Chapter 1047: North to the Northern Sea, dusk at Cangwu

【Lifespan: 540/2500】

【Spirit Roots: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth】

【Constitution: Fire Spirit Body (Five Spirit Dao Body hidden)】

【Realm: Nascent Soul Initial Stage 1/100, Desolate Ancient Fourth Tier 99/100】

【Laws: Law of Wood's Withering and Flourishing 35/100, Origin of Fire 1/100, Origin of Water 1/100, Origin of Earth 1/100】

【Cultivation Techniques: Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Sutra Grandmaster 501/1000, Thousand Heavens Myriad Transformations Sword Sutra Perfection, Soul-Splitting Art Perfection, Hundred Poisons Body Refining Art Perfection, Myriad Beasts Sutra Perfection, Myriad Daos Convergence Perfection】

……

In the quiet cave dwelling, the attribute panel cascaded down like a waterfall, unfolding before Luo Chen.

The sheer number of entries was dizzying.

Every single entry represented the mental energy and effort Luo Chen had spent over the past five hundred years on a particular skill or technique.

If this were the past, Luo Chen would surely have sighed with emotion.

But opening this attribute panel again after so many years, he appeared very calm.

He merely treated it as a mirror that could intuitively reflect his actual situation.

Yes, merely a mirror; he was no longer the ignorant youth who would feel excited and work harder upon seeing a technique's progress bar increase.

That kind of intense positive feedback had already left him numb.

It was not that it was useless, but rather that during these five hundred years of cultivation, Luo Chen had long since integrated qualities like perseverance and hard work into his very bones.

Therefore, even without this mirror, he would still act just the same.

His gaze wandered, actively ignoring most of the entries, with only the most critical ones reflecting in his heart.

First was lifespan, which was also the thing all those chasing longevity cared about most.

At a glance, Luo Chen felt slightly gratified.

"After advancing to Nascent Soul, the lifespan limit has indeed increased, nearly doubling."

A lifespan limit of two thousand five hundred years already far exceeded that of a normal Nascent Soul cultivator; at the very least, it was five hundred years more.

And these extra five hundred years were solely because he also practiced body refining.

Perhaps if Luo Chen had suffered fewer injuries and overexerted his physical strength less in battles over these years, his lifespan limit might have been even higher by several hundred years.

To say nothing else, just that one palm strike from Liancheng's Earth-Covering Meng Shentong had forced Luo Chen to recuperate for a full thirty years; the damage to his physical foundation and the indirect impact on his lifespan limit was far more than just thirty years.

"Five hundred and forty years old; even subtracting the fifty years in the Mirage Dragon Cave Heaven, it's nearly five hundred years. Of those who were my age and traveled with me back then, how many are still alive?"

Luo Chen sighed, his gaze falling upon his Spirit Roots and constitution.

The essence of his Five Spirit Roots had not been concealed.

His Fire Spirit Body still shone brilliantly!

But that hidden Five Spirit Dao Body entry could no longer be ignored; it flickered with an intermittent light, as if it could be activated at any moment.

And this change stemmed precisely from his comprehension of the Origin of Earth!

The corners of Luo Chen's mouth lifted slightly.

Sure enough, his choice had not been wrong.

The Five Spirit Dao Body was the ultimate evolution of the Five Spirit Roots, absolutely no weaker than those famous sacred constitutions in history.

In the future, as long as he could comprehend the true intent of the final Metal-type Law, he could completely activate the Five Spirit Dao Body. In this way, not only would his cultivation speed reach an unimaginably high level, but it would also provide a tremendous boost to his combat capabilities.

Most importantly, after merging the five elements, he would no longer be restrained by most attributes, and could instead counter the existence of other attributes.

This was a powerful supplement for Luo Chen, who had always used single Fire-type methods to face enemies.

However, this matter was not as simple as he had imagined.

Even though he had mastered the refining of the Derivation Pill, the corresponding raw materials were hard to find in the world; it was only because the Refining Song Tianmo Lord had left raw materials in the Pill Realm that he had luckily managed to refine one.

Moreover, there was a very realistic problem laid bare before Luo Chen!

That was, Laws are difficult to comprehend, and even harder to cultivate!

