Amid his quiet murmurs, Luo Chen's fluctuations of magic power gradually reined in and settled into serenity.
The restlessness stirring in his spirit slowly subsided as well.
Only now did he have the leisure to reflect on that peculiar state earlier.
Through this deep cultivation session, undertaken with full preparation, he had finally found the answer to why his Nascent Soul had been so unusually active.
The concentration of worldly origin qi in this cultivation chamber, along this spirit vein, and even across this stretch of heaven and earth, was simply too high.
Under ordinary circumstances, it caused no harm and had little impact on a cultivator.
Yet once someone entered a tranquil, rippleless state of cultivation, they would sink into it without even realizing it.
Cultivation was inherently a grueling, laborious undertaking that wore down body and mind. That was precisely why so many cultivators failed to persevere along the Great Dao and fell into the mortal dust.
If one could effortlessly refine the ambient origin qi into their body with hardly any exertion, who wouldn't be eager to elevate their realm so easily?
However, there was no such thing as a free lunch beneath the heavens.
Beneath that ease lay a lax spirit, unconscious indulgence, and the assimilation of man by heaven and earth!
It was only because the barrier of Luo Chen's Violet Palace was far thicker than that of an ordinary Nascent Soul True Person that his Nascent Soul did not lightly abandon the flesh's protection during deep cultivation.
More importantly, he had the assistance of the Dust-Karma Immortal Mirror!
Had it been anyone else, the consequences would have been unimaginable!
"Does that mean they encounter something similar as well?"
Murmuring to himself, Luo Chen suddenly recalled the battle against Daoist Sheep, Feng Buyan, and the others.
Their combat prowess had not matched the realms they held.
At first, Luo Chen had assumed it was merely the lackluster standard of native Southern Border cultivators.
Viewing it now, could it be connected to the ambient shifts in this land's heaven and earth?
While Luo Chen pondered this, his outward-sweeping divine sense finally caught wind of the situation outside the palace.
"Heh."
With a cold sneer, the corners of Luo Chen's lips slowly curled upward.
……
Deep within the territory of the Shadow Reflection Sect.
A lantern a full hundred zhang tall was casting an eerie crimson glow.
Inside its illumination, a figure darted and struck continuously like flashing lightning and rolling thunder.
His speed was astonishingly swift, kicking up immense commotion.
A voice of admiration drifted from the thick night.
"How long has it been since you acquired the Flashing Thunder Art? To have already mastered it shows quite the remarkable comprehension!"
"No, wait—you must have used the human Gu refining method to force the Formless Gu larva to mature! That is how you pulled it off!"
"I wonder which unfortunate soul fell prey to your vicious hand."
Cave Master Minglei offered no reply, focusing solely on seeking an opportunity to break through.
Yet no matter how he lunged left and right, the crimson light cast by the lantern clung to him like a shadow, enveloping him relentlessly.
The colossal lantern began to slowly contract, compressing the space the figure inside had to maneuver.
The scent of death welled in Cave Master Minglei's heart.
He roared in fury, "Lantern Master, why ambush me?!"
Beneath the veil of night, the crimson radiance brightly illuminated the Lantern Master's face, his narrowed eyes gleaming with sinister cruelty.
"Ambush?"
"You simply walked into my net!"
"Did you truly believe I introduced you last time out of the kindness of my heart? It was only to make you let down your guard so I could strike at my convenience."
"Had my cultivation not gone awry halfway through back then, how could you have ever returned alive to Wind-Thunder Gorge?!"
Murmuring, he extended a tongue like a serpent's flicking tip and licked his lips.
"It seems to me that your skin would make a fine thunder lantern!"
Cave Master Minglei was filled with shock and rage. "You and I hold no old grudges, nor any recent grievances! You would turn against me purely to forge a magical treasure?!"
The Lantern Master sighed with emotion. "Though there is no enmity between us, I have other designs! In that barren Wind-Thunder Gorge, you likely failed to perceive the changes in heaven and earth. Over these past years, far too many fellow daoists have inexplicably suffered cultivation deviation without ever finding the cause. I heard the Fierce Peak Zombie Alliance possesses a solution. I wished to join them, but they refuse weaklings entirely. If I can forge one more carrying lantern and make a great leap in strength, surely the Fierce Peak Zombie Alliance will not bar me from their gates."
