Deep in the subterranean earth veins of Mount Daqing.
Luo Chen stood within an underground cavern, a faint look of delight showing on his face.
The Black King had not lied to him—a spiritual aperture truly had formed here!
As chance would have it, when Fenghua Palace fell and the formation encircling and constraining its spirit vein was breached, though spiritual energy did not scatter outward entirely, its binding force had undeniably weakened.
Combined with the Black King's innate talent for gathering spiritual energy, a fourth-tier spiritual aperture had been forcibly coalesced right at this earth-vein node.
If nourished well from here on and supplemented by spirit-gathering arrays, perhaps in a hundred years or so, Baili Qingchuan might even spontaneously give birth to a genuine fourth-tier spirit vein!
Had this happened in the past, Luo Chen would have been overjoyed.
Now, however, his pleasure lasted only a fleeting moment.
"Baili Qingchuan is simply too small after all."
"Never mind founding an entire sect; it's far from enough to sustain even my own cultivation alone, even with this extra fourth-tier spiritual aperture."
The smile on Luo Chen's face slowly faded.
He glanced at the puppet standing behind him, entirely enveloped under a black robe.
"Jinling..." Luo Chen shook his head. The name felt distasteful on his tongue. "From now on, I will call you Jin San."
Having settled on a name, with a thought, Jin San leapt down into the spiritual aperture and sat cross-legged.
Drawn by the puppet, vast amounts of spiritual energy began converging toward its body.
Puppets had to be refined, but even more, they had to be nurtured!
Back then, the puppet crafted from Mi Shuhua's mortal remains had been the same.
Tianxingzi had found a second-tier spirit vein to nourish it for years before a junior disciple finally came to collect it.
Luo Chen's puppet possessed far greater foundation and utilized far more precious materials. In particular, Luo Chen had even integrated his own flesh and blood into it, crafting it with his own hands by fusing the techniques of the Luoyun Sect with the ancient art of puppetry. The conditions required to nourish it were naturally far more demanding.
This fourth-tier spiritual aperture had come at the perfect time!
"Nourish yourself well, and deepen your grasp of the puppet dao while you are at it,"
Luo Chen instructed, then turned and walked outward.
Next, he had to return to Lingtian Pass.
* * *
*Whoosh!*
A flying shuttle tore through the clouds, streaking across the sky.
Within it sat the white-robed Daoist, continuously casting incantation seals into a ring hovering in midair.
Suddenly, his hand swept across. Golden light flared brightly from the ring, then vanished without a trace.
"Finally unsealed!"
This ring was none other than Jinling's storage ring!
In the past, unraveling the storage ring of a cultivator of the same realm would have taken Luo Chen anywhere from six months to several years.
Yet with his formation attainment rising to the fourth tier and his divine soul foundation growing increasingly formidable, unraveling lingering restrictions had become fairly easy.
This time, in only about a month, he had smoothly broken through the restrictions Jinling left behind.
With a shift in thought, his divine sense probed inside.
Only after quite a while did Luo Chen slowly withdraw his divine sense, several booklets now resting in his hands.
*Three Life-Taking Golden Plumes.*
*Five Elements Divine Pill.*
*Gold Escape Art.*
...
Jinling's legacy was far shabbier than imagined.
Whether spirit stones or pills, there were precious few.
This actually matched the reality facing most cultivators after more than a century of warfare: directly usable cultivation resources were growing ever scarcer.
What he possessed in greatest abundance was instead a wide variety of ores.
That was also the most valuable portion of his legacy.
If Luo Chen needed to forge any magic treasures in the future, those ores would come in handy.
Right now, however, what interested him most were these technique manuals and texts from the Five Elements Divine Sect.
"Why is there a pill recipe?"
Luo Chen picked up the recipe for the Five Elements Divine Pill and flipped through it.
Luo Chen was well aware of this renowned pill; back when he formed his Golden Core, Jin Buque had sent him one as a celebratory gift.
He had taken it himself!
Though both were crafted according to the principle of balancing the five elements, the Five Elements Divine Pill was vastly superior to the Fanxing Pill.
