"What is this?"
A handful of crystalline grit rested in his thick palm, rustling as it slipped through the breeze until only a single grain remained on his fingertip.
Luo Chen stared intently at this single grain, as if his very mind were sinking into it.
A look of sudden realization appeared on his face, tinged with disbelief.
His gaze wandered from the blade-hewn, ax-chiseled Soul Severing Cliff to the boundless Yellow Springs Sea, finally resting upon the beach underfoot, which was blanketed like a spread of black jewels.
"If this truly is that rumored substance, isn't there far too much of it?"
Luo Chen could not help but swallow hard, ripples stirring across a mind that was usually as still as an ancient well.
To prevent himself from misidentifying it, Luo Chen conducted several tests in quick succession.
Imbued with magic power, it showed no trace of spiritual qi.
Dripped with blood essence, it remained as lustrous as before.
Wrapped in divine sense, the black grain bloomed with faint light, flying off his fingertip and hovering around him like a bee.
Finally, Luo Chen cautiously refined it with true fire. The black grain slowly melted, trailing wisps of blue smoke. With a gentle twitch of his nostrils, merely inhaling a single wisp sent his divine soul drifting into an airy, almost ecstatic reverie.
Luo Chen did not restrain his emotions; he grinned broadly and burst into laughter, quite losing his composure.
He had confirmed it: this was precisely what he had thought it to be—a Soul Stone!
"The Heaven Refining Demon Lord did not deceive me; such a wondrous treasure truly exists in this world!"
It was no wonder Luo Chen was so excited; a wondrous treasure like a Soul Stone was exceedingly rare in this world.
Its effects were utterly heaven-defying: one could absorb it directly to strengthen the foundation of their divine soul!
This single item far surpassed a thousand soul-forging secret arts or ten thousand soul-nourishing pills.
Back then, the Heaven Refining Demon Lord had met with great fortune, chancing upon a fist-sized Soul Stone. After absorbing it, his divine soul reached great mastery.
Later, unable to forget it and fruitlessly searching for more, he had developed the pill recipe for the Great Soul Pill.
Even Soul Essence, the primary ingredient of the Great Soul Pill, was in his vision merely a substitute for a Soul Stone.
In truth, both were condensed essences of living souls.
Yet the difference between them was vast!
Soul Essence was extracted artificially, constrained both by a soul refiner's technique and influenced by the strength of the raw materials; thus, it often retained a great deal of the lingering will of the souls prior to death.
Concocting pills from it imposed many constraints, and lingering wills could rarely be cleansed completely. When consuming a Great Soul Pill, one had to expend significant energy to suppress and purify those wills bit by bit, making it both time-consuming and arduous.
Even with a soul foundation as potent as Luo Chen's, in the past it took him a month or two just to assimilate a single Great Soul Pill.
Furthermore, according to both Buddhist and Daoist doctrines, cultivating by borrowing the souls of living beings might appear to yield swift progress, but in reality carried grave latent perils.
The deeper one cultivated, the more karmic hindrance one accumulated; when the time came to break through bottlenecks or advance to a major realm, it was exceptionally easy to suffer cultivation deviation.
Yet Soul Stones were entirely different!
It was as though they had been filtered countless times, long having discarded all lingering wills, leaving behind only the purest, highly condensed essence of soul.
Cultivators could use them as pill ingredients or directly absorb and refine them to augment their own soul foundations.
The chasm between the two was as vast as heaven and earth.
Moreover, in the view of the Heaven Refining Demon Lord, who was also a master artifact refiner well versed in weapon crafting, if a large quantity of Soul Stones were used to forge a magic treasure, it would undoubtedly make for a supreme soul-attacking magic treasure!
One could say that wherever such a treasure existed in the world, anyone with an eye for value would never pass up a single Soul Stone.
As his heart pounded, Luo Chen's mouth ran dry.
