Chapter 661

Whoosh, whoosh...

The seawater pouring back into Long Yuan Island came fiercely and retreated just as rapidly.

Along the various gullies, it swept up mountain rocks and trees, returning to the calm and tranquil sea.

From time to time, the tide gently washed over the beach, and after it retreated again, fine, soft sand was spread across the flat beach, as if a delicate velvet carpet had been laid out.

It seemed that everything had become calm.

But if one looked from the outside in, one could see that Long Yuan Island, which had once been like a paradise, was now a ruin.

The mountains, which were not high to begin with, had collapsed and been destroyed.

Ancient trees with a lifespan of thousands of years were engulfed in raging flames, and even though the tide had retreated, it had not extinguished them; faint crackling electric arcs could be seen remaining on the ancient trees.

The patches of spirit fields that had been meticulously arranged by Sang Sang Jinghe were even more broken, with the ridges fractured and the medicinal herbs prostrate.

Especially when looking down from high above, with Mount Mount Xiaqiu as the center, the land for a thousand miles around Long Yuan Island was filled with jagged rocks and crisscrossing gullies.

Huge, ugly gullies, like earthworms, were spread densely across the land.

Countless spiritual energy broke through the rock crevices, escaping uncontrollably from the deep abyss beneath the ground.

The culprits responsible for all this, apart from the heavenly tribulation lightning summoned by Luo Chen, were those two giant objects.

The tall White Tiger, with its blade-wings slanted upward and its four feet spread apart, stood on the earth like death, without any aura.

A hundred-foot-long black dragon lay prostrate on the ground, breathing heavily.

"Torn to pieces" was not enough to describe its misery; being cut in half at the waist was the current situation.

Even the spiral patterns on the single horn atop its head were now dim and lusterless.

"Huff... is it not moving anymore?"

Black King lay panting on the ground, his bloodshot eyes making his vision blurry.

Just at this moment, a playful voice entered his ears.

"Black King, why are you in such a sorry state?"

The voice carried a hint of mockery, but to Black King's ears, it was gentle and intimate, like the sound of heaven.

He raised his dragon head with difficulty and looked toward the horizon.

The giant figure of the titan had disappeared, and only a small black dot was falling from the nine heavens; gradually, the face became clearly visible.

A cry of "Master," filled with the vicissitudes of life, could not exhaust the joy, worship, guilt, and self-reproach within it.

Only the bloodline connection made him believe that the person in front of him was his master, Luo Chen, and not the old thief Han Zhan!

Luo Chen looked at Black King's current situation and could not help but nod.

Although he was miserable, he had at least managed to hold off the White Tiger puppet while he and Han Zhan were fighting for the divine soul.

From this, it could be seen that after Black King advanced to the fourth stage, his strength had indeed improved tremendously.

"Do you need help?"

Black King shook his head hurriedly, "No need, no need; these minor injuries of Little Black's are nothing."

He gritted his teeth, and the two sections of his dragon body that had been slashed by the White Tiger puppet actually connected automatically, and the torn flesh on his body was also recovering rapidly.

Such a fast self-healing speed for the physical body... Luo Chen's eyes narrowed.

The Indestructible Body!

This was a constitution that only some legendary wild beasts could possess.

It did not rely on any power, relying purely on the attraction of the physical body's own tissues.

He, Luo Chen, could also manage to reattach severed limbs and regenerate flesh, but that relied on the infusion of source power.

Just now, Luo Chen's spiritual sense had covered the area and seen it clearly; Black King had not even used source power, and the severed dragon body had just naturally connected together.

Was it his own innate talent? Or the foundation after soaking in the Plastic Spirit Holy Spring? Or perhaps... that drop of tongue-tip essence blood of his that contained both source power and the vitality of the Tai Sui?

It was more likely that many factors had combined to create this constitution.

No wonder he had been able to drag out the White Tiger puppet for so long with his ability as a newly advanced fourth-stage beast.

"Master, are you alright?"

Black King asked while recovering his body, looking at Luo Chen with caution.

In his words, there was also a bit of self-reproach.

He had actually fallen for the old thief Han Zhan's scheme; when his master was forming his Nascent Soul, not only did he not protect him, but he had even tried to imprison his master's Nascent Soul.

Luo Chen glared at him, "There is plenty to do; go back and heal your wounds properly!"

After being scolded, Black King was not terrified; instead, he felt relieved and chuckled.

While the two were talking, Tian Yu Xuan had already brought the dejected Sang Sang Jinghe over.

Upon seeing Luo Chen for the first time, a look of hesitation appeared on Tian Yu Xuan's face.

"Master?"

"Hmm."

Luo Chen gave a soft grunt, then said, "Next, Black King, you heal your wounds; you, Tian Yu Xuan, reorganize Long Yuan Island and clean up the mess. What happened to Sang Sang Jinghe?"

"He..."

Before Tian Yu Xuan could finish, she heard Sang Sang Jinghe's wailing.

"Destroyed, everything is destroyed."

