Chapter 184

On the mountaintop.

Luo Chen personally closed the wooden door of the thatched hut.

"Little Red, shrink!"

The explosive ape was very obedient; right in front of Luo Chen, its body size shrank rapidly.

In the blink of an eye, it was only a zhang and a half tall.

Maintaining such a large size all the time was also quite a burden for it.

He threw over a pile of spirit fruits brimming with spiritual energy.

Luo Chen gave it the order to guard this place.

Afterwards, he beckoned for Feng Xia to go down the mountain.

Duan Feng was carried on Feng Xia's back; after taking many elixirs, he remained unconscious.

Even if that cousin Duan Rui didn't have much combat power, his cultivation base was at the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, which could not be faked.

Duan Feng had killed him, so he certainly couldn't have come out unscathed himself.

Before long.

The three of them arrived halfway up the mountain.

Luo Chen did not delay; after handing the two of them over to Granny Yuan, who was skilled in medicine, he continued downward alone.

No one came to disturb him.

Everyone knew that while it seemed Luo Chen hadn't exerted any effort at the front of this battle, in reality, from the initiation of the war to the planning and strategy, it was all led by him alone.

The final cleanup work was also settled by his earth-shattering strike, which secured the victory.

This battle was quite tragic.

Even though there were many survivors among the Luo Tian Society cultivators, the losses were quite heavy.

Under those circumstances at the time, if any loose cultivators from Dahe Square had been incited to charge up the mountain,

let alone keeping the spoils of war,

I fear the Luo Tian Society cultivators would have been completely wiped out.

Only Luo Chen, who had preserved his combat power, could step forward to deter everyone.

Not only that, no one in the Luo Tian Society could withstand the pressure from the Foundation Establishment forces.

It was also Luo Chen who personally stepped forward, promising many benefits and even making commitments, to achieve a balance.

Walking through the mountains with no one following, Luo Chen's complexion only then appeared slightly pale.

Releasing that Solar Art had completely exceeded the scope of the Qi Refining stage.

Even for early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, it would be very difficult to execute such an attack.

It was only because he had continuously optimized the Fireball Art, reaching the extreme of Great Perfection,

and mastered the essentials of delayed fireball explosions and high-speed fusion, that he could barely manage it.

Even so, he had been in a state of continuously releasing fireballs and swallowing elixirs to recover Qi, condensing for a long time before producing that peak strike.

If he had to do it again, he couldn't guarantee whether he would succeed.

"But even so, Duan Qiankun actually survived."

"A defensive magic treasure... what a pity..."

The Ze Guo Gui Tu had already been given to Nangong Jin, so sighing was useless.

Luo Chen's footsteps stopped outside that deep pit.

Afterwards, he leaped!

His whole body, with gale winds swirling around him, plunged straight into the depths of the giant pit like a goshawk pouncing on the earth.

As he moved forward, the flames were continuously pushed aside.

Finally, he arrived outside a cave entrance sealed by crimson chains.

As he arrived, the crimson chains seemed to sense him and clattered open.

He slowly descended into the earth cave.

What met his eyes was a blood-colored giant cocoon appearing glaringly before him.

With the Spirit Eye Art activated, Luo Chen saw the scene inside the cocoon through the thick blood Qi.

Duan Qiankun's expression was ferocious, his limbs bound by small blood-colored snakes.

Opposite him, Wang Yuan sat cross-legged; those small blood-colored snakes were emitted from his body.

Not only that, a blood python was penetrating deep into Duan Qiankun's lower abdomen, reaching into his dantian.

Large amounts of spiritual power were continuously leaking out.

Most of it was absorbed by Wang Yuan through the small blood-colored snakes, while a small portion leaked out and fused with Wang Yuan's blood Qi, forming the blood-colored giant cocoon.

Watching this scene, Luo Chen's pupils constricted.

"Is this the Heaven-Crafting Spirit-Seizing Array?"