At that point, he offered a thin smile.
"Since I failed to help you last time, you likely harbor resentment. Now that we can no longer be friends, there is no harm in putting waste to good use."
Cave Master Minglei was thoroughly incensed!
He was no waste!
Seeing that he could not escape the crimson lantern's perimeter of containment, Cave Master Minglei abandoned the idea of fleeing with the Flashing Thunder Art and planted his feet upon the earth.
Watching the rolling crimson light surge from every direction, he drew a deep breath, snapped through several hand seals, and caused his lower abdomen to swell rapidly.
Suddenly!
Exhaling with a resonant shout, he thrust out both palms.
Thunderous radiance flared into a blinding blaze!
Boundless lightning erupted from within his body.
Under the sheer pressure of this thunderous power, the eerie, twisted crimson glow was forced back.
Seizing the opening, Cave Master Minglei flashed forward, slipping free from the red lantern's suppression.
Yet before he could even heave a sigh of relief—
An azure lantern casting a dim, shimmering gleam lit up his pale face.
Holding the azure lantern, the Lantern Master stepped forward, a look of pity upon his face.
"Why bother struggling?"
"You are nothing more than a rogue cultivator who stumbled onto the Dao, with no future prospects along the Great Path. Why not become a soul beneath my lantern and help this sect master achieve his goal?"
At this moment, Cave Master Minglei's magic power was utterly drained.
Panting heavily, he forced a wretched smile. "I have cultivated bitterly for hundreds of years to attain this realm! How could I possibly let you profit off me?"
The Lantern Master raised an eyebrow. "In a fight, you cannot beat me. In flight, this is the mountain gate of my Shadow Reflection Sect—where could you possibly run? And do not even contemplate dragging me down with you. With this Soul-Suppressing Azure Lantern specifically dedicated to stifling magic power, even if you detonate your Nascent Soul, you will not harm a single hair on my head."
At that point, he shook his head in contempt.
A rogue cultivator with no backing, even upon reaching the same Nascent Soul realm, remained useless in the end!
Seeing Cave Master Minglei remain silent, merely gathering what magic power he could in secret, the Lantern Master seemed to recall something and chuckled. "You refuse to surrender—could it be you are waiting for that Second Cave Master of your Wind-Thunder Gorge?"
A flash of panic crossed Cave Master Minglei's eyes. "What did you do to him?"
The Lantern Master threw back his head and laughed. "I did nothing to him. His imposing aura was terrifying; he was likely the one who resolved Wind-Thunder Gorge's crisis for you. Against such an expert, what could I possibly do?"
Then, his tone shifted abruptly!
"However, I assigned him the finest cultivation cave dwelling of my Shadow Reflection Sect and secretly diverted a massive torrent of spiritual energy from the spirit vein over to him. By now, he must be deeply entranced in cultivation, utterly unable to pull himself away."
"Even if he does not suffer cultivation deviation, my junior brother has led three hundred disciples to lay out an array, waiting in tight formation."
"He cannot even save himself!"
Hearing those words, Cave Master Minglei's complexion paled even further.
No wonder he had felt the spiritual energy in Qi Tian's palace was unnaturally dense; it turned out the Lantern Master had orchestrated it intentionally.
Though he did not understand why Qi Tian would fall into such an inescapable trance, the Lantern Master's junior brother, Perfected Youying, was a renowned powerhouse of longstanding fame.
With that man leading an ambush in advance, Qi Tian's situation was even more perilous than his own.
Just then—
"Roar!"
Beneath the night sky, a low bellow erupted like a primordial beast awakening, producing a deafening roar.
A titanic wave of sound swept in every direction.
Both the Lantern Master and Cave Master Minglei turned their gazes toward it.
A massive stone staff soared into the sky like a pillar supporting the heavens, then crashed down with thunderous violence.
Boom!
