Chapter 702: Waiting for the rabbit, easy as pie

Whoosh!

A clear breeze blew past, rolling the branches and leaves of the forest; looking from afar, it resembled layers upon layers of waves.

Luo Chen sat cross-legged on a blue stone protruding from the mountainside, overlooking the undulating waves of trees beneath his feet, then looked back at the cave dwelling behind him, his eyes filled with hesitation.

"Is it the wind blowing, or is she moving?"

Three or four months had already passed since Tao Wan began cultivating by absorbing the fourth-tier phantom core.

During this period, she had not stepped out once, and Luo Chen had not taken a single step away, keeping watch outside the cave dwelling the entire time.

Initially, it was unremarkable, but gradually, Luo Chen began to sense some anomalies.

Inside the cave, Tao Wan's cultivation seemed completely unguarded.

Her Nascent Soul had escaped directly from her Purple Mansion, devouring the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in great gulps with its true form.

Such behavior, in normal times, was basically courting death!

Without the protection of the Purple Mansion, exposing the Nascent Soul like this while entering deep-level cultivation was simply waiting for this world to assimilate her.

Yet, she had no such concerns!

At that moment, Luo Chen recalled some words Tao Chaosheng had spoken back then.

The top-tier Great Desolation Mirage Dragon swallows clouds and spits mist, conjuring the sun, moon, and stars, with a cave heaven formed within its body. This world is almost identical to the outside, yet because of the isolation of the Mirage Dragon's own flesh, it forms a special membrane.

If a cultivator practices within it, they can avoid being assimilated by heaven and earth to the greatest extent.

Even if one's spirit merges with heaven and earth, it is the same!

Thus, Luo Chen understood the reason why Tao Wan was so unscrupulous at this moment.

But then another problem arose!

In this world, although spiritual energy is abundant, it is not condensed or concentrated. Just to rely on the advantage of not being assimilated by heaven and earth, deliberately entering the cave heaven to cultivate, and having to do it once every five hundred years—was there really a need?

Some subsequent changes in Tao Wan gradually provided Luo Chen with an explanation.

She was not practicing Qi cultivation at all, but rather, through the Nascent Soul as an intermediary carrier, she was allowing her spirit to constantly interact with heaven and earth, attempting to comprehend something.

Luo Chen knew that this "something" was the so-called true meaning of the Dao.

However, this mode of cultivation is usually only conducted among great cultivators in the late Nascent Soul stage; for Tao Wan to start this step so early, he feared it would be a futile effort.

Yet everything changed after having the special resource of the fourth-tier phantom core.

Tao Wan persisted in her cultivation for several months, and it seemed she had truly come into contact with some kind of true meaning of the Dao.

At present.

Luo Chen was simultaneously paying attention to the changes in the outside world while keeping an eye on Tao Wan's cultivation.

Months had passed, and he had already understood some of the clues.

"No wonder the opportunity for the five-hundred-year grand competition isn't given to those older generation great cultivators who are only one step away from the Soul Transformation realm, but is instead specifically reserved for new Nascent Soul cultivators like Tao Wan."

"No wonder that before entering the Mirage Dragon cave heaven, apart from consolidating their realms, they are ordered by sect elders not to over-cultivate."

"Everything is just to maintain that state of having just entered the Nascent Soul stage!"

When a cultivator first enters the Nascent Soul stage, they subconsciously feel close to heaven and earth, and there isn't much of a barrier between them.

Instead, in subsequent cultivation, they constantly strengthen the Purple Mansion barrier to prevent being assimilated by heaven and earth.

In this way, their realm will constantly improve, and their safety is guaranteed.

But at the same time, they also begin to gradually grow estranged from heaven and earth, thereby losing some of the instincts of the Nascent Soul.

Stating it this way might be a bit obscure and difficult to understand.

Let's use a human infant as an analogy!

Before an infant is born, it resides in amniotic fluid; at this time, humans are naturally able to swim.

But in the process of growing up after birth, in order to prevent drowning, the instinct to swim is constantly suppressed, and they become increasingly resistant to water, gradually becoming unable to swim.

To regain this innate skill of swimming, one must actually undergo acquired learning and training.

Comparing the Nascent Soul to an infant, heaven and earth to water, and comprehending the true meaning of the Dao to swimming, it becomes easy to understand.

The intention of the sages of the Profound Heaven Sect was exactly this.

It was to have the new generation of Nascent Soul prodigies master the ability to "swim freely" between heaven and earth while the Nascent Soul has not yet resisted heaven and earth and still retains its instinct for closeness.

Even, to achieve success in one move and truly grasp the true meaning of the Dao suitable for them!