"The spirit fields, the medicinal herbs, and the blood pool where I was researching and cultivating the Demon-Heart Tree, everything is destroyed."

He shivered and looked at Luo Chen with uncertainty.

Luo Chen did not say much, "You two handle the affairs on the island; I need to go into seclusion for a while, do not disturb me."

After speaking, he turned and left.

After he left, the one person and two beasts looked at each other.

Tian Yu Xuan was still unable to be certain, "That was Master, right?"

Black King snorted, "That is naturally Master; do you not recognize Master just because the slave seal is gone?"

The slave seal was a type of contract established between a cultivator and a spirit pet, close to being between a restriction and a magic technique.

It was initially generated with the help of the Spirit-Controlling Seal and medicinal pills, and later the connection would gradually deepen until the divine souls were linked.

The slave seals of the two of them had already been lifted in the Mingzhao Heaven Pill Hall due to Luo Chen's physical body Nirvana.

Therefore, this was why Tian Yu Xuan had been unable to recognize Luo Chen for a moment.

But through that familiar tone of speech and style of doing things, she had also realized that Senior Han... no, the old thief Han with his hidden malicious intentions, did not have this kind of demeanor.

Sang Sang Jinghe, whose mind was in chaos because his many years of hard work had been lost in a single morning, had not spoken after being awakened by Luo Chen.

It was not until the two great beasts finished talking that he asked cautiously, "Has the Venerable One... succeeded in forming his Nascent Soul?"

Black King and Tian Yu Xuan looked at each other and nodded tacitly.

"From now on, you must address him as True Person!"

In the abyss.

Several miles away from where Luo Chen had previously cultivated, Luo Chen sat cross-legged in a newly opened mountain cave.

The previous location had had a large amount of spiritual energy drawn away due to the condensation of the Nascent Soul, causing the spiritual energy concentration in the earth vein to drop below the fourth stage.

Although it was slowly recovering, the spiritual energy was restless during the recovery period and was not very suitable for cultivation.

Therefore, Luo Chen had changed to another place for cultivation.

This rugged mountain cave, which was not very spacious, still had a spiritual energy concentration of the fourth-stage spirit vein and was relatively peaceful.

Luo Chen did not have time to arrange it meticulously and immediately operated the "Micro-Dust Origin Technique" to clear his heart, stabilize his spirit, and collect his stray thoughts.

Half a day later.

He finally recovered slowly.

The restless thoughts and complex ideas from before had finally calmed down.

"I have given enough instructions for the outside matters; next, it is time to deal with the matters of my own body."

Luo Chen muttered, first observing his own physical body.

Under that lightning tribulation, not only had it suffered no damage, but it had even improved due to the tempering of the heavenly lightning.

The extent was not large, just five progress points, reaching 【Ancient Fourth Stage 40/100】.

Luo Chen was already very satisfied with this.

The higher the physical cultivation realm, the slower the progress, especially in a situation where his "Ten Thousand Paths Converging" could no longer provide much help.

This time, just one day's work had jumped five progress points, which could already be considered an unexpected joy.

"This is probably the final afterglow of 'Ten Thousand Paths Converging'."

Luo Chen shook his head; there was no hair fluttering, only a cold, cool breeze.

He subconsciously touched his bald head and laughed dumbly.

He said his physical body had suffered no damage, but his head of beautiful hair had been burned to ashes during the five-fold lightning strike.

But this did not matter.

It was just hair; having walked this path for so long, it had long since been through many trials.

There had been times when it all fell out, times when it turned gray, and times when it was dry and lush, cycling back and forth.

If he wanted, he could mobilize his source power and grow it out in an instant.

But that would be a bit wasteful.

It would be better to go into seclusion for a year or two, and it would grow out naturally.

Luo Chen took a deep breath, stopped paying attention to his physical body, and focused his mind, mobilizing his weak spiritual sense to look inside his purple mansion.

The gas sea, which had once been like a sea of fire, had disappeared.

It had turned into a thick barrier, seemingly forming a cave dwelling within his body.

According to the records in the classics, plus what Han Zhan had said...

Thinking of Han Zhan, Luo Chen's mood paused for a moment, and then he compared his own state according to his memory.

After a cultivator condenses the Nascent Soul, the three treasures temporarily merge into one, forming the so-called state of "Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown."

In this state, the divine soul, which once feared the scorching sun and gale winds, can borrow the Nascent Soul to go out, achieving the initial state of the Yin Soul transforming into a Yang Spirit.

This is only the very beginning; to truly transform into a Yang Spirit and not fear any harsh natural environment in the outside world, one must wait until after the Soul Transformation realm.

That is going too far.

Returning to the Nascent Soul realm.

In this realm, a cultivator's Nascent Soul can roam the heavens and earth, observing the free-roaming spiritual energy, the natural evolution, and even the veins of the Great Dao! In this way, it is called seeing the true heaven and earth, which is also the origin of the term "True Person."

And this state of observing heaven and earth, Luo Chen had already briefly experienced when he formed his Nascent Soul.

The spirit merging with heaven and earth!

