Chapter 171

Soul-Suppressing Art, a technique without a grade.

Its power depends on the strength of the practitioner's own primordial spirit.

If the practitioner's realm reaches Foundation Establishment, with spiritual sense released, a single sweep can capture the enemy's soul.

If the realm is below Foundation Establishment, one can only use the eyes as a medium to cast it onto the enemy.

At this time, the capturing effect of the Soul-Suppressing Art is greatly reduced, having only the effect of shock and intimidation.

Of course, if the difference in primordial spirit strength is too great, one can barely capture another's soul.

This is why the Soul-Refining loose practitioner Gu Yue often beat enemies into serious injury, or when killing them, took advantage of the fact that the cultivator's soul had not yet dissipated to forcibly capture it and then merge it into himself.

Luo Chen is currently only at the level of having just entered the door.

With green light shining from his eyes, the pheasant flapping opposite him instantly quieted down.

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

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

The two sides were currently like playing "tug-of-war."

However, the pheasant was just an ordinary wild beast, its intelligence unopened, its primordial spirit weak.

With just a movement of his mind, he gained the initiative in the tug-of-war.

"Come out!"

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

At the moment it came out, the surrounding temperature became a tiny bit chilly.

But it was still the middle of winter, and it was already extremely cold, so the two people nearby, Zhou and Liu, did not notice.

At most, they thought a cold wind had blown past.

They could not see this wild beast soul, which was weak to the extreme, but that did not mean Luo Chen could not see it.

The Great Perfection Spirit Eye Art was enough for him to see such intangible things.

"Is it this weak?"

"It doesn't even have a shape."

In his line of sight, there was a tiny transparent ball of light in front of him.

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

But the way it was shivering and at a loss was clearly the soul of the pheasant.

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-Suppressing Art, this soul could return to the pheasant's body for a short time.

In this way, perhaps the pheasant would become foolish, but at least it could continue to live.

"Pity, during the season when heavy snow blocks the mountains, food is scarce, so I have to wrong you."

Luo Chen's mouth curled slightly, and with a movement of his mind, his eyes slowly fell onto the small flowerpot he had taken out.

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

In the flowerpot, 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, a type of Yin-attribute spiritual plant.

It generally grows in cold and gloomy places, naturally absorbing and devouring nearby ghosts and spirits.

This tree has many uses, such as making soul-path magic treasures, nourishing the primordial spirit, and storing lonely ghosts and wild spirits.

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

So when Feng Xia gave him the seeds of this Soul-Nurturing Tree, he didn't take it to heart.

In one's life, how many millennia are there?

In most cases, not even one.

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

Unexpectedly, he actually managed to grow it.

He didn't know how he managed to do it.

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

The soul captured by the Soul-Suppressing Art, without him practicing the True Soul Refining Art, could not be absorbed and melted.

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

After the pheasant soul ball of light entered it, faintly, a flash of light passed over a tender bud of the Soul-Nurturing Tree.

Not until he was sure the pheasant soul had been absorbed did Luo Chen breathe a sigh of relief.

Closing his eyes, he opened them again.

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

Taking a look at the attribute panel, it was still at the entry-level stage, with no increase in proficiency at all.

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

"However, many a little makes a mickle; let's get familiar with this process step by step first."

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

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

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

"Again!"

Luo Chen did not avoid the two of them, and green light emerged from his eyes again.

Two hours later.

Luo Chen ended his practice of the Soul-Suppressing Art and led the two of them back at a leisurely pace.

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

Zhou Yuanli and Liu Qiang followed closely behind, their eyes filled with faint awe as they looked at him.

Luo Chen did not care about this.

Practicing the Soul-Suppressing Art is full of danger, both internally and externally.

Therefore, he needed someone to guard him.

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

Besides their character, the treatment he gave was not something other forces could provide to the two.

Therefore, he was not worried about the two of them talking about this 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 slightly by a third.

If it weren't for the Great Perfection Spirit Eye Art, it would have been difficult for Luo Chen to discover this growth.

He nodded slightly; it seems the Soul-Nurturing Tree can indeed absorb and devour ghosts and spirits.

