How was he to heal Canglong?
For any Golden Core cultivator, this was an exceedingly thorny problem.
Her injuries stemmed from a failed breakthrough to the Nascent Soul realm, which had gravely damaged all three treasures—essence, qi, and spirit.
To preserve her life, Canglong had forcibly sealed herself using an Ice Fort secret art.
To undo that seal, one needed strength surpassing Canglong's original cultivation.
In other words, the Nascent Soul stage!
That condition alone had completely blocked Fairy Jueqing and the others from rescuing her.
Not only that, but under Luo Chen's inspection, another restriction blocked outside divine sense from probing further.
"Han Zhan left this behind!"
Inside the cave abode, Luo Chen released his divine sense, gently permeating the ice coffin.
He had not yet learned the sealing technique known as the Ice Extremity Seal, so he could not immediately unravel Canglong's seal to forcibly awaken her. However, he could already wield his formidable divine sense to examine her condition.
He recognized Han Zhan's soul restriction at a glance.
This restriction was not difficult; it could be undone with the Kai Mao Art.
What was truly difficult was what would happen to Canglong after the restriction and the seal were undone.
"Her sea of qi is damaged, and her Golden Core lies dormant. It can be repaired with a Canghai Pill, supplemented by other gentle elixirs to slowly mend it.
"She does not lack mana. There is indeed a concealed, vast reservoir of mana around her heart apertures. Once Canglong regains consciousness, it can revitalize her Golden Core in an instant.
"What truly restrains her is the trauma to her soul."
In Luo Chen's perception, two faint souls seemed to reside within Canglong's sea of consciousness.
It looked very similar to the soul-splitting method he cultivated, but in reality, both of those souls were fragmented and incomplete.
After a brief moment of thought, Luo Chen understood why.
When a cultivator attempted to break through to Nascent Soul, they needed to achieve the unification of the three treasures, shattering the core to form the nascent soul!
These three treasures—essence, qi, and spirit—demanded harmony.
Back when Luo Chen broke through, his physical body had already reached the fourth tier. At the peak of the Great Perfection of the Golden Core, his mana was nearly on par with that of an early Nascent Soul cultivator, and his soul had long stood superior among his peers. All three had achieved an ultimate equilibrium, resulting in an exceptionally powerful Nascent Soul.
Yet for ordinary cultivators, the requirement for the physical body among the three treasures was actually the lowest.
The real struggle lay in the delicate contest between divine sense and mana.
Canglong's mana was overly potent, while her soul was slightly lacking, which upset the balance among essence, qi, and spirit.
Furthermore, she had not attempted her breakthrough in a safe environment; the threat of the White Bone Black Serpent lurking outside had burdened her mind with even more worries.
In her effort to forcibly suppress her surging mana under the pounding thunder tribulation, her soul had been split apart.
Ordinarily, a cultivator in such a state would surely perish.
Yet Han Zhan, an expert in the Dao of the soul, happened to be by her side. He had forcefully gathered her fractured soul and placed her into the ice coffin, which was why she had lingered on until now.
Once he understood this, a path to healing Canglong became clear.
He simply needed to repair her soul!
In this regard, Luo Chen truly possessed experience!
Black King had been saved by his hand.
Yet that raised another problem. The true savior of Black King had been the remnant soul of the desolate beast stone dragon. Where could Luo Chen find another remnant soul to use now?
Even if he had one, Canglong was human; Luo Chen would not dare to fuse a beast soul into her at will.
For a moment, Luo Chen found himself in a dilemma.
Yet as his divine sense swept across the woman's head once more, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.
Back when they were treating Black King, Han Zhan had mentioned researching a method meant specifically to cure Canglong.
Unfortunately, by the time they reached the North Sea, that method could only be applied to Black King.
It involved strengthening the patient's own soul to let them save themselves.
Back then, Luo Chen had lacked other resources, so he could only use the remnant soul of the desolate beast stone dragon as a desperate, last-ditch effort.
