Within the vast cosmos, spiritual opportunity is dim and indistinct, vast and obscure.
Thus the Great Dao is difficult to seek, and living beings remain in chaos and ignorance.
Only when Heaven grants spiritual opportunity, clear and unclouded, parting the clouds to reveal the mist, can one grasp the true essence!
Spiritual opportunity was everywhere, yet exceedingly difficult to discover.
Even though Luo Chen cultivated both dharma and body and had tempered a pair of crimson eyes and golden pupils that could perceive the flow of spiritual opportunity—and even possessed the alchemy art left behind by the Alchemy Saint, Refining the Heavenly Mechanism—he had never found a way to draw spiritual opportunity into his body to aid his cultivation.
The only thing he knew was that only when a cultivator experienced an epiphany would spiritual opportunity take the initiative to gravitate toward them, allowing them to comprehend certain bottlenecks.
He had experienced epiphanies multiple times himself, but he had often known what happened without understanding why, ignorant of why any difficulty or perplexity could be resolved effortlessly in that state.
Now, having understood the underlying principles, he could catch glimpses of the threads even outside of an epiphany.
His natal cultivation technique, the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture, quietly began to circulate.
His Nascent Soul opened its eyes and mouth, inhaling and exhaling the free spiritual qi drifting between heaven and earth on a grand scale.
The phenomenon of the crimson eyes and golden pupils manifested upon the Nascent Soul as well.
A pair of bright eyes stared fixedly into the void at the vast spiritual qi surging forth, faintly discerning the wisps and strands of spiritual opportunity within.
It was not much, utterly incomparable to what had been drawn forth when the Alchemy Saint ascended.
Yet it was enough!
The Alchemy Saint had drawn in a vast amount of spiritual opportunity in order to ascend in glowing radiance.
Whereas Luo Chen merely wished to use it to comprehend the true intent of the laws!
The only unexpected thing was that this spiritual opportunity lingered outside, showing little inclination to merge into Luo Chen's body.
The miniature Nascent Soul blinked, and in a flash of inspiration, formed an incantation gesture.
The alchemy art, Refining the Heavenly Mechanism, suddenly manifested once more.
At this moment, Luo Chen was actually treating his own Nascent Soul as a medicinal pill, attempting to refine the spiritual opportunity into his body!
Under this semi-active, semi-passive approach, the lingering spiritual opportunity finally drifted along the billowing currents into Luo Chen's body, swallowed voraciously by his Nascent Soul.
As time passed, Luo Chen's mind grew clearer and more lucid, becoming increasingly transparent and tranquil.
His divine sense spread outward uncontrollably, escaping his body, piercing through his immortal cave, and stretching continuously into the depths of the void to explore the source of the heaven-and-earth spiritual qi.
The so-called true intent of the laws was the essence of nature.
The hundred arts of cultivation also possessed the essence of the Great Dao, but they were narrow after all, yielding relatively few derived true intents of the laws.
In contrast, the foundational elements constructing this world—life and death, yin and yang, the five elements, wind and lightning—were far more intricate.
Fortunately, Luo Chen did not seek any profound true intent this time; he only wanted to comprehend the simplest and most fundamental fire-element true intent—Fire Origin!
And for this process, as long as he could delve once more into the ocean of origin qi within the void, success would follow naturally.
That was how Fu Qinglan had comprehended Wood Origin back then.
And that was how Luo Chen had used the Wither-Bloom True Fire to naturally comprehend the Wither-Bloom True Intent.
His majestic divine sense extended into the void without reservation, guided by the spiritual opportunity as it traced back against the current, seeking the source.
Everywhere it passed, whether Mount Dan, Piaomiao Peak, War God Peak, or any other part of the Luotian Sect, everything was reflected beneath Luo Chen's divine sense.
He swept past in haste without paying much attention.
Only faintly did he sense a warm, vast ocean, like a mother's embrace, lying right before him.
Right at this moment, Luo Chen looked back in bewilderment, glancing downward.
And because of this backward glance, the spiritual opportunity abruptly dispersed.
The ocean of origin qi that had been within arm's reach slammed its open gates shut against him.
How could one turn back on the Great Dao?
