Chapter 171: Diverting the Disaster, Foundation Establishment Soul

Soul-Seizing Technique, a technique without a grade.

Its power depends on the practitioner's own soul strength.

If the practitioner's cultivation realm reaches Foundation Establishment and they can project their spiritual sense, a single sweep can seize an enemy's soul.

If the realm has not reached Foundation Establishment, they can only use their eyes as a medium to cast it upon the enemy.

At this stage, the Soul-Seizing Technique's extraction effect is greatly reduced, serving only to shock and intimidate.

Of course, if the gap in soul strength is too great, one can still manage to seize another's soul.

This is why the Soul-Refining Rogue Gu Yue often beat his enemies into critical condition or killed them, then forcibly seized their souls before they dissipated, merging them into his own body.

Luo Chen is currently only at the entry-level stage.

Green light erupted from his eyes, and the fluttering pheasant opposite him instantly went quiet.

At the same time, Luo Chen felt his head become a fraction heavier.

It felt as if something was hooked onto his soul, pulling it outward.

The two sides were currently like they were in a "tug-of-war."

However, the pheasant was merely an ordinary beast, its intelligence undeveloped and its soul weak.

With just a thought, he gained the upper hand in the tug-of-war.

"Come out!"

He silently recited in his heart, and the next moment he felt an illusory object being pulled out from the pheasant.

The moment it emerged, the surrounding temperature grew a tiny bit chilly.

But as it was still the height of winter and already extremely cold, the two men nearby, Zhou and Liu, did not notice.

At most, they would have assumed a cold wind had blown past.

They could not see this soul of an extremely weak beast, but that did not mean Luo Chen could not.

His Great Perfection Spiritual Eye Technique was enough to allow him to see such intangible things.

"Is it this weak?"

"It doesn't even have a shape."

In his vision, there was a small, transparent ball of light before him.

It was very faint, not even capable of bringing a shred of threat to anyone.

Yet, the way it trembled and looked lost clearly showed it was the pheasant's soul.

A slight pulling force came from the pheasant's body lying on the ground.

Luo Chen was thoughtful.

He knew that if he released the Soul-Seizing Technique, this soul could return to the pheasant within a short time.

In that case, perhaps the pheasant would become dull and foolish, but at least it could continue to live.

"Pity, in this season when heavy snow seals the mountains, food is scarce; I have to wrong you."

Luo Chen's lips curled slightly, and with a thought, his gaze slowly fell onto the small flowerpot he had taken out.

As his gaze shifted, the pheasant's small soul light ball also slowly fell into the flowerpot.

Inside the pot, the Soul-Nurturing Tree, which had only sprouted three new buds, seemed to sense something.

Relying on instinct, it stretched out its new buds.

That ball of light instantly merged into one of the tender buds.

The Soul-Nurturing Tree is a type of Yin-attribute spiritual plant.

It generally grows in cold, gloomy places and naturally absorbs and devours nearby Yin souls.

This tree has many uses: crafting soul-path magic treasures, nourishing souls, storing wandering ghosts, and so on.

However, to have these effects, the tree must be at least a thousand years old.

That was why, when Feng Xia gave him the Soul-Nurturing Tree seeds back then, he did not take it to heart.

In a person's life, how many millennia are there?

In most cases, not even one.

Therefore, he had casually given the seeds to Qu Lingjun to play with.

He did not expect that he had actually managed to grow it.

He did not know how he had managed it, either.

At this moment, Luo Chen was making use of waste.

The souls extracted by the Soul-Seizing Technique could not be absorbed or melted without him practicing a soul-refining true technique.

It was better to cast them into the Soul-Nurturing Tree to help it grow a little.

After the pheasant soul light ball entered it, a stream of light faintly flashed across one of the Soul-Nurturing Tree's tender buds.

Only after confirming that the pheasant soul had been absorbed did Luo Chen heave a sigh of relief.

He closed his eyes and opened them again.

He no longer had that feeling of his soul being pulled by someone.

He glanced at the attribute panel; it was still at the entry-level stage, and the proficiency had not increased by a single point.

"It seems the proficiency that can be gained from a mere pheasant soul is extremely limited."

"However, little by little, I will first familiarize myself with this process."

Luo Chen was not discouraged and nodded to Liu Qiang beside him.

Liu Qiang was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized what was happening.

Without hesitation, he opened the bag and took out another pheasant.

"Again!"

Luo Chen did not avoid the two, and green light emerged from his eyes once more.

