Beneath Heaven and Earth Peak, the Shi River surged and churned.
Just like the relentless passage of time, it flowed quietly day and night without pause.
Before anyone realized it, half a year had slipped away.
At Cave Jia-78, Fu Qinglan looked with deep worry toward the towering parasol tree. Even cloaked in white snow, its lush green canopy remained vibrant.
Yet what truly commanded her gaze was the white-robed man seated in meditation at the very crown of the tree.
"Grandfather, is he truly all right?"
Fu Chaosheng stood beside her, his face lined with equal concern.
In the past, despite his advanced years, he had maintained his appearance impeccably, with a ruddy complexion and barely any wrinkles.
Yet in a mere six months, he seemed to have aged decades all at once, carrying the weary, decrepit air of a mortal.
"This is an epiphany. For any cultivator, it is an opportunity that can be encountered only by chance, never sought by force. Whenever one experiences it, one tries to prolong the state as long as possible. But why did it have to happen now, of all times?"
The timing was simply too precarious!
The Alchemy Saint's ascension was imminent, and the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven would soon open. If Luo Chen failed to awaken from this epiphany in time, it would derail a matter of utmost importance.
Fu Qinglan could not help feeling a hint of envy. "An epiphany? Could his innate talent truly rival that of the Sacred Land prodigies, just as you said, Grandfather?"
Fu Chaosheng gave a bitter nod.
He harbored not the slightest doubt regarding Luo Chen's talent.
Back in the mid Golden Core stage, Luo Chen had comprehended the method of forming a Nascent Soul entirely on his own, without a master's guidance.
Later, he had coalesced his Nascent Soul as a mere rogue cultivator.
Furthermore, back at Mulan Court on the Northern Sea, Fu Chaosheng had witnessed with his own eyes how Luo Chen attuned his spirit with heaven and earth, entering a brief epiphany.
That time had been fleeting.
Yet this time, it had lasted for half a year!
"His years of wandering prevented him from settling down to cultivate in peace. Now that he finally secured a quiet place, everything he accumulated over the years has burst forth at once."
"Yet epiphanies come in both good and bad varieties. My only fear is that he might stray onto the wrong path!"
Fu Chaosheng's worry was not without reason.
To the eyes of grandfather and granddaughter, Luo Chen's current condition was not soaring upward in triumph; rather, it was plummeting endlessly!
His attunement with heaven and earth had become faint and indistinct.
His magic power was no longer brimming with blazing, vibrant life, but had turned deathly still and suppressed.
Even his seemingly youthful countenance had begun to crease with wrinkles, shifting toward the visage of an old man.
The long black hair that previously fell across his back was now entirely ashen gray.
"Did I act too rashly?"
Fu Chaosheng searched his conscience, filled with self-reproach.
"If only I hadn't pushed to make him stronger, giving him that ancient-formula Taihe Pill. If only I hadn't dumped all those fire-attribute cultivation methods on him at once, or if I had waited until the deed was done before handing over the vial of flameflow marrow..."
Fu Chaosheng could not fathom where the misstep lay.
Yet he knew that Luo Chen's present transformation had to be connected to him.
This forced him into agonizing self-doubt.
"Was I overly bold, or was I blinded by short-sighted ambition?"
"Or have I grown so old that I can no longer tell..."
Just as Fu Chaosheng wavered inwardly, questioning himself over and over, a low gasp broke into his ear.
"Grandfather, I think he's waking up!"
Indeed, he was waking!
All at once, vast torrents of surrounding spiritual energy surged frantically toward Luo Chen.
Atop the parasol tree, that deathly still body turned into a vortex, ravenously devouring the spiritual energy until a miniature spiritual vortex swept into being.
Amidst the storm, Luo Chen slowly opened his eyes.
As his gaze swept across the two of them, his deep, dark eyes carried an inexplicable trace of weary vicissitude.