Not to mention the newly comprehended Origin of Earth, even the two major origins of Water and Fire he had comprehended on his own previously remained at the introductory stage after so many years.

This might be related to his previous Golden Core realm, and also to the fact that he had focused his efforts on cultivating the "Thousand Heavens Myriad Transformations Sword Sutra".

Yet the progress remained completely stagnant, showing that daily cultivation was of no help in comprehending the true intent of Laws.

On the contrary, that true intent of Withering and Flourishing had unexpectedly risen to 【35/100】 without him noticing.

This was somewhat unexpected!

Looking at these data, Luo Chen fell into deep thought.

Why would the situation be so drastically different?

Clearly, he possessed a Fire Spirit Body, did not specialize in Wood-type techniques, and had not deliberately tried to comprehend the true intent of Withering and Flourishing, yet its progress was indeed increasing without his awareness.

Could it be that there is also a difference between the true intent of one Law and another?

Or perhaps pure Origin Power and relatively higher-level true intent have different cultivation methods?

Luo Chen had some vague ideas in his heart, but he was not certain.

These ideas would have to wait until he could exchange them with like-minded people to verify them against each other.

He actively shifted his attention, his gaze falling on his realm and cultivation techniques.

His Nascent Soul Initial Stage realm was as expected.

Cultivation after Nascent Soul was not as finely detailed as before.

Because upon reaching this realm, and even subsequent realms, it was not easy to quantify.

How much magic power one has, and the strength of the true intent of the Laws one has mastered, all depend on oneself.

Therefore, predecessors only divided the approximate progress into three stages: Initial, Middle, and Late.

The body refining progress, however, was somewhat gratifying.

【Desolate Ancient Fourth Tier 99/100】

Only one step away from breaking through to the Fifth Tier!

This was a surprise that was within reason, yet also unexpected.

The reason it was within reason was that Luo Chen had first broken through to the Fourth Tier in body refining back then, while his Qi cultivation lagged a step behind, still in the Golden Core stage. Now that his Qi cultivation realm had reached Nascent Soul, it was very reasonable for his body refining to have gradually reached the peak of the Fourth Tier.

And the unexpected part stemmed from the "Hundred Poisons Body Refining Art" technique.

He had possessed this technique for two hundred years, and after refining the Hundred Poisons King Gu, he had conducted preliminary cultivation.

However, over these two hundred years, Luo Chen's focus had always been on Qi cultivation, and he had not spent much effort cultivating the "Hundred Poisons Body Refining Art".

Yet it had still reached the Perfection level without him noticing, pushing his body refining progress to the peak of the Fourth Tier.

The trick to this lay in the Hundred Poisons King Gu!

This Gu would consume highly poisonous things in the world and then feed back into the host, tempering their physique.

The more toxic the food consumed, the better the feedback effect.

Over two hundred years, Luo Chen had occasionally consumed diluted poisonous wine made from Gall-Spirit Millet; as of now, all his stock had been used up.

Thanks to the massive quantity of Gall-Spirit Millet, the Hundred Poisons King Gu had pushed Luo Chen's extremely slow body refining progress to the limit of the Fourth Tier through day and night feedback.

"This technique is difficult to enter, has harsh cultivation conditions, and requires immense perseverance to endure pain, but its effects are truly miraculous!"

"As long as one can endure it, and as long as conditions permit, it can be called: I don't move, the King Gu does all the work automatically."

"That trade with the Li Tian Master of the Southern Border was truly a huge profit for me!"

Luo Chen smiled slightly, very satisfied with this unexpected surprise.

With a movement of his divine sense, his internal organs trembled violently.

The next moment, a colorful Gu insect landed in the palm of his hand.

It was precisely the Hundred Poisons King Gu.

After appearing, the Gu insect's mouthparts opened and closed continuously, appearing extremely hungry.

Watching this Gu, Luo Chen's smile gradually faded, turning into regret.

The peak of the Fourth Tier of body refining was already the limit.

It was not just Luo Chen's limit, but also the limit of this King Gu.

Luo Chen had no more highly poisonous items that could exceed the Gall-Spirit Millet in his hands, and the Hundred Poisons King Gu was only at the Fourth Tier, unable to help Luo Chen break through to the Fifth Tier of the Desolate Ancient realm.