Now, however, he possessed abundant resources!
The Great Soul Pill!
This was the very elixir Luo Chen used specifically to nourish and strengthen his split souls.
Both of his split souls had been nurtured step-by-step from his Golden Core days.
Drawing parallels, Luo Chen's mind raced with possibilities.
"Right now, Canglong's primary soul has split, just like mine had back then. This is the perfect opportunity to cultivate the Soul Splitting Art. If she can seize this chance to sever out a split soul and nourish it with Great Soul Pills, she will not only mend her divine soul, but also gain an extra split soul.
"Furthermore, once her soul strengthens, she will be able to flawlessly control the immense mana within her body.
"So long as her physical vessel remains undamaged, she might even have a chance to forcibly charge into the Nascent Soul realm again the moment she awakens."
The thought stirred his heart.
Yet another dilemma arose.
Presently, Canglong was unconscious. How could she cultivate a new technique? She likely lacked even the energy to refine a Great Soul Pill.
"Am I merely indulging in wishful thinking?"
Luo Chen could not help feeling dejected.
With a sigh, he waved his hand to cast several restrictions, thoroughly sealing the ice coffin once more.
A viable treatment plan would have to be researched step-by-step to ensure nothing went wrong.
***
The Ice Fort disciples seeking refuge brought no trouble to Luo Chen.
Within Lingtian Pass, many were eager to give him face, let alone over a mere dozen unimportant female cultivators.
On the contrary, with Fairy Jueqing's arrival, the Luotian Sect gained quite a bit.
The reason was simple!
Had Luo Chen not distributed a large batch of talismans earlier?
Those talismans had mostly been allocated to low-tier disciples to prepare for battle.
Yet talismans were far from as simple as they seemed.
Crafting and deploying them were both full of profound intricacies.
The Divine Talisman Sect sold countless talismans, yet maintained its exalted standing in the Dao of talismans precisely because they possessed a core method for how to wield them.
That was a technique Luo Chen had always desired.
Neither Lord Lushan nor Elder Fu would part with it lightly.
This time, however, Fairy Jueqing took the initiative to instruct the Luotian Sect cultivators on how to properly deploy talismans.
She was accustomed to dealing with Luo Chen on the basis of trade.
Yet because Luo Chen had agreed to save her senior sister without demanding any compensation, she felt uneasy simply accepting his favor.
Fairy Jueqing was an adept of talisman craft herself; back in the day, she had gifted Luo Chen third-tier Ice God Talismans and Black Ice Talismans, which spoke volumes of her skill.
Under her guidance, the Luotian Sect cultivators swiftly learned techniques and insights for handling talismans—how to prime them in advance without releasing the power, how to unleash them rapidly without dampening their might, and how to coordinate different talismans in battle.
What Luo Chen had long sought in vain was delivered right to him in this manner.
"So it is that simple?"
Luo Chen gazed at the Blazing Sun Talisman held primed in his hand, sensing the volatile might that could be detonated at any moment.
Normally, activating a talisman required infusing mana, then using divine sense to steer it toward the enemy while ensuring it did not harm oneself.
Under Fairy Jueqing's method, one only had to separate a small seed of mana in advance and affix it to the talisman. When the time came, a simple thought from one's divine sense would trigger it.
This bypassed the need to channel mana—a step that seemed brief, but could feel agonizingly slow in the heat of battle.
Of course, some things looked as thin and simple as a paper windowpane.
Yet without an experienced master pointing the way, one might spend a lifetime without piercing that flimsy barrier.
Moreover, affixing a mana seed required special finesse; it was far more nuanced than simply casting a burst of mana ahead of time.
"And this is merely Fairy Jueqing's personal insight. The Divine Talisman Sect must possess even more ingenious arts of talisman control!"
Luo Chen sighed in admiration and put the Blazing Sun Talisman away.