And in this process, the trace of spiritual opportunity inside the fourth-tier phantom core had a similar effect to the tube providing oxygen to an infant in the womb.

"The sages of the Profound Heaven Sect truly took great pains and thought deeply!"

Luo Chen was immensely moved.

This is the benefit of having a sect's inheritance.

Even the methods for how to cultivate subsequently, how to take shortcuts, and how to grasp powerful strength in advance were all taught to the juniors one by one.

He could only envy them, but could not give birth to any covetous heart.

It was very simple; those methods must have many tricks.

For example, how to utilize the power of the Mirage Dragon, how to unlock the trace of heavenly opportunity absorbed by the phantom core, and the related methods of using this wisp of heavenly opportunity to comprehend the Dao, and so on.

Most importantly, the phantom cores in the Mirage Dragon cave heaven all belonged to the disciples of the Profound Heaven Sect!

They, these guardians, could only watch, not use!

If one were to truly resort to robbery, then after leaving, they would be in for a world of trouble.

Not to mention those Soul Transformation great beings, just the sheer number of Nascent Soul True Persons of the Profound Heaven Sect, often numbering in the hundreds, was not something Luo Chen dared to slight.

What he could do now was to eat a few pre-prepared Soul-Returning Pills to improve his cultivation while helping to keep watch.

From this point of view, Luo Chen was not without things to do.

Inside the cave heaven, spiritual energy is scattered and distributed, not very suitable for Nascent Soul True Persons to cultivate, and the effect is half the work for twice the result.

But with the assistance of high-grade Soul-Returning Pills, it would not drag down Luo Chen's cultivation.

Coupled with the wisp of primordial energy bestowed when the Alchemy Saint ascended, he felt that he was very close to breaking through to the second layer of the Nascent Soul.

Another two months passed.

On this day, crisp footsteps came from the cave dwelling.

Luo Chen slowly opened his eyes and looked at the person coming.

Tao Wan pursed her lips, her face filled with disappointment.

"Did you fail?"

"Yes, I have disappointed you, Daoist brother."

"No matter, just find another fourth-tier phantom core!"

Luo Chen said indifferently, then stood up, his white robes fluttering lightly.

Tao Wan opened her mouth, and in the end, could only nod reluctantly.

"I have troubled you, Daoist brother. It's just that fourth-tier phantom beasts are hard to find; I fear we will have to go out and slowly search for phantom beasts."

Who would have expected!

Luo Chen only smiled lightly, as if he didn't care about this problem at all.

"Follow me!"

Tao Wan was puzzled, rose into the air, and followed Luo Chen.

However, when she was controlling the spiritual energy of the outside world, she stumbled for an instant.

Luo Chen stopped his steps and looked at her with a frown.

Tao Wan hurriedly explained: "The Nascent Soul has been outside for a long time; returning at this moment, the communication with the outside spiritual energy is a bit unsmooth. It is of no great consequence."

Luo Chen nodded, accepting her explanation.

The Nascent Soul's true form naturally controls the spiritual energy of heaven and earth with ease, but after being outside for a long time, suddenly returning with the existence of the physical body in between, it would become unfamiliar; this is very normal.

Thinking of this, he also understood why this hundred-year grand competition was completely different from ordinary hundred-year grand competitions, requiring the intervention of guardians.

At this moment, people like Fu Qinglan are at their most vulnerable; single-mindedly seeking the Dao, they lack the strength to protect themselves and require others to stand guard.

It's just that because of this, he was very curious about how Shi Ju dared to enter the cave heaven alone without a guardian back then. Although the other party brought Qi Xiongcheng when participating in the grand competition later, the initial decision showed that Shi Ju indeed had that kind of confidence to protect himself.

What was he relying on?

Eighty miles away from Tao Wan's cultivation cave dwelling.

There was a vast plain, very wide in range, ten miles in length and width, roughly equivalent to a small town.

But from a visual perspective, this plain did not look very wide.

It was only because there were three great mountains surrounding it, forming an encirclement, leaving only one exit.

The footsteps of Luo Chen and Tao Wan stopped here.

Tao Wan looked around in confusion, "Are there fourth-tier phantom beasts here? They are hidden so deeply that I didn't even notice them when I got close?"

Luo Chen's expression was calm; he lowered his waist and back, placing his hand on the ground covered with grass.

"There aren't any now, but soon, there will be."

A jade box lined with soft silk was placed on the ground by him.

Tao Wan's eyes focused, her expression changing slightly.

In the jade box, a white pill was emitting a rich glow.

If she hadn't seen it wrong, that should be one of the five pills personally refined by the Alchemy Saint before ascending.

Why did Luo Chen take this thing out now?

Shouldn't such a precious item be kept carefully?

