Within the boundless abyss, the black water suddenly parted, revealing a vast expanse of greenish-yellow.
It looked like solid land.
Looking closer, one found that although it was rounded, it had sharp edges and ridges.
*Splash!*
Amid endless churning waves, an enormous neck suddenly jutted out.
A snake-like head reared high, drawing in and exhaling black water, and opened its maw with a low bellow.
"Moo—!"
A cry like a deep bovine bellow, yet also like a stifled serpentine hiss, slowly rippled outward.
*Boom!*
The black water plunged back into the abyss. The behemoth bobbed up and down in the watery mist, quietly looking down upon the few figures on the shore of Mingyuan.
From atop it, an elderly man walked out totteringly and bowed slightly to Castellan Lingtian.
"Senior Brother Ye, please!"
Castellan Lingtian nodded in acknowledgment. "Troubling you, Junior Brother Lu."
Then, looking toward Luo Chen, he made an inviting gesture: "Fellow Daoist, after you!"
Luo Chen looked at the behemoth with a thoughtful expression, but his feet did not falter. Holding Luo Lingxi by the hand, he drifted lightly onto the beast's back.
As Luo Chen turned his gaze toward the elder from before, Castellan Lingtian beside him was already introducing him: "This is Junior Brother Lu Xianfeng, who has borne the sect's duty of ferryman for several centuries."
The old man cupped his hands to Luo Chen.
"And this is Alchemy Grandmaster Luo Chen!"
Luo Chen returned the courtesy.
With that, both parties were introduced.
Only then did Luo Chen find the time to ask about the behemoth carrying them.
"Could this be the Black Tortoise of ancient legend?"
Lu Xianfeng calmly nodded. "Fellow Daoist has a keen eye. This is indeed a desolate beast, a Black Tortoise."
Luo Chen curled his lips into a smile. "A desolate beast Black Tortoise? To my eyes, it resembles more a Ring-Headed Turtle undergoing a transformation into a Black Tortoise—and an incomplete transformation at that, with some traits of a Cliff Snake yet to shed."
At those words, Lu Xianfeng's placid expression finally stirred.
Recognizing a Black Tortoise was not extraordinary.
But being able to discern what this Black Tortoise had evolved from was enough to shock anyone.
Beside them, Castellan Lingtian chuckled. "The Alchemy Grandmaster is indeed exceptionally knowledgeable, discerning this beast's origins at a single glance."
Beneath their feet, the massive tortoise swam neither fast nor slow, parting the black water and pressing steadily forward.
It made little commotion and appeared slow, its broad back like solid land seemingly unmoving at all.
Yet in the perception of Nascent Soul True Persons, the scenery on both flanks was shifting at tremendous speed.
"In this present age, desolate beasts are hard to find, mostly hidden away in the peripheral wildlands, and true Black Tortoises are exceedingly rare."
"This beast was raised with meticulous care after our sect found a Ring-Headed Turtle of dense bloodline. The original intention was indeed to nurture it into a Great Desolate Black Tortoise to serve as one of the sect's foundations. Alas, having grown up in the Nether Abyss, it was influenced too deeply, resulting in an incomplete metamorphosis and leaving it in this state."
"Later, we simply handed this defective creature over to the Lu family to carry out ordinary ferrying and transport duties."
The Nether Abyss beneath them gave one the feeling that it could devour all things.
For this Black Tortoise to move freely within it, calling it a defective product seemed a bit harsh.
Yet allowing a fourth-tier Black Tortoise to perform such lowly work offered a glimpse of the sacred land's terrifying depth.
Lu Xianfeng gave Luo Chen a deep look, then excused himself and withdrew.
Watching his retreating back, Luo Chen asked curiously, "The Lu family? Could this be the family of the alchemist Lu Chun whom you mentioned earlier, Castellan?"
Castellan Lingtian nodded and began explaining some of the Mingyuan Sect's internal situation to Luo Chen.
Although the Mingyuan Sect differed from the Tianyuan Dao Sect, which was dominated by clan powers, in reality, over several millennia of growth, clans had subtly sprouted within it.
Such as the Lu family specializing in beast taming, the Chu family that rose through alchemy, and even the Ye family behind Castellan Lingtian, among others.
Perhaps the only difference was that these clans did not hold rigid sectarian boundaries; they still allowed their clansmen to apprentice under strong experts from other families, thereby maintaining the orthodoxy of master-disciple lineages.
Luo Chen was curious. "Then are there clans left behind by Soul Formation mighty figures, like the Twelve Great Houses of the Tianyuan Dao Sect?"