At his current cultivation realm, these were ultimately minor arts, serving only as supplementary tricks.
His primary focus remained on his prior plans.
There was no rush to concoct Lingfengzi's pill.
His reputation was already established; if he refined it too quickly, others might come knocking with pill requests of their own.
That would only consume too much of his time.
Drawing out the refining process would also emphasize how arduous the task was.
For now, he intended to forge Caiyi's natal treasure first.
With both the blueprint and the primary material in hand, the task was not difficult for him, especially since he possessed the Hunyuan Cauldron!
When he forged the Xuanchen Armor back then, this cauldron had displayed extraordinary properties, granting an astonishingly high success rate.
Later, Luo Chen came to understand that the credit belonged to the drop of blood from the Heaven Refining Demon Lord.
After entering the Land of the Fallen Demon, he had realized why the demon lord's blood was so miraculous: the man had been an all-around genius who wielded supreme mastery over artifact forging as well.
In that sense, while Luo Chen had seemingly only inherited his alchemy legacy, had he not also claimed a fraction of his artifact-forging heritage?
"The Nine Nether Phantasm Python is of the water element."
A wisp of mana seeped into the great tendon, faintly stirring its vitality and blood qi.
The aroma of that blood qi was rich, refreshing, and intoxicating.
"It carries a bewitching fragrance capable of confusing a cultivator's sense of smell, and even influencing their divine sense. This is merely a single tendon; if a Nine Nether Phantasm Python were in its prime, it could likely sway even Nascent Soul cultivators."
Luo Chen praised it softly, then retrieved a jade bottle from his storage ring.
Facing this bottle, Luo Chen's expression grew noticeably solemn.
Contained within was the Mingyuan Sect's most celebrated treasure—Ming Water!
Rumor held that this was one of the world's extraordinary waters. Any living creature that touched it would have their flesh corroded away, and even magical treasures and sharp armaments could hardly resist it.
Its wonder surpassed even Profound Origin Heavy Water, Ren Water, and Heavenly One True Water.
Even the Yellow Springs surrounding Soul Severing Cliff and the black water of the Sunken Sea were said to pale slightly in comparison.
And the Mingyuan Sect possessed an abundance of such miraculous water!
It formed an entire abyss encircling their sect grounds, making it impassable to any living creature!
In this regard, among the five great sacred grounds of the Mountain Sea Realm, excluding the Tianyuan Dao Sect of the Central Plains, the other four were all built amidst perilous, forbidden lands, extraordinarily easy to defend and difficult to attack.
The Arctic Yama Heavens of the Yuan Demon Sect, the Nether Abyss of the Mingyuan Sect, the Verdant Mist Screen of the Hanging Temple, and... the Gate of Life and Death of the Gate of Life and Death.
The Gate of Life and Death was peculiar; the forbidden land shared the exact same name as the sect itself.
Setting that aside for now, Luo Chen looked at the Ming Water in the bottle, eager to test it.
"I wonder if my Hunyuan Cauldron can withstand the corrosion of Ming Water?"
He was tempted to test it, but ultimately refrained.
If he damaged his natal treasure, he would have nowhere to weep.
"After the patrol mission concludes, Caiyi should be finishing her secluded cultivation as well. Gifting her a natal treasure upon my return would be just right."
Luo Chen smiled faintly and, without further hesitation, began the preparations for forging the treasure.
***
Time drifted by.
In the blink of an eye, over a year had passed since Luo Chen's arrival at Lingtian Pass.
For the cultivators of the pass, this year had been relatively peaceful.
Though scouting patrols occasionally ran into beast attacks, they never encountered large-scale demon armies.
The high-tier cultivators naturally had no desire to fight to the death against cruel Demon Kings and Demon Emperors either.
Luo Chen rarely showed himself in the city, and even other Nascent Soul cultivators hesitated to disturb him.
Everyone knew that at Lingfengzi's behest, he was wholeheartedly concocting an important pill.