Yet as his horizons broadened, while Luo Chen still appreciated the Five Elements Divine Pill, he also felt that dubbing it a "divine pill" was somewhat overstated.
Now, however, as Luo Chen read through the recipe, astonishment crept onto his face.
"It's an incomplete recipe?"
Never had he imagined that the Divine Sect's most celebrated Five Elements Divine Pill was actually derived solely from a fragmented recipe.
This manuscript was clearly a transcript, recording the general background: a complete Five Elements Divine Pill, once concocted, was meant to be at the fifth tier.
Truly worthy of the name "divine pill"!
The reason the Five Elements Divine Sect could not craft it was simply that far too much of the original content was missing.
It contained only the underlying medicinal theory and names of a few materials.
If graded by completeness, it likely possessed only ten to twenty percent, making it even more fragmented than the recipe for the Empowerment Pill.
"It's missing far too much. Even I couldn't complete this recipe."
After merely skimming over it, Luo Chen abandoned any thought of completing the pill recipe.
Too many specific names of ingredients were missing. At best, he could construct a theoretical framework based on medicinal principles, but he would have zero control over how the medicinal properties would actually interact and evolve.
He could sink hundreds of years into it and still see no results.
Putting away the recipe for the Five Elements Divine Pill, Luo Chen cast his gaze over the other booklets.
He passed right over the unimportant ones, which could later serve as lower-tier inheritances for the Luotian Sect.
Finally, his attention settled on the two highest-tier manuals.
*Three Life-Taking Golden Plumes* was presumably Jinling's core cultivation method, as well as the origin of his Daoist moniker.
After browsing through it, Luo Chen saw that this was an exceptionally complete fourth-tier metal-attribute cultivation method.
Not only did it detail the corresponding cultivation methods, but it also included three fourth-tier metal-attribute spells and the refining method for a Natal Golden Plume.
[Take the plume of a brocade pheasant, supplemented by a large quantity of Gengjin... If Nine Yang Gengjin is available, it is best!]
"The plume of a brocade pheasant?" Luo Chen narrowed his eyes slightly. He did know of this demon beast.
According to rumor, the true form of Jinxiu Xian, whom he had encountered earlier, was a brocade pheasant.
Such beasts were entirely ordinary in all respects, aside from their striking beauty and gorgeous plumage.
For Jinxiu Xian to achieve the Great Demon Emperor realm from the body of a brocade pheasant was truly remarkable.
Yet who would have thought that their plumes, after specialized refinement, could possess such terrifying offensive slaughter power?
Gengjin?
Luo Chen recalled that he still had a piece of top-quality Nine Yang Gengjin sitting idle in his possession.
"If I used my Nine Yang Gengjin along with Jinxiu Xian's plumes to refine a Life-Taking Golden Plume, its might would surely be even more formidable!"
Luo Chen chuckled and set the manual down.
Yet he suddenly picked it back up and examined it for a moment.
The Five Elements Divine Sect, as its name implied, was a sect that walked the Dao of the Five Elements. At its zenith, it boasted not only Supreme Elder Perfected Shenyuan but also the Five Peak Elders, making it arguably the most formidable among the newly risen Nascent Soul upper sects in the Eastern Desolation.
Even compared to the Dongyang Sect and the Tiandu Sect, it was not in the least inferior.
Luo Chen had never seen the cultivation methods of True Person Shenhuo or True Person Linmu, but judging from Jinling's manual, he clearly walked the extreme of a single attribute.
Practicing this way not only brought exceptionally rapid progress, but combat strength was also formidable.
Luo Chen himself had realized this later on, focusing all his energy on the fire attribute.
That raised a question.
Just how strong was that old scoundrel Shenyuan, who cultivated all five elements concurrently?
Though defeated by Qingshuang, he was the sole survivor among the three great cultivators who escaped Mount Cangwu alive.
Could such a figure truly be afraid to come up Mount Daqing merely because Luo Chen had joined forces with Jiuling Yuanjun?
Grasping the book, Luo Chen narrowed his eyes.
"It seems his injuries from Mount Cangwu were far graver than I imagined!"
Muttering to himself, Luo Chen casually picked up the remaining manual, *Gold Escape Art*.
