Chapter 120: Bright Spirit Breaks Evil, I am the Hall Master

"Don't bother, stop!"

Mi Mi Shuhua waved his hand repeatedly, "Most territories with Earth Fire are occupied by sects or cultivation families; they are not something that loose cultivators like us can covet."

It was fine to mention conditions in ordinary times.

He really couldn't solve the Earth Fire issue.

Seeing Luo Chen pouting, Mi Mi Shuhua shook his head and smiled.

"You, why think so much. High-grade pills cannot be forced; as long as you can stably refine middle-grade Jade Marrow Pills, you will earn more and more in the future. If it really doesn't work, I'll get you a middle-grade or high-grade pill furnace later."

If high-end technology can't be conquered, choose to strive for excellence in low-end ones?

This old guy was quite shrewd.

Luo Chen spread his small hands, indicating he had listened.

"Besides, I asked you about Earth Fire Evil because I mainly wanted to remind you."

Mi Mi Shuhua's expression was serious, and he said with a warning tone: "Cultivators who haven't established their foundation had better not come into contact with too many things related to evil energy; you won't be able to handle it."

"Hmm? How so?"

"Evil energy is too destructive. If you are not careful and it enters your body, it will have a very serious destructive effect on your dantian, meridians, and even the spiritual power you have already refined."

"If you still want to live a few more years, don't touch that stuff."

Luo Chen blinked; was there such a saying?

He didn't know.

And when he was refining pills before, using the Evil-Controlling Art to guide the Earth Fire Evil, he didn't feel anything uncomfortable!

……

Luo Chen didn't know if Mi Mi Shuhua was fooling him, so when he was eating with Wang Yuan, he also asked this question.

And Wang Yuan's answer surprised Luo Chen.

"Evil energy is indeed harmful to Qi Refining cultivators."

"But it depends on what kind of cultivator."

Wang Yuan ate the meat leisurely while saying: "Cultivators who mainly focus on Qi Refining had better not come into contact with evil energy, unless after Foundation Establishment, when spiritual sense can be released to accurately detect evil energy entering the body."

"But we Qi Refining cultivators can also barely look inside, plus the Spirit Eye Art, can't we detect evil energy?"

Wang Yuan glanced at him, "You've killed people, right!"

Luo Chen was stunned; as a glorious transmigrator and cultivator, he certainly couldn't avoid the common practice!

"Killing people also accumulates evil energy, but it belongs to formless evil, usually called Divine Evil."

"Then have you detected the evil energy on yourself?"

This question stumped Luo Chen.

He really hadn't detected the evil energy on himself.

But he also deeply agreed with what Wang Yuan said.

Anyone who kills too much will accumulate evil energy; even a butcher who kills pigs will often give people a fierce feeling.

If one delves into it, that definitely didn't appear suddenly, but was accumulated through one killing process after another.

In other words, the few rogue cultivators Luo Chen had killed might have really brought him some evil energy.

But he had never discovered it.

Since the topic had reached this point, Luo Chen also asked about his later sentence.

"Cultivators who mainly focus on Qi Refining will suffer damage from evil energy, so other cultivators won't?"

"Body cultivators won't."

Wang Yuan ate another piece of meat leisurely and pointed at himself, saying: "For example, me!"

Luo Chen was startled.

"Why do you think my cultivation progress is so fast?" Wang Yuan said indifferently: "The reason is that I use evil energy to temper my spiritual power and then polish my body."

Tempering spiritual power?

Isn't that the purification of spiritual power that Qi Refining late-stage cultivators need to do!

Luo Chen couldn't sit still now, "Evil energy can also be used to purify spiritual power?"

"Of course it can. Evil energy is extremely fierce and evil, and external objects cannot exist. If a wisp of evil energy enters the body and is controlled properly, it can constantly wear away the impurities in the spiritual power."

"But wouldn't that damage the cultivator's physical body?"

"Then what do you think of my physique?"

Luo Chen suddenly realized.

Wang Yuan's physique, even before he started Qi Refining, was already incomparably strong.

Secular martial arts masters talk about vigorous blood and qi, and a body like diamond.

This could be seen from the fact that when Wang Yuan created the Mountain-Opening Tablet-Breaking Palm, his physique had already been tempered a thousand times long ago.

And after starting Qi Refining cultivation, under the tempering of spiritual energy, it only became more powerful.