Just as she was puzzled, she happened to see Luo Chen, who had straightened his waist, looking back at her, his eyes intriguing.

Tao Wan was startled, then shook her head.

"Daoist brother Luo Chen, don't worry, this is your item; little sister has absolutely no covetous intentions."

Luo Chen twitched the corner of his mouth and didn't say anything.

Instead, he leaped up and jumped into the high sky.

His ten fingers flew, and one after another, restrictions were cast from his hands, sinking into the three great mountains around him.

Not only that, but one after another, small triangular flags were shot into the ground like sharp arrows.

Tao Wan blinked; was Luo Chen actually proficient in the art of array formation?

And watching his ease in performing this, it was enough to show that he already had sufficient understanding of the direction of the mountain veins here.

It's just that, could relying solely on these magic power restrictions and the array formed by the array flags really limit the formless fourth-tier phantom beast?

The next moment, Tao Wan's pupils shrank.

In the void, a small gray tripod flew out, spinning.

The tripod mouth was inverted, like a lid, covering this void.

The white-robed Daoist pointed at the small gray tripod, and suddenly the small tripod vanished into the void, never to be seen again.

"Next, we just wait for the rabbit."

In the sky, Luo Chen said so.

In the sky, Tao Wan's gaze kept shifting between him and the open jade box light cluster on the ground, her face half-believing and half-doubting.

One day.

Two days.

As time gradually passed, the suspicion on Tao Wan's face became increasingly intense.

Finally, she couldn't help but seek out Luo Chen, who was meditating on a hilltop.

"Daoist brother, is this really feasible?"

Luo Chen opened his eyes and stared at her calmly.

He didn't say anything, just stared like this, staring until the other party felt a chill in her heart.

After a moment, Luo Chen suddenly sighed.

"Since there is nothing to do, why not tell me about the cultivation in the Profound Heaven Sect? Luo Mou has been a free spirit since childhood and is quite curious about this sect cultivation."

While speaking, he waved his hand, and a table and a meditation cushion appeared in front of him.

On the table, there was wine, dried meat, and some beans emitting fragrance.

Tao Wan hesitated for a moment, then sat down.

Luo Chen poured wine for her, and she began to talk about some anecdotes of sect cultivation, treating it as satisfying Luo Chen's curiosity while killing some boring time.

"I was twelve years old when I detected that I had water-wood dual spiritual roots, passed the Dao Sect test, and entered the Lankeshan Mountains to cultivate. Up to now, it has been more than two hundred years, almost three hundred years!"

"Cultivation within the sect is actually very boring and tedious."

"Every day is morning class, evening class, reciting classics, opening meridians and drawing Qi..."

"There are seventy-two famous peaks in the Lankeshan Mountains, basically each occupied by a Nascent Soul True Person for cultivation. And these Nascent Soul True Persons mostly come from noble families. We don't focus on master-disciple inheritance; ordinary cultivation, apart from listening to the Dao Sect elders' lectures, is all conducted individually."

"If you really want to talk about something interesting, it's probably the ten-year small competition within each family, and then the hundred-year grand competition of the whole sect, at which time the outstanding juniors of each realm from each family will gather together to compete. Hehe, this kind of thing is considered a top priority in our eyes, but in Daoist brother's eyes, I imagine it's like children playing house!"

"These beans are really delicious... are they bitter hazelnuts? They are actually processed so well, no less than some of the exquisite food in our sect."

"It's not to say that the journey has been smooth sailing; the sect regularly issues some tasks. There are no demons in the Central Plains, but some places near the Central Plains still have demon beasts entrenched, and the sect will regularly issue such tasks for us to do. In addition, there are other large and small tasks, and some even have to go to other continents..."

"Because the Profound Heaven Sect is mainly based on immortal cultivation families, the infighting within the sect is not that heavy, but the struggles between families have never stopped. The reason my grandfather went to the North Sea to serve as an elder of the Alliance was also to use the identity of an Alliance elder to avoid family competition, thereby striving for time for me to cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage."

"From this point of view, grandfather indeed protected me too well. If little sister has any childish behavior in the future, please bear with me, Daoist brother."

Luo Chen drank wine while listening to Tao Wan talk about sect cultivation.

The other party spoke quite enthusiastically, but Luo Chen found it a bit uninteresting halfway through.

Pure and indifferent, with few storms.

Occasional competition is mostly within the rules.

Even Tao Wan felt bored after long-term cultivation and gradually looked for things to pass the time, such as Go.

But later on, Luo Chen's attention became focused again.

He couldn't help but imagine, in this situation without large-scale life-and-death struggles, how much have cultivators of various realms accumulated in the Profound Heaven Sect over thousands of years of recuperation?

