Chapter 679: Heaven-Earth Peak Star Gate, Tribulation Lightning Refines the Primordial Spirit

The moment he stepped inside, Shen Wandou felt extremely uncomfortable.

A spiritual sense as vast as the ocean spread out unscrupulously, as if it were spying on him at every single moment.

He pursed his lips, and his left hand, tucked into his sleeve, formed a seal.

"Eh!"

A soft sound of surprise came, and Luo Chen, dressed in loose white robes with his hair draped over his shoulders, walked out from the quiet room.

He smiled apologetically: "Apologies, I was cultivating a technique, which caused my primordial spirit to be overly active, and I cannot restrain it for a short time."

While saying this, his gaze, which was sizing up Shen Wandou, never stopped.

The other party's realm was clearly revealed, roughly at the third level of Nascent Soul, and his spiritual sense touched Luo Chen's and retracted instantly.

But in that single instant, it displayed a strength not the least bit inferior to Luo Chen's spiritual sense.

Subsequently, he used some unknown secret technique to hide all the aura on his body perfectly, so that even face-to-face, one could not detect a single bit.

Shen Wandou also revealed a look of surprise, surprised by Luo Chen's excessively young appearance.

In the cultivation world, there are plenty of secret techniques and elixirs that can keep one forever young; a youthful appearance has never been a standard for judging age.

There are even those who look like children or youths but are actually old monsters who have lived for hundreds of years.

But regardless, such people always have some "old air" that cannot be covered up. Their speech and actions are often old-fashioned, showing not a hint of a youthful appearance.

Yet, from Luo Chen's fair skin and beardless cheeks, what he felt was a rich "vitality."

This meant that the other party was truly very young, and his actual cultivation age definitely did not exceed four or five hundred years.

He exclaimed: "For a fellow Daoist to be so young and yet possess such a powerful spiritual sense is truly rare in the world!"

Luo Chen smiled slightly: "Fellow Daoist Shen overpraises me. With your ability, your spiritual sense strength is not the least bit inferior to mine; you are worthy of being the Great Elder of the North Sea Tianyuan Merchant Alliance!"

Unexpectedly, upon hearing this praise, Shen Wandou revealed a bitter smile.

"The position of Merchant Alliance Elder, which you all seem to revere so much, is nothing but a bitter chore to us."

Luo Chen was surprised.

An Elder of the Tianyuan Merchant Alliance, whether in the Eastern Wasteland or the North Sea, is a highly respected big shot wherever they go.

They have countless cultivators at their beck and call, vast connections externally, and countless rare treasures and scarce resources flowing through their hands.

This could be seen from how easily Fu Chaosheng helped him collect a large amount of cultivation resources.

If placed in a mortal kingdom, he would certainly count as a high-ranking official governing a region!

This also counts as a bitter chore?

Seeing Luo Chen's surprised expression, Shen Wandou shook his head and sighed: "Fellow Daoist, you do not know. My Tianyuan Dao Sect has vast lands and abundant resources, with geniuses emerging in generations. The truly powerful figures are all in deep cultivation within the sect. It is only those of us with mediocre aptitude, ordinary family backgrounds, and who are old enough that there is no possibility of further progress on the Dao path, who are 'exiled' to the Tianyuan Merchant Alliance to handle these lowly merchant affairs. It is fine for others who do not know the inside story to respect us, but for someone like you, who will sooner or later become a guest elder of our Star Gate, there is no need for this."

Luo Chen was even more surprised.

He knew that the Tianyuan Dao Sect was powerful, sitting in the essence of the world, overlooking the mountains and seas of the four continents.

But for a Nascent Soul cultivator, it shouldn't reach the point of being "exiled," right?

And...

"How does Fellow Daoist Shen know that I am going to become a guest elder of your sect? And what is this Star Gate guest elder all about?"