"*Hoo...*"
Exhaling a breath of turbid air, the spiritual storm ground to an abrupt halt.
Luo Chen rose to his feet and drifted gracefully to the ground.
As his graying hair fluttered, the lush green tree behind him inexplicably decayed, crumbling into a pile of ashes upon the earth.
Witnessing this, Fu Chaosheng urgently blurted out, "Luo Chen, are you all right?"
"What could be wrong with me? It was merely..." Luo Chen replied with a smile, though his brow furrowed the moment he spoke.
Seeing the skeptical expressions on their faces, he realized how raspy his voice had sounded.
"Ahem!"
Clearing his throat twice, Luo Chen spoke again.
"It was merely a brief respite."
This time, his voice returned to its usual tone—deep, warm, and resolute.
Ordinarily, such a tone would instill great confidence, yet the Fu grandfather and granddaughter grew even more anxious.
Modulating one's vocal tone was far too trivial a trick for a cultivator.
Luo Chen's deliberate adjustment looked more like an attempt to cover something up.
Above all, his magical fluctuations were practically nonexistent; standing there, he seemed no different from a Qi Refining cultivator.
No!
An elderly Qi Refining cultivator well past his prime!
"How could this happen?" Fu Chaosheng murmured.
Luo Chen was in no mood to elaborate. "I require rest to consolidate and summarize this deep session of cultivation, so I will not entertain guests today. If you wish to discuss business, three to five days from now would be best."
This was a polite dismissal.
Fu Chaosheng did not press further and turned to leave.
Fu Qinglan, on the other hand, glanced back repeatedly as they departed, looking toward the man standing beside the mountain ravine, his graying hair swaying in the cool breeze.
"Grandfather, for some reason, Luo Chen, the Desolate Hermit, feels even more dangerous to me now than he did before."
Still steeped in guilt, worry, and confusion, Fu Chaosheng froze at her words.
"Truly?"
Fu Qinglan nodded slightly—a subtle movement, yet laden with solemn conviction!
***
After lingering in the mountain wind for a while, Luo Chen shook off the lingering daze from his six-month epiphany.
Returning to his cave abode, he bathed, changed into fresh robes, and sat before burning incense.
With his graying hair bound behind him with a simple wooden hairpin and his hands resting without forming any seals, his consciousness sank straight into his purple palace.
The first thing that met his inner vision was a shriveled Nascent Soul seated cross-legged beside a feeble wisp of flame.
In the past, his Nascent Soul had boasted snow-white, delicate skin.
How could it compare to this current form, crisscrossed with wrinkles like an authentic newborn babe?
Anyone ignorant of the truth who saw this would assume Luo Chen had suffered cultivation deviation and seen his cultivation plummet.
Yet as Luo Chen beheld the sight, a genuine smile spread across his face.
"I cannot say whether this method of cultivation would suit others, but for me, it is the most perfect match."
"In the end, I truly comprehended it!"
He opened his status panel.
Under the cultivation arts column, the entry that once read *Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture (Great Perfection)* had changed.
In its place was the art Luo Chen had newly christened: *Wither-Bloom Dao Scripture (Beginner 50/100)*.
Naming it a "Dao scripture" was somewhat grandiose, yet it bore Luo Chen's soaring aspirations: to seek the Great Dao through this very scripture!
More importantly, during that half-year epiphany, Luo Chen had indeed uncovered the direction of his own Dao.
This self-created cultivation art took the *Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture* as its solid foundation, absorbed the core principles governing meridian and acupoint circulation from the *Blazing Radiance True Scripture* and the *East Jia Departing Fire Scripture*, and adopted the *Purple Sun Divine Art*'s method of precisely drawing fire-attribute spiritual energy from heaven and earth.
Not only that, but Luo Chen had also integrated his past creation, the *Micromote Origin Art*, shoring up his mental cultivation.
He had even drawn upon insights from the *Soul Splitting Art* regarding the cultivation of the soul.