And although the Central Plains is large, can it really accommodate so many cultivators to carve up these resources?

Combined with the North Sea Penglai Immortal Sect and the Ghost God Valley matter in the Eastern Wasteland, Luo Chen had to think in the worst direction: this tiger lying in the Central Plains is probably already unable to resist leaving its cage and dipping its fingers into other continents of the Mountain and Sea Realm!

Suddenly.

Luo Chen waved his hand, and the wine and snacks placed between the two disappeared.

"It's here!"

He rose gracefully, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth around him began to gather towards him.

Tao Wan followed his gaze to look into the distance.

Between the mountains and ridges, a white light came like a bolt of lightning.

Without any confusion, it headed straight for this ten-mile plain!

She looked at Luo Chen with full surprise.

The array set up by the other party amplified the medicinal power of the Heavenly Opportunity Pill, spreading it to a radius of a thousand miles, yet it was controlled to an extremely appropriate degree, which only high-tier phantom beasts could perceive.

Now it seems, he really did wait for the rabbit.

And Luo Chen's light laughter further verified her thoughts.

"It really is a rabbit!"

That white light was extremely fast, but it hopped while running, crossing several miles at a time.

Looking closely, between the gathering and scattering of clouds, its ears were pointed, its eyes were lively, exactly the same as an ordinary rabbit.

This rabbit came extremely fast, rushing into the plain surrounded by the three mountains regardless of everything, heading straight for the jade box quietly placed on the ground.

Just at this moment, the jade box abruptly disappeared.

The rabbit was stunned and looked up at the sky.

A huge fire phoenix spread its wings and pounced on it with a sharp scream.

The rabbit was anxious.

A large amount of cloud energy gathered, and its body size began to expand crazily.

Five zhang, ten zhang, fifty zhang, a hundred zhang...

A huge rabbit, fully a hundred zhang in size, pounced angrily at the fire phoenix.

And in Tao Wan's eyes, she seemed to have already seen its end.

"Just seeking its own death!"

Boom!

The giant rabbit and the fire phoenix collided together.

Huge spiritual energy fluctuations surged in all directions like waves.

The fire phoenix gradually dissipated.

The giant rabbit was beaten into clouds and mist filling the sky.

A condensed white light was hidden within it, appearing and disappearing.

Luo Chen sat high in the void, watching this scene, nodding secretly.

Just as he thought, the strength of a fourth-tier phantom beast is at most the same as a Nascent Soul early-stage cultivator who hasn't mastered any powerful means. The only tricky point is probably the characteristic of being formless and difficult to die.

And the Fire Phoenix Raging Plains he performed is enough to rival the full-strength blow of an ordinary Nascent Soul early-stage cultivator.

With preparation in advance, beating its main body apart is not a difficult task.

The truly difficult part should be later.

Tao Wan said anxiously: "It wants to run!"

Luo Chen waved his hand, "It can't run."

Luo Chen grasped the void!

The next moment, a giant tripod pressed down from the void with a rumble, completely covering this piece of heaven and earth.

Not only that, but the three great mountains around also emitted rays of light, completely surrounding the ten-mile plain.

Inside, a white light rushed left and right, the clouds and mist scattered and gathered, gathered and scattered.

After a stalemate for the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, it finally had no strength left.

"Collect!"

The tripod mouth opened wide, dragging that phantom core into it, then the Primordial Chaos Tripod shrank rapidly, finally landing in Luo Chen's hand.

Tao Wan watched this scene and couldn't help but praise: "Daoist brother's magic treasure has truly powerful suppression and sealing abilities; even among true artifacts, I imagine it ranks among the best!"

"You flatter me; compared to that Lankeshan chessboard of your sect, it is nothing but the light of a firefly."

Luo Chen said so, grabbing the white rabbit phantom core.

If Lin Qingxuan were here and saw Luo Chen hunting a fourth-tier phantom beast so easily, he would probably be shocked to the point of dropping his jaw.

He had used all his strength to defeat that withered tree phantom beast, and even let the other party's phantom core run away.

Yet Luo Chen did it without any effort.

"Take it!"

Luo Chen threw his hand, and the phantom core fell into Tao Wan's hand.

"With this one, I imagine it will be easier for you to comprehend the true meaning of the Dao."

Tao Wan held the phantom core tightly in her small hand and nodded heavily.

"I will definitely not live up to Daoist brother's high expectations!"

The two returned home, as if nothing had happened this time.

Half a year later.

In the cave dwelling on the mountainside, Tao Wan walked out again, as if nothing had happened.

She looked dejected.

Seeing this, Luo Chen's brows furrowed deeply, resembling a "chuan" character.

"Is it still not enough?" ===== CHAPTER 703 =====