Chapter 838: Nirvana Holy Fire, Prison-Suppressing Technique Complete

"Success!"

Inside the Duzhen Cave Abode, Luo Chen opened his eyes with a face full of joy.

At this moment, the magic power within his body was circulating along a completely different path than before.

Down to the soles of his feet, up to his crown, and even outside his sea of consciousness, wisps of magic power were nourishing him.

Especially the latter; others might not know what this signified, but Luo Chen was very clear.

This represented that the complete "Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Sutra" possessed a soul-tempering effect that the vast majority of cultivation techniques in the world lacked!

For Luo Chen, this was simply an unexpected joy.

He had practiced the "Soul Splitting Technique" and mastered the principle of how to strengthen the foundation of his soul: by splitting the main soul and allowing the main soul and sub-souls to grow simultaneously, thereby achieving twice the result with half the effort.

But the awkward part was that the memory fragments of Han Zhan's soul had been incomplete, missing precisely one of the most critical parts: the method for enhancing sub-souls.

For this reason, Luo Chen had painstakingly collected soul essences and refined Great Soul Pills to compensate for this shortcoming with external forces.

But now, the "Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Sutra," with its most grand and upright path of "refining Qi to transform into spirit" by nourishing the soul with magic power, left Luo Chen with no more flaws!

From now on, his split sub-souls would no longer lag far behind the main soul in growth speed.

And the credit for all of this...

Luo Chen took a deep breath and, with a certain inexplicable anticipation, probed his spiritual sense into his Purple Mansion.

The Nascent Soul infant suddenly opened its eyes.

It walked to the corner of the Purple Mansion with a childlike air.

There, a green and white fire tree was stretching its branches.

However, compared to the past, this fire tree had become much more restrained.

This was because, atop the tree crown, a small golden bird was curled up, fast asleep.

Seeing Luo Chen walk over, the green and white fire tree shook its branches, appearing very aggrieved.

Yet Luo Chen paid no mind, his gaze falling upon the golden bird.

It was mysterious and gorgeous, possessing breathtaking beauty and majesty.

Its feathers were soft, as if meticulously woven from clouds and mist.

The crest on its head was as brilliant as the blazing sun, so noble and extraordinary.

At a single glance, Luo Chen recognized what this existence was.

A Phoenix!

The divine bird Phoenix from the legends of immortals and gods!

It was just that, at this moment, the Phoenix's golden light was dim and its figure illusory, as if it would be blown away by the wind in the next instant.

Luo Chen carefully reached out his chubby little hand; the golden flames, which should have been scorching, felt warm to him, not burning his hand in the slightest.

As magic power was injected, the golden bird seemed to receive replenishment, shifting its head in its daze to continue sleeping soundly.

The green and white tree beneath it felt very aggrieved; it felt that the magic power should have been its own!

Luo Chen withdrew his hand, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.

Nirvana Holy Fire!

Even he had not expected such an unexpected harvest.

Previously, the cautious Luo Chen had not dared to let his main soul complete the nirvana, choosing instead to let his relatively strongest sub-soul undergo the process.

During the arduous nirvana process, the sub-soul gradually could not bear it, drawing closer and closer to failure.

Luo Chen had almost accepted that reality.

Yet he had not expected that while operating the nirvana method within the "Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Sutra," a golden speck of light would be drawn out from within the Withered-Prosperous Divine Fire.

Once that golden speck merged with Luo Chen's magic power, it immediately transformed into golden flames.

Although the flames were extremely weak, far inferior to the Withered-Prosperous Divine Fire at its peak, their high status was definitely not something the current Withered-Prosperous Divine Fire could compare to.

These golden flames rushed into his sea of consciousness, wrapping around Luo Chen's second sub-soul.

Although it ultimately did not complete the soul nirvana, it preserved this sub-soul.