"Of course, evil energy entering the body requires not only a powerful physique but also an unyielding will to resist it."

"The path taken by Qi Refining cultivators is mainly Qi Refining, with Spirit Refining as an auxiliary. While body cultivators mainly focus on Body Refining, with Will Refining as an auxiliary."

"If the will is not tough, the pain brought about during the Body Refining process is something ordinary people simply cannot endure."

Very rarely, Wang Yuan said a lot.

There was no intention of showing off; it was just a simple statement of fact.

He looked at the slightly disappointed Luo Chen and shook his head: "I can also teach you the method of using evil energy to polish the body and temper spiritual power. But I don't suggest you try it, because it is really painful."

Regarding his physique, Luo Chen had always felt that he wasn't bad.

He ate spirit rice and demon beast meat often, and the Essence-Nurturing Spirit Liquid also had the effect of strengthening blood and qi and washing away impurities from the physical body.

It was precisely because of these factors that he learned Carefree Travel and the Mountain-Opening Tablet-Breaking Palm very quickly.

But compared to Wang Yuan, he really paled in comparison.

Even Wang Yuan said it was very painful, so one could imagine how terrifying it was for evil energy to enter the body.

But he was still unwilling; if he couldn't use it now, did that mean he couldn't use it in the future?

After he reached the Qi Refining Ninth Layer, he could completely improve his physical strength and then try to let evil energy enter his body.

Wang Yuan didn't hide anything and told Luo Chen the method he had mastered word for word.

"Bright Spirit Breaks Evil?"

"Hmm, when I reached the pinnacle of martial arts, I personally killed a great demon in the martial arts world."

Speaking of the past, Wang Yuan's tone rarely had some sighs.

"In the demon cave, after killing him, I obtained his legacy, which included this Bright Spirit Breaks Evil method."

"At that time, I knew why the respected seniors of the past became great demons who plagued the martial arts world in just a few years."

"He found a place of evil energy and, with two sixty-year cycles of martial arts knowledge, created this martial art, Bright Spirit Breaks Evil. He borrowed evil energy to refine the body, then refined essence to transform into Qi, forcibly turning martial arts into immortal arts."

"But it was precisely because evil energy entered the body, coupled with old age and physical decline, that over the years, his mind was lost, and he entered the demonic path."

"The reason I was able to embark on the path of cultivation later was, more or less, thanks to that senior."

From these past events, it was not hard for Luo Chen to imagine how happy and vengeful Wang Yuan was in the secular martial arts world.

Practicing martial arts, becoming a Xiantian.

Entering the demon cave, killing the demon.

And that great demon who was killed might have also had an extremely brilliant past experience.

Two sixty-year cycles of martial arts knowledge, that was 120 years.

If one counted the youth period without martial arts, the great demon's age was probably 130 or 140.

This age almost exceeded most Qi Refining cultivators.

Shaking his head, Luo Chen picked up his wine cup and took a sip.

Just as he intended to eat a bite of food, he realized that the meat on the table was all gone!

All gone!

No wonder Wang Yuan stopped and said so much to him; he had eaten all the meat after all this time.

But his previous movements had always been "leisurely"!

Luo Chen rolled his eyes and asked the waiter to bring a few more plates of meat.

Having just received his dividends, he was still very wealthy.

This shop was also newly opened in the Dahe Market and was having a promotion; he would eat his fill today!

While waiting for the dishes to be served, Luo Chen handed over a jade bottle.

"This is the Jade Marrow Pill I refined recently; even among middle-grade pills, it is the batch with the best quality and medicinal power."

"Brother Wang, take it and try."

Wang Yuan smiled; he wanted to say that he didn't really need this kind of pill, but it was hard for Luo Chen to have this heart.

But his expression moved, and he accepted it silently.

Next, the two of them drank and chatted over the demon beast meat until evening before parting ways.

……

"Blood-Burning Pill, a first-tier pill derived from the Blood Evil Pill?"

"Let me find someone to test the effect?"

In the secret room, Wang Yuan looked at the two pills that were as red as blood, a touch of emotion appearing on his face.

He originally thought that after so long, Luo Chen hadn't sent any news, and he thought Luo Chen had given up on that second-tier pill recipe.

But he didn't expect that he had always kept it in his heart.

Although he still hadn't refined the Blood Evil Pill, he had exhausted his efforts to deduce a first-tier pill of the same origin.

"Test the pill?"

