Tianxuan, I Need You to Aid My Cultivation!

The Blood Hermit! Luo Chen was no stranger to that name. In fact, nearly every cultivator in the Northern Sea was well acquainted with it. Legends concerning him were abundant. Born a prodigy favored by heaven, he had once fallen into the dust, only to rise again with unstoppable force. He harbored deep hatred for the Yuan Demon Sect, had once been a plunderer, possessed an extreme and overbearing temperament, acted ruthlessly, and had even committed the mad feat of refining an entire Nascent Soul faction alive. Among the many legends, truth and fiction were difficult to discern. Yet at the very least, one piece of evidence attested to his tyrannical nature: the dilapidated state of Longyuan Immortal City today! After the fall of the Yuan Demon Sect, the Blood Hermit had been the first to sound the overture to hunt down the surviving remnants of the sect, even personally leading a direct assault on what had then still been a super immortal city—Longyuan Immortal City. One had to realize that back then, Longyuan Immortal City had been the premier bastion right before the Yuan Demon Sect’s gates. Its formations were intact, its defenses complete, and a Nascent Soul True Person of the Yuan Demon Sect had personally presided over it! Even under such conditions, the Blood Hermit had disregarded everything to storm Longyuan, shattering a city whose prosperity and might had once surpassed Shenyuan City into near ruins. Even a hundred years later, despite continuous reconstruction by the cultivators of the Myriad Immortals Association, Longyuan still gave off a ramshackle, dilapidated impression. Though in truth, such a city suited the style of a stronghold occupied by loose cultivators quite well. In recent years, of the Three Great Loose Cultivators of the Myriad Immortals Association, only the Moon Hermit made occasional appearances to oversee the broader situation. The other two hermits remained elusive, leaving barely a trace. The Mad Hermit was understandable; rumors outside claimed he had gone completely insane and acted without rhyme or reason, making little difference to the association whether he was present or not. Word had it that his last appearance had been on the battlefield where the Moluo Stream attacked key islands in the heart of the Canghai Alliance. Yet for the Blood Hermit to remain equally enigmatic was somewhat peculiar. No one had expected him to return so abruptly. It truly took Luo Chen by surprise. "Now that he is back, has he made any moves?" Tianxuan nodded without hesitation. "He has indeed. The moment the Blood Hermit returned, he issued a major quest through the Demon Hunting Department." "A major quest?" "Yes, one containing many sub-quests. Broadly speaking, it is meant to gather related resources for him." "What resources specifically? Let's hear it." "Ranked first is a Tier 5 spiritual plant, the Withered Blood Vine—optimally over a thousand years old! Following that are the demon core of a Tier 4 demon beast, the Soul-Reaping Ghost Crow, Woven Gold Cloud Silkworm Silk, Ten-Thousand-Li Everburning Smoke..." Perhaps anticipating Luo Chen's interest in the matter, Tianxuan had memorized the quest's details thoroughly beforehand, reciting them with scarcely a flaw. From the Tier 5 Withered Blood Vine all the way down to a Tier 2 Manjushaka, she laid them out one by one. Luo Chen listened intently, his mind already guessing what such an assortment of items could be used for. In truth, he did not have to ponder for long before his experience offered an immediate instinct. "Is he forging an artifact?" Tianxuan gave Luo Chen an astonished look, then said, "Just as Master deduced, many outside also believe the Blood Hermit intends to forge a secret treasure of tremendous power. Not long ago, the Master of Moyun Cave personally went to the Demon Hunting Department to contribute a large batch of materials and earned the Blood Hermit's praise." Luo Chen frowned slightly. "Just praise?" Tianxuan shook her head. "No, not just that. The quests issued this time allow contributors to accumulate merit points and raise their Demon Hunter star ranking. By offering those treasures, the Master of Moyun Cave effortlessly rose from a five-star Demon Hunter to a six-star one." From five stars to six stars? Luo Chen curled his lip, unimpressed. For someone as wealthy as the Master of Moyun Cave, a mere star or two meant practically nothing. Only when