His vast divine sense snapped back, his Nascent Soul returned to his body, and Luo Chen snapped his eyes open.
"A failure!"
Shock and anger showed on his face.
Yet it was not because he had failed to enter the ocean of origin qi and comprehend Fire Origin.
He was not Deng Taiyue, for whom a single failure meant an end to all chances.
For Luo Chen, who had mastered the method, he could simply try again—twice, thrice—and he would eventually succeed.
What caused his shock and fury was something entirely different!
Without glancing at the tier-four talisman drifting down from midair, Luo Chen rose to his feet and transformed into a scarlet rainbow, rocketing into the distance.
In just a few breaths, Luo Chen arrived at a scenic mountain.
Because of the commotion caused by his departure, the people in the mountain had noticed long ago and hurried out to greet him.
"Husband, why have you come?"
Without even looking at the flustered Sima Huiniang, Luo Chen flicked his sleeve, throwing open the stone door of an immortal cave.
Striding inside, Luo Chen locked his gaze on a young man radiating dense spiritual qi.
"Luo Lingxi!"
The young man, meditating cross-legged, opened his eyes in astonishment. At the first sight of Luo Chen, his face turned deathly pale.
"Father."
Luo Chen said nothing, merely staring intently at the wisps of spiritual qi wreathing him—and his cultivation at the fourth layer of Qi Refinement!
Four years ago, Luo Lingxi had been nothing more than a mortal devoid of cultivation.
Yet in a mere four years, he had not only embarked on the path of cultivation, but had also leaped straight into the mid Qi Refinement stage.
Had Luo Chen's divine sense not expanded across the entire Luotian Sect under the amplification of the spiritual opportunity, he would never have noticed this change.
Luo Lingxi's lips trembled, and beneath Luo Chen's penetrating gaze, he finally lowered his head.
"Your child was wrong. Father, please punish me!"
Right then, Sima Huiniang rushed in frantically, shielding Luo Lingxi behind her.
"It's not Lingxi's fault, it's mine!"
"It was my decision to divide the Demon Heart Gu within him and place the splinters into low-level disciples of the sect."
"Husband, if you want to blame someone, blame me! If you want to punish someone, punish me!"
Luo Chen said coldly, "Do you have any idea how disastrous this is?"
Sima Huiniang froze.
Luo Chen shook his head. "Our Luotian Sect has never had many members, and low-level disciples are the bedrock of the edifice! Planting demonic Gu in them to serve as cauldrons for Lingxi's cultivation severs the very foundation of the sect. If this ever gets out, everyone in the sect from top to bottom will become estranged and resentful. Do you want the Luotian Sect to fall apart right here and now?"
Sima Huiniang opened her mouth, her face turning as white as snow.
Her lips trembled as she forced out, "Then what about Lingxi? He's our son! He longs so desperately to cultivate, to soar through the skies and roam the earth to see the glorious sights of the Eastern Desolation! Do you really want him to spend a lifetime in mediocrity, turning into a handful of yellow earth after a hundred years?"
"Luo Chen, he is your son too!"
"You clearly hold a method that could allow him to cultivate, yet you care only about your own closed-door cultivation! Are you worthy of being a father?"
"Don't think I don't know what you wanted to do back when Lingxi was born!"
Toward the end, Sima Huiniang grew increasingly agitated, even addressing Luo Chen by his full name.
In all the years they had known each other, this was the first time such a fierce conflict had erupted between them.
Anger flashed across Luo Chen's face, but he took a deep breath, suppressing the fury in his heart.
He said in a deep voice, "Huiniang, Lingxi is our child, but is the Luotian Sect not also a child raised with our own hands? Within it are your friends, your disciples, and countless juniors who respect and love you as the founding sect master! If you continue to act so recklessly, will you end up using Foundation Establishment and Golden Core disciples as demonic cauldrons for Luo Lingxi in the future?"
Sima Huiniang stood frozen.
Scenes of how she had once racked her brains, working day and night for the Luotian Sect, surfaced in her mind.
When had she gradually become so indifferent to the sect?
Luo Chen shook his head and let out a long sigh.
"The fault in this matter does not lie with you, nor with Lingxi. It lies with me!"
"I overlooked too much."