Shen Wandou smiled: "This is very normal. Our Merchant Alliance Elders themselves have this task: to recommend some powerful figures from the four continents to join the Tianyuan Dao Sect. And within the Dao Sect, the Star Gate is the place for you all. I imagine that Elder Fu inviting you here is also to invite you to join our sect!"

"Star Gate?"

Luo Chen pondered this name, his expression serious: "I ask Fellow Daoist to enlighten me, what kind of place is the Star Gate?"

Previously, Fu Chaosheng only said that after the matter was accomplished, he would recommend him to become a guest elder of the Tianyuan Dao Sect, but he did not mention the special place called the Star Gate.

At the time, time being tight was one aspect, but the other party holding back was likely another.

Looking at it now, it is hard to say whether this Shen Wandou and Fu Chaosheng are enemies or friends, but if he could get some intelligence from the other party, it would be easier for him to act later.

Shen Wandou sized up Luo Chen carefully; his bearing was calm, neither humble nor arrogant, and possessing a spiritual sense strength not inferior to his own despite being at the first level of Nascent Soul, he was truly a rare figure to see.

After a moment of thought, he smiled:

"The Star Gate is a special place in our sect, and its station is located at Heaven-Earth Peak."

"Within it, a total of nineteen Elders are established. Of these nineteen Elders, twelve are from the twelve Great Houses, two are sent by the thirty-six Noble Families in rotation, and the remaining five are recommended powerful figures who are guest elders."

"But the overall composition of the Star Gate is actually made up of you external powerful figures. The minimum standard for recruitment is a Nascent Soul cultivator. Once you enter, you are divided into three levels: ordinary guest elder, Tianyuan Venerable, and Heaven-Earth Peak Elder."

"Does Fellow Daoist know the Alchemy Saint Chu Yan?"

Luo Chen was stunned and subconsciously nodded.

This person's name was like thunder to the ears; he had heard of him back when he was in the Qi Refining stage.

Rumor has it that he originally came from the Eastern Wasteland holy land, the Mingyuan Sect, but for some unknown reason, he traveled far to the Central Plains and joined the Tianyuan Dao Sect.

In rumors, he is also the only alchemy saint in the world who can refine fifth-grade elixirs at the Nascent Soul stage!

The other party mentioned him at this time, could it be...

"He is one of the nineteen Elders of the Heaven-Earth Peak Star Gate, and has served as a Heaven-Earth Peak Elder for five hundred years!"

Luo Chen's heart was shaken, and he asked suspiciously: "What benefits does the Heaven-Earth Peak Star Gate have to attract so many powerful figures of the Mountain-Sea World to join?"

"Benefits?" Shen Wandou smiled freely: "There are too many."

Subsequently, he narrated slowly.

External Nascent Soul True Persons cannot directly join the Tianyuan Dao Sect; the taboos in this regard are much the same as other sects, to prevent those who bring their own skills from causing chaos in the ancestral court.

Therefore, a special institution like the Star Gate was set up to accommodate external powerful figures.

Once you join, ordinary guest elders can directly enjoy the fourth-grade spiritual veins for free, without spending any spirit stones.

If you have made special contributions to the Dao Sect after becoming a guest elder, or if your realm has improved to the late Nascent Soul stage, you can even become a Tianyuan Venerable.

At this time, some resources within the Tianyuan Dao Sect will be opened to the Venerables.

As for the five Heaven-Earth Peak Elders, they are even qualified to participate in some major decisions of the Tianyuan Dao Sect.

Besides this, there are two other benefits that outsiders find hard to know.

One is that after joining the Star Gate for a full five hundred years, you can recommend your own descendants and disciples to join the Tianyuan Dao Sect and formally become a part of the Dao Sect.

The other involves the secret of ascension!

Regarding this last point, Shen Wandou did not elaborate, but even what was mentioned before was enough for Luo Chen to digest.

With so many benefits to becoming a Star Gate Elder, it is no wonder that powerful figures of the world all flock to it.