Castellan Lingtian shook his head. "Within our sect, once one achieves Soul Formation, the concept of a clan ceases to matter; everything is prioritized for the sect's interests. Even if a clan under a mighty figure possesses the substance of a great house, it lacks the title, cannot enjoy extra privileges, and is not much different from an ordinary small family."
Luo Chen smiled without refuting, but clearly did not entirely believe it.
Taking himself as an example: because of his formidable personal influence, his two Dao companions and his only bloodline, Luo Lingxi, enjoyed exceptionally special status within the Luotian Sect.
Any and all resources were theirs for the taking.
How could a clan with a Soul Formation mighty figure as its backer truly be no different from anyone else?
Skirting past this topic, Luo Chen casually asked Castellan Lingtian about something else.
"Why haven't I seen Dao Child Lei or Fellow Daoist Chongming?"
"Could it be that you are displeased they didn't escort us all the way?"
"Haha, how could that be?"
"Just joking. I'm sure the Alchemy Grandmaster wouldn't be so petty. Dao Child Lei returned to the sect well in advance. As for Junior Brother Chongming, he came out of seclusion not long ago; after prolonged stillness, he felt the urge to move and set out to travel. His visit to the Luotian Sect to call on you back then was merely done in passing. By now, he has likely left the Eastern Desolation."
"Tsk, disciples of a sacred land truly live carefree lives! Cultivation when they will, wandering when they please, unlike us worldly folk who toil and rush about all day."
"You are being overly modest, Grandmaster."
Amid their casual banter, the Black Tortoise carrying the party gradually drew near to shore.
Luo Chen halted his speech and gazed into the distance.
What met his eyes was a towering mountain, seemingly no different from those in ordinary sects.
However, that high mountain was floating high in the sky, completely untethered to any bedrock below.
Such a wondrous sight greatly astonished Luo Chen.
"That is Mount Yanfu, where our sect's three patriarchs cultivate in seclusion," Castellan Lingtian explained, then shared Mount Yanfu's origin. "This mountain possesses geomagnetic power and originally lay deep within the earth's core. Three thousand years ago, mighty figures of our sect discovered it, stimulated it through extreme methods, and caused it to surge skyward in a reversal of momentum..."
Suddenly!
Castellan Lingtian's face fell, and he barked in a low voice, "Lu Xianfeng!"
No one replied.
Meanwhile, the behemoth beneath their feet sank toward the depths of Mingyuan amidst low growls.
Vast torrents of pitch-black liquid surged in from all directions.
Without hesitation, Luo Chen spread his magic power barrier, enveloping Luo Lingxi within.
At that very moment, he immediately sensed ghostly wails and wolf-like howls echoing outside the barrier.
It was as if tens of thousands of fierce ghosts and vengeful spirits were launching an assault against him.
Among them, ghost general and ghost king level entities were innumerable.
Even ghost emperor level entities glared hungrily in the distance, poised to pounce at any second.
'The so-called Nether Abyss is rumored to have been drawn forth from the Nine Nether lands. But seeing it now, it is clearly a containment ground for vengeful spirits and fierce ghosts. Could the Mingyuan Sect have cast the souls of powerful demon beasts slain since ancient times into this boundless abyss?'
An inexplicable revelation welled up in his heart.
Luo Chen looked around, distinctly sensing the array formation's power that served both to suppress and enslave.
The Mingyuan Sect had certainly carried out a massive man-made engineering project on this natural perilous ground.
But what was the meaning of making him face this right now?
Luo Chen curled his lips slightly, in a look of disdain and derision.
A young boy's panicked cry sounded beside his ear.
"Father..."
Come to think of it, he had hardly ever heard Luo Lingxi call him "Father."
Luo Chen no longer stood idly by as the giant tortoise sank into the abyss and the black water poured down.
He drew a deep breath, his abdomen swelling like a toad's, and then slowly exhaled.
A long, drawn-out breath, yet carrying an intricate rhythm.
At the same time, the black armor worn by the Nascent Soul infant in his Purple Mansion emanated a primal aura.
Even more, boundless source power surged through his physique.
Under the coordination of all three, the hundred ghosts retreated within the abyss, as if a great desolate terror capable of devouring fiends had emerged.
Beside him, Castellan Lingtian's pupils contracted, and he stared at Luo Chen in utter shock.
At this moment, he distinctly felt the aura of the man before him undergo an eerie transformation.
Looking upon him, he seemed less human and more like an ancient primordial beast swallowing and spewing the sun and moon!
Most importantly, the sinking Black Tortoise shuddered violently and halted its descent.
