The Fall of Luo Chen

For a cultivator, what method could be considered the single most powerful move? A bombardment of spells? The sharpness of a magic treasure? Or perhaps an impossible-to-defend-against soul attack? No! Strictly speaking, none of these counted as the most powerful. The strongest, most terrifying move was one beyond even the cultivator's own control, capable of devastating dozens of li or even shaking an area of a hundred li—a self-detonation! Yes, self-detonation! In particular, when a Golden Core cultivator who had formed a golden core chose to shatter it of their own accord, the resulting onslaught was a horrifying, indiscriminate bombardment. Faced with such an attack, even an enemy of a higher cultivation realm would have to retreat far out of harm's way. The reason was primarily that a golden core was the ultimate culmination of a cultivator's centuries of cultivation. It represented the essence condensed through thousands of days and nights of arduous cultivation. When the essence forged across all those days and nights erupted in a single instant, the power was unimaginably terrifying. Unless driven to the absolute desperation of a dead end, no Golden Core cultivator would ever willingly take this step. Indeed, many Golden Core cultivators never even entertained the thought of detonating their golden core right up until the moment of death. Once a golden core was detonated, there was only certain death, with zero chance of survival! An inevitable outcome of ruin and death! Due to this subconscious resistance, few ever considered it, even in their final moments. Over all these years, Luo Chen had only ever heard of a cultivator detonating a golden core once, and had only witnessed such an act with his own eyes once. The former dated back to the Luoyun Sect's opening war in the Eastern Desolation, when a Supreme Elder of the Myriad Manifestations Sect, besieged by Demon Kings, resolutely detonated himself to cover his disciples' retreat. The latter took place after he arrived in the Northern Sea, at the docks of Feileng City, where a cultivator from the Wu family named Wu Di tried to kill him by detonating his golden core; forewarned and prepared, Luo Chen had managed to flee beyond the blast radius. Luo Chen was unwilling to face the power of a peer self-detonating, and he had never imagined that he would one day be pushed to that point himself. Yet never in his wildest dreams did he anticipate that he would truly be forced into this predicament. Though it was not his natal golden core, this second primal core—refined from a Tier 3 Great Perfection Hidden Dust Sand—was in no way inferior in quality to the golden core of a late-stage Great Cultivator! The power it contained would have been manageable if released gradually. Yet detonating so abruptly... At this moment, an unimaginable storm of magic power was rampaging through Luo Chen's body. Had it been anyone else, their body and soul would have perished the moment the Nine Refining Beacon Fire ignited the second primal core, reduced to a cloud of bloody mist. Yet he had forcibly held on. All of it relied upon this mighty Desolate Ancient Tier 4 physique! The scene was like a late Golden Core Great Cultivator detonating inside the body of a diminutive desolate beast. And precisely because of the body's "smallness," the power of the detonation was exceedingly concentrated. In an instant, Luo Chen's body began to falter, disintegrating inch by inch. Bang! Bang! Bang! Inside the grand hall, clouds of blood mist burst forth one after another. Beads and streams of blood shot out from the ruptures piercing his body. To the naked eye, his condition grew worse and worse, until he could scarcely hold out any longer. What was more, the excruciating agony of his collapsing qi sea crashed through Luo Chen's sea of consciousness and soul, knocking him unconscious in an instant. Yet the sheer intensity of the pain immediately jolted him awake again. This was a terrifying agony that even Luo Chen, renowned for his unyielding willpower, found difficult to endure. Trapped in a cycle of fainting and waking, "Ah..." A beast-like guttural roar tore from Luo Chen's throat. Blue veins bulged across his contorted face. "I refuse to accept this!" "I will never accept this ending!" Within his chaotic soul, a silent roar bellowed. He, Luo Chen, had never slacked off. He had racked his brains and cultivated steadfastly day after day for a century to reach his current realm. He had walked on thin ice through countless life-and-death crises before reaping countless opportunities. After braving so many hardships and dangers, he had finally obtained the True Monarch's inheritance and the Five Spirit Dao Body, which paved a direct path to the Nascent Soul and even the Soul Formation stage. How could he let it crumble away here in an instant? He would not accept it! Surges of source power mobilized from across his entire body, barely steadying his precarious physical form. Not enough! It was still not enough! Gritting his teeth and disregarding the turmoil in his mind, Luo Chen squeezed out the fundamental vitality from the depths of his flesh to generate source power, forcibly suppressing the storm of magic power within! Scarlet magic power and fierce source power clashed within Luo Chen's body, turning it into a battlefield of detonation and suppression. All of this was the fault of the Nirvana Holy Fire and the Nine Refining Beacon Fire. The former had used his body to combat the latter. The latter, realizing it was outmatched, simply wanted to destroy the Nirvana Holy Fire's "home turf." Yet it was Luo Chen who had to bear the bitter consequence. Gradually, Luo Chen felt his already meager reserves of source power growing scarcer and scarcer. He was on the verge of losing control over the rampage of the second primal core's magic power. This predicament arose not because source power was weaker than magic power, but because there was far too little of it! At the end of the