Wang Yuan smiled lightly and left the secret room.

Arriving at the Jiao Hall, he summoned his subordinates.

"At today's gang meeting, Sect Master Mi decided on the matter of establishing a stronghold in the Taishan Market."

"I don't want to delay; tomorrow morning, everyone will follow me to the Taishan Market to ask that Cheng family whether they will give up their clan land or not."

"If they don't, a fight is inevitable. Everyone, be prepared!"

……

"Bright Spirit Breaks Evil!"

"Clear mind and see nature, spirit and will as one."

"Rather than saying it's a method to temper evil energy, it's better to say it's a secret method to temper spirit and will."

After carefully pondering it more than a dozen times, Luo Chen reached this conclusion.

As for what spirit and will were, Luo Chen understood them as spirit and will.

And spirit, almost all cultivators would involve it.

Because the spirit gives birth to spiritual sense, which is the foundation of cultivators besides Qi Refining.

As for will, this is easier to understand; it is almost something every living being has.

Those with weak will will be terrified by someone else's glance.

Those with strong will can remain calm even if they are cut into a thousand pieces.

Unless he met a woman he particularly liked in the future, it was better to be free and easy on his own.

Luo Chen still didn't dare to use Bright Spirit Breaks Evil to guide evil energy into his body; in Wang Yuan's view, his physique was still far from qualified.

And polishing the physical body was not a task that could be accomplished in a day.

Therefore, Luo Chen first planned to practice this Bright Spirit Breaks Evil method.

Not to mention anything else, he would first improve his will.

And how to improve will?

Bright Spirit Breaks Evil said it very simply: resist negative emotions!

Does Luo Chen have negative emotions?

A little bit, but definitely not many.

After all, he refines pills and cultivates every day, and there is no life-and-death crisis, nor does he need to hide, which can be counted as happy cultivation.

But if there are none, he can create them!

The simplest negative emotion is pain.

Following the method of Bright Spirit Breaks Evil, Luo Chen mobilized a small group of spiritual power and arrived in front of an acupuncture point on his foot.

Yinlingquan point, an acupuncture point on the Spleen Meridian of Foot-Taiyin.

This acupuncture point is a confluence point of the entire meridian, where the blood and qi of the Spleen Meridian gather; once the blood and qi here are blocked.

A slight touch will cause severe pain.

Taking a deep breath, Luo Chen blocked that group of spiritual power on it.

"Hey, it's fine!"

"It seems that I, Luo Chen, am also a person with a strong will!"

……

Early the next morning, Gu Gu Caiyi got up early.

After washing up, she left the courtyard and called Luo Chen to eat breakfast together.

The two walked on the misty street, chatting casually about the many decisions made in the gang yesterday.

Suddenly, Gu Gu Caiyi frowned and looked at Luo Chen.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you limping when you walk?"

"Hiss, it's fine! It's really fine!"

Luo Chen said with a normal expression.

But Gu Gu Caiyi looked at the blue veins jumping on Luo Chen's forehead from time to time and still felt that something was strange.

……

……

Luo Chen underestimated the cultivation method Bright Spirit Breaks Evil.

He didn't feel it at first, but as the blood and qi were blocked, that sour, swollen, and painful feeling became more and more intense.

Moreover, this was only the first acupuncture point.

According to what Wang Yuan said, it would involve a full thirty-five points later.

This Yinlingquan point on the sole of the foot was just the easiest one.

Thinking of the many acupuncture points waiting for him to stimulate one by one, Luo Chen felt a bit numb.

However, Luo Chen could also understand why the requirements for this cultivation method were so harsh.

Whether it was a martial arts master or a cultivator, the physique itself was already very powerful.

To make them feel pain, it was no longer something that ordinary external force could achieve; one could only find a way from the inside.

And under the stimulation of acupuncture points one after another, the threshold of one's tolerance for pain would constantly improve.

In other words, the will would become more and more powerful!

Only with a sufficiently powerful will could one endure the pain of evil energy entering the body.

The so-called "break" was not to break the evil energy, but to break the pain brought by that evil energy.

That great demon had found a place of evil energy but hadn't found a place of spiritual energy.

So he could only use evil energy to stimulate the body, passively refining essence to transform into Qi.

It was a pity that he was old and physically declining, and in the end, he couldn't resist the erosion of evil energy.

By comparison, Wang Yuan was much luckier.