reaching seven stars or above would it hold genuine significance for figures of their standing. Nevertheless, the cave master's eagerness was likely driven in part by a desire to curry favor with the Blood Hermit. As Luo Chen pondered, Tianxuan suddenly shared another piece of news. "Aside from Demon Hunter merit points, the Blood Hermit also put up a set of Nascent Soul formation insights. Anyone who brings him the Withered Blood Vine will receive it as a reward." At this, Luo Chen was genuinely startled. "Nascent Soul formation insights! Wouldn't the hundred-odd Core Formation loose cultivators in the Myriad Immortals Association go mad over that?" "Just as Master says, the Core Formation cultivators within the association have indeed begun to go mad." The Core Formation loose cultivators of the Myriad Immortals Association numbered well over a hundred. Even excluding those pseudo-core cultivators who could advance no further, several dozen remained. Among them, those with hopes of advancing to the Nascent Soul stage numbered around a dozen if counted carefully. And foremost among them were the Three Great Eight-Star Demon Hunters! "Diaosou and the others?" "Diaosou set off long ago. As for the other two, there has been no movement from them yet." Luo Chen was slightly taken aback, but soon understood. Among the Three Great Eight-Star Demon Hunters, Empress Zi hailed from the former Great Zhou Dynasty, so she likely did not lack insights on forming a Nascent Soul. Meanwhile, although the Ghost Spirit Child looked young, he was actually the oldest of the three, with only a few years left before reaching the end of his lifespan. In recent years, he had paid a steep price to lease the Hundred Ghosts Cave to spread his lineage and pass down his bloodline and Dao arts. Hence, amid this seemingly frenzied wave, Diaosou was the most active of the three. Yet a Tier 5 Withered Blood Vine was surely not easy to find. Even if found, harvesting it would be exceedingly difficult. Over countless years of accumulation, a spiritual plant of that caliber stood a chance of awakening intelligence and turning into a so-called spirit beast or plant monster. While a Tier 5 spiritual plant might not match a Soul Formation powerhouse, it would more or less possess means on par with the Nascent Soul stage. How could Diaosou, a mere ninth-layer Core Formation cultivator, hope to procure a Tier 5 Withered Blood Vine for the Blood Hermit? "Master, will you take on this quest? Your star ranking is quite low right now; you might be able to shoot up several ranks all at once," Tianxuan suggested. Luo Chen shook his head. He had no such plans for the moment. Leaving aside the danger, the matter of the Purple Monkey Flower alone demanded his full, undivided attention. He then asked whether the Blood Hermit had taken any further action. Learning that the man kept to his residence and rarely stepped out, Luo Chen turned his focus back to the Black King. "It has been nearly a year. Has the Black King still not sent any word back?" Tianxuan looked helpless; she had received no news either. A troubled expression even crept onto her face. "Master, do you think the Black King might have already..." "No, the mental link between him and me is still intact." Luo Chen waved his hand, dismissing her worry. After a moment of silence, he suppressed his inner urgency. "Perhaps he merely ran into some minor trouble on the return journey." He could only comfort himself this way. Although the distance recorded in that miscellany map was considerable, with the Black King's unimpeded swim speed through the open sea, a year should have been more than enough for a round trip. That he had not yet returned could only mean something had delayed him. Next, Luo Chen asked Tianxuan about the internal state of Penghu Lake. This time, he received good news. Over the years, their vassal, the Zhang family, had managed the eight-hundred-li Penghu Lake with great success. Items such as Black Gold Dragon Carp, coral fruit, and various aquatic shellfish were already maturing and entering the market. With their connections to Wuzhong Valley and the Zhou Clan, the distribution channels they had worried about most were resolved. Last year, Tianxuan had gone to settle accounts with them, bringing in seven hundred thousand spirit stones. In addition, Luo Chen received a dividend of two hundred thousand spirit stones from the Qingyang Treasure Pavilion. It did not seem like