day, too little time had passed since Luo Chen achieved Desolate Ancient Tier 4. Shortly after advancing, he had entered the Land of the Fallen Demon with Ding Yi, Moyun, and the others, having barely any time to extract and accumulate source power. Moreover, during the battle against the Shark Emperor Liu Jun and while concocting the Law-Deducing Pill in the Alchemy Realm, he had consumed a portion of his source power. Thus, he ended up in this awkward predicament where his source power lacked follow-through. "Right!" "Replenish source power!" In his dazed state, Luo Chen strained to focus his mind and retrieved an item from his storage ring. It was none other than Taisui's true body! Earlier, to concoct the pill, he had consumed about a tenth of it; nine-tenths of the crystal-clear white jelly remained. This time, driven by sheer desperation, Luo Chen sought to swallow it in a single gulp. His left hand formed an incantation gesture. Rumble... Luo Chen's head abruptly expanded, as if a colossal monstrous head had burst forth atop a human torso. Opening a gaping maw, he swallowed the entire one-zhang-wide true body of Taisui whole. As Taisui entered his mouth, sharp teeth chewed frenetically. Amidst splashing juices, an incomparably rich surge of vitality poured into Luo Chen's body. Before the rampaging magic power could taint it, his source power began seizing and refining this vitality. As a Tier 5 spirit plant that had once gained sentience and comprehended part of the Wood Laws, the sheer volume of vitality contained within Taisui's true body ranked among the finest even amidst tens of thousands of spirit herbs. Even Demonic Lord Liantian back then had relied on the terrifying vitality held within Taisui's true body to nurture and rescue the hybrid spirit plants he experimented on. Now, receiving this complete vitality of Taisui, Luo Chen let out an involuntary burp. "Burp..." Source power surged dramatically! In an instant, Luo Chen caught his breath. Only now did he finally have the leeway to examine his own body. Yet beneath his internal gaze, everything was in ruins. His qi sea was utterly destroyed. Not one in ten of his meridians remained intact. The hundreds of acupoints he had painstakingly opened, once shining like stars throughout his body, were now either obliterated or clogged with chaotic magic power. His internal organs were ravaged beyond recognition, too gruesome to bear looking at. If not for the boundless vitality provided by Taisui, Luo Chen would now be nothing more than a dying man draped in human skin, an empty husk clinging to a final breath. "My Five Spirit Dao Body!" ... "My true body!" In a certain realm within Mingzhao Heaven. The fat cultivator struggling forward suddenly clutched his head and let out a wretched wail. Just a moment ago, a heart-wrenching agony tore through his soul. Following that agony, he discovered with utter terror that his connection to his true body was gone! Gone! That was the shell he had cultivated for ten thousand years, only birthing sentience three thousand years ago! Without that shell, not only could he never take human form to cultivate and glimpse the Great Dao, but advancing to the Soul Formation stage was now entirely out of the question. "How could this be..." "What on earth did Luo Chen do?!" Between rage and despair, the fat cultivator abandoned all caution and calculation, rampaging recklessly through the realm. He had to get out! He had to find Luo Chen! He had to retrieve his shell! ... "No!" "Meridians can perhaps be reformed, organs restored to their places, and even acupoints created anew. But with my qi sea destroyed, my Dao path in this life is severed." "Body cultivation is strong, but the path ahead is obscure." "Above all, my Five Spirit Dao Body!" Luo Chen's body trembled uncontrollably, unable to accept the scene before his inner sight. Just then, within his internal gaze, he noticed a glimmer of golden light flickering inside a blocked acupoint. In an instant, Luo Chen recognized the culprit. The ultimate source of all this evil—the Nirvana Holy Fire! If it hadn't burrowed into his body, how could it have drawn the Nine Refining Beacon Fire, and how could he have fallen into such a state? "You certainly found a nice hiding spot!" Luo Chen ground his teeth, preparing to forcibly expel it from his body. Yet just as he was about to act, he suddenly froze. "Nirvana Holy Fire... Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture... Nirvana..." As though struck by inspiration, Luo Chen forced his battered body into a cross-legged sitting posture with the five centers facing heavenward. Then, he began to circulate the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture. At this moment, his qi sea was collapsed, his meridians severed, and his acupoints either ruined or blocked; smoothly circulating the cultivation technique was completely impossible. Yet tracing his memories, Luo Chen forcibly mobilized his magic power, attempting to circulate the technique through the internal void of his body. The wild magic power from the detonated second primal core was still raging, causing his attempts to fail repeatedly. "Come forth!" With a low shout, a bright crimson golden core leaped into his body. It was none other than his natal golden core, which had been sheltered inside the Hunyuan Cauldron! The moment the natal golden core appeared, it loomed like a great sun dominating his inner universe. The rampaging magic power began to gather around it, as if a turbulent deluge had found a guiding channel. Luo Chen finally had the chance to reconstruct the circulation route of the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture across the void of his flesh. Time slowly trickled by. After an unknown span of time, relying on ingrained memory, Luo Chen finally managed to barely reconstruct the route once traversed by the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture. Then! "Reverse!" A scent of madness gleamed in Luo Chen's eyes as he