All in all, the *Wither-Bloom Dao Scripture* was somewhat eclectic and unrefined, yet it inherited the comprehensive nature of the *Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture*, spanning inside and out, energy and spirit, neglecting nothing.
In terms of cultivation speed, the beginner stage was comparable to before; because it encompassed so many elements, circulating it was more intricate and demanding, making it appear slightly slower.
Yet Luo Chen was confident that as his proficiency rose, these flaws would be polished away one by one, and his cultivation speed would far surpass what it had been before!
There was another point!
While creating the technique, Luo Chen had drawn inspiration from the shifting principles of the Wither-Bloom True Fire, grasping a new spell.
Its name was the *Wither-Bloom Divine Restriction*!
To call it a spell was not entirely accurate; it leaned closer to an obscuring restriction, while also bearing the embryonic form of a formation.
If one were to describe it truly, it resembled an innate art wielded by formidable demon beasts, or perhaps the divine abilities spoken of in legend.
This technique focused neither on offense nor on defense.
Its purpose was to aid Luo Chen's cultivation!
With the help of the Wither-Bloom True Fire, it sealed the magic power within his Nascent Soul, preventing it from leaking outward under normal circumstances.
Not only that, but while under the seal, the Wither-Bloom True Fire continually tempered and refined the impurities from the magic power inside the Nascent Soul's body.
One could say that the changes in Luo Chen's physical appearance were entirely the result of this technique.
Under ordinary conditions, the *Wither-Bloom Divine Restriction* sealed away the majority of his magic power, keeping him in a perpetual state of semi-cultivation even when he was not actively circulating his art.
Should battle arise, releasing the restriction would not only restore Luo Chen to his peak condition, but temporarily grant him even more potent magic power.
According to Luo Chen's projections, the longer the *Wither-Bloom Divine Restriction* remained sealed, the more explosive the power unleashed upon its release.
On the surface, this technique had glaring advantages alongside an equally glaring flaw.
After all, no Nascent Soul True Person would willingly remain in a semi-weakened state indefinitely. If ambushed by an enemy and unable to undo the seal in time, the consequences would be catastrophic.
Yet for Luo Chen, this flaw was virtually nonexistent.
For beyond his immense reservoir of magic power, he possessed an even higher realm of body refinement!
No counterattack could ever be swifter than the instinct of the body.
And the benefits of this half-year epiphany did not end there!
"How has my cultivation realm risen so quickly?"
Looking at the realm column, where the progress bar stood at ninety, teetering on the verge of the second layer of the Nascent Soul stage, Luo Chen was inwardly stunned.
He recalled that during his epiphany, he had hardly devoted any deliberate effort to cultivating.
Most of his time had been spent pondering how to devise a technique better suited to himself.
"Could it be a result of that special state?"
Luo Chen remembered that back when he was at the Golden Core stage and comprehended the method of forming a Nascent Soul, he had also drawn down a surge of spiritual energy from heaven and earth.
Both were epiphanies, so perhaps...
"No, this time didn't trigger any grand influx of heavenly and earthly spiritual energy, even though I constantly felt external spiritual energy gently filtering in."
Luo Chen could not quite understand how external spiritual energy could actively seep into his body without him actively running a cultivation art.
After mulling it over for a long while without an answer, he simply let it go.
Or rather, he had grown accustomed to such mysteries.
The path of cultivation was inherently like this: at any given realm, a cultivator often knew what happened without knowing why.
Only upon ascending to higher realms and looking back would enlightenment strike, revealing the true mechanics of what had occurred.
When that time came, moved by their revelations, cultivators would stand at a higher vantage point to compose texts and formulate techniques for later generations to follow.
Later practitioners would then follow those arts step by step, gradually attaining the heights of their predecessors even without fully understanding every nuance.
On a grander scale, this was what was meant by legacy!