"Now the North Sea is in chaos, and the demonic beasts are at their peak, so many North Sea powerful figures have lost their footing. This time, I, Shen, have also recommended several North Sea True Persons to join the Star Gate. Loose Cultivator Huang, if you have time, I can organize a gathering to introduce you to them, and by the way, exchange cultivation insights; closing the door to build a cart is never beneficial to our kind." Shen Wandou stroked his beard and smiled.

Luo Chen sipped his tea and politely declined.

"Thank you for your kindness, Fellow Daoist Shen. You have seen my current situation; the secret technique is not yet complete, and my primordial spirit is active and scattered, so it is not very suitable for communicating with others. Apologies."

"That is also true!"

Shen Wandou looked at Luo Chen, feeling that omnipresent spiritual sense, and vaguely had a feeling of needles pricking his skin.

He knew the other party was not doing it on purpose, but it was indeed disliked by cultivators of the same rank, making it not very suitable for communication.

"In that case, let it be."

Subsequently, he changed the subject: "No wonder you are so interested in puppet arts. Such a powerful spiritual sense is indeed suitable for cultivating puppet arts. I happen to have an ancient puppet art book in my hands, which might be able to help you."

Luo Chen hesitated: "I wonder what its value is?"

Shen Wandou laughed loudly: "Why speak of worldly goods? Today you and I have talked happily, so let it be a gift for visiting; I will give it to you, Fellow Daoist!"

Seeing Luo Chen still somewhat hesitant, he said generously: "It is just a rubbing, and it is useless to me, so Fellow Daoist, do not decline."

Luo Chen had no choice but to accept the jade slip with the puppet art rubbing.

They chatted again about the customs of the Central Plains, and then Luo Chen personally sent Shen Wandou out of the cave dwelling.

On Little Qiong Mountain, Luo Chen held the jade slip, his smile remained, but his heart was somewhat heavy.

He only regarded the trip to the Central Plains as an interlude, and he could fulfill his promise to Fu Chaosheng.

Looking at it now, the place he is going to is a behemoth, and even just the tip of the iceberg is enough to make one breathless.

Star Gate, Heaven-Earth Peak...

Below Little Qiong Mountain, Shen Wandou also kept his smile, the corners of his mouth unable to stop curling up slightly.

"This trip was indeed the right one."

"This Rogue Immortal Huang has impressive potential; to have reached such a realm at such a young age, he will surely grow even faster after joining the Heaven-Earth Peak in the future."

"But that is the future. For now, having just formed his Nascent Soul and unable to even retract his spiritual sense freely, it is evident his combat power is average. In the five-hundred-year grand competition in the Mirage Dragon Cave Heaven, he will not pose any threat to Liu Yuan."

"I only paid a puppet art rubbing that is useless to me, which can make him distracted by puppet arts, unable to increase his strength in a short time, and also make him grateful to me. When he has some small achievements in the future, he can also be an external help for my Shen family."

"Speaking of which, that guy Fu Chaosheng has a good eye, to be able to dig out such a genius!"

The matter of Shen Wandou visiting Luo Chen could not be hidden.

Soon, the high-level cultivators in Shenyuan City all knew that a Nascent Soul stage loose cultivator had come to the city.

They had the heart to visit, but basically all were turned away.

There were no complaints, because the explanation given on Little Qiong Mountain was: "Loose Cultivator Huang has not long formed his Nascent Soul and needs time to retreat and consolidate his realm."

High-level cultivators were very understanding; after all, the other party was a loose cultivator.

Being able to break through to the Nascent Soul stage was already not easy, and now that he had temporarily obtained a place with a fourth-grade spiritual vein, it was only natural to seize the time to consolidate his realm.

But the real situation was entirely not like this!

Inside the cave dwelling, Luo Chen took one Great Soul Pill every month.

Only three months later, his spiritual sense, which could not be restrained, was completely under his control.