The Soul Stone in his hand was only the size of a grain of sand, far smaller than the fist-sized piece the Heaven Refining Demon Lord had obtained back then.
And yet...
Looking out, the black grains covered the entire beach!
Its sheer abundance spoke for itself.
"If I absorb and refine every Soul Stone here, to what height will my soul foundation swell?"
"If nothing else, could my Nascent Soul take that monumental leap and ascend to the Primordial Spirit realm?"
His Adam's apple bobbed. Luo Chen took a deep breath, circulating the Microdust Primordial Art to do his utmost to calm his mind.
In an instant, he returned to that previous state of mind, tranquil as an ancient well.
Looking around, Luo Chen pondered carefully.
This place was eerie and bizarre!
A vast quantity of Soul Stones lay spread across the beach, yet when the waves of the Yellow Springs Sea swept over them, they did not wash them away; instead, the stones only accumulated further.
Over the past few months, he had already thoroughly grasped the tidal patterns of the Yellow Springs Sea.
Unlike ordinary tides, the Yellow Springs Sea was tempestuous by day and calm and serene by night.
If he wished to collect the treasures, he had to avoid the daytime lest he be swept into the sea again.
Luo Chen did not dare wager whether he could return alive if he entered the Yellow Springs Sea a second time.
He even suspected that these Soul Stones were what the waves of the Yellow Springs Sea had spewed onto this beach bit by bit after devouring countless living souls.
If he were careless, he might very well be reduced to another grain of grit in this boundless expanse.
"First, let me test whether the Heaven Refining Demon Lord exaggerated the effects of Soul Stones."
No sooner thought than done. Standing on high ground, Luo Chen swept his divine sense outward.
Unlike ordinary materials, magic power and source power alike had no effect on Soul Stones; only the power of the divine soul could absorb and command them.
It was daytime, and the waves of the Yellow Springs Sea were still churning, so he could only seize the opportunity to scoop up a handful using his divine sense.
A handful of Soul Stones was not large and could easily be scooped up by hand, yet lifting them with divine sense felt inexplicably heavy.
Fortunately, Luo Chen's divine soul was formidable, and in the end, he retrieved a fair amount.
With them in hand, he could hardly wait to return to his cave dwelling on the north side.
Glancing at the Wither-Bloom Fire Spirit still slumbering in his purple mansion, Luo Chen chose to summon the Nirvana Holy Fire.
A small golden bird flew from his mouth, circling a sand-grain-sized Soul Stone and slowly exhaling golden flames as wisps of blue smoke curled upward.
Closing his eyes, Luo Chen gently drew the blue smoke inward.
Unlike his previous tentative taste, this time he did not let a single wisp or thread escape.
Two wisps of blue smoke, like dragons and serpents, slipped past his nostrils and slowly vanished into his body.
And within the sea of consciousness in his brain!
Golden waves rippled, with four figures suspended high above.
The moment the blue smoke entered, all four figures opened their eyes in unison!
...
Come nightfall, Luo Chen's spirits surged with excitement once more.
The Heaven Refining Demon Lord had indeed not exaggerated the efficacy of Soul Stones; in fact, they were even more miraculous than recorded in the pill scriptures.
A single Soul Stone possessed efficacy comparable to a Great Soul Pill concocted from a multitude of precious materials!
What was more, in terms of refinement and assimilation, it was even simpler and more convenient.
"Whether I can step into the realm of the Primordial Spirit, I cannot say, but so long as I am given sufficient time and enough Soul Stones, I can surely cultivate the Soul Splitting Art to Great Perfection!"
"When that time comes and the nine souls merge into one, who below Soul Formation could possess a soul stronger than mine? Even against Soul Formation experts, perhaps..."
Suppressing the restlessness in his chest, Luo Chen began laying out his subsequent cultivation plan.
There were no spirit veins on this island, making qi-refining cultivation utterly impossible.
The medicinal pills he carried had also been completely depleted through years of daily consumption and recuperating from two severe injuries.