an exorbitant sum, but it represented only a single year's earnings. All Luo Chen had contributed was his reputation and the territory of the eight-hundred-li Penghu Lake, with no other investment. "Nine hundred thousand a year. It's neither too much nor too little, but it will greatly alleviate the pressure of my lease on Penghu." Luo Chen smiled faintly, feeling quite pleased. Having a territory under one's control was truly equivalent to having a natural fountain of wealth. Back when he led the Luotian Association, they had possessed only a small Danxia Peak, and working themselves to the bone all year had yielded a mere three to four hundred thousand spirit stones. The difference between the two was vast. Furthermore, as the Zhang family continued their diligent efforts, the yields from Penghu Lake would only grow. The Zhang family was flourishing on its own and possessed technical support from a Nascent Soul faction, the Coral Sea Zhou Clan. If they still failed to thrive under such conditions, they would truly be hopeless. As for Luo Chen, now that the Xuanchen Armor had been successfully forged, his subsequent investments in artifact crafting would steadily diminish. At most, he would complete a quest or two to forge a magic tool or magic treasure each year to satisfy Wuzhong Valley. In broad terms, it meant opening up new sources of income while cutting down expenses! Barring any surprises, Luo Chen's long-depleted spirit stone pouch would gradually fatten up once more. "Misfortunes never come singly, but good things also come in pairs!" "Now, I only need to wait for news from the Black King." Luo Chen smiled and, taking advantage of his good mood, inquired about Tianxuan's cultivation. Delighted, she hurriedly laid out the various difficulties she had encountered in her training, seeking his guidance. *** During the days spent waiting for the Black King's return, Luo Chen did not remain idle. Previously, to stabilize the formations upon the Xuanchen Armor, his personal cultivation had stagnated for nearly a year. Now that no trivial matters pressed on him, he threw himself into intensive training with absolute focus. Cultivating the immortal Dao required gradual, painstaking effort, and Luo Chen could not rush it. But when it came to body refinement, he had plenty of room to advance! He had incorporated new insights into *Convergence of Myriad Paths*, specifically blending the philosophy of artifact crafting into the technique—treating his very body as a magic treasure to be forged. Previously, because he had been busy forging artifacts, he had used only internal tempering methods for his body refinement. In reality, a perfected *Convergence of Myriad Paths* also possessed external tempering arts. On an islet sealed by defensive formations, the clang of striking metal rang out incessantly. Looking closer, a black hammer hovered and swooped around the bare-chested Luo Chen, rising and falling without pause. With every strike, it crashed heavily against his flesh. Each blow sent surging vibrations through his frame, and from time to time, azure flames erupted from the surface of his skin. Using the Flowing Fire Hammer technique to execute the Hundredfold Tempering Art, he hammered his physique from head to toe to the absolute limit, realizing the true essence of being tempered a thousand times over. Any ordinary cultivator subjected to such pounding would have suffered displaced organs and severe internal damage long ago. Yet Luo Chen gritted his teeth and endured it by sheer force of will. Furthermore, because he was controlling the Flowing Fire Hammer to strike himself, he had to constantly overcome his body's instinctual urge to resist self-harm. Fortunately, with his resolute willpower, he remained largely unaffected. "Invigorate it with qi and blood, incinerate it with internal fire, and temper it further with external force!" "This is still far from enough!" When the half-shichen of hammering drew to a close, Tianxuan revealed her true form, looking at Luo Chen with visible apprehension. "Master, must we truly do this?" "When I tell you to strike, strike! What are you hesitating for?" Hearing this, Tianxuan hesitated no longer. Her wings beat furiously, unleashing the innate offensive technique she had practiced most proficiently in her early years. A vortex dense with countless wind blades coalesced in an instant, gradually swallowing Luo Chen whole. Low roars emerged intermittently from