However, no matter how much the Nascent Soul and heaven and earth merge like water and milk, the Nascent Soul is ultimately the condensation of the cultivator's own great power. If it leaves the physical body for a long time, it will instead be assimilated by heaven and earth, extinguishing its own will.

That kind of experience is something every cultivator craves, yet fears.

Therefore, in the long process of cultivation, in order to prevent the Nascent Soul from being assimilated by heaven and earth, the cultivation achievement of the gas sea forming the purple mansion came into being.

With the broad and vast gas sea, it transforms into a thick purple mansion barrier, isolating the Nascent Soul from assimilation by heaven and earth. Only during battle will the Nascent Soul briefly come into contact with heaven and earth.

This is also why Han Zhan did not dare to act easily after his physical body was destroyed in the past; most of the time, he huddled in Luo Chen's Hunyuan Tripod, the Soul-Refining Banner, or even the Soul-Nurturing Wood Tablet, not hesitating to stop his cultivation for this.

It can be said that the purple mansion is both a restriction on the cultivator and a protection for the Nascent Soul.

At this moment, under Luo Chen's observation, the thickness of his purple mansion barrier was immeasurable.

The internal space of the purple mansion was even more vast, by no means a place of three inches.

"It must be transformed from my own foundation."

After Luo Chen realized this, he focused on the situation inside the purple mansion.

A large amount of pure magic power formed a misty aura, bound within the purple mansion.

Amidst the mist, a white and tender infant, looking exactly like him, sat cross-legged inside.

Although it was an infant, its nose was a nose, its eyes were eyes, and its limbs and torso were all clearly outlined; it was completely a scaled-down version of Luo Chen's body.

This kind of creative work was truly breathtaking.

The infant sat there quietly without any movement, and the misty aura around him converged toward him, yet was blocked outside.

Luo Chen looked at those misty auras, and his mood became heavy.

These energies were by no means his own, nor were they bestowed by heaven and earth after passing the lightning tribulation.

"It is the pure magic power that Han Zhan refined throughout his life!"

While Luo Chen was looking inside his purple mansion, a blue-gold light jumped around joyfully.

It was as if it were saying, "I know, I know, it's my credit."

Having received praise, the Withered-Prosperous Fire Spirit became even more excited, its branches swaying slightly, rolling a wisp of misty aura in front of Luo Chen's Nascent Soul.

But upon observing carefully, he was shocked.

"This..."

Luo Chen's Nascent Soul trembled slightly, subconsciously taking a wisp of misty aura from the Withered-Prosperous Fire Spirit's hand.

Luo Chen looked at the Withered-Prosperous True Fire, and the other party swayed its branches triumphantly.

Luo Chen was silent.

During the tribulation, apart from his physical body and the Profound Dust Armor, he actually had many means he could have used.

The final result was correct.

It was precisely because of the Withered-Prosperous Fire Spirit's action that Han Zhan's Nascent Soul was burned away, thoroughly cutting off the path of retreat for his divine soul.

Observing it now, he discovered that there had been an additional harvest.

The Withered-Prosperous Fire Spirit had not passed the tribulation, but it had also enjoyed the misty aura poured down by heaven during the evolution of the purple mansion, which greatly increased its spirituality.

Not only that, it seemed to have used this creation to completely absorb the wisp of Nirvana Holy Fire it had swallowed in the Pill Hall back then.

That was why it could manage to refine away the remaining marks in Han Zhan's Nascent Soul without Luo Chen's manipulation.

"In this way, it is a bargain for me. As long as I absorb all these pure magic powers without any mark aura, it will be enough to save me decades of effort in consolidating my realm!"

The infant beamed with joy, cheering and jumping.

Especially in the mutual generation of the five elements, wood generates fire.

When he converted his cultivation technique in the early stage of Core Formation, he had converted from the wood attribute to the fire attribute.

He was familiar with this kind of thing!

However, before converting the magic power to consolidate his realm, there were still some things to do.

Luo Chen suppressed his impulse and observed the several magic treasures floating in the purple mansion.

The Profound Dust Armor was still tattered, but amidst the decay, there was a sense of rebirth!

Having absorbed the lightning power from the heavenly tribulation, it was enough to open up the formations that had been artificially engraved during the refining process; as it slowly recovered and evolved later, these artificially engraved formations would fuse more thoroughly with those materials.

It was as if they had turned into the meridians and blood vessels within the magic treasure.

In this way, the magic treasure could advance into a True Treasure, and like a Nascent Soul True Person, it could communicate with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, rather than just relying on its own power.

Communicating with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and borrowing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, instead of just relying on the cultivator's own magic power, this was the difference between a magic treasure and a True Treasure.

It was a pity that the foundation was not enough; according to Luo Chen's observation, even if all the remaining lightning power on it were absorbed, it could only reach the high-grade level and was far from being able to refine the formations and open up the meridians.

After just one glance, Luo Chen stopped paying attention.

The only treasure he cared about most was one.

With just this slight tremor, Luo Chen felt relieved, his heart filled with joy.

"Finally!"

"I can mobilize my natal magic treasure again!"