progressed rapidly, attaining the Perfect rank, just one step shy of the Great Circle. All of these marked gratifying enhancements to Luo Chen's combat prowess. They represented an absolute upgrade to his "hardware." Beyond that lay the "software." Currently, Luo Chen practiced three auxiliary arts, which could be regarded as three professions. The one with the highest achievement was undeniably his alchemist profession. It had reached Tier 4! He could wield various alchemy arts with effortless ease; whether in breadth of knowledge or practical execution, he was exceptional. Calling him a contemporary alchemy master, or even a grandmaster, would not be an exaggeration in the least. The Tier 3 True Flame Pill, personally refined by him, had reached the Great Circle, paving the way for his cultivation. The Tier 1 Water Condensing Pill, originating from the Flying Swallow Archipelago, had allowed Luo Chen to gain firsthand experience of the Northern Sea cultivation world's alchemy arts through hands-on refinement. He had raised it to the Great Circle in one go, integrating the alchemy styles of the Northern Sea into his own system. If he could acquire a deeper understanding of high-level Northern Sea alchemy in the future, it might elevate his craft to even greater heights. A Tier 3 physician? Luo Chen shook his head. Perhaps that path had reached its end. After focusing solely on fire cultivation, he lacked the magic power of the other four elements. Even if he could convert it temporarily, it remained quite clumsy in practical application. Medicine often required addressing every conceivable aspect of health. It demanded versatility, not singular specialization. It would be manageable for cultivators who specialized in water or wood, as those elements were more accommodating. Unfortunately, fire was inherently aggressive, making it difficult for him to practice medical arts of other attributes. While the path of a physician seemed to hit a ceiling, the path of a formation master was advancing by leaps and bounds. After Min Longyu and Fu Jiusheng laid a solid foundation for him, he had now received personal guidance from Han Zhan, a Tier 4 formation master. Luo Chen's mastery of the basic formations of each element was progressing at remarkable speed. The basic formations of the five elements had reached the Consummate rank, as had the spirit-gathering and qi-gathering formations. He was also proficient in most Tier 2 formations. His favored Nine Transformations Flame Dragon Array in particular had reached Grandmaster rank through daily tracing and study. If provided with sufficient materials to deploy it, he believed its power would be thirty percent greater than the array Min Longyu had laid back in the day. Now that he had acquired a Tier 3 array plate, it was truly like finding a pillow just as he grew drowsy, offering him a platform to apply everything he had learned over the years. However, that array plate was centered primarily on water formations, requiring some tuning and alteration. In this regard, Luo Chen had already entrusted Han Zhan to assist with the adjustments; there would likely be results after some time. Taking stock of everything, Luo Chen could not help feeling thoroughly pleased. Finally, his gaze rested upon the achievement point column. [151] The highest value in his history! Twelve years ago, it had barely crossed a hundred. Yet in just twelve short years, it had soared by fifty points. "Indeed, secluded meditation will always remain the finest form of cultivation, far superior to battle. "Had I remained as busy and beleaguered as before, let alone twelve years, not even ten or twenty more would have yielded so many achievement points." Seeing that dazzling number, Luo Chen felt not only pride, but an immense sense of security. There was even a trace of anticipation. "For the Nascent Soul Formation Pill formula, I possess only the list of medicinal herbs, but lack the corresponding proportions, refining techniques, fine details, and taboos. "If I wish to deduce the true formula in the future, it will surely require a massive sum of achievement points. "Crossing a major realm will demand a great deal, but no matter how many it takes, it shouldn't exceed a hundred points. With a hundred and fifty-one, it should be more than enough!" Murmuring to himself, Luo Chen felt his confidence in the road ahead swell. The path of cultivation was fraught with hardships and perils. Even without encountering powerful foes, one was constrained by the resources required. Yet through his efforts, those so-called limitations were being dismantled one by one. Cultivation methods, pills, spiritual lands, magic treasures... "When water rises, dam it with earth; when soldiers come, meet them with generals!" Putting away the attribute panel, Luo Chen smiled freely, stood up, and walked out of the secluded chamber. *** "Is this the intelligence sent back from Tianxuan?" In the outer hall, Luo Chen held a wooden board handed to him by the Black King. Upon it were intelligence reports written in Tianxuan's own hand. The handwriting was somewhat crooked, yet faintly delicate. Tianxuan was female. Of course, that was not the point; the point was the contents of the report. "The five royal crab clans, cultivators from Feiyun Ravine, the Ring-Headed Turtle clan... all these forces gathering at Xuanyan Island? What are they trying to do?" Murmuring, Luo Chen vaguely sensed the oppressive tension of an impending storm. According to the report, these factions had virtually turned out in full force. In the sea domains surrounding Xuanyan Island, multiple skirmishes had broken out into pitched battles. Even the Feiyun Ravine cultivators had been inadvertently drawn into one clash, resulting in the death of a Golden Core cultivator! If there were nothing enticing them, Luo Chen would never believe it. "Could it be a Tier 4 spirit vein?" the Black King suggested cautiously. Luo Chen's brow twitched. He had known long ago that the Xuanyan Sea Region possessed a Tier 4 spirit vein. It was located precisely on Xuanyan Island. That spiritual ground had attracted countless demon beasts to nest and settle there. For that very reason, when he originally chose his base, he had deliberately stayed far from Xuanyan Island. If they were coming to blows over spiritual ground, it was not impossible. However, why would human cultivators get involved? At present, the Northern Sea cultivation world had more than enough trouble protecting itself, let alone expanding outwards. Never mind an opening war; merely venturing out to sea to hunt demon beasts was fraught with peril. With a mere seven Golden Core cultivators in Feiyun Ravine, meddling in a dispute over a spiritual ground would be pure madness. Luo Chen shook his head, discarding that possibility. Perhaps there was some rare treasure or extraordinary opportunity that had incited the demon clans of the Xuanyan Sea Region to clash so violently. Wait! Luo Chen looked at the wooden board again, noting the casualties among the Tier 3 demon kings of the five royal crab clans. The more he read, the faster his heart beat. He had just been fretting over how to refine Tier 4 Black Emperor Paste in bulk. If he could get involved and fish in troubled waters, securing a few Tier 3 demon crabs, wouldn't that solve the problem naturally? Tier 3 demon crabs were massive; a single batch of Black Emperor Paste refined from one was equivalent to a hundred batches made from Tier 2 crabs. Seven or eight of them—no, perhaps even five or six— would suffice for his needs throughout the late Desolate Ancient stage! The thought proved impossible to resist. "This score—I've got to take it!"