Chapter 454: Luo Chen comes out of seclusion

In the quiet cultivation room.

Luo Chen, who had simply cleaned himself up, sat cross-legged, his eyes like torches, with a jade slip floating above his head.

Words poured out like a waterfall.

Looking at those words he was so familiar with that he could recite them backward, Luo Chen finally made his choice after years of hesitation.

"The core is formed in five colors, which is a characteristic of forming a core with all five elements."

"Although it is dominated by the cyan color of the wood element, the fire element spiritual power also occupies twenty percent."

"If we talk about longevity, breaking through realms, and the difficulty of getting started, I should follow the wood element and choose 'Huaqing Yixin Gong'."

"But longevity is not immortality; before reaching the realm of being as long-lived as heaven and earth, if your strength is insufficient, no matter how long your lifespan is, it is all vanity!"

It must be said.

After experiencing the Kurong Fire swallowing vitality, causing Luo Chen's lifespan limit to plummet.

His understanding of lifespan also became increasingly clear and calm.

Especially after successfully forming his core, the two-hundred-year lifespan limit instantly surged to four hundred.

Full of vitality, robust and sturdy, even his previously gray-white hair had turned nine-tenths back to a healthy black.

This allowed Luo Chen to view so-called lifespan more clearly.

No matter how high the limit is, without powerful protective techniques, it is difficult to live to that time safely in this cruel cultivation world.

By comparison, within a relatively safe lifespan range, making oneself more powerful is undoubtedly a smarter and more correct choice.

Not only to live long but also to be immortal!

"I have now refined the Kurong Fire and possess the source true fire, but my utilization rate is quite low; I only use the Kurong Fire for refining elixirs."

"The developed means of refining living beings and plundering vitality can be considered a pleasant surprise."

"But the potential of this fire is definitely more than just this point."

"If I want to utilize it to the extreme, switching to fire-element cultivation is imperative."

"But the original wood-element spiritual power cannot be easily abandoned."

"So!"

"'Burning Wood True Technique', it's you!"

The number of third-tier cultivation techniques Luo Chen possessed was increasing.

He originally had three, and after killing Helian Yun and the other two at the Great Snow Mountain, in order to obtain the Nether Origin Pills on them, he spent some time unlocking the storage bags of Helian Yun and Xiao Xiao Sanren.

He didn't get the legacy of Madam Madam Yousha.

The other party blew herself up in the Python Cave, and the storage bag didn't survive.

It's a pity about the Nether Origin Pill inside.

However, the legacy of Helian Yun and Xiao Xiao Sanren also gave Luo Chen a not-so-small surprise.

Xiao Xiao Sanren's legacy didn't have much overall value, totaling only about a hundred thousand spirit stones.

Loose cultivators, you know!

It's like this.

Even if you look at them as having a high realm, it's very likely they exhausted a lifetime of savings to push themselves to the current realm.

Being able to leave behind a hundred thousand is already quite difficult.

The surprise he gave Luo Chen was a set of soul-attack spells—"Linjiang Immortal Tune."

Entering the soul through sound, performing soul attacks in the form of sound waves.

This set of sound wave spells is best performed with a zither, followed by various musical instruments, and at worst, it can be integrated into daily shouting and roaring.

When Luo Chen was forming his core, the several divine sounds emitted from his body had a bit of the skill of this sound wave spell.

Helian Yun's legacy was worth mentioning.

As the leader of the Daoist Lianyun Business Alliance, his savings over many years were quite abundant.

Even though time was tight and Luo Chen didn't have time to count them one by one, a rough estimate of the number of spirit stones was at least a million.

Among them, some precious materials, if evaluated seriously when there is time later, would definitely be worth several times more.

And what Luo Chen cared about most after getting the Nether Origin Pill was Helian Yun's collection of third-tier cultivation techniques.

He alone collected two complete third-tier cultivation techniques.

They were water-element and earth-element respectively.

It seems this evergreen tree of Mount Tianlan Xiancheng was also preparing for his own main cultivation technique after Core Formation.

In this way, it was cheap for the Luo Tian Society.

The reason it was cheap for the Luo Tian Society, not Luo Chen.

The point lies in these two complete cultivation methods; Luo Chen himself cannot use them much, and in the future, they can only be given to the Luo Tian Society after it is rebuilt into a sect, to serve as an inheritance method.

Therefore, the number of third-tier cultivation techniques in Luo Chen's hands seemed to be as many as five.