Figures were flung skyward, only to be pulverized into puffs of bloody mist beneath the weight of that single blow.
Among them, a shadowy silhouette darted with extreme speed, dividing into myriad shadow clones that fled in different directions.
He screamed in terror, "Senior Brother, save me!"
Yet the stone staff paid no heed whatsoever to the myriad shadow duplicates; it simply thrust straight toward one single direction.
Pop!
Like a bubble being pricked.
Perfected Youying, a figure of no small renown, had his physical body pierced and blown apart, and even the Nascent Soul he had bitterly cultivated for years burst into oblivion.
Immense magic power transformed at that instant into a storm of spiritual energy, tearing across the mountain peaks and palaces of the Shadow Reflection Sect.
The Lantern Master stared dumbfoundedly at the sight, utterly unable to process what had just happened.
Cave Master Minglei swallowed hard. Qi Tian's power had once again surpassed his wildest expectations.
Moreover, was that stone staff his magical treasure?
From the heart of the storm, a figure stepped forth carrying the Huantian Staff, completely indifferent to the buffeting torrents of spiritual energy.
It was Luo Chen!
His icy gaze swept across the area, coming to rest upon the Lantern Master.
"You people lack manners."
"Damn you!"
The Lantern Master bellowed in rage, paying Cave Master Minglei no further heed. With a wave of his hand, the massive crimson lantern appeared once more, descending toward Luo Chen.
Not only that, but he flung the azure lantern from his grip as well.
Behind him, another lantern glowing with a faint purple radiance rose like a swirling vortex, seizing the attention of everyone present.
In an instant, space seemed to turn sluggish, and the circulation of magic power grew immensely arduous.
Even Cave Master Minglei standing to the side felt dizzy and disoriented, his divine soul rocking violently.
Yet through all of this, Luo Chen remained entirely unfazed.
Gripping the Huantian Staff, he took a step through the void and struck out with a single blow.
The red lantern shattered, the azure lantern was extinguished, and even the purple lantern wobbled as its brilliance dimmed drastically.
No matter what profound arts or myriad divine abilities you possessed, before absolute, brute strength, they crumpled like paper lanterns.
"How is this possible?!"
The Lantern Master was frightened out of his wits, having never anticipated such an outcome.
In a split second, all his courage vanished without a trace, leaving him without the slightest will to fight Luo Chen.
Without a shred of hesitation, he turned and fled.
Luo Chen sneered coldly. He planted the Huantian Staff straight into the earth and reached up toward the Mountain-Leveling Crown atop his head.
Plucking two Life-Snatching Golden Plumes, he hurled them toward the fleeing Lantern Master.
Squelch!
Squelch!
The golden plumes were razor-sharp, breaking through the void without a sound.
The only two sounds came when they struck physical forms.
One struck the Lantern Master's flesh, pinning him directly against the face of a mountain cliff.
The other struck the dimming purple lantern.
The latter flashed once, then vanished into the night sky, shielding a tiny Nascent Soul.
From the moment Luo Chen appeared, to his strike, to the conclusion of the battle—it all occurred in the blink of an eye.
Even now, Cave Master Minglei remained in a daze, as though his mind had yet to register the sequence of events.
With a beckoning wave of Luo Chen's hand, the two Life-Snatching Golden Plumes flew back, dragging the Lantern Master's corpse along with them.
The plumes shook free of blood before embedding themselves once more into the Mountain-Leveling Crown atop his head.
As the feathers swayed gently, Luo Chen looked down at the corpse on the ground.
"The Lantern Master's Nascent Soul got away."
Unless one caught their foe off-guard with an explosive ambush like the one that killed Perfected Youying earlier, even a Great Cultivator would find it difficult to truly slay a Nascent Soul True Person in open terrain.
Without exerting his full might, it was tough even for Luo Chen to overtake the speed of a Nascent Soul's teleportation.
Of course, this was partly because his natal magical treasure, the Hunyuan Cauldron, remained sealed away. Had that treasure, capable of locking down an entire space, been available, the Lantern Master would never have escaped.