Then, opening its mouth to breathe, the frequency and rhythm of its breath synchronized with Luo Chen's breathing!
"This..."
In the shadows, the elderly Lu Xianfeng turned pale with shock. Luo Chen could actually command the Black Tortoise that his Lu family had communicated with for a thousand years!
"Up!"
The white-robed Daoist uttered a soft command, and as if understanding his words, the great tortoise obediently swam upward.
*Crash!*
From within Mingyuan, the greenish land emerged once more.
The white-robed Daoist held the boy's hand, standing elegant and untainted by a speck of dust.
Lu Xianfeng appeared in a fluster. "Senior Brother Ye, Alchemy Grandmaster, just now the Black Tortoise went mad and spun out of control. Please forgive me!"
"Went mad?" Castellan Lingtian's face turned grim and livid. He pointed to the tortoise head, which was looping around its neck and affectionately nuzzling Luo Chen. "Look how obedient it is—and you call that mad?"
Lu Xianfeng was left tongue-tied.
"I will report this matter to the patriarchs. When the time comes, let your Lu clan head go explain it himself!"
Hearing this, the old man's face turned deathly pale.
Castellan Lingtian snorted, walked over to Luo Chen, his expression somewhat awkward.
"Grandmaster..."
"No matter. It seems some people simply don't welcome me."
Luo Chen waved his hand, then drifted ashore with Luo Lingxi.
On the edge of the abyss, several cultivators holding large nets stared at this scene in bewilderment, unsure whether to cast their nets or pull them back.
Luo Chen chuckled. "Were you planning to fish me out just now? How kind of you!"
Those cultivators turned pale, their lips dry.
Castellan Lingtian hurriedly stepped down from the tortoise's back. "Embarrassing fools, get lost!"
Only then did the group of low-ranking cultivators scramble away in disgrace.
"Grandmaster, my apologies. I never expected such a thing to happen."
Luo Chen's gaze turned dark and profound as he looked into the empty sky, where someone seemed to be observing from the shadows.
"I never expected your sect's method of welcoming guests to be quite so unique either."
More than unique—it was downright laughable.
Castellan Lingtian felt both amused and infuriated; the conduct of the juniors in the sect was far too childish.
Against an Alchemy Grandmaster who had weathered countless storms, what was such a petty trick other than a monkey show? It only humiliated themselves.
He sighed. "Let us go. We should get you settled in first."
"Mm, and coincidentally, I can hardly wait to meet the fellow Daoist who visited the Southern Border."
Luo Chen's expression remained tranquil, showing not the slightest anger over what had happened.
He merely looked down at his son.
"Were you scared just now?"
The fear in Luo Lingxi's eyes had not entirely faded, but under his father's gaze, he instinctively puffed out his chest.
"Not scared!"
Then he added:
"With you here, I'm not afraid of anything!"
Luo Chen laughed heartily. "Being afraid is nothing to be ashamed of; fear what you should fear. But with your father here, you truly have no need to fear such things."
Amid his laughter, the three figures drifted farther and farther away.
Their escaping light traveled at an unhurried pace, taking in sweeping views of towering peaks, great marshes, islands, and mainland along the way.
Wisps of mist drifted amidst auspicious vapors.
Pavilions and towers were nestled within the landscape, while cultivators riding flying swords flitted to and fro.
A myriad of magnificent sights—truly the scenery of a sacred land!
Not long after their departure, in the empty sky above the edge of Mingyuan, a glint of azure light flickered, and the figures of Lu Chun and Chu Yu appeared.
Lu Chun looked bewildered.
"Apart from the three patriarchs and Uncle Feng who tends to it day and night, that Black Tortoise listens to no one. Even when I tried to get close to it as a child, it wouldn't let me touch it. Why was it so obedient just now?"
Chu Yu naturally could not answer him, but in her heart, she quietly nodded.
'The Alchemy Grandmaster's poise is indeed extraordinary. Is this the person Ancestor favored?'
...
In ancient times, there was a great tortoise named Xuan, with a lifespan of thirty thousand years!
Legend had it that during its normal activity, it breathed only three times a day.
When it fell into deep slumber, it breathed only once every three hundred years.
During those three hundred years, it remained as still as a mountain, like a lifeless object devoid of vitality. And when it finally breathed after three hundred years, it produced the wondrous phenomenon of swallowing an entire expanse of heaven and earth like a whale—an utterly terrifying sight.
"In my earlier years, your father acquired a rudimentary technique called Tortoise Spirit Armor. It mimics the breathing of this beast, regulating the leakage of essence and qi while concealing one's own magic power fluctuations."