But the ones he could truly use for his own cultivation were still those three original ones.

The Yan Alliance's "Yanyang True Scripture."

The "Huaqing Yixin Gong" bestowed by Master Fairy Canglong.

And a remnant third-tier cultivation technique collected by the Luo Tian Society, "Burning Wood True Technique."

In order to utilize the Kurong Fire, the easiest to practice "Huaqing Yixin Gong" was naturally excluded.

Among the remaining two, after years of weighing, Luo Chen finally chose the wood-fire dual cultivation "Burning Wood True Technique."

This technique, although remnant.

It only lacked the Core Formation late-stage chapters, as well as the accompanying spells and secret techniques.

Luo Chen didn't care about the latter; if he had money, he could completely collect various powerful spells through formal channels.

As for the former?

Perhaps other cultivators would avoid it like a snake or scorpion.

But for Luo Chen, the problem wasn't actually that big.

"As long as I raise the proficiency of this technique to the perfection state before the Core Formation late-stage, the system can more or less complete some of it."

"And this cultivation technique comes from the Five Elements God Sect."

"This sect loves studying all kinds of divine techniques the most, and occasionally takes them out for sale at the Lingyuan Pavilion."

"If there is an opportunity in the future, I can pay a price to purchase the full version of 'Burning Wood True Technique' from them."

From the present to the future.

Luo Chen thought about everything comprehensively.

Plus, he now had a massive amount of heaven-and-earth spiritual energy hoarded in his Qi Sea, which was full of impurities and desperately needed a cultivation technique to refine.

The efficiency of the Foundation Establishment chapter of "Evergreen Scripture" was too low.

Only a third-tier cultivation technique could absorb quickly and convert it into magic power at a higher level than spiritual power.

Therefore, after deciding, Luo Chen immediately began practicing "Burning Wood True Technique."

It must be said that with Luo Chen's talent for spells, he also had miraculous effects when studying cultivation techniques.

Plus years of research, he was already very familiar with this cultivation technique.

In just four or five days, he successfully entered the "Burning Wood True Technique."

In this way, the massive spiritual energy swallowed into the Qi Sea during Core Formation also began to be continuously refined.

In this process, Luo Chen's soul continuously merged into it, making every portion of spiritual power contaminated with the aura of the soul.

One year later.

In the cave dwelling, Luo Chen stopped practicing, and a look of emotion appeared on his face.

"No wonder in the cultivation world, Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment cultivators are as numerous as crucian carp, but the number of Core Formation cultivators never goes up."

"Breaking through realms is one thing, but the complexity of Core Formation cultivation is another."

During the Qi Refining stage, it was mainly about simply absorbing external spiritual energy.

After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, every stage required continuous purification and refining of spiritual power, liquefying it. Only then could the limited Qi Sea space accommodate enough spiritual power.

And as cultivators break through realms and reach the Core Formation stage, cultivation becomes even more complex.

For external spiritual energy, one must do three steps: absorb, refine, and fuse!

Absorb external spiritual energy, refine and purify, and finally use one's own spiritual sense to wrap and contaminate the spiritual power, making it undergo simple fusion.

Only in this way can the complete transition from spiritual energy to spiritual power, and then to magic power, be completed.

The complexity of cultivation during this period, even with the help of a third-tier cultivation technique, is quite mentally exhausting for a cultivator.

In this way, one can understand why Core Formation cultivators have such a high demand for third-tier spiritual land.

Just purifying and fusing is so laborious, how can they put too much energy into absorbing external spiritual energy?

Third-tier spiritual land is a resource that Core Formation cultivators must have for cultivation!

After thinking this through.

A look of helplessness appeared on Luo Chen's face.

He couldn't occupy this Jia-3 cave dwelling for a lifetime.

Whether the other Core Formation cultivators in Mount Tianlan Xiancheng are willing is one thing.

Whether his financial resources can continue to support it is another.

Before Core Formation, he was already overdue.

It was Gu Gu Caiyi who forcibly collected payments from various branches, plus President Sima Hui Niang's mobilization of the Luo Tian Society's liquid funds, that they managed to scrape together the three million spirit stones for the extra three years.

Doing this had already hurt the foundation.

It was very easy to cause a situation where the turnover was not smooth.

This was a self-destructive approach.

But there was no other way; the Luo Tian Society might be big, but it wasn't bigger than Luo Chen's Core Formation.