For him personally, this represented that his cultivation of the "Soul-Splitting Technique" had made significant progress.

【Soul-Splitting Technique Proficiency 1/100】

Luo Chen looked at the new entry on the attribute panel, feeling relieved.

At this moment, within his sea of consciousness, two primordial spirit shadows, one primary and one secondary, were both silent.

In terms of size, the split soul was far inferior to the primary soul, but its foundation was already not inferior to the primary soul of an ordinary first-level Nascent Soul cultivator.

"Only three months, and I have grown to this extent; this Great Soul Pill is truly miraculous!"

Even as calm as Luo Chen, his emotions were fluctuating at this moment, quite excited.

Even without a complete "Soul-Splitting Technique" and without a technique to speed up the cultivation of the split soul, he had ultimately used alchemy to make up for this defect.

And the Great Soul Pill, with a yield of twelve pills per furnace, was enough for a year's needs if successful once.

A bottle of soul essence for ten million people was enough for a thousand alchemy sessions.

Everything was developing in a good direction.

The only thing that made Luo Chen suspicious was that the newborn split soul, while strong, was a bit weak.

It sounded contradictory, but in reality, there was an internal logic.

Strong in "quantity," weak in "quality."

This split soul was not as good as his primary soul, which had been tempered by time and had not been honed during realm improvements, let alone the stage of the Yin soul transforming into a Yang spirit after passing the Nascent Soul lightning tribulation.

Therefore, the split soul seemingly had the Nascent Soul level, but if it were really taken to attack an enemy, it would be somewhat lacking.

"Looking at it this way, Han Zhan losing to me back then was also understandable."

Luo Chen said to himself.

Obviously, even Han Zhan, who cultivated the complete "Soul-Splitting Technique," had not solved this problem.

Therefore, he seemingly possessed nine major split souls, but in reality, they were bloated and unbearable, and their quality was uneven, which led to them being defeated one by one by Luo Chen's Dragon-Slaying Technique.

And this problem now also appeared in Luo Chen.

If he only pursued quantity, that was definitely not Luo Chen's wish.

However, Luo Chen already had a preliminary solution to this problem.

That was his natal magic treasure!

A small gray tripod floated above Luo Chen's head.

Wisps of silvery-white electric arcs were triggered on it from time to time.

There was a trace of fear in Luo Chen's eyes, but also a bit of expectation.

"If I use the power of tribulation lightning to temper the primordial spirit, can I achieve the removal of the dross and the retention of the essence, strengthening the essence of the primordial spirit?"

"Even saying, not just the split soul, but even the primary soul, if feasible, can also be tempered like this?"

Yin souls fear the power of Yang most.

And tribulation lightning is undoubtedly the most rigid and Yang thing in the world!

If the split soul could withstand the power of tribulation lightning, its strength would be unimaginable.

Luo Chen cautiously released the split soul, while simultaneously letting the Hunyuan Tripod release a wisp of silvery-white electric arc.

Crackle!

The two touched, and Luo Chen felt as if he had been struck by lightning; even because of the connection between the split soul and the primary soul, his eyes subconsciously rolled back, and he fell directly into a coma.

A full half-day later, Luo Chen woke up faintly, his pale face full of lingering fear.

In the world, those who dare to use lightning to temper the body are already rare.

Like him, using the power of tribulation lightning to temper the soul, that is even more unprecedented.

It is enough to be called willful and reckless, bold and daring!

But at this moment, on Luo Chen's face, which was full of lingering fear, there was a bit of ecstasy.

"Feasible!"

"Completely feasible!"

"It's just that the power of the tribulation lightning before was too great; if it could be reduced by more than half, my split soul would be enough to withstand it."

The Hunyuan Tripod is his natal magic treasure, and he already had some insights on how to control the output of the power of tribulation lightning.

Next, he just needed to experiment a little bit and control the measure.