"No, this is the Blood Fiend Spirit-Seizing Array that I improved and fused."

Wang Yuan's voice drifted faintly from the blood cocoon.

Accompanying it were Duan Qiankun's painful wails, one after another.

Luo Chen only felt his scalp tingle and his whole body turn cold.

What a Blood Fiend Spirit-Seizing Array!

Even though Wang Yuan had discussed this matter with him before, he still couldn't believe that such a secret technique existed in the world.

But unexpectedly, Wang Yuan actually dared to use it!

The origin of the matter could probably be traced back to the Dao Discussion Platform, where Wang Yuan killed the blood cultivator Xiao Wuyan.

From the other party's legacy, he obtained many things.

A blood-path cultivation method, a second-tier elixir formula, and several blood-path secret techniques.

If it were just that, it would be fine.

But Wang Yuan later participated in the struggle for the Jin Dan ruins.

At that time, everyone focused their attention on the heavenly treasures and the storage ring of the Ghost God Valley's Supreme Elder.

Only Wang Yuan harvested the Heaven-Crafting Spirit-Seizing Array that guarded the ruins.

This array's conception was ancient and natural, grand and open, plundering the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to form a self-sustaining grand array.

Wang Yuan could not set up the array, so he combined it with Xiao Wuyan's blood-path secret techniques to form a brand-new secret method.

The Blood Fiend Spirit-Seizing Array.

This array was heinous and violated the Great Dao.

Therefore, it had many restrictions, such as only being usable three times.

But its one unique effect was impossible to ignore.

That was, it could seize a cultivator's cultivation base.

This "cultivation base" included spiritual power, soul, and even the Dao foundation!

The Dao foundation, the foundation of the Great Dao.

Foundation Establishment was the building of this intangible object.

From plundering heaven and earth spiritual energy to plundering an enemy's cultivation base, it was undoubtedly a weakening.

But if it only fell upon one person, it was a great enhancement.

This meant that, apart from the Foundation Establishment Pill, a new path to Foundation Establishment had been opened.

The reason Wang Yuan agreed to attack Little Huan Mountain, and acted as the main force to fight Duan Qiankun head-on,

was for the Dao foundation of this elderly Foundation Establishment cultivator.

With Luo Chen's assistance, he had indeed achieved the first step of his goal.

Duan Qiankun was not dead; he was controlled and plundered by him.

Once successful, Wang Yuan would ascend to the heavens in one step and become a true Foundation Establishment cultivator!

He took a deep breath.

Luo Chen said softly, "Do you need my help?"

Inside the blood cocoon, Wang Yuan's steady voice came through.

"No need, everything must rely on myself."

Nodding, Luo Chen turned and left.

After exiting the earth cave, he cast the Earth Mountain Art to completely seal the entrance.

Not only that, he sent people to guard the surroundings, forbidding anyone from approaching the giant pit.

By this time, the flames had gradually extinguished.

After all, it was a fire without fuel and could not burn for long.

Continuous spring rain fell, and soon small puddles accumulated inside the giant pit.

If time passed, this place might become a small lake.

Such means of changing the landscape were indeed not something Qi Refining cultivators could achieve.

This also indicated that Luo Chen's Solar Art strike was a genuine Foundation Establishment means, even exceeding the ordinary attacks of most Foundation Establishment cultivators.

After coming out, Luo Chen strolled along the mountainside.

He watched Sima Hui Niang and Murong Qinglian leading people to handle the aftermath of the battle.

He did not disturb them too much, only remaining here as the leader to stabilize morale.

It had to be said that with him here, everyone felt much more at ease.

Since the establishment of the Luo Tian Society, in less than a year, it had experienced two or three major battles.

And all were successful, which brought Luo Chen immense prestige.

During this time, Qin Liangchen sought out Luo Chen.

"The Duan family has a group of surviving mortals?"

"Yes, there are also five early-stage Qi Refining cultivators among them; do they need to be killed?"