within. Tianxuan was exceedingly tense. She had driven this demonic art to its absolute peak; any Core Formation cultivator—even a late-stage grand cultivator caught unprepared—would suffer grievous wounds. Yet her master chose to stand within her vortex of his own accord, bearing the slicing of wind blades and the tearing of the gale. Unless he called a halt, she did not dare stop. This showed that her master's physique had long surpassed that of human cultivators. In her eyes, even some Tier 3 demon kings renowned for their physical resilience could not compare to him. Perhaps only the purest ancient beasts of the same tier could rival him. The time it took an incense stick to burn felt agonizingly long. Not until a weary "Stop" echoed from within did Tianxuan halt the demonic art as if shedding a heavy burden. At that moment, both the man and the woman were pale. The former had been battered, while the latter had expended far too much magic power. A jade bottle flew before Tianxuan. "Inside are a hundred Fanxing Pills. They can replenish magic power and aid your cultivation. Take them!" Tianxuan accepted it with immense joy. She knew well the potency of human medicinal pills. Cultivating with medicinal support compared to cultivating without it were two entirely different matters. Master's batch of Fanxing Pills had likely been concocted before leaving the Flying Swallow Archipelago years ago; since he had neither consumed nor sold many of them, she was now reaping the benefit. However... Looking at Luo Chen, who was covered in wounds and soaked in blood, Tianxuan could not help but ask, "Master, are you all right?" Luo Chen grinned. "How could I be all right?" Tianxuan's heart tightened. Had she struck too hard earlier? "It's a good thing, though, so don't worry." With that, Luo Chen retrieved a jar of Tier 4 Black Emperor Paste from his storage ring and smeared it evenly across his body. The excruciating pain he had once felt had, after repeated exposure, turned into a numb, tingling itch. Feeling the medicinal potency seep strand by strand into his flesh, Luo Chen's lips curved upward involuntarily. *As expected, applying the Black Emperor Paste after extreme tempering actually quickens the absorption of the medicine!* *The Luoyun Sect used this paste to strengthen puppets. Puppets are inanimate objects, so their absorption efficiency was sluggish and low. How could they compare to my active absorption?* Noticing this change, Luo Chen felt increasingly confident about advancing his body refinement to the fourth tier of ancient refinement. *Still, this mode of self-inflicted tempering shouldn't be overdone. I must pace the intervals properly.* Luo Chen donned the Xuanchen Armor and walked toward the island's exit. Turning to Tianxuan behind him, he instructed, "From now on, once every ten days. Arrange your schedule accordingly. Also, how is the nurturing of the Nine Gales Plantain Fan I bought for you back then coming along?" Tianxuan asked in bewilderment, "Is the might of my Wind Swirl Sky Saber Art not enough?" "It is enough for now, but that may not hold true in the future. When the time comes, I might need you to use the Nine Gales Plantain Fan to aid my cultivation." Tianxuan swallowed hard, her gaze toward Luo Chen growing even more reverent. Her demonic art wouldn't suffice, to the point that she would need to employ a magic treasure? That Nine Gales Plantain Fan was a high-grade magic treasure. Even after nurturing it for twenty years, she could only harness sixty percent of its might. If an errant strike were to injure her master, what would she do? *No, I must spend more magic power nurturing the treasure fan lately so I can wield it far more smoothly.* *** During the days spent waiting for the Black King's return, Luo Chen's life settled into a rhythm once again. He refined qi, tempered his body, studied alchemy classics, and occasionally stepped up to concoct a furnace of pills himself. He paid no heed to the turmoil of the outside world, living much like a carefree, wandering loose cultivator. Occasionally, he would visit Longyuan Immortal City to browse the shops and hunt for treasures. He also frequented the Demon Hunting Department, using his authority as a ranked Demon Hunter to actively inquire about intelligence regarding the current Northern Sea cultivation world. His inquiries were not limited to the Northern Sea; the Eastern Desolation was also one of his focal points. And