With Luo Chen's return, Yaoyue Island, quiet for so long, became bustling once more.
Alchemists and herb apprentices bustled about, processing all manner of mundane ingredients on Luo Chen's behalf.
The massive cauldron also revealed its towering presence on the small island from time to time.
Only this time, few cultivators dared come to watch.
In the ten-li tranquil lake slumbered a ferocious black flood dragon, from whose body vast swells of demonic qi uncontrollably leaked from time to time.
Without Luo Chen's protection, ordinary Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment cultivators could not withstand that demonic aura at all.
Others simply assumed the black flood dragon was guarding the island, forbidding outsiders from drawing near to pry.
Only Luo Chen knew that after swallowing the cliff snake that had failed its tribulation, the Black King had begun properly refining its essence.
Because all his concentration was devoted to refining, he had slipped into a state of slumber, leaving him unable to contain the outward spill of his power.
One could easily imagine that once the Black King awoke, his strength would surge substantially, and his inherent foundation and aptitude might improve even further.
One just wondered whether the ancestors of the black-scaled pythons carried any cliff snake bloodline, and whether the two would integrate smoothly.
The bustling alchemy work on the island touched many people, and many benefited from it.
Xu Muxian was one of them.
Twelve years ago, he was merely an obscure collateral descendant of his clan, paid no heed by anyone.
Twelve years later, he had attained the seventh layer of Qi Refinement, married into the Cheng clan—presently the foremost family in the Flying Swallow Archipelago—and built a small family of his own.
Walking across the various islands, everyone treated him with utmost deference; even Foundation Establishment True Cultivators greeted him with smiling faces.
The sole reason for all this was the title hanging over his head: "Disciple of the Demonic Lord."
Yet only Xu Muxian knew that this so-called disciple status was nothing more than an honorary, nominal one.
Demonic Lord Qingyang's guidance extended no further than providing a modest amount of resources and offering occasional pointers when Xu Muxian assisted in alchemy.
As for the cultivation methods and secret arts that formed a true master-disciple lineage, there were none whatsoever!
Regarding this, Xu Muxian harbored complex feelings.
He yearned to become a genuine successor, yet it was blatantly obvious the other party had no such inclination.
Though this Golden Core master possessed a broad-minded temperament, he clearly had no intention of maintaining the Flying Swallow Archipelago as a long-term base. Otherwise, he would not turn a blind eye to the petty schemes of those beneath him.
In a side hall, Xu Muxian finished counting the pills, placed the frigid, chilling medicinal spheres one by one onto a cold jade tray, and carried it toward the main hall.
Gazing down at the cold jade tray and the pills resting upon it, Xu Muxian's eyes brimmed with reverence.
Even if he could not become the Demonic Lord's true disciple, that did nothing to diminish his heartfelt veneration for Luo Chen!
The Jade Dew Pill was a Tier 2 pill of exceedingly high refinement difficulty.
With his current alchemy skill, he could not fathom how one could even concoct it.
Yet under Demonic Lord Qingyang's hands, the master could effortlessly produce top-grade and even supreme-grade Jade Dew Pills in massive batches!
Such attainment was simply inconceivable.
Moreover, this was nowhere near the Demonic Lord's limit.
It was the same for Tier 3 pills!
"Will I ever reach even half of Honored Master's level in this lifetime?"
Murmuring to himself, the man, now approaching middle age, stepped into the quiet Qingyang Great Hall.
The moment he entered, a low roar crashed into his ears like rolling thunder!
"Roar..."
Xu Muxian shuddered all over as if struck by a heavy blow; a trickle of blood even seeped from the corner of his mouth.
Stumbling back several paces, he retreated involuntarily from the Qingyang Great Hall.
Looking back now, the hall was as quiet as before.
Terror flickered in his eyes. "What kind of art is Honored Master cultivating to make such sounds of agony?"
***
Inside the cultivation chamber.
Luo Chen's expression was exceedingly fierce and distorted. His face, originally crimson from prolonged consumption of True Flame Pills, was now etched with streaks of black lines, resembling the cracked fissures of parched earth during an extended drought.
Across his bare torso, a black halo flowed like water, slowly seeping into his flesh.
With every fraction it penetrated, an involuntary low roar tore from his throat.