Therefore, he had to temporarily set aside qi refining.
Having made this decision, Luo Chen unconsciously let out a breath of relief.
Over the past several months, the inability to cultivate had left a void in his heart; now, fortunately, there was another endeavor to fill that emptiness.
As for body refinement, he would maintain it as before.
He still had a small jar of the poisonous wine, Zhenling Millet, on hand. This wine was intensely toxic; even the Hundred Poisons King Gu could only digest a tiny portion each time.
As long as he persevered in cultivating the Hundred Poisons Body Refining Art, then over time, he might truly set foot into the realm of a genuine fifth-rank desolate beast.
Naturally, body refinement had to be kept within bounds.
There were virtually no materials on the island, and if anything went wrong with his body, he would not even have time to patch it up.
Hence, the focal point had to be cultivating the Soul Splitting Art!
This incomplete technique, drawn from Han Zhan's memories, had long reached Grandmaster proficiency under Luo Chen's years of practice.
Even if Han Zhan were reborn, he likely could not match Luo Chen's attainments in this art.
Yet mastery was one thing, and manifested power was another.
Because of the Eastern Desolation war and the journey to the Southern Border, his Soul Splitting Art had remained stuck at the three-soul stage, without splitting off a fourth soul for a long time.
This was the sole blemish on an otherwise fine jade.
Back then, Han Zhan had possessed nine divided souls despite having only just entered the Nascent Soul realm, even though their levels were not high.
Yet with enough divided souls, the derived methods naturally multiplied.
Whether in attack, defense, or life-preservation capabilities, all would be immensely elevated.
Even the various means Luo Chen had once envisioned—such as an incarnation outside the body or a second Nascent Soul—had to be founded upon a sufficient number of divided souls.
Now that the opportunity presented itself, how could he fail to seize it?
"With the foundation of my divine soul, I could have split off a third soul back when I was at the fourth layer of Nascent Soul, yet I delayed it until the fifth layer."
"Now my realm is at the sixth layer of Nascent Soul. Let alone a fourth soul, even a fifth soul is well worth attempting."
"The tally of nine souls is just around the corner!"
"When that time comes, with the nine souls reaching great mastery and my soul strengthened to its utmost limit, I might well contend with a Soul Formation being. And Soul Formation figures..."
Luo Chen recalled that rumor.
The Soul Refining Patriarch of the Yuan Demon Sect had once personally entered Soul Severing Cliff, reaped a bountiful harvest, and successfully departed from this place.
Why was it not the Blood Sea Patriarch?
Why was it not Ancestor Yuan Demon?
Why specifically the Soul Refining Patriarch, renowned for his mighty divine soul?
Viewed from this angle, did it mean that the key to escaping this place lay in having a sufficiently powerful divine soul?
If that were truly the case, unless he wished to grow old and die here, mastering the Soul Splitting Art was imperative!
Without hesitation.
That night, just as he had done before, Luo Chen began severing his fourth soul.
In the silent, dark night devoid of wind or wave, only Luo Chen's deeply suppressed groans of agony drifted faintly into the quiet.
...
Beneath the veil of night.
A figure carrying a green lantern from the Shadow Reflection Sect walked upon the soft sand.
A golden-red light radiated from his eyes. Stopping and starting, he would bend down from time to time to gather the grains beneath his feet.
As the sky grew pale and the roar of the sea waves carried from afar, the man in hemp garments halted his movements, turned around, and walked toward the towering heights nearby.
Unlike in previous years, however, he did not climb the mountain directly this time; instead, he stopped at the foot of the mountain, watching the surging waves batter the precipitous cliff.
In his sight, the cliff stood unmoving and majestic, yet faintly, grains flaked off from the black cliff face.
As the tide receded, those black grains settled over the beach.
The man wore a grave expression, an unmistakable look of shock in his eyes.
He had previously assumed that the vast quantity of Soul Stones on the beach had been washed in by the Yellow Springs Sea, but a discovery a few days earlier had overturned that hypothesis.