Two hours later.

Luo Chen finished his practice of the Soul-Seizing Technique and led the two back at a leisurely pace.

They did not fly, but walked slowly as if taking a stroll.

Zhou Yuanli and Liu Qiang followed closely behind, their gazes toward him filled with faint awe.

Luo Chen did not care about this.

Practicing the Soul-Seizing Technique is full of dangers, both internal and external.

Therefore, he needed someone to guard him.

As far as the present is concerned, the loyalty of the two men, Zhou and Liu, to him is beyond doubt.

Apart from their character, the treatment he provided was not something other forces could offer them.

Therefore, he was not worried about the two talking about such matters outside.

He looked down at the flowerpot in his hand.

After absorbing the souls of several pheasants and a hyena, the green light of the Soul-Nurturing Tree became even richer.

Even the tender buds had thickened by a fraction.

If it weren't for his Great Perfection Spiritual Eye Technique, Luo Chen would have found it hard to discover this growth.

He nodded slightly; it seemed the Soul-Nurturing Tree could indeed absorb and devour Yin souls.

Although he estimated he would rarely use this tree in this lifetime, keeping it was fine.

Flowers and plants, after all, cultivate one's character!

He was now more concerned with his own changes.

The proficiency of the Soul-Seizing Technique increased very, very little; he had performed it six or seven times and seized seven souls, yet it had only increased by one proficiency point.

He did not know how long it would take to brush it from entry-level to proficiency level.

The change that surprised him was not the increase in the Soul-Seizing Technique's proficiency.

It was the improvement of his soul!

Last night, he had taken a Tongyou Elixir, and his soul had surged by a large margin!

But that surge had once made his brain swell and feel floaty.

Even when practicing and refining elixirs, it was hard to concentrate.

That feeling was like someone suddenly gorging themselves and feeling too full.

The body could not adapt for a while, and he could not focus on anything, let alone exercise or study.

But after practicing the Soul-Seizing Technique, Luo Chen keenly discovered that his surging soul...

Had lost its sense of floatiness and instead became more solid.

"The Tongyou Elixir increases the soul's foundation."

"The Soul-Seizing Technique polishes and tempers it, grinding the surging soul until it is flawless and rounded."

"In this way, I can quickly eliminate the side effects of taking the Tongyou Elixir, and also make my soul become more resilient."

After reaching this conclusion, Luo Chen could not help but be ecstatic.

This meant that the frequency of him taking one Tongyou Elixir every half month, as he had originally estimated, could be reduced to once every ten days.

Increasing the frequency of taking elixirs might seem useless and consume a lot of elixirs.

But in reality, the effect was too great.

Take the Yangqi Elixir and Huachen Elixir as examples.

Initially, Luo Chen could only digest one a day.

At that time, he had no money, and this speed was even too fast.

But as his wealth grew, this speed instead dragged down his cultivation.

It was only later, when the Changchun Gong reached the master level and opened up his meridians, that he could digest two a day.

As of now, Luo Chen even felt it was too slow.

If it could increase to three or four a day, that would be great.

In general, Luo Chen's cultivation method belongs to "trading resources for time"!

Every time he practiced, two Huachen Elixirs were worth forty spirit stones, one stick of Anshen Incense was worth twelve, one portion of Peiyuan Spiritual Liquid was worth ten, plus the consumption of five spirit stones to use the spirit-gathering array to draw in wood-attribute spiritual energy—that was sixty-seven spirit stones gone.

Not to mention that he used to take high-grade Yusu Elixirs from time to time, which had to be counted as ten spirit stones.

If one added auxiliary cultivation resources like Moonlight Grass and spiritual vein caves.

The resources Luo Chen consumed every day, converted into spirit stones, were almost as high as eighty spirit stones.

Over a month, that was over two thousand, and in a year, that was twenty or thirty thousand!

Even the Jingling Elixirs used to improve the soul, physique, eyes, and refine spiritual energy, and the Buque Runmai Liquid used to repair meridian damage caused by excessive cultivation, and so on!

He hadn't even counted these elixirs yet.

If he really added them in, as a mere Qi Refining stage cultivator, his annual resource consumption would reach tens of thousands!

What kind of concept is this?

This sum of spirit stones is enough for a cultivator with normal aptitude to go from nothing all the way to Qi Refining Great Perfection!

Looking at Luo Chen, he seemed like a sucker.