Like a woman in labor, yet also like the mournful howl of a wounded beast, it was enough to make one's heart tremble.
To sound so horrifying alone attested to the sheer agony he was enduring!
Minute by minute slipped past. Under Luo Chen's strenuous refinement, the black halo on his skin finally seeped entirely into his body.
A faint, dark film faintly shimmered over his dry skin.
"Phew..."
Luo Chen opened his eyes, limp all over. He propped his hands against his knees, gulping down fresh air.
A lingering trace of dread showed in his gaze.
Just now, he had topically applied a portion of successfully refined Tier 4 Black Emperor Paste!
Yes—Tier 4 Black Emperor Paste refined using the carapaces of Tier 3 Demon Crab Kings.
Prior to this day, he had never used a body-tempering medicine of this grade.
Even the portion Han Zhan had bestowed upon him outside the Tiangu Plain battlefield back then had only been Tier 3.
Thus, despite hearing how agonizing using Black Emperor Paste was, he had never paid it much heed.
Throughout his cultivation journey, what pains had he not endured?
Whether cultivating Bright Spirit Fiend Breaking, opening meridians with blood fiend, or unblocking apertures with lightning, every single one involved torment beyond ordinary tolerance.
In particular, back in the Bai Ye ruins, when he relied on the power of heavenly thunder to forge a Desolate Ancient Tier 3 physique, the agony had been even more horrifying.
Yet compared to using the Tier 4 Black Emperor Paste, those seemed almost trivial.
Those prior pains were sharp stabs, sudden bouts.
The absorption of Tier 4 Black Emperor Paste, however, was like slicing flesh with a dull blade—a continuous, agonizing torment delivered bit by bit.
From toes to skin, from flesh and membranes to bones and viscera, even into his bone marrow and brain, everything throbbed with excruciating pain.
"No wonder this miraculous medicine could never spread widely and could only be used in crafting puppets."
"Scarce ingredients are one reason, but the pain during refinement is simply not something a human can endure—unless one is a puppet devoid of sensation!"
Luo Chen panted, lingering fear in his heart.
He had nearly failed to hold out just now.
Had he fainted, not only would a portion of Tier 4 Black Emperor Paste have been wasted, but the body tempering would also have been left incomplete, potentially leaving behind a vital weak spot in this formidable frame.
If discovered by an enemy during battle, that would be a fatal flaw deciding life and death.
Looking at the black jar before him, Luo Chen fell into a brief silence.
After a while, he carefully stowed it away.
"With my current physique, though I can barely withstand it, the toll on my mind and spirit is simply too great. After refining one portion, I'm incapacitated for a short period."
"Moving forward, it's better to stick primarily to Tier 3 Black Emperor Paste for body tempering."
"I still need to refine Tier 4 Black Emperor Paste, but I can stockpile it for now and use it once my body refinement hits a plateau."
Having made his decision, Luo Chen cast a Cleansing Art upon himself.
Looking at his dry, rough skin, he frowned.
Casting a Water Mirror Art, he examined his flushed, red face.
Though he remained striking in appearance, he could no longer be described as handsome or elegant; instead, he leaned heavily toward a rugged, hardened look.
Luo Chen was no narcissist and felt no vanity about his looks or physique.
His close inspection was aimed at analyzing why this transformation had occurred.
Was it brought about by the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture?
Caused by ingesting copious amounts of True Flame Pills?
Or was it an alteration produced by tempering his body with Black Emperor Paste?
Or perhaps a physical change resulting from a combination of all three?
If the physical transformation was beneficial, all was well.
But if it was developing toward something detrimental to his pursuit of the Great Dao, he would have to stop and carefully scrutinize his current cultivation method.
After some analysis, Luo Chen ultimately shook his head.
Clenching his fist and sensing the steady surge of burgeoning strength beneath his weakened physique, Luo Chen's Dao heart remained steadfast.
"It should be on the right track!"
"When cultivating extraordinary techniques and wondrous arts, incidental changes in appearance are commonplace."
"Back when I refined the Wither-Bloom Fire, my hair even turned completely white, yet didn't I recover later on?"
After murmuring to himself, Luo Chen draped a loose white Daoist robe over his frame and stepped out of the cultivation chamber.