To prevent Luo Chen from being disturbed, Lingfengzi had even taken the initiative to accept a minor mission on his behalf, heading outside the pass to scout demon activity in an overrun domain.
When Luo Chen later learned of this, he felt somewhat guilty.
He had not even begun refining Lingfengzi's pill.
Although the pill recipe had long been thoroughly analyzed by his Red Dog puppet, Luo Chen had spent most of his energy over the past year refining Crimson Firmament Qi and forging Gu Caiyi's natal treasure.
On this day!
Luo Chen floated in midair, his sharp eyes fixed intently on the cauldron below.
Flames danced, and spiritual energy surged like steam.
The cauldron's mouth seemed like a miniature world of its own.
Inside, a sinuous, elongated object resembling a dragon or a python swam continually, spitting out wisps of demonic qi from time to time.
"If this treasure is to manifest the Demon Emperor's true form in the future, its demonic power must be preserved. Yet to prevent the cultivator from being corrupted during refinement, additional restrictions and formations must be placed upon it.
"For me, that is not difficult!"
With a faint smile, Luo Chen formed hand seals and cast one art after another, driving them into the elongated object.
Vast amounts of blood qi were suppressed and sealed.
The great tendon seemed to retain a lingering sliver of sentience. Unwilling to become another's weapon, it suddenly erupted with a final burst of power.
In the midst of casting his arts, Luo Chen inadvertently inhaled a trace.
Yet he paid it no heed; with his robust physique, such power could not sway him in the slightest.
The illusion in his eyes began to disperse before it could even fully form.
"If the Nine Nether Phantasm Python stood before me in the flesh, perhaps I would need to be cautious. But a mere remnant power from a single tendon thinks it can conjure illusions to confound my mind...? Huh?"
Luo Chen's hands paused slightly.
With that brief pause, the long whip surged upward, projecting the phantom of a vibrant, multi-colored python within the cauldron.
Was this the true form of the Nine Nether Phantasm Python?
Luo Chen gave a cold snort and cast the final restriction.
In an instant, all the formations and restrictions fused into a unified whole, generating a powerful pulling force that forcibly dragged the multicolored phantom back into the whip.
With a thought, Luo Chen dispersed the Wither-Bloom True Fire.
Beckoning with his hand, the whip flew into his grasp.
Sensing its quality, a look of regret crossed his face.
Mid-grade!
It was only a hair's breadth away from being high-grade!
This should not have happened.
Back then, he had forged the high-grade Xuanchen Armor using only the remains of a black tortoise.
Now, this whip had been forged with the remains of a Demon Emperor as its primary material, and had even incorporated extraordinary Ming Water, yet it was merely mid-grade.
The reason was not a lack of forging skill.
Rather, at the final moment, his focus had slipped, causing a slight misalignment in the integration of the formations and restrictions, which impaired the treasure's grade.
What had distracted him was that final burst of python demonic qi from the tendon.
By all rights, such demonic qi could not possibly affect him.
Indeed, Luo Chen had not been corrupted.
Yet just as that illusion hovered on the verge of forming, a sense of familiarity had welled up within him, sparking a sudden train of thought.
A single stray thought had caused him to fall short at the final hurdle.
Gripping the scorching whip, Luo Chen captured that sudden flash of inspiration.
Hallucinations... illusions.
Python demonic qi... mirage beast cloud qi!
With a flick of his left hand, a mist-shrouded core appeared in his palm.
It was the trophy from his final battle before leaving the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven: the mirage core of a mid-fourth-tier mirage beast.
He had secretly brought it out with him; the Tianyuan Dao Sect knew nothing of it, and even Fu Qinglan had never mentioned it to her sect.
Gazing at the mirage core, Luo Chen lapsed into a long silence.
"If I use this treasure as the core, could I reforge the Ghost-God Heart-Interrogation Mirror?"
Chapter 804