Although he estimated that he would rarely be able to use this tree in his life, raising it was fine.

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

He was now more concerned about his own changes.

The proficiency of the Soul-Suppressing Art increased very, very little; after casting it six or seven times and capturing seven souls, it only increased by one point of proficiency.

He didn't know how long it would take to brush it from the entry-level to the proficient level.

The change that surprised him was not the increase in the proficiency of the Soul-Suppressing Art.

But the improvement of his primordial spirit!

Last night, he took the Soul-Piercing Pill, and his primordial spirit surged by a large margin!

But that surge made his brain throb and feel floaty for a time.

Even when cultivating and refining pills, it was difficult to concentrate.

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

The body couldn't adapt for a while, and he couldn't concentrate on anything, let alone exercise or study.

But after practicing the Soul-Suppressing Art, Luo Chen keenly discovered that his surging primordial spirit.

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

"The Soul-Piercing Pill increases the primordial spirit foundation."

"The Soul-Suppressing Art polishes and tempers, polishing the surging primordial spirit until it is round and flawless."

"In this way, one can quickly eliminate the aftereffects of taking the Soul-Piercing Pill and also make my primordial spirit more resilient."

After reaching this conclusion, Luo Chen couldn't help but be ecstatic.

This meant that the frequency he originally estimated of being able to take a Soul-Piercing Pill every half month could be reduced to once every ten days.

Increasing the frequency of taking pills seems to have little use and consumes a lot of pills.

But in reality, the effect is too great.

Take the Nourishing Qi Pill and Dust-Transforming Pill as examples.

Initially, Luo Chen could only digest one a day.

At that time, he didn't have much money, and this speed was even too fast.

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

It wasn't until the Changchun Art reached the Grandmaster 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 be increased to three or four a day, that would be even better.

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

Every time he cultivates, two Dust-Transforming Pills are worth forty spirit stones, one Soul-Calming Incense is worth twelve, one portion of Essence-Nurturing Spiritual Liquid is worth ten, plus the consumption of five spirit stones to use the Spirit-Gathering Array to draw in wood-attribute spiritual energy, that's sixty-seven spirit stones gone.

Not to mention that he occasionally swallowed high-grade Jade Marrow Pills in the past, which had to be counted as ten spirit stones.

If you add auxiliary cultivation resources like Moonlight Grass and spirit vein caves.

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

In a month, that's over two thousand, and in a year, that's twenty or thirty thousand!

Not to mention the Spirit Elixirs used to improve the primordial spirit, physique, eyes, and refine spiritual energy, as well as the Repairing and Moisturizing Liquid used to repair meridian damage caused by excessive cultivation, and so on!

He hadn't even counted these pills yet.

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

What kind of concept is this?

This amount of spirit stones is enough for a cultivator with normal aptitude to cultivate from scratch all the way to the Great Perfection of Qi Refining!

Looking at Luo Chen like a big spendthrift.

But in reality, a normal cultivator with this money would take decades to cultivate to the Great Perfection of Qi Refining.

And Luo Chen only spent less than two years!

This is exchanging resources for time.

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

For no other reason than that Luo Chen is a "distinguished alchemist."

He has this strength and wealth, allowing him, with inferior aptitude, to surpass dual-spirit-root, 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 pills a 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 the young master of the Nangong family, Nangong Qin.

Gu Caiyi was entertaining him.

"Didn't we agree that we would deliver the goods to your door? Why trouble yourself to come in person, fellow Daoist?"

"Cough, cough..."

Nangong Qin's face looked a bit pale, and he shook his head, saying,

"The Nangong family has been under martial law recently and may close the clan for a period of time, so the number of Jade Marrow Pills needed is a bit high, and I had to make the trip myself."

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 Jade Marrow Pills for each of your families is fixed. Suddenly increasing it threefold will make things very difficult for us!"

"There's nothing difficult about it." Nangong Qin took out a bag, "We don't want the discount; we'll just purchase at the original price."

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

Not only providing door-to-door delivery service, but also giving a 20% discount on purchases.