After achieving martial arts Xiantian, he obtained this cultivation method.

Later, he came to the Dahe Market and came into contact with the cultivation world, where he could absorb enough external free spiritual energy.

With the two complementing each other, he truly embarked on the path of a body cultivator.

"Logically speaking, Bright Spirit Breaks Evil also counts as a cultivation method, so why is there no entry displayed on my panel?"

"Is it because I haven't truly entered the door yet?"

Enduring that severe pain at all times, Luo Chen thought of this question.

It was precisely at the moment he was distracted that a burnt smell wafted out.

"Hall Master, this furnace of Jade Marrow Pills has failed."

"Hmm, I know."

Luo Chen's expression remained unchanged; he waved his hand to signal them to stop their movements and prepare for cleaning.

Leaving the pill room, Luo Chen frowned.

He could still endure the severe pain brought by stimulating the acupuncture points for now.

But being distracted had a negative effect on pill refining.

Although the proficiency of the Jade Marrow Pill had reached the Grandmaster level, even at the Grandmaster level, there was a failure rate as high as fifty percent.

But the furnace of pills just now didn't fail after the pill was formed.

It failed before the pill was formed because of a small detail he missed due to distraction.

"It seems I need to be more careful in the future."

Luo Chen didn't think about giving up practicing this cultivation method; even if he hadn't reached the stage of evil energy entering the body yet, he had to persist.

Because it involved will and even subsequent spirit.

Regarding how his will was, to be honest, Luo Chen didn't think highly of it.

For someone who grew up in a safe country since childhood, saying that his will was very strong was a joke in itself.

Perhaps a failure in an exam or a job loss would make people depressed.

Even though he had transmigrated for nearly two years and cultivated every day, that was just because of his character of being good at persisting.

Luo Chen aimed for longevity!

And pursuing longevity meant he would inevitably experience an extremely long journey of time.

On this journey, he would experience countless storms.

If he didn't have a sufficiently powerful heart, he would sooner or later get lost on the path of cultivation.

Now that he had this cultivation method, he could temper his heart and polish his will, so why would he give up?

By comparison, a few pill refining failures were nothing.

They were completely acceptable.

And the consequences of failure were also borne by the Poshan Gang.

In the end, it only amounted to a few dozen spirit stones in profit shared by him.

Every second and every minute passed slowly during pill refining.

By evening, when checking the finished Jade Marrow Pills and raw material consumption, Elder Sikong Elder Sikong Shoujia found that the failure rate today was a bit high.

In the past, after a day, the success rate was always around fifty percent.

But today, it was less than thirty percent.

Regarding this, Luo Chen's explanation was very simple.

"Cultivation is not going smoothly, which is quite annoying, causing me to be restless while refining pills. Once I adjust, my state will return."

Elder Sikong Elder Sikong Shoujia nodded; he believed this explanation.

……

In the cave, the spiritual energy was rich.

A figure sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, lips slightly opening and closing.

With a deep breath, two transparent tornadoes were faintly swallowed into his abdomen.

Luo Chen opened his eyes and ended today's cultivation with satisfaction.

His progress had advanced a bit, getting closer and closer to the Qi Refining Eighth Layer.

His gaze fell to the ground, and he saw that the Moonlight Grass that Fu Fu Xiuxiu had given him was growing extremely vigorously.

It was only a few centimeters tall before, but now it was already the size of his palm.

"It seems that the large amount of wood-attribute spiritual energy gathered by the Spirit-Gathering Array is also very beneficial to the growth of this kind of spirit medicine!"

After sighing, Luo Chen put on his outer garment and walked out of the cave.

Along the underground tunnel specially opened up, he soon arrived at Mount Changyin Mountain.

The Breath-Concealing Spirit Art was operating normally; Luo Chen breathed the fresh air in the mountains and felt refreshed.

Stepping out of the narrow opening, Luo Chen walked toward the outside.

He intended to explore Mount Changyin Mountain properly.

Of course, this was the territory of demon beasts, so he certainly couldn't walk openly.

Luo Chen just intended to explore outward bit by bit, at least to familiarize himself with the surrounding environment.

Even if he encountered danger in Xieyue Valley in the future, he could use the underground tunnel to escape here without being in a panic.

Even a cunning rabbit has three burrows; Luo Chen naturally also wanted to find more safe habitats for himself.

This exploration range was not large, just within a five-mile radius.