With a sigh, Luo Chen performed a rudimentary Gu insect hibernation technique, causing the Hundred Poisons King Gu to enter a dormant state.

Then he took out a jade box and sealed it inside.

This item was no longer useful to him, but it was a King Gu after all, and came with a matching technique.

If Luo Chen were to also integrate "Myriad Daos Convergence" into it, it could become a future sect-protecting inheritance technique for the Luo Tian Sect.

If there were someone with great perseverance and great opportunity, perhaps they could also rely on this method to cultivate a powerful physique no less than Luo Chen's.

After finishing all this, Luo Chen glanced at the attribute panel again.

The "Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Sutra" had some deficiencies, only at the Grandmaster level; this was related to the technique's extremely high grade.

All other techniques were at Perfection, including the "Soul-Splitting Art"!

Regarding spells, there was nothing worth mentioning.

However, in terms of Divine Abilities, Luo Chen had some deficiencies.

The number of Divine Abilities he had mastered was too few.

He only had the Withering and Flourishing Dao Finger.

Although the Three Heads and Six Arms and the Thousand Heavens Merged Flow also had the power of Divine Abilities, one was built on physical strength, and the other relied on external objects, namely the Nine Heavens Qi.

But Luo Chen was not in a hurry.

He was still young and had plenty of time to create his own Meng Shentong techniques.

Not to mention anything else, after merging the Ninth Soul, the "Qi Sea Floating Heaven" remembered within it was also a growth-type spell, with an upper limit that could reach the level of a Meng Shentong.

Luo Chen flipped through the attribute panel, reading ten lines at a glance.

After he refined the Fifth Tier Soul-Oscillating Pill, his Alchemy had thoroughly stabilized at the Fifth Tier Alchemist level; perhaps he could now be called a "Pill Saint".

Aside from Alchemy, among the four most popular skills in the cultivation world—Alchemy, Arrays, Artifacts, and Talismans—Luo Chen's attainments in the other three were also quite impressive, each having reached the Fourth Tier Grandmaster level.

As for the rest, such as Medicine, Puppetry, and even Beast Taming, Gu Driving, etc., Luo Chen had also dabbled in each.

Over five hundred leisurely years, even without mentioning cultivation, Luo Chen's achievements in various skills were dazzling enough.

The light of the attribute panel gradually faded, and Luo Chen sat cross-legged in the cave dwelling, beginning to calculate his next plans.

He had already broken through to Nascent Soul.

The matter of ascension was now before him.

Luo Chen's plan was to do it as soon as possible!

But judging by the lifespan of a Nascent Soul great power, this concept of "as soon as possible" was certainly not right now.

At the very least, he still had to return to the Luo Tian Sect once; there were still some mundane matters that needed to be dealt with.

Moreover, his body refining progress being stuck at ninety-nine was also a bit like a fishbone in his throat.

If he wanted to step past this, relying solely on cultivating internal skills, he didn't know how many years of grinding effort it would take, so Luo Chen intended to use external force.

With a wave of his hand, a streak of spiritual light flew out.

Eight flying corners, like swallows spreading their wings to fly.

It was precisely the Penglai Eight-Corner Pavilion.

His divine sense entered it, and Luo Chen saw the Demon-Monster Concentric Tree, which he had obtained three hundred years ago but had been cultivating for who knows how many years.

Tai Sui had once said that the fruit borne by the Demon-Monster Concentric Tree had a great nourishing effect on body refiners.

But the fruit on it could never ripen and fall.

For this reason, Luo Chen had researched it for a long time but found no method, so later he simply threw it entirely to Sang Jinghe.

Before the other party failed to break through to Nascent Soul and passed away, he left a jade slip for him, which recorded the corresponding research results.

Before Luo Chen went into seclusion, he had simply read it once or twice.

At this moment, information flowed through his heart, and Luo Chen revealed a thoughtful expression.

"To catalyze this fruit, either follow the Refining Song Tianmo Lord's original cultivation concept, using the hearts of great demons and great monsters to nourish it together, absorbing the power of their heart blood to condense the Concentric Fruit. Or, adopt Sang Jinghe's experimental hypothesis method, using the hearts of pure Desolate Beasts, supplemented by the essence blood of the person consuming it, perhaps it could also condense an alternative Concentric Fruit."