But in reality, a normal cultivator holding this money would take decades to reach Qi Refining Great Perfection.

And Luo Chen only spent less than two years!

This is trading resources for time.

Only Luo Chen can do it; others shouldn't even think about it, and even sect disciples find it hard to do.

For no other reason than that Luo Chen is a "noble Alchemist."

He has the strength and wealth to allow his inferior aptitude to surpass dual-spirit-root cultivators and even rival the cultivation speed of heaven-spirit-root cultivators.

Even so, Luo Chen still complained that his resource utilization rate was not high enough.

If the frequency of refining elixirs per day could be increased again, that would be even better.

When Luo Chen returned to the Luotian Society, he happened to encounter a guest.

It was Nangong Qin, the young master of the Nangong family.

Gu Caiyi was entertaining him.

"Wasn't it agreed that we would deliver the goods? Why trouble you to come in person, fellow Daoist?"

"Cough, cough..."

Nangong Qin's complexion appeared somewhat pale, and he shook his head.

"The Nangong family has been under martial law recently and may close the clan for a period of time, so the quantity of Yusu Elixirs needed is a bit high; I had to come in person."

Outside the hall.

Luo Chen raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

The Nangong family is under martial law?

Inside the hall.

Gu Caiyi said with difficulty, "The quota for Yusu Elixirs for each of your families is fixed. A sudden threefold increase makes it very difficult for us!"

"There is nothing difficult about it." Nangong Qin took out a bag. "We don't want the discount; we will purchase them at the original price."

For several Foundation Establishment families, the Luotian Society directly gave them the treatment of gilded VIPs.

Not only did they provide delivery services, but they also gave a twenty percent discount on purchases.

In other words, a bottle of Yusu Elixir sold for fifty spirit stones on the market, but several Foundation Establishment families only needed to spend forty spirit stones to buy it.

This move was intended both to occupy the elixir market and to show goodwill to the various major families.

Now that the Nangong family did not want that discount, the loss was not just ten spirit stones.

Fifty bottles a month, and now they suddenly wanted two hundred bottles; the loss was a full two thousand spirit stones!

Gu Caiyi was somewhat tempted.

However, the market demand for elixirs was currently very high.

The price of Yangqi Elixirs circulating in the black market was very high, and it was a great opportunity for them to consolidate the market.

Just as she was hesitating, Luo Chen stepped into the reception hall.

He laughed heartily, "Since there is such sincerity, why don't we help them fulfill their wish?"

"Caiyi, send someone to fetch two hundred bottles of Yusu Elixir."

It was naturally best to have someone make a decision.

Gu Caiyi nodded at Luo Chen and then turned and left in a hurry.

At this moment, only Luo Chen and Nangong Qin remained in the hall.

Looking at the other, Luo Chen smiled, "Fellow Daoist Nangong, have you been well?"

Nangong Qin gave a bitter smile and, just as he was about to speak, could not help but cough violently.

Cough, cough, cough...

After the violent coughing, he said bitterly, "I have let President Luo see a joke."

Luo Chen shook his head, "To be able to lead men to kill their way into the Ghost City and escape with one's life from the hands of a Ghost General, I have only respect; there is no mockery to speak of."

Afterward, he asked curiously, "What exactly is the situation inside the Ghost City?"

Now that he was asking for help, the other party's attitude was so good.

Plus, the scandal from a while ago had already spread throughout Dahefang.

Nangong Qin had nothing to hide, so he sighed and recounted the situation in the Ghost City.

The two chatted for a long time until Gu Caiyi brought all the Yusu Elixirs, and Nangong Qin took his leave.

Luo Chen personally saw him to the main gate.

Watching the Nangong family cultivators drive their escape light and leave in a hurry.

Luo Chen said softly, "The Nangong family is going to recuperate for a while."

"Recuperate?" Gu Caiyi was puzzled. "But didn't they just gain several territories from the Poshan Gang?"

"No matter how many territories there are, you need people to manage them!"

The Nangong family is currently most lacking in people!

Luo Chen smiled and said no more.

The Nangong family were outsiders to begin with.

Back then, they were not doing well in Xuelianfang, and it happened to coincide with the opening of the Dao-Discussion Platform in Dahefang, so they decided to migrate here.

To gain a foothold here, they had spent a lot of effort.

Joining the Xuanyi Society, sending the family's strongest juniors to make a name for themselves on the Dao-Discussion Platform.

Later, they participated in the action to divide up the Poshan Gang.