Occasionally encountering places that might be dangerous, he would actively throw out Jade Marrow waste beads to test the path.

Seeing that the situation was not right, he would immediately retreat.

When the sky gradually revealed a fish-belly white, Luo Chen sensibly returned to Xieyue Valley.

Today's exploration situation was okay; he had determined most of the situation nearby.

And he found that the demon wolves nearby were much fewer than before.

He didn't know if they had died too many in the civil war or had migrated to other places.

Before going up, Luo Chen followed the usual practice of cleaning up the demon energy that might have been contaminated in the mountains.

This process naturally had to avoid the wisp of spiritual power on his shoulder.

"Eh?"

With a light sound, Luo Chen's expression gradually darkened.

When he checked last time, although this wisp of spiritual power was pure, it was actually in a state of overflowing, with a trend of gradually weakening and dissipating.

But this time, he found that the spiritual power had recovered as before.

There were legends of high-level mighty figures having eternal magic power that was endless.

But at the relatively low-level Foundation Establishment stage, he had never heard of any means of eternal spiritual power.

In other words, this recovered spiritual power had only recently received a new supply of spiritual power of the same origin.

"Yesterday?"

"Mi Mi Shuhua didn't just look for me to chat about Earth Fire Evil; I'm afraid he secretly used means at that time to consolidate this spiritual power mark."

Without any hesitation, Luo Chen instantly locked onto the truth.

Between uncertainty, Luo Chen sighed.

That old man really cared about him!

……

Ten days later.

"Fifty-seven pills collected, forty-one low-grade, sixteen middle-grade."

After spitting out these numbers, Elder Sikong Elder Sikong Shoujia was suspicious and uncertain; to prevent mistakes, he counted again.

But no matter how many times he counted, the number of pills in the tray was still that much.

He couldn't help but ask: "Hall Master, why is the success rate today even lower than yesterday!"

You ask me?

Luo Chen glanced at him expressionlessly and turned to leave.

Nonsense, he stimulated another acupuncture point last night, which hurt him to death.

Being able to barely preside over pill refining today was already considered him being diligent and conscientious.

I am working while sick; anyone else would praise me, so why are you questioning me here?

"Luo Chen!"

"I am the Hall Master; there is no need to explain too much about pill refining to an outsider like you."

After speaking, he went straight into the stone room and opened the array.

He was too lazy to explain, but Elder Sikong Elder Sikong Shoujia couldn't sit still.

Not to mention his profit in the Pill Hall.

Just five days ago, his son held a wedding and truly became Mi Mi Shuhua's son-in-law.

The profit of the Pill Hall was already closely related to his son's future cultivation resources.

Now that the profit was less, he was more anxious than anyone else.

Without nonsense, after work, he went straight to the Mi clan territory and found Mi Mi Shuhua.

"Sect Master, the number of pills in the Pill Hall this month is a bit low!"

"Hmm?"

Mi Mi Shuhua seemed to have just returned from outside, with a trace of fatigue on his face.

He rubbed his eyebrows and asked about the situation.

"In a total of eleven days, Luo Chen only refined 820 low-grade Jade Marrow Pills and 357 middle-grade Jade Marrow Pills."

"This quantity, compared to the previous few months, is almost twenty percent less!"

Hearing this data, Mi Mi Shuhua couldn't help but become serious.

"Does Luo Chen have any explanation?"

Elder Sikong Elder Sikong Shoujia replied: "He said his cultivation is not going smoothly, and he is restless, so he cannot focus while refining pills."

Problems caused by cultivation?

Mi Mi Shuhua narrowed his eyes, subconsciously stroking his beard.

Luo Chen only had five-spirit-root aptitude; it was normal for him to encounter problems in cultivation.

But before, there hadn't been any similar situation!

Perhaps there was also the possibility of encountering a bottleneck in pill arts; he mentioned wanting to use Earth Fire Evil to improve the pill grade last time.

In the situation where the breakthrough failed, did his technique regress instead?

Mi Mi Shuhua didn't know the specific situation.

Pill refining is a technical job; it's really hard for outsiders to point fingers.

Mi Mi Shuhua thought for a while and said: "He is a smart person; he will definitely adjust well. We should give him more time."

"Besides, you bring him good news tomorrow."

While speaking, he handed over an object.

Elder Sikong Elder Sikong Shoujia looked at that thing, and his eyelids couldn't help but jump.