* * *
The moment he returned to Lingtian Pass, Luo Chen sensed an unusual atmosphere.
The Nascent Soul cultivators in the city were not leisurely as usual; instead, they were actively patrolling everywhere.
As though on guard against something?
Luo Chen immediately sought out Lin Qingxuan, who was closest by, to inquire about the situation.
"What happened?"
Lin Qingxuan shook his head. "I don't know either. Only that half a month ago, Dao Child Lei from the Mingyuan Sect arrived. Afterward, Castellan Lingtian ordered us to be on high alert and patrol everywhere."
Hearing the title "Dao Child Lei," Luo Chen's expression shifted slightly.
Why was he back?
And as soon as he returned, he made such a display—could he truly have captured Gao Chang?
If true, why hadn't he taken the man back to the Mingyuan Sect, or simply executed him? What was the meaning of bringing him to Lingtian Pass?
Countless questions arose in his mind.
Lin Qingxuan did not understand why he looked so unsettled, and instead asked about another matter.
"Pavilion Master Li is dead. What about the Jade Sovereign Clear Pupil Liquid...?"
Luo Chen gathered himself and offered a strained smile. "The original transaction was spearheaded by him and me, but you were involved as well. Now that he is dead, do you wish to continue the deal?"
Lin Qingxuan's face lit up with delight. "The Pill Master is still willing to continue the transaction?"
Luo Chen reined in his emotions and calmed down. "You and I share some acquaintance, and the recipe originated from the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect. If you wish to continue, I naturally won't refuse. However, you will have to supply the herbs that the Wan Jian Pavilion previously provided."
"That is no problem!" Lin Qingxuan answered without hesitation.
Luo Chen nodded. "As for the distribution, given Pavilion Master Li's unfortunate demise, it must also be readjusted."
Lin Qingxuan also nodded. "I am not one to overstep. How about we go by the fifty-fifty split you originally proposed?"
In the original negotiation, Luo Chen had initially proposed a fifty-fifty split, claiming half for himself.
Later, Luo Chen had conceded to a forty-sixty split—forty percent for him, sixty percent shared between Wan Jian Pavilion and Jade Cauldron Sword Sect. How the Wan Jian Pavilion and the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect divided their portion was their own business.
Now, recognizing the imbalance in strength between the two sides, Lin Qingxuan yielded immediately.
And yet!
"An eighty-twenty split. Eighty for me, twenty for you," Luo Chen said flatly.
Lin Qingxuan's pupils contracted in disbelief.
"If you agree, we continue cooperating. If not, I don't mind spending a bit more effort sending people to gather those low-tier ingredients myself."
Beneath his calm words lay an unmistakable, overbearing stance.
Lin Qingxuan clenched his fists subconsciously, his nails nearly biting into his flesh.
Soon, however, his hands relaxed dejectedly, and he even forced a smile onto his face.
"Eighty-twenty it is!"
Luo Chen let out a light laugh. "You certainly know when to yield. Rest assured, I won't let you suffer a loss. My alchemy grows by the day, so the Jade Sovereign Clear Pupil Liquid I concoct will only get better and better."
Lin Qingxuan offered a forced smile.
"I plan to find time to host a gathering for our fellow Daoists at Shouyang Mountain. Fellow Daoist Lin, you are welcome to come and show your support when the time comes."
Leaving behind those words, Luo Chen floated away.
He left Lin Qingxuan standing frozen in place, the forced smile fading into utter dejection.
The gap between him and Luo Chen was growing wider and wider.
Not only in strength, but in status as well.
Especially without Pavilion Master Li, he didn't even have the standing to bargain before Luo Chen anymore.
Yet he could not give up on the Jade Sovereign Clear Pupil Liquid!
Having experienced the spirit liquid's efficacy, he knew it was the only thing capable of boosting his strength most rapidly in the short term.
And at present, only Luo Chen could refine it.
Besides, he had only received twenty percent before; keeping things as they were wasn't necessarily bad.
It was just that a sliver of indignation remained in his chest!
* * *
Luo Chen did not care what the other man thought.
As far as he was concerned, he had actually been softhearted.