"Fortunately, mending the fold after losing sheep is not yet too late."
With that, a harsh glint flashed in his eyes, and he reached out toward Luo Lingxi from afar!
"Come out!"
Luo Lingxi closed his eyes in despair.
Sima Huiniang screamed in equal despair, "No!"
In the next moment, a gray ray of light flew out of Luo Lingxi's body, struggling with great reluctance.
Once the thing left his body, Luo Lingxi immediately felt vastly relieved.
He opened his eyes in confusion. "I'm... not dead?"
Sima Huiniang was also stunned. "Husband, what you extracted wasn't the Demon Heart Gu?"
Luo Chen did not answer them. After the gray light appeared, his hands formed a flurry of seals, striking one restriction after another into it to seal it bit by bit.
Toward the end, Luo Chen even brought out his natal magic treasure, the Hunyuan Cauldron; slender chains extended out, binding it securely.
Only then did the dark light reveal its vague true form.
It was, remarkably, something resembling a butterfly.
Luo Lingxi looked at it in bewilderment, not understanding why such a thing had been inside him.
"Father, what is that?"
Only when the Hunyuan Cauldron had completely suppressed it did Luo Chen breathe a sigh of relief, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
Clearly, sealing this thing had been far from easy even for him.
He explained in a low voice, "Do you remember a senior I once took you to meet, Valley Immortal Feng Jiang?"
Luo Lingxi said dazedly, "I seem to remember meeting him once, but the moment I saw him, I fell unconscious."
Luo Chen nodded. "This is precisely what he left behind. It is by no means something you can control at present!"
Strictly speaking, this item did not belong to Valley Immortal Feng Jiang, but to the sacred ground of the Southern Border—the Life and Death Gate.
A fifth-tier divine Gu—the Tribulation Gu!
It possessed immense power to invite catastrophe, bring disaster, and destroy heaven and earth.
Even with the foundations of Valley Immortal Feng Jiang and the Mingyuan Sect, it had been exceedingly difficult to subdue.
He had only been able to use his own flesh and blood as a prison, suppressing it within Fengxian Valley.
Even so, the endless terrestrial disasters that had plagued Fengxian Valley day in and day out remained a shocking sight.
Later, in order to confront Monarch Qixia, Valley Immortal Feng Jiang had paid with his life to fully stimulate this Gu, and with the help of the Mingyuan Sect's sect master, Ancestor Yuming, he had summoned a terrifying heavenly tribulation that forced even Monarch Qixia to retreat.
After the great battle, the weakened Tribulation Gu had vanished without a trace.
Who could have thought it had secretly slipped into the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land and possessed the most inconspicuous person—Luo Lingxi, who had possessed no cultivation at all?
In truth, Luo Chen should have noticed earlier. The moment he had returned to the blessed land, he had felt something amiss about Luo Lingxi, an unsettling sensation that had made him uneasy.
Yet he had not paid it much heed at the time.
It was only this time, when he attempted to comprehend Fire Origin and drew in a large amount of spiritual opportunity, extending his divine sense outward, that he detected something amiss.
Something was secretly competing with him for spiritual opportunity!
Rushing over, he had found that the Tribulation Gu was not deeply bound to Luo Lingxi, allowing him to decisively extract it.
Even so, Luo Chen could not help but feel secretly alarmed by the creature's mysterious ability to summon calamities.
Merely by acting through an insignificant mortal like Luo Lingxi, it had unwittingly planted a catastrophic danger within the Luotian Sect.
If Luo Lingxi had been allowed to continue this way, as his cultivation rose, he would inevitably have set his sights on other Luotian Sect members without control.
What Luo Chen had said earlier about Foundation Establishment cauldrons and Golden Core cauldrons was by no means an exaggeration!
Once things reached that stage, the sect's order would collapse. Even if Luo Chen suppressed everything with sheer strength, an alienated and resentful Luotian Sect would possess no cohesion whatsoever, becoming a sect in name only!
Sima Huiniang did not understand the terror of the Tribulation Gu; she cared only about her son.
"Then what about Lingxi now?"
Luo Chen glared at her. "Spoiling mothers raise ruinous sons! If you ever touch that method of splitting and planting demonic Gu again..."