decisively reversed the circulation of his natal technique. Had any other cultivator witnessed such madness, they would only curse him as an utter lunatic. Who would dare reverse their natal cultivation technique? It was no different from suicide! Just like detonating one's golden core. Yet for Luo Chen, this was perhaps the only chance to seek life amidst death. No! Not seeking life amidst death—it was rebirth through nirvana! The Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture was the cultivation technique practiced by Primordial Monarch Qixia, its true essence derived from the Phoenix clan's method of rebirth through nirvana. To truly reach that realm of rebirth required passing through three stages. Strictly speaking, it was called the "Nine Tribulations and Three Nirvanas"! Although the Golden Core remnant chapter Luo Chen had obtained did not elaborate on the Nine Tribulations, it recorded the methods of the Three Nirvanas. Luo Chen knew clearly that he had already completed one nirvana once before. That was a nirvana of magic power. It encompassed three major aspects: spirit root, qi sea, and golden core. They were also known as the Spirit Root Tribulation, Qi Sea Tribulation, and Golden Core Tribulation. Having overcome these three tribulations, his five spirit roots could transform into a fire spirit root rivaling a solitary Heavenly Spirit Root, his qi sea was remade into a sea of fire, and even his five-colored golden core became a crimson golden core; his entire magic power underwent a thorough nirvana, turning into overbearing Heavenly Phoenix magic power. Pass three tribulations, achieve one nirvana. From then on, Luo Chen entered the threshold of the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture. This was the First Nirvana! Passing three tribulations forged one nirvana! And the Second Nirvana known to Luo Chen corresponded precisely to the nirvana of the physical body! So long as he completed the physical nirvana, his originally ordinary body could be transformed into a Fire Spirit Body, making it far more suited to cultivating the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture. All along, Luo Chen had never entertained thoughts in this direction. To him, physical nirvana was a perilous gamble of courting death to seek rebirth. Furthermore, the stronger his physique was, the greater the dangers encountered during nirvana. Therefore, he had never dared to contemplate it. Especially after what happened in Mingzhao Heaven! In the Alchemy Hall of Mingzhao Heaven, after soaking in that peculiar spiritual spring, he possessed the Five Spirit Dao Body. This was a constitution even superior to a mere Fire Spirit Body. It ensured an unobstructed path to the Nascent Soul realm in the future, freeing him from the restrictions of cultivation techniques. If he underwent physical nirvana to convert into a Fire Spirit Body, the Five Spirit Dao Body would vanish like a mirror flower and water moon; even if it gave wings to his path of fire methods, he would ultimately lose far more. Hence, he had buried the matter of the Nine Tribulations and Three Nirvanas deep within his heart. Yet now! "I am already in the land of death. The Five Spirit Dao Body has become a thing of the past, a castle in the air! What future is there to speak of? What Grand Dao can be discussed?" "Only by seizing this chance to undergo nirvana and be reborn is there a sliver of hope!" "Whether this battered, broken body can be restored hinges entirely upon this desperate gamble!" The resolve to stake his life was something Luo Chen had never lacked! With his mind resolved, hesitation vanished. Luo Chen resolutely reversed the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture! From within the natal golden core, torrential magic power poured forth, sweeping along the raging power unleashed by the shattered second primal core, washing through every corner of Luo Chen's body. As the relentless tide swept through, his bones began fracturing inch by inch. His flesh began sloughing off piece by piece. Suddenly— BOOM! A tremendous blast echoed through the grand hall, and Luo Chen's physical body abruptly exploded! Amidst the billowing mist of blood, countless droplets floated suspended in the air, as though time itself had frozen. Not even his head remained. Only a single spinal column, shimmering with faint lightning, stood erect in the void like a dragon. A mournful cry sounded at that very instant. "Master!" A tempest swept past, and Tianxuan arrived in an instant. Behind her, rumbling scraping sounds echoed continuously, as though some gargantuan creature was rampaging forward. All of a sudden, a massive, one-horned dragon head thrust into the grand hall, its eyes nearly splitting in grief and rage at the sight. "Master!" "Tianxuan, what happened to Master?!" Tianxuan's eyes brimmed with disbelief as she reached out a trembling hand, wanting to touch that intact lightning bone. That was the spine Luo Chen had forged back in the Foundation Establishment stage, borrowing heavenly lightning to temper his body within Bai Ye's cave dwelling at Mount Thunder Accumulation's Nine Peaks. Over all these years, though it had shown no wondrous marvel, it had remained firmly rooted in Luo Chen's body. And now, of all that was left of Luo Chen, only this single bone was preserved intact... Crack! Tianxuan's hand froze. Before her tear-filled eyes, a fissure appeared upon that intact lightning bone. Then, the crack spread rapidly in a web of fractures. Crack, crack, crack! Until it broke down completely into small bone fragments. At that moment, a faint glimmer of relief and daze flitted across their minds. It was the enslavement restriction Luo Chen had placed upon them years ago. And what the breaking of this restriction signified was something both demons knew all too well. In the deathly silent grand hall, only the woman remained, cradling an intact suit of black armor as she murmured with despair in her eyes: "Master... has fallen."