indeed, in bits and pieces, he actually managed to glean some news of the Eastern Desolation. Any news capable of traveling from the Eastern Desolation to the Northern Sea was certainly no trivial matter. It had to be a world-shaking event capable of startling the entire Mountain Sea Realm, much like how the fall of the Yuan Demon Sect had once reached the Eastern Desolation. What Luo Chen learned was that after the failed opening war in the Howling Moon Mountain Range, the demon beasts of the Million Mountains had grown restless, and a ferocious beast tide had surged from deep within the mountains to assault the human heartland of the Eastern Desolation. That beast tide had been exceptionally violent! More than half of the dozen-plus cultivation domains bordering the Million Mountains had fallen. Only when the Eastern Desolation's sacred ground, the Mingyuan Sect, intervened personally and rallied all cultivators across the thirty-six domains did they manage to forcibly repel the tide. Yet that had merely been the first Eastern Desolation beast tide. Ten years ago, a second beast tide had erupted! This time, the demon beasts surging from the Million Mountains had not launched a widespread blanket assault. Instead, they had targeted five specific cultivation domains and attacked with overwhelming force. Even though the Mingyuan Sect organized forces once more, they only managed to beat them back in two locations. In the remaining three, the demon beasts had entrenched themselves, waging a war of attrition against the human cultivators of the Eastern Desolation. That was as far as the intelligence went. As for which cultivation domains were involved and what their names were, Luo Chen had not learned. The places he wished to know about most—the Howling Moon Mountain Range and the Jade Cauldron Domain—were utterly insignificant within the vast Mountain Sea Realm, warranting not a single drop of ink. Even so, an urgency welled up in Luo Chen's heart. In the Northern Sea, he was merely an outsider. The Eastern Desolation was his true home. There, he had his Dao companion, his friends, his disciples, and his subordinates. The longer one lived, the more attachments one accumulated. Luo Chen's brief cultivation years were both his strength and his weakness. The weakness was that time had not yet severed those ties—nor was he willing to cast them aside. *Amid such chaos, no one in the Eastern Desolation will likely pay any mind to what happened at Mount Cangwu back then. If I return, I might be safe and sound.* Inside the Star Constellation Hall, having finished his meditation, Luo Chen entertained a momentary sense of wishful thinking. Yet that thought vanished as quickly as it had come. A mere Core Formation cultivator might reign supreme in a single locality, but within a province where Nascent Soul cultivators emerged in numbers, it amounted to very little. If someone truly pressed the matter, Luo Chen would find himself in dire straits. Only by advancing to the Nascent Soul stage could he secure a true footing in this world. As for the even higher Soul Formation cultivators? Luo Chen was less concerned about that; Soul Formation cultivators rarely acted in person. Of the two instances he knew where Soul Formation cultivators had intervened, one had been a powerhouse of the Mingyuan Sect attacking Mount Cangwu, and the other had been the Northern Sea demon race assaulting the Yuan Demon Sect. Those were conflicts between sacred grounds. Luo Chen concluded his cultivation and stepped out of the Star Constellation Hall. Today, he needed to refine a batch of True Flame Pills. His reserves were nearly exhausted, and he had to replenish them. Just then, Tianxuan hurried over from outside. Seeing her rushed demeanor, Luo Chen was slightly surprised, his expression turning solemn. "Has word arrived from the Black King?" "No. A Core Formation cultivator from Moyun Mountain has come specifically to visit Master. He claims to be an old friend of yours." "An old friend? Moyun Mountain... The Master of Moyun Cave?" "Not him either. He calls himself Ding Yi." Luo Chen's brow arched. In his mind arose the image of a man with a protruding belly yet gaunt, sunken cheeks. Connecting this with Moyun Mountain, Luo Chen instantly recalled what the Master of Moyun Cave had said back then. *So it was him all along?* "Invite him in. I would like to see what urgent matter made him delay so long before finally coming to see me."