Now, observing closely, it was indeed different!
"Could it be that all the Soul Stones originate from this very cliff?"
Luo Chen could not help but look up at the black rock wall. Although devoid of any vitality, it gave him a chilling shudder.
If this were truly the case, did it not mean that this entire expanse of cliff was one colossal Soul Stone?
Back then, a single fist-sized Soul Stone had left the Heaven Refining Demon Lord yearning endlessly.
If this thousands-of-zhang-tall Soul Severing Cliff was a single, monolithic Soul Stone, what manner of unbelievable fortune would that be?
If one were to refine and absorb it, to what staggering height would one's divine soul grow?
Faced with such immense fortune, Luo Chen dared not harbor the slightest desire; there was only profound terror.
Suppressing the greed in his heart, he trudged alone back to his cave dwelling.
Casually placing the Soul Stones gathered tonight into a jade platter, Luo Chen first regulated his breathing and meditated.
Once his mind had settled into tranquility, Luo Chen inspected himself.
Within his sea of consciousness, six figures sat in a circle, flanking and guarding a tall figure in their center.
The Soul Splitting Art had now been cultivated to the stage of six divided souls!
Moreover, unlike in the past, the strength of each divided soul was in no way inferior to the strength of Luo Chen's main soul when he had first arrived at Soul Severing Cliff.
This was utterly frightening.
One had to know that Luo Chen's main soul back then had already been comparable to that of an ordinary late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivator.
Now, with all six divided souls possessing such strength, it was hard to imagine how formidable Luo Chen's main soul had become.
"Five years of unremitting cultivation have not been in vain!"
Luo Chen sighed with emotion. His tone held little smugness, carrying instead a tinge of desolate loneliness.
Simply because, even at this stage, he still had not the slightest certainty of braving the Yellow Springs Sea to depart this place.
"Could it truly be that one must condense a Primordial Spirit and possess a soul rivaling that of a Soul Formation grandmaster before one can leave?"
Sighing,
Luo Chen shook his head, dispersing the oppressive gloom in his chest. His temperament, forged through years of arduous cultivation, kept him from slipping into madness from isolation in such a span of time.
"Tonight, it is time to sever the seventh soul."
Luo Chen's gaze fell upon the platter of gathered Soul Stones, and he practiced the Soul Splitting Art with seasoned familiarity.
His body trembled faintly, cold sweat dripping from his brow.
No matter how many times he severed his main soul, that agonizing pain was something he could never grow accustomed to.
He could only endure!
When the morning sun rose and the evening sun sank, as the desolate day faded and returned once more to silence,
Luo Chen suddenly snapped his eyes open, panting heavily in ragged gasps.
The Nirvana Holy Fire emerged once more, incinerating Soul Stones and releasing blue smoke.
Only after Luo Chen inhaled it in great gulps did that pervasive sense of weakness within his body gradually ebb away.
And within his sea of consciousness, an additional illusory figure appeared.
The curling blue smoke split in two: the thicker stream sank into the main soul, while the slender stream was absorbed by the newly born, illusory divided soul.
After absorbing the smoke, both figures stabilized.
In a mere five years, Luo Chen had severed seven divided souls—all thanks to the Soul Stones!
The finest miraculous pills in the world could not match even one ten-thousandth of a Soul Stone.
This pure soul essence allowed Luo Chen to recover rapidly, and then swiftly grow stronger.
"Once the seventh soul matures, it will be time to sever the eighth and ninth souls."
"When that time comes and the nine souls merge into one to re-enter the Nascent Soul, will I be able to attain a Primordial Spirit?"
Luo Chen did not know how other Nascent Soul True Persons transformed their Nascent Souls into Primordial Spirits step by step; he only knew that he was taking immense strides, striving to accomplish it in a single bound!
And he firmly believed that the way to leave Soul Severing Cliff lay right therein!
Chapter 973