Hearing this news, Luo Chen fell into silence.

Regarding Qin Liangchen's murderous suggestion, he did not give a direct answer.

Qin Liangchen looked at him and said, "Handling this is simple; just leave it to me."

He didn't want Luo Chen to be in a difficult position.

He was willing to do this dirty work.

However, Luo Chen shook his head gently.

"The overall situation is settled; a group of weaklings can't stir up any trouble."

"As for those few early-stage Qi Refining cultivators, just abolish their cultivation bases."

"As for this group of mortals... wait until Duan Feng wakes up and let him decide for himself!"

After speaking, he flicked his sleeves and turned to go up the mountain.

Qin Liangchen remained in place and sighed.

This little brother of his!

He was still too kind after all.

Was Luo Chen kind?

This had to be viewed dialectically.

To close friends, he was indeed kind.

But to enemies, there was naturally no talk of so-called kindness.

Even for the middle and lower-level cultivators of the Luo Tian Society, he had made it clear that it was a relationship of mutual utilization.

Usually, I support you with high salaries.

At critical moments, you must stand up for me.

In this battle, the Duan family was almost wiped out, but didn't the Luo Tian Society also suffer losses?

Those dead Luo Tian Society cultivators could no longer experience Luo Chen's kindness.

And all of this.

In Luo Chen's view, was worth it.

In this battle, those who survived gained a lot.

Nangong Jin harvested the magic treasure he wanted most—the Ze Guo Gui Tu.

Wang Yuan harvested the Foundation Establishment cultivator Duan Qiankun; he might rely on the Blood Fiend Spirit-Seizing Array to ascend to the heavens in one step.

And himself...

"The Luo Tian Society has finally established a firm foothold in Dahe Square."

This was a huge harvest.

This meant that he, Luo Chen, had finally gained the space and time to develop freely.

Not relying on others, not borrowing power, but space and time fought for by his own strength.

And another huge harvest lay in the spirit spring before his eyes.

"The creation of nature is truly ingenious."

"Such a terrain where yin and yang run parallel, and water and fire complement each other, would actually appear on such a mountaintop."

Luo Chen sighed repeatedly.

Surrounding this spirit spring shaped like a yin-yang fish, his gaze flickered incessantly.

A plan in his heart could not help but emerge.

"Di Liu Jiang..."

Since Pang Renxiong's death, the inner city of Dahe had turned into a ghost realm.

The Yuding Sword Pavilion no longer existed, so the orthodox auction could naturally not be held.

Thus, the loose cultivators of Dahe Square lost their normal way of obtaining Foundation Establishment Pills.

Luo Chen was once worried about this.

Later, he reached a cooperative relationship with Tian Xingzi and obtained the three Foundation Establishment Pills promised by the other party.

Only then did he have a solid direction for cultivation.

However, until Tian Xingzi left last month.

He had not seen the shadow of the three Foundation Establishment Pills.

Although the other party swore that they would send someone to deliver them to him.

But heaven knows how long that time would be.

He couldn't wait for them to be delivered to his grave a hundred years later!

Since then, Luo Chen had been looking for ways to break through to Foundation Establishment.

A simpler one was to go to other markets, or even Lanxiancheng, to obtain them at a high price from auctions.

But the problem was the same as before.

Being a stranger in a strange land, unable to participate in the internal cake-cutting of high-level cultivators, relying solely on the one or two spots for loose cultivators could not satisfy his needs.

A more complex one was the method provided by Wang Yuan.

The Blood Fiend Spirit-Seizing Array!

Walking the path of blood-path Foundation Establishment.

But this path required a sufficiently high attainment in body cultivation and blood path, and even the physique had to be strong enough to barely manage it.

Even so, not even Wang Yuan himself could guarantee success.

Moreover, it also required a Foundation Establishment cultivator who could be taken at will!

The difficulty was no less than attacking the Duan family again.

Luo Chen, naturally, would not choose it.