With Luo Chen's success in Core Formation and his reputation as a Core Formation master, he might be able to slightly alleviate this situation.

But reputation or something, it might solve an urgent need, but it couldn't be a long-term meal ticket.

During their brief meeting last time, Luo Chen handed over all his remaining savings—three million spirit stones plus a batch of materials worth several million—to President Sima Hui Niang.

Combined with the Luo Tian Society's income, it temporarily supported the rent for the third-tier cave dwelling for the next ten years.

But what about after ten years?

Luo Chen stroked an iron thumb ring on his thumb.

This thing was actually also a storage magic treasure.

It originated from Qin Qin Yuanjiang of the Yan Alliance!

As an enforcement elder, after the Yan Alliance suffered a great catastrophe, he could be considered the true master of the Yan Alliance.

Presumably, in his thumb ring, there should be a considerable legacy!

So, for the next nine years, what Luo Chen needed to do was very simple and clear.

First, and most importantly, polish and stabilize the current realm.

With the great commotion he caused during Core Formation, as long as he thoroughly refines the massive spiritual energy hoarded in his body, he can completely advance directly to the first layer of Core Formation.

This was exactly as Chu Kui had said.

The practice of superior Core Formation secret techniques is so difficult, naturally, there are corresponding benefits.

One is that Core Formation is relatively easy.

Another is that cultivation is relatively fast during the early stage of Core Formation.

After all, before Core Formation, one was already involved in Core Formation cultivation, and the fusion of spiritual power and soul power had long been ahead of ordinary early-stage Core Formation cultivators.

This second thing, that is, to grind away the spiritual sense imprint left on Qin Qin Yuanjiang's iron thumb ring.

Luo Chen was also quite familiar with this matter.

Along the way, this wasn't the first time he had done such a thing.

In fact, he still had a batch of storage bags from Foundation Establishment cultivators on him that he hadn't opened yet.

When the time comes, he would open these blind boxes together.

Perhaps it could alleviate Luo Chen's current financial predicament.

As for the third thing?

That had to do with the two cultivation techniques Luo Chen created himself.

"Wan Dao He Liu" and "Weichen Yuan Shu."

The former is a third-tier body cultivation technique, following the path of ancient beast body cultivation, with infinite potential.

The latter is a Core Formation secret technique that Luo Chen created by taking the strengths of others, rated by the system as the "Supreme Law" level.

But during the Core Formation process, Luo Chen still sensed various inadequacies in it.

Just right, while the Core Formation insights were still there, Luo Chen could perhaps thoroughly complete it.

Outside.

Yuding Domain!

The pioneering war has started!

The set preparation period was fifty years, but it was impossible to really stick to this time point.

With the twenty-seven sects of various sizes participating in this war gathered, some things could already be done in advance.

Clearing out the monsters entrenched within the Yuding Domain.

Thoroughly opening up several routes to the Xiaoyue Mountain Range.

Establishing temporary strongholds outside the Xiaoyue Mountain Range as war fortresses for later.

Sending sensitive people to enter the Xiaoyue Mountain Range in advance to investigate the terrain and the gathering situation of various monster forces.

Such things, with the addition of countless manpower and material resources, the coalition led by the Luoyun Sect finally started slowly.

And just as the extreme eastern cultivation world was becoming increasingly boiling.

Luo Chen came out of seclusion!

Jia-3 cave dwelling on Mount Tianlan Peak.

The clouds and mist covering the cave dwelling had already dispersed, and the cave dwelling gate was wide open.

Luo Chen stood at the gate, quietly waiting for something.

Not long after, a ray of light flew over from not far away.

The magic power light dissipated, and the appearance of the Luoyun Sect Core Formation cultivator came into view.

Luo Chen performed a salute with his fists, "Fellow Daoist Qu, long time no see, I hope you have been well."

Qu Qu Xibai smiled slightly, and just as he was about to say something, a strange look flashed in his eyes as he looked at Luo Chen.

He was surprised: "Fellow Daoist is truly not an ordinary person, having formed your core for only ten years, yet you can achieve magic power restraint and the three treasures as one. I wonder what your current realm is..."

Luo Chen nodded, "First layer of Core Formation."

Getting this expected answer, Qu Qu Xibai was still shocked in his heart.

After ordinary cultivators advance to the Core Formation stage, they often need to spend several years consolidating their realm.

Yes, just consolidating the realm!