Cave Master Minglei stepped closer with a parched throat and chimed in, "It is indeed a pity. Leaving a wounded tiger alive will surely invite future trouble."
"A tiger?"
Luo Chen offered a contemptuous smile. To Minglei, the Lantern Master was a ferocious beast.
Yet in his eyes, the man had not even been worth a single bout!
Furthermore—
"Let him run. Beneath this sky, it will be hard for him to find anywhere to shelter."
Luo Chen looked up at the night sky illuminated by the flames of war and murmured quietly.
Cave Master Minglei failed to grasp his meaning.
Yet Luo Chen had no intention of explaining, his expression rather cold.
With a flick of his sleeve, a streak of black light darted out and plunged directly into the earth.
Since this local sect had been so impolite, it was only natural that he extract a price from them.
"What was that?" Cave Master Minglei asked curiously, glancing at the black light that had burrowed into the ground.
Luo Chen did not answer. Instead, his eyes narrowed as he asked in return, "What is this human Gu refining method?"
Cave Master Minglei froze instantly.
……
The Dao of Gu enjoyed immense versatility across the Southern Border.
It was far more than a simple aid for cultivation and combat.
Centered around the word "Gu," countless related industries, factions, and arts had developed.
Among them, Gu refiners held an exceptionally noble status.
It was almost on par with the identity Luo Chen had once shone brightest in—an alchemist.
The exact origin of Southern Border Gu insects was lost to time, but most now originated from the Southern Ocean.
The Southern Ocean was perilous and inscrutable.
Within it lurked many formidable Gu insects, but there were also many weak larvae.
Larvae were frail, and nurturing them step-by-step until they could be utilized by cultivators required the expertise of Gu refiners.
Based on their habits, refiners fed them various heavenly treasures to accelerate their growth.
There were even combination refining methods, fusing several Gu insects together to forge an entirely new and powerful Gu.
All of these were considered orthodox Gu-refining methods of the Southern Border.
Yet among them existed a technique that was unorthodox—one that drew contempt whenever spoken aloud.
That was "human Gu refining": using a living person full of spiritual nature to rear a young Gu, forcing it to mature ahead of schedule.
The advantage of this method was its speed and high efficiency. The drawback was that Gu insects refined this way often carried grave hidden dangers.
Generally speaking, such an art was employed only by heterodox practitioners or demonic cultivators.
And right now, Luo Chen had just such an unorthodox, demonic cultivator standing beside him!
"So that's how Cheng Bai disappeared!"
With a soft sigh, Luo Chen felt a pang of pity.
Though Cheng Bai's realm had been low, he was observant and clever.
Even if he weren't taken on as a disciple, he would have made a very handy subordinate.
Unfortunately, he had been quietly refined away by Cave Master Minglei.
Luo Chen could understand that Minglei had acted out of desperation under immense external pressure.
Yet he mourned even more that minor figures could not control their own destinies.
Once upon a time, had Perfected Shenyuan not tried to use his flesh to reverse-refine a Primordial Fetal Dao Body?
He had resisted and triumphed.
Yet Cheng Bai had failed.
Now, empathizing with that plight, how could Luo Chen not sigh over Cheng Bai's demise?
"Last night, when the Lantern Master sought to refine Minglei into a thunder lantern, did Minglei recall what he had done to Cheng Bai for even a single moment?"
The thought flashed across his mind and quickly faded as Luo Chen redirected his attention outward.
Whoosh!
A streak of black light darted inside.
Accompanied by it was the Black King's sullen voice.
"A dirt-poor sect! Couldn't squeeze an ounce of grease from them!"
As he spoke, the Black King presented a storage bag.
Hearing those words, Luo Chen had harbored little expectation. Yet upon taking the storage bag and sweeping it with his divine sense, he paused in surprise.
He looked toward the Black King, his tone somewhat intricate.
"Are your talents geared toward combat, or treasure hunting?"
The Black King blinked. "I just ransacked the place blindly. Could there actually be a treasure I overlooked?"
Luo Chen said nothing, merely retrieving a jade box from the storage bag.
Carved upon the box were archaic characters:
[Spirit Illuminating]
Chapter 942