Without Pavilion Master Li, he had no need whatsoever to continue the transaction.
However, considering the persona he had cultivated, turning hostile and heartless would easily invite gossip. Furthermore, with the Luotian Sect currently short-handed, dispatching people to gather those ingredients would stretch their resources thin.
Therefore, he had chosen to continue trading with Lin Qingxuan.
What concerned him most right now was the situation surrounding Dao Child Lei of the Mingyuan Sect.
The moment he returned to Mount Danluo, Luo Chen began penning invitations in person.
[I recall the days of old, discoursing on the Dao at Shouyang, raising cups and mingling amid boundless joy. Yet after Lingtian was breached, our peers were scattered in all directions, our paths seldom crossing. I still remember Shouyang Shanren's words before his departure, expressing a wish to gather at Shouyang once more after the war...]
His brush swept across the paper, the characters emerging as the ink dried.
Affixing his signature, Luo Chen handed it to a disciple.
"Deliver this to the First Palace Master of Fenghua Palace!"
Then, he set his brush to paper again.
"This one goes to Jiuling Yuanjun."
"This one to..."
In a brief span, over a dozen invitations were sent out from Luo Chen's hands.
Among the recipients were not only those on good terms with him, but also casual acquaintances.
Toward the end, Luo Chen even sent invitations to Nascent Soul True Persons whose names he had only heard but whom he had never met.
In the quiet of the night, Luo Chen sat alone, deep in thought.
"After a great war, one should keep a low profile and recuperate."
"Yet if my earlier conjectures hold true, the situation ahead may instantly reach a boiling point, and even Soul Formation almighty experts could intervene."
"Under such circumstances, that the Mingyuan Sect remains secretive is truly contemptible!"
"Only by uniting can we force them to take a clear stance."
"The Shouyang Dao Discourse was originally on their turf. Now that I am convening it again in my name, they surely cannot remain indifferent!"
Even after thinking this through, Luo Chen still felt uneasy.
Convening the Shouyang Dao Discourse Gathering under his own name was not merely to press the Mingyuan Sect for the truth; it was also an opportunity to see how they truly viewed him.
Over the years, the residences of other Nascent Soul True Persons had shifted repeatedly.
He alone had received Castellan Lingtian's special favor, dwelling by himself atop the richly spiritual Mount Danluo.
This detail alone showed something was afoot!
As long as he ascertained the Mingyuan Sect's attitude toward him, Luo Chen could act with far greater precision and purpose in the future.
"I hope they don't disappoint me."
Murmuring to himself, Luo Chen picked up that manual, *Gold Escape Art*, once more.
The five elements escape arts were undeniably among the most exquisite of five elements spells, spanning all the way from the second tier to the fourth tier.
For so many years, Luo Chen had never mastered any escape art.
While part of the reason was that his innate speed was already blistering and made such escape arts unnecessary, it was also partly due to a lack of affinity.
Now, taking inspiration from the *Gold Escape Art* as a stone from another mountain to polish his own jade, he felt a faint flicker of inspiration.
* * *
At the same time, the invitation Luo Chen sent to the newly arrived Nascent Soul True Person from the Dongyang Sect was laid out within the Castellan's Estate.
"Fellow Daoist Jiao, you may head back for now."
Elder Jiao of the Dongyang Sect cupped his hands and respectfully withdrew.
Looking at the invitation in his hand, Castellan Lingtian fell into contemplation.
Footsteps sounded outside the hall. Without even looking up, he said, "Junior Brother Zhang, you've arrived."
A figure swayed into view as a handsome, tall man appeared before Castellan Lingtian, casually picking up the invitation.
"Heh. We just issued orders to patrol Lingtian and place the entire city under martial law, yet this Luo Chen is privately inviting fellow Daoists to a gathering. He truly acts without fear!"
Castellan Lingtian raised his head to look at his junior brother, whose growing power inspired wariness even in him.
"Pill Master Luo Chen is a talent personally requested by the sect. Naturally he has nothing to fear."
Zhang Che raised an eyebrow and slipped the invitation directly into his sleeve.
"Fittingly enough, when the time comes, I, Dao Child Lei, shall attend the gathering!"
Chapter 845