Moreover, as these golden flames coursed through Luo Chen's entire body, the "Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Sutra," for which he had previously found no method, was finally cleared; magic power flowed through his limbs and bones, and the operation became incomparably familiar.

At that moment, Luo Chen knew his "Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Sutra" had entered the introductory stage.

His re-cultivated life-bound technique was also declared a success!

When everything ended, Luo Chen realized in hindsight what had happened.

That golden flame was the Nirvana Holy Fire!

Its origin was the Land of Fallen Demons—the Heaven-Refining Cauldron.

A thousand years ago, the great battle between the Heaven-Refining Demon Lord and the Xixia Xixia Yuanjun had far-reaching consequences.

The Heaven-Refining Demon Lord fell, and the Xixia Xixia Yuanjun's whereabouts became unknown.

The Nine-Refining Beacon Fire and the Nirvana Holy Fire left behind by the two had been fighting incessantly within the Heaven-Refining Cauldron; even though their fire-spirit consciousnesses had been extinguished, their instincts were still locked in slaughter.

Until Luo Chen arrived, attempting to make the Heaven-Refining Cauldron recognize him as its master.

At that time, the Nirvana Holy Fire had already lost its consciousness, but its instinct was to immediately turn toward Luo Chen, because at that time, Luo Chen was practicing the Core Formation chapter of the "Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Sutra."

Inside the Heaven-Refining Cauldron, it had been occupied by the Nine-Refining Beacon Fire's home-field advantage, which had forcibly extinguished its consciousness.

Luo Chen's body then became its home field.

The Nine-Refining Beacon Fire had relentlessly pursued it inside, causing Luo Chen's body to collapse, forcing him to undergo physical nirvana.

The final result was that Luo Chen succeeded, the Nine-Refining Beacon Fire vanished, and the Nirvana Holy Fire also nearly dissipated, leaving only a spark that was eaten by the then-gluttonous Withered-Prosperous True Fire.

But at that time, the Withered-Prosperous True Fire's grade was too low to completely swallow and fuse with it.

So for all these years, the spark of the Nirvana Holy Fire had been stuck inside the Withered-Prosperous fire tree.

That wisp of a golden speck had always been there!

Now, as Luo Chen cultivates the complete "Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Sutra," the spark has been rekindled, not only reproducing the appearance of the Nirvana Sacred Fire but also allowing Luo Chen to cross the final threshold of entry.

"What grade does it belong to?"

Luo Chen was very curious.

There was no answer, but any sentient being in the world, once reaching the fifth grade, is no different from an ordinary person; dividing them by grades is not appropriate.

But Luo Chen knew that this Nirvana Holy Fire, which had slaughtered the Nine-Refining Beacon Fire for a thousand years, definitely had a very high status!

It was just that, at present, it was still too weak.

"Don't bully it."

Luo Chen looked at the aggrieved Withered-Prosperous fire tree and instructed it carefully.

"I know you are good at absorbing vitality, and I haven't been stingy in cultivating you over the years. From now on, share a portion with it, let it get through this most fragile infancy."

The Withered-Prosperous fire tree's branches drooped, looking listless.

It did not like its master's favoritism.

Yet it could not resist.

Moreover, it could feel that the little bird sleeping on it seemed to have a blood connection with it; how could it ignore it?

After settling this, Luo Chen did not withdraw his consciousness.

The Nascent Soul infant sat cross-legged beneath the fire tree, and armor gradually appeared on its body.

It was just that this armor was tattered, almost unable to cover its body.

It was precisely the collapsed Xuanchen Armor!

Luo Chen felt quite pained.

This was a true-treasure armor he had spent so much energy refining in the North Sea; it had contributed much in many great battles, and now it had become like this.

"Huang Man is dead, but Bi Zheng, Niu Gui, you just wait for me!"

The Nascent Soul infant viciously made a threat and forced the Xuanchen Armor out of its body.

At this moment, the Xuanchen Armor could not be restored by magic power alone; it required a large amount of materials.