Having accepted his current situation, Luo Chen swiftly laid out his plan for the immediate future.
Namely: do not cultivate!
His realm had advanced too rapidly. Even if the foundation appeared solid, an unsettling unease lingered in his heart.
Regarding the cultivation art itself, Luo Chen felt there was still room for fine-tuning.
Therefore, he would not rush to push his cultivation forward, prioritizing the stabilization of his realm above all else.
***
With no hurry to cultivate, Luo Chen's days abruptly turned leisurely.
After meeting with the Fu grandfather and granddaughter, he explained that his strength had suffered no impairment. Seeing their lingering disbelief, Luo Chen revealed a fraction of his prowess.
A single cast of his signature spell, the Qingyang Great Handprint, unleashed immense might, barely managing to put their worries to rest.
Luo Chen was in no rush to prove himself further; after all, he held total confidence in his own abilities.
Aside from refining his cultivation art, he devoted his spare time to alchemy.
Whether it was the Hongyuan Pill or the Great Soul Pill, his proficiency in both had previously hit a bottleneck at the perfection stage.
The reason for the stall had nothing to do with his alchemy skills; it was purely a shortage of medicinal ingredients.
After Fu Chaosheng delivered vast quantities of resources, Luo Chen was finally able to fire up his cauldrons again to grind his proficiency.
He had timed everything meticulously.
By the time he raised his proficiency to the grandmaster level, his realm would be thoroughly stabilized.
When he resumed his cultivation then, he would have high-grade Hongyuan Pills and high-grade Great Soul Pills to assist him, allowing his cultivation to surge forward once more.
Everything was neatly organized, peaceful and delightful!
Perhaps still uneasy about Luo Chen's condition, Fu Qinglan visited Cave Jia-78 with increasing frequency while he refined pills behind closed doors.
Her stays grew longer as well.
Their interactions gradually evolved from stiff unfamiliarity into natural camaraderie.
Luo Chen did not object to this dynamic. He was well aware that the Tianyuan Dao Sect's five-hundred-year grand competition would be far from simple.
According to historical records, while the expedition to the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven had never resulted in any cultivator's death, reaping bountiful rewards required absolute trust between participant and Dao Protector.
Luo Chen seized this opportunity to foster tacit understanding between them.
As for how to foster it?
Through games of weiqi!
Inside the cave abode, across the small confines of the board, the man found himself hard-pressed at every turn, while the woman maneuvered with effortless composure.
"I bump!"
"I press! No, you should extend here—if you don't push out, how will you fight your way out?"
"You press too tightly. I am surrounded on all sides, hemmed in by ambushes."
"Then bridge across! Didn't I teach you the cross-board bridging technique? That *Spring Mountain Hall Chess Manual* documents seven solutions for this exact situation in detail."
"I remember it clearly, of course, but you've obviously laid a hidden move waiting here, haven't you?"
"So you saw through it after all."
The young woman smiled faintly, placing a stone that instantly formed a dragon-slaying net.
Helpless, Luo Chen scattered the stones in his hand and conceded with graceful ease.
He had come to realize that while this woman might lack the seasoned bearing of a Nascent Soul True Person in interpersonal affairs due to her sheltered upbringing, on the weiqi board she possessed immense confidence, exuding a decisive lethality capable of dictating life and death.
If she could translate that temperament into her everyday conduct, she would no longer be someone whose prowess existed merely on paper.
As Fu Qinglan gathered the stones, she asked seemingly in passing, "Has Brother Luo studied those twelve opponents?"
Luo Chen smiled faintly, speaking with quiet assurance. "I have reviewed the intelligence reports and analyzed most of them."
"Lin Bufan's Dao Protector is Lin Jingtang, a former servant of the Lin family who never formally joined the Tianyuan Dao Sect, spending years wandering the outer provinces. He formed his Nascent Soul at the age of four hundred and seventy-eight. His innate talent is average, but his combat prowess is outstanding, and he wields a True Artifact known as the Panic Bell..."