Arriving at the main hall, he dismissed the sound-isolation formation, and Xu Muxian entered.
Noticing his unsteady aura, Luo Chen pinched an incantation gesture and smoothly cast a Spring Breeze and Rain Art.
As the spell enveloped him, Xu Muxian—whose chest and lungs had been jarred by the roar earlier—felt as though bathed in a gentle spring breeze, his entire body suddenly feeling remarkably light and eased.
He respectfully presented the cold jade tray.
"Honored Master, these are the Jade Dew Pills refined last time. Their medicinal properties have settled, and they are ready for storage."
With a flick of his sleeve, the cold jade tray floated into Luo Chen's hand.
Luo Chen examined them closely, a look of satisfaction showing on his face.
As expected, his alchemy skills had not grown rusty; even after not crafting Jade Dew Pills for so long, he still had complete mastery over them.
Even his success rate for supreme-grade Jade Dew Pills could now be kept around twenty percent, having long since broken past the system's ceiling.
After stowing away this batch of Jade Dew Pills, Luo Chen strolled out of the hall and took a leisurely walk across Yaoyue Island.
Upon reaching the lakeshore, he extended his divine sense to assess the Black King's refinement progress.
A cliff snake's carcass, even after being struck by heavenly thunder, still contained immense energy—not something the Black King could refine in a short time.
He could, however, lend him a helping hand.
Luo Chen raised his hand and poured a bottle of liquid into the lake.
A muffled sound rumbled beneath the water as currents swirled into a vortex, drawing the liquid down.
Watching from the side, Xu Muxian's eyelids twitched violently.
That liquid was undoubtedly concocted from Tier 2 supreme-grade pills!
Honored Master was so generous as to casually feed such treasures to a spirit beast.
This only deepened his awe of Luo Chen.
"How is my spirit bird doing these days?" Luo Chen asked casually.
Xu Muxian replied respectfully, "Lady Tianxuan dislikes cramped places and is currently roosting atop Wanghai Cliff. She occasionally takes flight over the sea to hunt. Senior Yaoyue also regularly sends people to deliver live beasts for her to feast upon."
Luo Chen let out a chuckle. "Tianxuan certainly has it easy."
Dusting his hands, Luo Chen strolled along Yaoyue Island, mulling over a few matters.
With the ten-year deadline drawing ever closer, his preparations were becoming increasingly thorough.
Once he refined all the Demon Crab Kings into Tier 4 Black Emperor Paste, he could free up his hands to concoct a batch of high-grade Starry Sky Pills.
When that time came, he could use the Starry Sky Pills to deal with those Golden Core cultivators.
As for the True Flame Pills, those were better kept for his personal use!
Apart from that, there was another matter he had to consider.
That was the Demon Emperor husk—the Xuanyan Armor!
This item had stoked the fierce greed of the five royal Demon Crab clans to the point where they waged war over it; it was undeniably a top-tier treasure.
Yet after obtaining it and studying it several times, aside from noting its incredible toughness, he had discovered little else.
According to Han Zhan, the crucial element of this treasure lay in the single drop of Black Tortoise essence blood contained within.
The Xuanyan Demon Emperor had been a supreme powerhouse of the Ring-Headed Turtle clan who trod the path of Black Tortoise atavism to ascend to the Metamorphosis stage.
By the time he reached Tier 4, his true form was already transforming toward that of a Black Tortoise.
Before his lifespan ran out and he passed away, the husk he left behind contained that drop of Black Tortoise essence blood.
If demon beasts obtained it, they could use it in cultivation to seek a glimpse of Tier 4.
For human cultivators, however, its usefulness was far less pronounced, unless one possessed an art similar to the Heavenly Roc Transformation that allowed absorption of the essence blood to cultivate secret techniques.
Luo Chen naturally lacked such an art, and so did Han Zhan.
Thus, the treasure's greatest virtue was, ironically, largely useless to him.
Han Zhan's suggestion was to forge the Xuanyan Armor into a magic treasure to expand Luo Chen's arsenal.
Strictly speaking, the magic treasures Luo Chen frequently used were fewer now than in the past.