In other words, a bottle of Jade Marrow Pill, sold on the market for fifty spirit stones, only costs several Foundation Establishment families forty spirit stones to buy.

This move not only has the intention of occupying the pill market but also the meaning of showing favor to various families.

Now that the Nangong family doesn't want that discount, the loss is not just ten spirit stones.

Fifty bottles a month, now suddenly wanting two hundred bottles, the loss is a full two thousand spirit stones!

Gu Caiyi was somewhat tempted.

However, the current demand for pills on the market is also very high.

The price of Nourishing Qi Pills circulating in the black market is very high, which is 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 get two hundred bottles of Jade Marrow Pills."

Having someone make the decision was naturally the best thing.

Gu Caiyi nodded to Luo Chen and then hurried away.

At this moment, only Luo Chen and Nangong Qin were left in the reception hall.

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

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

Cough, cough, cough...

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

Luo Chen shook his head, "To be able to lead people into the Ghost City and escape from the hands of a Ghost General with one's life, I only have respect, not mockery."

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

Now that they were asking for help and the other party's attitude was so good.

Plus the ugly scandal from a while ago had already spread throughout Dahe Square.

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

The two chatted for a long time, and it wasn't until Gu Caiyi brought all the Jade Marrow Pills that Nangong Qin took his leave.

Luo Chen personally saw him to the main gate.

Watching the Nangong family cultivators drive their escape light and hurry away.

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, they need people to manage them!"

The Nangong family is currently most lacking in people!

Luo Chen smiled and said no more.

The Nangong family was originally an outsider.

Back then at Xuelian Square, they weren't doing very well, and it happened to be the time when Dahe Square opened the Dao-Discussion Platform, so they decided to move here.

To gain a foothold here, they 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 of dividing up the Poshan Gang.

If everything went smoothly, relying on the young and strong Foundation Establishment True Persons in the clan, as well as the talented Qi Refining juniors, they would have already been able to open up the situation in Dahe Square.

However, this process has not been very smooth.

First, the battle to block Qin Liangchen resulted in the loss of a group of clansmen.

Later, they clashed with the local old-school cultivation family, the Li family, and many people died.

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

It can be considered a serious injury to their vitality!

Under these circumstances, the many territories they had fought for earlier became a burden.

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

The Nangong family has people with deep insight.

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

This large-scale purchase of Jade Marrow Pills is a preparation for recuperation.

With this batch of pills, given enough time, they can fully cultivate another batch of mid-stage, or even late-stage, family cultivators.

By then, they will 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 because of the increase in his primordial spirit foundation!

His attention was still focused on the intelligence Nangong Qin mentioned before he left.

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

With his eyes narrowed, Luo Chen felt a sense of urgency.

If a Ghost General leaves the city, it will inevitably stir up a bloody storm.

Such vicious and merciless beings do not exist in terms of weighing pros and cons or interests moving people's hearts.

If he really encountered a Ghost General, even if Luo Chen could refine second-tier or third-tier pills, 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.

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

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

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

In the quiet room, Nangong Jin opened his eyes and looked at his son, whose face was ruddy.

Nangong Qin, at this moment, no longer looked like the sickly ghost he was before; although his spirit was not very strong, he didn't look like he would cough at any moment.

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 single thought of wanting to enter the city."

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

Nangong Jin sighed.

The death of nine late-stage Qi Refining 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 gave him the idea of exploring the Ghost City.

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

Yet this Luo Chen, with Qi Refining cultivation, manages a force and can still restrain his greed.

It really made him look at him with new eyes.

This time, being willing to show favor to the Nangong family and giving out a large batch of pills shows this person's capacity even more.

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

"Oh?"

Nangong Qin frowned deeply, saying 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 previous meeting, 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 being led by him the whole time."

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

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 beneficial it is for us."

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

"If he is in front attracting attention, it will also 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 not-so-light injuries."

"Take advantage of this time to cultivate well and reach the Great Perfection of Qi Refining as soon as possible. I will keep that Foundation Establishment Pill 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..."

(End of chapter)