Even if he destroyed this split soul due to improper operation, Luo Chen would not regret it.

Having learned the "Soul-Splitting Technique" and mastered the method of refining the Great Soul Pill, as long as the primary soul remained, he could just start over.

And if he could explore such a set of soul-tempering methods, he might be able to surpass Han Zhan's attainments in soul-tempering, and from then on, completely turn the short board of the soul path into a long point.

When the primordial spirit is strong, he can also study and learn corresponding soul attack and defense methods!

"The future is bright!"

Luo Chen smiled and put the Hunyuan Tripod into his purple mansion.

Meals must be eaten one bite at a time, and things must be done step by step; the split soul was injured, so he had to take more Great Soul Pills to replenish it.

On this day, Luo Chen lived alone in the cave dwelling.

In front of him was still the chessboard made of demon king leg bones, but obviously his attention was not on the shallow white endgame, but was fully focused on the jade slip in his hand.

He had been studying the puppet art Shen Wandou gave him for a while.

Ancient puppet art, compared to today, is not much different; after all, it is a niche genre, and it cannot change much.

With Han Zhan's occasional pointers over the past hundred years, Luo Chen already had a corresponding foundation in puppet art.

Therefore, he started very quickly.

In terms of making puppets, he was not very interested, and in his view, making puppets is the same source as weapon refining, the difference being that knives, guns, swords, and halberds are changed into more complex puppets.

What he was interested in was the aspect of "controlling puppets."

After a while, Luo Chen put down the jade slip, a thoughtful look appearing on his face.

To have achievements in puppet art, the most basic condition is a strong primordial spirit, and it is best to be able to use one mind for multiple purposes.

This is a cliché topic.

But there is indeed some truth to saying so, just because controlling puppets requires a powerful spiritual sense.

Especially some powerful puppets that contain spiritual souls themselves, even more so.

Puppet control is divided into four levels.

Hanging thread puppet control is unranked, spiritual power traction is barely entry-level, spiritual sense thread control is free, and soul seal deep planting is unpredictable!

"This 'Cangli Puppet Art' actually records the complete puppet control method, and even the method of making soul seals is not missing."

"Shen Wandou really gave me a big gift!"

After the exclamation, Luo Chen fell into deep thought again.

With the method of planting soul seals, can he control that white tiger puppet comparable to the late Nascent Soul stage?

Can this set of methods really touch the sword spirit in that blood sword and refine it to recognize its master?

He really had too little experience in this regard.

Especially big killers like the white tiger puppet and the blood sword, they are not like his natal magic treasure, the Hunyuan Tripod, which he can use like an arm, so he must be cautious and cannot tolerate the slightest mistake.

Otherwise, if those two things go out of control, he will have to bear the consequences.

Just as Luo Chen was thinking hard, his expression moved slightly.

"Tianxuan, come in!"

Outside the cave dwelling, Tianxuan entered in response.

As soon as she entered, she shook her sleeves.

"Master, Black King is back."

A coiled dragon fell to the ground, its skin torn and flesh gaping, and there were even weak blue flames burning on it.

Luo Chen raised his eyebrows: "Black King, how did you get so miserable?"

Black King said hatefully: "I met an enemy; these injuries are a small matter, it's just this fire, I have to trouble Master to help me deal with it."

Looking at the blue flames, Luo Chen vaguely felt a sense of familiarity.

Coupled with the word "enemy" mentioned by Black King, Luo Chen instantly recalled one person.

And the next moment, his gaze was like lightning, looking through the cave dwelling.

"Black King, you brought a person back!"

Black King was stunned: "Master, how did you know I brought... no, that old fellow followed too!"

He turned his head suddenly, his dragon tongue hissing, his eyes revealing a fierce light.

Luo Chen waved his hand and stood up.

"An old friend is visiting, why be so fierce? You just stay well, I will go meet an old friend." ===== CHAPTER 680 =====