"Father, I won't cultivate anymore. Please don't blame Mother."
Luo Lingxi interrupted Luo Chen. His expression was despondent, yet a trace of unwillingness still lingered in his eyes.
Luo Chen waved his hand and sighed. "Why the rush? Your father pledged himself to the Dao at sixteen, but my true cultivation only began at twenty-seven. You still have time. Once I have made full preparations, I will resolve the Demon Heart Gu within you, and perhaps even grant you cultivation speed that advances by leaps and bounds, making you a genius of the immortal path."
Luo Lingxi's eyes lit up. "Truly?"
Guessing at a possibility, Sima Huiniang asked with a trembling voice, "Husband, are you going to the Southern Border to seek that Demon Heart Gu Emperor?"
When Luo Chen had previously returned to Motian Cliff, he had once given Sima Huiniang the manual on resolving the Demon Heart Gu, so she was familiar with the methods.
At that time, Luo Chen had only meant to comfort his anxious Dao companion.
He had never expected that under the sway of motherly love and the Tribulation Gu, a terrible mistake had nearly been committed.
Luo Chen gave a faint sigh. "Let us first clean up the mess you two made!"
Afterward, Luo Chen ordered Sima Huiniang into solitary confinement for ten years, then hurriedly left with Luo Lingxi.
...
On Mount Dan, four tiny figures waited at a loss.
Xiao Xuan asked in bewilderment, "Why did the Sect Master bring us to Mount Dan? This is the Supreme Elder's cultivation grounds."
Zhao Lang said excitedly, "Could it be because our cultivation progress has been exceptionally fast lately, far outstripping our peers, catching the Supreme Elder's eye?"
The only female disciple among the four, Yin Baiqiu, could not help but feel delighted as well.
"I heard that the Supreme Elder only has one formally initiated disciple. Now that the sect has settled down, could he be looking to take on more disciples to train personally?"
The Supreme Elder taking on disciples personally?
The moment this thought was voiced, it immediately sparked heated discussion among the three.
Only a dark-faced middle-aged man seemed to be lost in thought.
Yin Baiqiu asked curiously, "Senior Brother Zang, why aren't you saying anything?"
Zang Yuzhi snapped back to reality. Facing the three junior brothers and sisters staring at him, he hesitated before shaking his head.
"Our aptitudes are not particularly exceptional. Our rapid progress lately is merely thanks to the high-quality spiritual veins. The Supreme Elder wouldn't look twice at the likes of us."
Zhao Lang said displeasedly, "Why belittle yourself like that? We all entered together, yet only the four of us advanced so quickly. Doesn't that prove everything?"
Zang Yuzhi remained silent, though a look of worry lingered on his face.
At that moment.
Inside Luo Chen's immortal cave, Li Yingzhang was recounting the circumstances of the four outside one by one.
"They are all new disciples with clean backgrounds and no backing in the sect."
"Among the four, Xiao Xuan and Zhao Lang come from the mortal realm, possessing three-spiritual-root talent. Yin Baiqiu is the descendant of a declining clan; originally, that clan wished to become a vassal of our Luotian Sect, but following your orders, we did not accept vassals and took in only Yin Baiqiu because she showed great promise."
"Zang Yuzhi is somewhat special. He had a fortuitous encounter in his youth. I looked into it; he stumbled into the demise site of a Golden Core cultivator and inherited a few remnants. Since they weren't particularly valuable, the sect did not pry."
Hearing this, Luo Chen nodded slightly.
"A disciple's opportunities belong to them. So long as they are loyal to the sect, there is no need to covet what they have."
Li Yingzhang felt the same way. Everyone had their own secrets—opportunities that aided their cultivation, or perhaps flaws too embarrassing to mention.
The sect was like a parent, but there was no need to meddle in everything; doing so would violate the principle that the pursuit of the immortal path valued self-reliance.
He asked curiously, "Supreme Elder, did you have something in mind when asking me to bring these four here?"
Luo Chen opened his mouth, then sighed and recounted everything his family members had done.
There was no concealment in his words; he even told Li Yingzhang of his future plans to depart from the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land.
Upon hearing all this, Li Yingzhang was stricken with shock.