"This world has great demons, but no great monsters; I wonder if the heart blood of a pure great demon can condense the Concentric Fruit?"

"And for Desolate Beast hearts, they must be at least at the Fifth Tier level to serve as nourishing consumables."

"Where should I go to find these Fifth Tier Desolate Beasts?"

"The Wilderness?"

As his thoughts turned, Luo Chen's expression suddenly flickered.

He waved his hand to put away the Penglai Eight-Corner Pavilion, and a sound-transmission jade pendant flew out from his storage ring.

【Master, I have discovered the traces of the Black Demon!】

Luo Chen raised an eyebrow.

Black Demon—Gu Shaoshang!

Like him and Yue Sanren, he was also one of those who had obtained the inheritance of the Refining Song Tianmo Lord.

Most importantly, he had the blood feud of his father's death against the other party!

"Fine, let's make a trip!"

Luo Chen muttered to himself, left the cave dwelling, and stepped onto the teleportation array heading to the Northern Sea once again in the twilight.

The teleportation time was but an instant.

When he opened his eyes, he had arrived from the lush and towering Mount Cangwu to the vast and boundless Northern Sea.

It truly had a bit of the carefree spirit of an immortal wandering the heavens, heading north to the sea and dusk at Cangwu.

Luo Chen looked at the familiar scene before him, glanced in the direction of the Flying Swallow Islands, and then flew toward the extreme north without hesitation.

He took a single step, and the surrounding Heaven and Earth Origin Qi blessed him, as if he had merged into the void.

No firelight flickered, only ripples surged.

When he appeared again, he was already a thousand miles away.

Such escape speed was truly shocking!

And this, it seemed, was not even Luo Chen's full strength.

The Explosive Void Fire Escape, which had integrated the Qing Shuang space talent, now merged with the heavens and earth, carrying the Origin Qi, displaying a different kind of brilliance.

As long as he wanted to, and as long as his body could withstand it, a step of ten thousand miles was but an instant.

Luo Chen revealed a satisfied expression; this escape technique, even without mentioning how it was applied to others, just on himself, its effect already exceeded the "Inch-by-Inch Horizon" that Liancheng had displayed back then.

One must know, that was a Meng Shentong!

"It seems that my foundation has formed a comprehensive eruption after advancing to Nascent Soul. Just a common escape technique is already close to the Meng Shentong power of an ordinary Nascent Soul like Liancheng."

After sighing, Luo Chen took another step.

The void Origin Qi moved slightly, and a figure like a meteor appeared and disappeared, crossing the vast Northern Sea.

The world did not know that a Nascent Soul great power was speeding overhead.

But Luo Chen's divine sense swept across the Northern Sea from time to time, taking most of the scenes into his eyes.

The scene he saw was exactly the same as the intelligence he had obtained before.

The Northern Sea of today could be called a Sea of Chaos.

Humans and demons were mixed, demons and monsters emerged, far exceeding the situation of internal strife among the several human forces back then.

Looking at it this way, that sole human great power of the Northern Sea, Li Canghai, was truly not managing anything at all!

……

By the time dawn arrived, the morning light was faint.

In a sea area as black as ink, a figure suddenly appeared, standing quietly in mid-air.

Not long after, an old man dressed in monk's robes hurried over, his face carrying an expression of disbelief.

It had been less than half a day since he sent the sound transmission.

And the Master had already arrived?

Could it be that the Master was already near the Northern Sea, or was it that……

Kong Chan swallowed his saliva and asked cautiously: "Master, could it be that you have already……"

Luo Chen nodded slightly, "Yes, this seat has already reached Nascent Soul."

Kong Chan's heart was shocked, his inner heart surging, and his mouth actually stuttered, "Congratulations to the Master for successfully reaching Nascent Soul, may your lifespan be equal to the heavens."

"There is no need for flattering words." Luo Chen waved his hand and asked: "Where are those two people?"

Kong Chan subconsciously looked at the sea area ahead.

Luo Chen looked as well; in the night, this sea area still gave him a sense of familiarity.

Memories hidden for many years instantly surged into his heart.

"The Sinking Sea, is it?" ===== CHAPTER 1048 =====