There was another way.

That was soul-path Foundation Establishment.

Luo Chen had this method.

Moreover, the conditions were already met.

That was a powerful soul foundation and enough souls of late-stage Qi Refining cultivators.

For the former, with the support of the Tongyou Pill, he was very confident.

For the latter, inside Dahe Square, there were thousands of ghosts.

Let alone late-stage Qi Refining, even ghost generals comparable to the Foundation Establishment stage existed, at least one or more.

However, the terrifying sequelae of soul-path Foundation Establishment made Luo Chen avoid it like a snake or scorpion.

So, after thinking it over.

He pinned his hope on Di Liu Jiang.

After many days of study, he had researched this elixir formula quite thoroughly.

The medicinal power was aimed at enhancing the foundation of demonic beasts, accelerating their cultivation speed.

If it were vegetation or intelligent demons, the effect would be even better.

Logically speaking, this medicine was specially developed for demonic beasts.

But among them, the addition of those few medicinal materials made it applicable to a small portion of the human race.

In other words, it could enhance the foundation of the human race.

Didn't this mean it also had some effect for Foundation Establishment?

"Elixir-path Foundation Establishment is hard to find Foundation Establishment Pills."

"Blood-path Foundation Establishment is hard to find materials."

"Soul-path Foundation Establishment has terrifying sequelae and is not advisable."

"Only this demon-path Foundation Establishment might serve as a backup!"

Luo Chen did not intend to pin his hope solely on Tian Xingzi's conscience.

The conscience of high-level cultivators was never reliable.

He had already seen through it completely.

Everything could only rely on himself!

And the conditions required to refine Di Liu Jiang, he had already gathered.

For auxiliary materials, before Tian Xingzi left, he had already purchased a portion through Wang Yanzhang.

Later, he supplemented them from the Lianyun Alliance.

For the main material, he had the corpse of a second-tier Fiery Cloud Peng, with bones, flesh, and blood all present, and even the demon core was preserved.

This corpse was enough to refine ten times.

The refining technique required water-method refining.

He also had a set of Falling Cloud Smoke-Generating Methods, sufficient to handle second-tier elixirs.

Next, as long as he spent time polishing it to proficiency, he could start.

And the spirit spring needed for the Falling Cloud Smoke-Generating Method was right under his feet!

"Everything is ready, only the east wind is missing."

Luo Chen took a deep breath and cast his gaze onto the attribute panel he had brought up.

The east wind, naturally, was the entry-level!

If he couldn't reach the entry-level, then with the grade of a second-tier elixir, Luo Chen, a mere first-tier alchemist, would have to pay a thousand or ten thousand times, perhaps only then succeeding once.

This cost was something he couldn't afford.

He didn't have that many spirit stones and time to prepare so many raw materials.

As long as the system could bring it to the entry-level, then everything would not be a problem.

The question was, could it reach the entry-level?

【Di Liu Jiang, second-tier complete elixir formula】

【Whether to enter the entry-level】

This time, Luo Chen did not hesitate.

"Entry-level!"

Under his gaze, on the system panel, the entry for Di Liu Jiang slowly emerged.

【Di Liu Jiang—Progress 30/100】

Luo Chen was stunned, feeling it was unbelievable; investing ten achievement points, could the progress only reach this level?

It was still a full seventy away from the entry-level!

Just as he was disappointed, that entry slowly changed.

31... 35... 40... 50... 60... 70

Finally, the progress stuck at 70/100.

Watching this slowly changing scene, Luo Chen was thoughtful.

The initial thirty points of progress should have been brought by the achievement points he invested.

The subsequent changes were due to his familiarity with the elixir formula and his own attainment in alchemy, leading the system to judge that he himself had the possibility of successful refining.

"Still missing thirty points of progress to reach the entry-level?"

Luo Chen pursed his lips, his gaze falling on the remaining achievement points.

There were still 18 left.

Without hesitation, he began to add them one by one.