"Yu Xu's Dao Protector is the master of the Southern Border's declining sect, the Tianshan Cult, taking the sect's name as his moniker—True Person Tianshan. He only recently formed his Nascent Soul, so by rights he shouldn't be much of a threat. However, anyone who can cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage in a place like the Southern Border must possess unique methods. I will remain wary of his Gu techniques."
"As for Gu Yuan, the scion of a Great Clan..."
At that name, Luo Chen paused, as if recalling a familiar place buried deep in his memories.
Fu Qinglan waited eagerly for him to continue.
Luo Chen chuckled softly and elaborated smoothly.
"His Dao Protector is Mou Jianxiong from the Mou family, one of the Thirty-Six Clans. This man cannot be underestimated. Though born of an aristocratic family, he was educated by the Gu Great Clan from childhood. However, he specializes in the water method; I am confident I can counter him using the principles of mutual restraint between water and fire."
"As for the Dao Protector representing the Shi family disciple, the intelligence is somewhat ambiguous..."
Luo Chen spoke methodically, his words radiating supreme confidence.
Listening to him, Fu Qinglan felt a weight lift from her heart.
He had not been indifferent, as he appeared on the surface; in truth, he had committed every opponent to memory as thoroughly as possible.
Finally, Luo Chen added, "Of course, these are merely paper analyses. Specific situations require specific responses. If I could observe them in person, or see projection records of them fighting, I would be far more confident."
Fu Qinglan nodded in agreement.
"Very true. After all, intelligence can easily be falsified to mislead others."
Suddenly, she shifted the topic.
"Right now, there is actually an opportunity for you to see these people."
"Oh?" Luo Chen raised an eyebrow, his interest piqued.
Ever since arriving in the Central Plains, he had barely interacted with the local Nascent Soul True Persons.
Even among the outer-province cultivators on Heaven and Earth Peak, aside from that late Nascent Soul elder, he had maintained little contact with anyone.
If there was a chance to make their acquaintance, he certainly wouldn't refuse.
"Tomorrow, the Peach Garden will open. Mingren Dao Yin is going to challenge the Chess Saint, Ke Lianshan. When the time comes, winds and clouds will stir from all quarters, gathering heroes from far and wide. Brother Luo, why not come with me? You can use the occasion to gauge the depth of our rivals."
The Peach Garden: the cultivation abode of Ke Lianshan, the Chess Saint.
Compared to those competitors, Luo Chen was far more intrigued by this legendary Chess Saint.
Anyone hailed as a "Saint" had to be someone who had reached the pinnacle of their chosen craft, just like the Alchemy Saint Chu Yan.
Moreover, that Chess Saint was a late Nascent Soul grand cultivator!
To be candid, Luo Chen had felt somewhat unaccustomed to things since arriving in the Central Plains.
In the Eastern Desolation and the Northern Sea, Nascent Soul True Persons were rare sights, yet in the Central Plains they seemed to be everywhere.
Step out the door, and with a glance up or down, one might stumble upon a Nascent Soul True Person.
This had thoroughly washed away any pride he had felt from finally attaining this realm.
Naturally, he understood this was an anomaly.
The Central Plains was where the very essence of the Mountain Sea Realm converged.
Since antiquity, it was also the sole land of peace that had never suffered the ravages of demon beasts.
With thousands of years of accumulation, possessing such profound heritage was only natural.
"I've been cooped up here for long enough. A visit sounds fine!"
Luo Chen stood up, stretched his limbs, and agreed.
"Splendid! I will make the arrangements today and secure an invitation for you!"
Fu Qinglan happily took her leave from Luo Chen's cave abode.
Watching her lively departure, Luo Chen shook his head with a faint smile, wondering whether she was thrilled because he had taken her affairs to heart, or simply excited to witness a grand spectacle in the world of weiqi.
Chapter 744