The Xuanhuo Sword had been destroyed, two of the Three Soul Breaking Nails were gone, and the Heavenly Moon Purple Gold Wheel, no longer compatible after his shift to fire cultivation, could only be shelved.
The usable magic treasures currently in his hands were reduced to his life-bound magic treasure, the Hunyuan Cauldron; the Poyue Wings used for flight; and the Lanke Black Chess Piece for soul protection.
For an ordinary Golden Core cultivator, wielding three magic treasures at once was already a remarkable feat.
Most Golden Core cultivators regularly used only one or two.
After all, having too many magic treasures made refining and nourishing them troublesome.
Yet Luo Chen was different!
First, his divine soul foundation was profoundly deep, and second, his magic power was immense.
Moreover, the Hunyuan Cauldron could be tempered through alchemy, while the Poyue Wings demanded little of his magic power.
He could easily refine and nurture more magic treasures.
Whether offensive, defensive, or for special utilities—such as treasures like the Spirit Sealing Compass.
"Had I known I'd specialize in fire cultivation, I should have kept Zheng Xian's fire feather fan back then."
Luo Chen felt somewhat annoyed.
When the Zheng family of Gunlong Ridge led their assault on Danxia Peak, their leader, Zheng Xian, had been a consummate Foundation Establishment cultivator specializing in fire arts, wielding a fire-attribute magic treasure of fairly fine quality.
Yet after seizing it, in order to trade for resources needed for Core Formation, Luo Chen had asked Sima Huiniang to handle and exchange it.
Now, he found himself lacking a handy weapon.
Therefore, acquiring new magic treasures was another task he had to undertake in the future.
As for how to obtain them?
Refine, purchase, or plunder?
Luo Chen leaned toward the first two.
Especially refining custom-made magic treasures!
The Poyue Wings had been tailor-made for him; now that he specialized in fire arts, their might had grown even more extraordinary, granting him terrifying speed when fully unleashed.
This was the exact source of Luo Chen's confidence when roaming the battlefield of Xuanyan Island.
Even if he could not win, he could always flee!
Not to mention the Hunyuan Cauldron.
Tempered for over a decade, its impurities were dwindling, and its compatibility with Luo Chen grew higher and higher.
Whether in alchemy or other aspects, Luo Chen wielded it with increasing ease.
In the future, it might well become a lethal weapon in his hands!
One could say that looted magic treasures, while potentially powerful, were not necessarily the best fit, causing their formidable might to be severely compromised.
And magic treasures available for purchase were generally mediocre unless one lucked into a hidden gem.
Who would be willing to part with truly top-tier items?
Only magic treasures custom-made for oneself were the most suitable.
If he could forge this Demon Emperor husk into a physical defensive magic treasure, that would be ideal.
Over all these years, Luo Chen had never possessed a defensive magic treasure aligned with his attributes.
If the Xuanyan Armor could be successfully forged, paired with the Lanke Black Chess Piece, his defense would be completely maximized.
Among Golden Core cultivators, he might even be able to stride about without fear!
Naturally, Luo Chen disdained crude refinement methods.
This was, after all, a Demon Emperor husk boasting exceptional innate materials.
Hai Luo, patriarch of the Ring-Headed Turtle clan, had used this very thing without adding any auxiliary materials to withstand the attacks of five powerhouses of the same rank.
If Luo Chen forged it properly, it would at least be a mid-grade defensive magic treasure!
Its latent potential might not be much inferior to that of the Hunyuan Cauldron.
Han Zhan only had a few refinement methods for defensive magic treasures on hand; while not inferior, they were unsuited for the Xuanyan Armor.
Thus, Luo Chen intended to seek an exquisite method once he reached Feileng City.
With the abundant resources of the Northern Sea, the craft of artifact refining was unlikely to be deficient. The scarcity of magic treasures in the Flying Swallow Archipelago was merely due to its remote location.
Just as Luo Chen was lost in thought, a hesitant voice suddenly sounded beside him.
"Honored Master, do you think... there's any hope of me forming a core in the future?"
Turning sideways, Luo Chen looked at Xu Muxian.
A dazed, lost expression hung upon the middle-aged man's face, showing none of the high spirits of his youthful years. Having asked the question, even the corners of his lips trembled slightly.
Chapter 562