Finally, the progress bar stuck at 【88/100】.

A very auspicious number!

"To reach the entry-level for a second-tier elixir, can one achievement point only provide one point of progress?"

"If one were not familiar with the elixir formula at all and had no attainment in alchemy, wouldn't one only have 10 points of progress at the start?"

"Cross-tier alchemy is actually this difficult."

Luo Chen sighed.

Afterwards, he gathered his confidence.

He was not disappointed; this was a result that could have been foreseen long ago.

Even saying that 88 points of progress, quantified and visualized in this way, actually brought him immense confidence.

"But it's just missing twelve achievement points."

"This is not difficult!"

Achievement points came from cultivation methods, spells, elixir techniques, and even alchemy, the improvement of proficiency in these things.

Each time a level was improved, it would provide one achievement point.

Regarding this, he was already well-versed.

Twelve achievement points meant he only needed to improve his proficiency level twelve more times.

"In this way, I only need to choose the entries closest to a breakthrough and practice more."

"This is the fastest way to obtain achievement points."

Muttering to himself, Luo Chen's gaze fell on that long attribute panel.

【Realm: Qi Refining Stage Level 9 28/100】

【Cultivation Method: Great Perfection Changchun Gong, Ming Shen Po Sha Entry-level 91/100, Wan Shou Jing Entry-level 10/100】

【Spells: Great Perfection Fireball Art, Great Perfection Xiaoyao Yufeng, Great Perfection Traction Art, Great Perfection Breath-Restraining Spirit Decision, Great Perfection Spirit Eye Art, Entanglement Art Master 810/1000, Cleaning Art Master 775/100, Healing Art Perfect 485/500, Earth Mountain Art Perfect 315/500, Wave Art Perfect 309/500, Soundproofing Art Entry-level 81/100, Soul-Shocking Art Entry-level 92/100】

【Elixir Techniques: Zheyu Hand Master 700/1000, Su Xin Hand Perfect 390/500, Huanxi Hand Entry-level 79/100, Huayun Hand Entry-level 65/100】

【Wu Gong: Kaishan Pobei Palm Master 880/1000, Tiannu Sanhua Perfect 357/500】

【Skills: First-tier Alchemist, Bigusan Great Perfection, Zhongmiaowan Master 830/1000, Yusuidan Master 910/1000, Ranxuedan Proficient 150/200, Tongyou Pill Entry-level 7/100, Di Liu Jiang Not yet entry-level (Click to view progress details...)】

【Achievement Points: 0】

Browsing through it at a glance.

Luo Chen soon had a plan in his heart.

He now needed about two years to reach the Great Perfection of Qi Refining at full throttle.

By that time, he would need to rely on Di Liu Jiang for Foundation Establishment.

Therefore, two years was the time he would use to grind achievement points.

And the most suitable ones to grind were undoubtedly the four spells: Entanglement Art, Cleaning Art, Soundproofing Art, and Soul-Shocking Art.

As well as the three elixir techniques.

In terms of Wu Gong, grinding was also simple.

In terms of elixirs, whether it was Zhongmiaowan or Yusuidan, he could have refined high-grade ones long ago.

It was only because he needed to conceal his alchemy attainment before that he deliberately controlled the refining of this type of high-grade elixir.

But now, having taken down the Duan family and reached a certain balance with several forces,

he had ushered in a relatively stable cultivation environment.

He only needed to control the elixirs so they wouldn't flow out, and the proficiency of these few elixirs could be quickly brushed to the Great Perfection level.

In this way, he could harvest a few more achievement points.

"Speaking of which, I also really want to know what effect the top-grade Zhongmiaowan and top-grade Yusuidan have?"

Luo Chen smiled slightly.

He did not feel lost or painful because the road ahead was difficult.

He only knew that he was walking on the right path, and that was enough.

No matter how many difficulties and hardships there were, they were just a little wind and frost!

(End of chapter)