Then, the Nascent Soul infant held a small gray cauldron in its arms.

The situation with the Hunyuan Cauldron was much better.

Although it had been damaged, the recovery speed of those cracks was extremely fast!

If nourished with a large amount of magic power, it would surely be restored to its original state before long.

Only then did Luo Chen's consciousness slowly withdraw from the Purple Mansion.

Holding the black armor shard, a rare look of hesitation appeared on Luo Chen's face.

Should he go back?

Now that the technique had entered the introductory stage, the deviations in his cultivation had been corrected.

It was time to go back.

But as soon as this thought crossed his mind, Luo Chen dismissed it.

Going back didn't mean returning to the Zhu Luotian Sect; he would likely report to the Mingyuan Sect immediately.

As he was now, his protective armor was shattered, his life-bound magic treasure was not suitable for use, and if he encountered any accidents, he would have to risk his life again.

Moreover, the Zhu Luotian Sect had already been notified by the Black King.

Therefore, this was actually a rare period of freedom before he went to the Mingyuan Sect.

"First repair the Xuanchen Armor, then familiarize myself more with the 'Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Sutra,' and strive to step into the proficiency level before doing anything else!"

With his mind made up, Luo Chen had no more hesitation.

From his storage ring, he took out a large amount of mineral materials.

After cultivating for so many years, he had accumulated a massive fortune.

A portion had been consumed during cultivation, a portion had been left to the Zhu Luotian Sect, and the rest still included many "fixed assets."

Like these mineral materials, most of which came from the Qianren Mountain in the Land of Fallen Demons, they were his treasures.

Their value was immeasurable!

If Luo Chen were to accidentally die in battle one day, and someone obtained his storage ring, they would likely strike it rich!

Repairing the Xuanchen Armor was not difficult for Luo Chen.

After all, when he refined this treasure back then, to prevent failure, he had deduced all the large and small key points to the extreme.

Even the six armor formations had been practiced to a very high level of proficiency individually.

Now it was just a matter of patching it up; as long as the materials were there, it was nothing.

It took less than three months in total for the Xuanchen Armor to be patched into a rough shape.

It still had its original design; the only drawback was that it was too weak and required magic power nourishment and strengthened spiritual refinement.

Luo Chen didn't find this troublesome.

He had plenty of magic power.

As for spiritual refinement, he had his second sub-soul to do it for him.

And next!

Luo Chen exhaled a breath of turbid air, first letting the Nascent Soul wear the armor for close-body magic power nourishment, and then, within his sea of consciousness, the massive main soul fused the sub-soul that had failed the nirvana into itself.

As the "Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Sutra" operated, his magic power began to ebb and flow.

The vigorous and massive spiritual energy in the cave abode rolled toward him, and with every breath he took, it was like a giant whale inhaling water.

And his aura also began to rise gradually.

Cultivation knows no days or months; a hundred years pass in a flash, and a thousand years pass just as quickly.

In the blink of an eye, seven years had passed!

This was the tenth year since Luo Chen returned to Mount Mount Cangwu; without stepping out of his door, he was almost forgotten.

It wasn't until a powerful aura broke through the formation's concealment and scattered the clouds in the sky that people realized there was such a special existence in the Duzhen Hall.

"He broke through?"

He He Qingzi was shocked; she had previously felt that Luo Chen's cultivation speed was already fast enough, smoothing out her nearly a thousand years of hard cultivation in just over two hundred years.

But now, she knew that was not Luo Chen's limit at all.

Such an existence, if he could become a cultivation partner, would definitely be the highest-quality potential stock.

If Luo Chen could maintain this cultivation speed, even the Soul Transformation realm might not be impossible.

A partner of a Soul Transformation great power... He He Qingzi inexplicably thought of that Jinxiu Immortal.

The other party wasn't particularly outstanding either; it was only by clinging to the Ancient Demon Emperor Tian that she attained the Great Demon Emperor realm and even held a noble status.