If everything went smoothly, relying on the young and strong Foundation Establishment True Cultivators in the clan, as well as the talented Qi Refining juniors, it would have been enough to open up the situation in Dahefang.

However, this process had not been very smooth.

First, there was the battle to intercept Qin Liangchen, which cost a batch of clansmen.

Later, they clashed with the local veteran cultivation family, the Li family, and many people died.

Now, the trip to the Ghost City—he didn't know how much they gained, but a full nine Qi Refining late-stage cultivators died.

It could already be considered a severe injury to their vitality!

Under these circumstances, the many territories they had fought for earlier became a burden that was hard to shake off.

If they forcibly managed those territories, it would be easy to be dragged into a quagmire by other forces.

The Nangong family had people with deep foresight.

Therefore, they made the decision to recuperate and build up strength.

This large-scale purchase of Yusu Elixirs was a preparation for recuperation.

With this batch of elixirs, given enough time, they could fully cultivate another batch of Qi Refining mid-stage, or even late-stage, family cultivators.

By then, they would be able to stand out again.

The logic behind this.

Luo Chen understood it as soon as he thought about it.

Perhaps, it was also partly due to the increase in his soul foundation!

His attention was still focused on the intelligence Nangong Qin had mentioned before leaving.

"Ghost City, perhaps there is more than one Ghost General?"

His eyes narrowed, and Luo Chen felt a sense of urgency.

If a Ghost General were to leave the city, it would inevitably stir up a bloody storm.

Such vicious and evil beings do not weigh pros and cons, nor do they care about interests moving people's hearts.

If he really encountered a Ghost General, even if Luo Chen could refine second- or third-grade elixirs, the other party might not care at all.

After all, these abruptly formed ghosts are not orthodox ghost cultivators.

There is no reasoning with them.

"Therefore, I still need to strengthen my strength!"

"Listening to you, this Luo Chen is quite extraordinary!"

The former Mi family territory, now the Nangong family's main base.

In the quiet room, Nangong Jin opened his eyes and looked at his son, who had a ruddy complexion.

Nangong Qin was no longer the sickly ghost he had been before; although his spirit was not very strong, he was no longer coughing at every turn.

He nodded and said, "Luo Chen extracted quite a bit of intelligence about the Ghost City from me, but even at the end, he didn't reveal a shred of intention to enter the city."

"In that case, we were the ones who were reckless back then."

Nangong Jin sighed.

The death of nine Qi Refining late-stage cultivators was also a huge blow to their Nangong family.

It was just that the interests of the Ghost City were too great, and he had obtained quite a few magic tools targeting ghosts from the Zhenlong Black Market, which was why he had the idea of exploring the Ghost City.

As a result, he didn't expect...

Yet this Luo Chen, with Qi Refining cultivation, managed a force and could still resist greed.

It truly made him look at him with new eyes.

His willingness to show goodwill to the Nangong family this time and provide a large batch of elixirs further showed this person's breadth of mind.

"It's not just his insight and demeanor; the feeling he gives me is also completely different from before."

"Oh?"

Nangong Qin frowned deeply and said with a hint of uncertainty,

"In front of him, I actually had a feeling of facing you, Father; the pressure was quite great."

Nangong Jin raised an eyebrow, "Is this true?"

"Yes!" Nangong Qin seemed to be recalling the scene of their meeting earlier, and he said with a hint of unnatural expression,

"In front of him, I felt as if my whole body had been seen through."

"Not only that, but looking back, the rhythm of the conversation was also always being led by him."

"It was as if... I was facing a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator!"

After hearing these words, Nangong Jin fell into deep thought.

After a long while, he let out a long sigh.

"No matter, the more outstanding Luo Chen is, the more advantageous it is for us."

"The other families have always been very jealous of his alchemy."

"If he is there to attract attention, it will just happen to help us share the pressure and get through the current difficulties."

Speaking of this, he looked at Nangong Qin with pity.

"You should rest for a while!"

"The trip to the Ghost City, although it didn't damage your foundation, still caused you no light injuries."

"Take advantage of this time to practice well and reach Qi Refining Great Perfection as soon as possible. I will keep that Foundation Establishment Elixir for you."

Nangong Qin was overjoyed and bowed in salute.

After he retreated, Nangong Jin pondered silently for a while before suppressing the unease in his heart.

"No matter what, the family must never be cut off in my generation."

"Even if it means diverting the disaster... Luo Chen, is it..."

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