How could the Supreme Elder tell him about such family scandal?
Yet a moment later, he understood.
Sima Huiniang and Luo Lingxi were indeed Luo Chen's most beloved kin, but were the hundreds of souls within the Luotian Sect not also Luo Chen's family?
And as the acting head of the family, it was necessary for him to know.
"Huiniang failed to conduct herself as an elder. I have already ordered her into solitary confinement for ten years, and she is never again to meddle in Luotian Sect affairs. You may also find ways to suppress her influence as the founding sect master. Consider this a slight punishment."
Li Yingzhang hesitated. "Isn't that too harsh? After all, she is the founding sect master!"
Luo Chen sidestepped the issue; Sima Huiniang's Dao heart was in complete disarray, making her entirely unfit to serve as a revered senior of the sect.
"As for Luo Lingxi, in view of his youth and the fact that he was influenced by the Gu and his mother, straying onto the wrong path unconsciously, I have chosen to let bygones be bygones. Yingzhang, what do you think?"
Li Yingzhang asked with hesitation, "Then what of the four disciples harmed by him?"
"That is precisely why I had you bring the four of them today."
Luo Chen already had a plan in mind. He said slowly, "Shortly, I will personally extract the Demon Heart Gu splinters before they take deep root. During this process, their cultivation realms and foundations may suffer some damage. Afterward, I will bestow abundant resources to compensate them, and you should also help me look after them in the future. If we can help them achieve Foundation Establishment and extend their lifespans, my conscience can rest a little easier."
Li Yingzhang breathed a sigh of relief. He had feared the Supreme Elder intended to dispose of the four in secret.
"The Supreme Elder is benevolent!"
Luo Chen gave a self-deprecating smile. Could this really be called benevolent?
If Luo Lingxi and Sima Huiniang were not his own family, any other sect would have struck them dead with a single palm for committing such an atrocious crime.
"Bring them in!"
Li Yingzhang nodded and personally went out to bring the four inside.
The moment the four laid eyes on Luo Chen, they fell into Mirror Flower, Water Moon, unable to free themselves.
Throughout the extraction of the Demon Heart Gu, they felt no pain whatsoever.
Only afterward did they notice that their cultivation levels had fallen somewhat, accompanied by a lingering sense of loss.
As if something had departed from them.
In a daze, the four departed Mount Dan.
Their impression of the Supreme Elder was only of a gentle smile and the generous bestowal of cultivation resources well-suited to them, along with words of encouragement urging them to avoid arrogance and rashness and cultivate diligently in the future.
Was it over just like that?
Not yet!
"Yingzhang, keep an eye on the sect from now on. Make sure nothing like this happens again," Luo Chen instructed, handing the sealed Demon Heart Gu splinters to Li Yingzhang as well.
Li Yingzhang naturally understood Luo Chen's intentions; he was being asked to watch over Luo Lingxi to keep him from bringing turmoil upon the sect.
Only now did this messy ethical drama involving family and sect finally draw to a close under Luo Chen's swift and decisive handling.
Once everyone had departed, Luo Chen exhaled a breath of turbid qi.
"They say an upright official finds it hard to settle domestic disputes. This is far more troublesome than comprehending the true intent of the laws!"
After muttering a few words, Luo Chen felt the pressure of time once more.
Before leaving the Alchemy Saint Blessed Land, two things had to be accomplished.
First, comprehending a true intent of the laws unique to himself; second, awakening Canglong.
On Canglong's side, with his split soul personally guiding the Dust-Karma Immortal Mirror, progress had been swift, and the day of her awakening was not far off.
As for himself, his comprehension process had been interrupted right at the final threshold.
"This time, I shall try crafting talismans of the spell Descent of the Flame Dragon!"
Luo Chen made up his mind, intending to enter that prior state once more by pushing another fourth-tier spell to Grand Perfection.
Before starting, however, he took out the Hunyuan Cauldron, planning to inspect it.
Ever since the great battle in the Medicine King Domain, a portion of this natal magic treasure of his had yet to recover.
Using it to suppress the Tribulation Gu, he wondered if anything might go awry.
Taking it out to look, Luo Chen's expression instantly changed.
"Where did the Tribulation Gu go?"
Chapter 923