If he wants to go from the early stage of Golden Core to the first layer of Golden Core, which is the entry level, it will take at least thirty or forty years of hard work.

Yet Luo Chen skipped this step in just ten years and went directly to the first layer of Core Formation.

This cultivation progress...

Qu Qu Xibai shook his head, "Even with a superior secret technique to form the core, it's not as fast as you. It seems your foundation is even more robust than I estimated!"

Hearing this praise, Luo Chen couldn't help but show a bitter smile.

In this simplest and easiest first layer of Core Formation, he did indeed progress extremely fast.

But he has enjoyed the convenience of accumulating a lot and breaking out slowly.

The cultivation after this was what gave him a headache.

Originally, his foundation was outrageously thicker than others, and after Core Formation, he chose a dual-element cultivation technique, so the difficulty of subsequent cultivation was even greater.

To be honest, after stepping into the first layer of Core Formation and finding that the cultivation speed was becoming increasingly slow, Luo Chen had a trace of regret in his heart.

If he had chosen the single-element "Huaqing Yixin Gong," would the cultivation speed be faster?

However!

This trace of regret was only a trace.

Compared to the disadvantage of slightly slower cultivation speed, the other advantages that gradually appeared after practicing "Burning Wood True Technique" were enough to cover this only disadvantage.

His magic power was more robust than before!

His utilization of the source true fire was also more skillful.

Not only that, he had already completed the deduction and repair of "Wan Dao He Liu."

Next, he could use the Kurong Fire for normal body refining!

The two chatted briefly about cultivation insights, and then returned to business.

"Is it really impossible to continue renting this Jia-3 cave dwelling?"

"At least, for the next fifty years, I can't make the decision."

"Hmm?"

Under Luo Chen's confusion, Qu Qu Xibai pointed to the far east.

This point made Luo Chen suddenly realize.

The pioneering war had already started while he was in seclusion!

As a Luoyun Sect Core Formation cultivator, there was no reason for him to stay in the immortal city, especially since this wasn't the Qianye Xiancheng built by their own sect, but an immortal city jointly built by the seven sects before.

"Regarding the affairs of Mount Tianlan Xiancheng, my sect has already negotiated with the Yuding Sword Sect."

"They paid a huge price to completely take back the sovereignty of Mount Tianlan."

"Not to mention my Luoyun Sect, even the Ice Fortress you rely on, as well as Qingdan Valley, Mount Mount Ailao, and Baihua Palace, cannot touch this city again after the last ten-year rotation."

Hearing Qu Qu Xibai's narration, Luo Chen couldn't help but show a solemn expression.

What a huge price the Yuding Sword Sect must have paid to take back the sovereignty of Mount Tianlan.

From now on, the income of Mount Tianlan Xiancheng would no longer be divided by various sects, but would belong solely to the Sword Sect.

However, there were also doubts here.

As far as he knew, this pioneering war, although claimed to be a joint attack on Xiaoyue by twenty-seven sects.

But Qingdan Valley and Mount Mount Ailao were only contributing manpower and effort.

Even if they conquered the Xiaoyue Mountain Range later, they wouldn't move their sect there.

And the Ice Fortress, after Master Fairy Canglong failed to advance to Nascent Soul, presumably wouldn't move the sect to the Great Snow Mountain either.

That is to say, these sects would still be mixing in the Yuding Domain in the future.

Would they be willing to buy out a long-term income to the Yuding Sword Sect at a one-time price?

Regarding these doubts, no one could give Luo Chen an answer.

Qu Qu Xibai wouldn't either.

His visit today, besides accepting the cave dwelling, was also to say goodbye.

"My sect is about to launch an all-out attack on the Xiaoyue Mountain Range; this place is not a place for me to stay for long. At most three months later, when the Sword Sect cultivators arrive, I will have to hand over the handover and go to war."

Luo Chen nodded and spoke words of blessing.

Before Qu Qu Xibai left, he gave a piece of advice:

"Renting an immortal city cave dwelling for a huge amount of spirit stones is not a long-term plan. Fellow Daoist, it is best to join a Nascent Soul upper sect and enjoy the third-tier spiritual vein of natural creation. Or... participate in the pioneering war and earn a third-tier spiritual vein with the sword in your hand!"

"In those vast millions of great mountains, there are countless high-grade spiritual lands; Fellow Daoist's vision cannot be limited to this tiny place of the Yuding Domain!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 455 =====