"Though the technique is crude, I later cultivated body-refining methods akin to it, and I also possess protective armor crafted from Black Tortoise remains, which can emit the beast's aura."
"Lingxi, you may not know this, but creatures like the Black Tortoise prefer living in groups during life and sharing the same den in death. If one of their kind releases its aura, they respond to each other."
"Just now, that big fellow took me for one of its kind—and an elder of even purer bloodline at that. That is why it was willing to obey my command."
Perhaps because Luo Lingxi had called him "Father," Luo Chen was in an exceptionally good mood tonight.
Before the boy went to sleep, Luo Chen simply explained the reason behind what had happened earlier.
Lying in bed as though listening to a mythical legend, Luo Lingxi stared at Luo Chen with shining eyes full of adoration.
"Father, can I learn that technique? Lingxi also wants a big tortoise to carry me across the deep abyss and great sea."
"You? Naturally, you can't..." The words rose to Luo Chen's lips, but he swallowed them back.
Looking at the boy's frail body, he smiled warmly.
"Naturally, you can!"
It was just a rudimentary technique; with his current realm, he could modify it with a flick of his fingers.
Regardless of whether Luo Lingxi could cultivate in the future, mastering a qi-guiding technique that regulated his body would ultimately do him good.
"Go to sleep! Tomorrow morning when you wake up, I'll teach you."
Luo Lingxi gave an excited "Mm!" and, amidst his eager anticipation, drowsiness washed over him.
Children were like that: bursting with energy one moment, sound asleep the next.
Especially after such an eventful day.
Luo Chen stood up from the bedside and walked over to the window. His gaze drifted from the unfamiliar scenery below the mountain up to the bright moon in the sky.
He gave a soft chuckle.
"The moon in this sacred land doesn't seem any different after all."
...
Early the next morning.
Yingxian Peak welcomed Castellan Lingtian.
Just as he descended from the sky, he saw beneath a large pine tree two figures, one older and one younger, sitting cross-legged. Their lips moved slightly, their breathing faint and elusive.
However, one breathed deeply and steadily, unbroken for long stretches, while the other's breath was ragged, condensed yet impure.
Sensing the visitor, the older figure quietly rose and walked toward him.
"Castellan, good morning!"
Castellan Lingtian smiled helplessly. "Didn't I say long ago? Once you enter Mingyuan, we are fellow disciples. Especially now that I no longer guard Lingtian Pass, you can just call me Senior Brother Ye."
Luo Chen smiled. "Senior Brother Ye."
Ye Lingtian curiously glanced at the boy still breathing and meditating. "Your son shouldn't be twelve yet, right? You're letting him cultivate at such a young age?"
Luo Chen explained, "That is not Qi Refinement, merely a breathing method. Strictly speaking, it is a qi-guiding technique I tailored for him to guide his breathing rhythm."
"A qi-guiding technique?"
Ye Lingtian looked again with curiosity.
This time, he actually discerned a hint of profound subtlety.
Luo Lingxi's breathing was focused more on internal regulation than on interacting with the outside world.
Although he didn't seem very proficient with it yet, if he kept it up, he would achieve results in a year or six months.
For a child under twelve who was not yet fit for cultivation, this method was remarkably well-suited.
Regulating oneself first before interacting with the spiritual qi of heaven and earth would make one's foundation rock-solid when embarking on the path of cultivation in the future.
Yet Ye Lingtian remembered never having seen Luo Lingxi do this before.
And if Luo Chen possessed such an art, why hadn't he taught his son earlier?
Could it be that he had created it just over the past day or two?
He asked probingly, "This technique is quite marvelous. If spread, it could lay a cultivation foundation for our sect's young sprouts. Did you develop it yourself?"
Luo Chen waved his hand. "Just a rudimentary technique, hardly exquisite, and certainly not something that needs spreading."
Then, shifting the subject, he asked about the purpose of his visit.
Ye Lingtian did not dwell on the minor matter and stated his purpose.
"Two things!"
"First, the inheritance trial of the Alchemy Saint Hall was already opened in advance by the patriarchs before your arrival. You can go observe and try it at any time. When the day of the formal trial arrives, you'll be able to handle it with ease."
"Second, that junior brother of mine who visited the Southern Border has also come out of seclusion. You can pick a day to pay him a visit."
Having finished, he gave a wink.
"Of the two matters, one is clearly weightier than the other. I suggest you visit the Alchemy Saint Hall first."
Without hesitation, Luo Chen gave his answer:
"Senior Brother, why don't you introduce me to that junior brother of yours first!"
Chapter 895