"Must not let such a potential stock go!"

He He Qingzi licked her red lips and hurried toward Luo Chen's cave abode.

However, the cave abode's gate remained tightly shut.

Outside the cave abode, the Thunder Prison Divine Peng was walking away with a look of disappointment.

Seeing He He Qingzi, he didn't even greet her.

The Thunder Prison Divine Peng had already discovered that the massive magic power Luo Chen revealed after his breakthrough just now had already surpassed his own.

Although he had recovered most of his cultivation body, he was still far from his peak period.

But even if he really recovered to his peak, could he settle scores with Luo Chen?

"Forget it!"

"The one who fought me back then was Nine-Spirit Xixia Yuanjun; why am I venting my anger on Luo Chen?"

Heh!

Thinking of this, that sense of frustration immediately vanished without a trace.

He He Qingzi curled her lip at the Thunder Prison Divine Peng's back; she liked the elegance of True Person Yun He and the handsome appearance and limitless future of Luo Chen; she had no interest in rough men like the Thunder Prison Divine Peng.

Of course, if she had seen Luo Chen transform into a size of several hundred zhang, she might not think so.

He He Qingzi's request for an audience received no response.

At this moment, Luo Chen had no time to attend to her.

Because he was taking advantage of the breakthrough to split his main soul.

He was now at the fifth level of the Nascent Soul!

His originally deep magic power surged again, not inferior to true great cultivators, and even slightly superior to those great cultivators at the seventh level of the Nascent Soul.

As for his soul, it went without saying; with the fusion of three souls, it was likely on par with the previous Master Youquan.

But Luo Chen was still not satisfied.

At the fourth level of the Nascent Soul, he could actually have split a third sub-soul, but at that time, considering that the human-demon war might break out at any moment, he had delayed it.

Now, there was no need for that.

It wasn't because he was worry-free about the future, but because after practicing the "Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Sutra," he could quickly recover from soul weakness, thereby possessing stable combat power.

Most importantly, it was time to master the "Prison-Suppressing" soul technique.

In the cave abode, Luo Chen's expression was ferocious, his muscles twisted, and his teeth gnashed together.

Even after experiencing this situation twice, the pain of splitting the main soul was still hard to get used to.

But this time, he controlled himself and did not cry out in pain.

This was progress!

It seemed like a long time had passed, but it was actually only a few dozen breaths.

Suddenly, Luo Chen's whole body relaxed.

The main soul trembled, and a ball of golden light slowly descended into the sea of consciousness.

The first sub-soul and second sub-soul both looked at the golden light, seeing it roll in the golden-waving sea of consciousness, slowly condensing into a phantom, and finally transforming into Luo Chen's likeness.

The third soul occupied another position, guarding Luo Chen's main soul in the center along with the other two sub-souls.

Luo Chen looked at the third soul, appearing slightly weak.

"Start!"

The third soul had no discomfort, as if it had long known what to do, and immediately began forming hand seals.

The other two powerful sub-souls also formed the same hand seals.

In an instant, the sea of consciousness rippled with golden waves, and scattered spiritual power surged toward the three souls, which began to climb continuously.

When their size reached the same as Luo Chen's main soul, the process stopped.

Then each formed the "Embracing Origin" seal and spat out softly.

Hu...

Golden light sprayed out, forming a spherical light curtain, covering Luo Chen and the three sub-souls within it.

The "Prison-Suppressing" technique was complete!

Only then did Luo Chen completely set his heart at ease.

With a thought, the three sub-souls dispersed the absorbed spiritual power and returned to normal.

He felt the defensive strength of the "Prison-Suppressing" soul technique and was incomparably satisfied.

The "Soul Splitting Technique" records were correct; this defensive soul technique had no grade, only depending on the number and strength of the sub-souls.

As long as there were more sub-souls and higher cultivation, the defensive power of the "Prison-Suppressing" soul technique would be stronger.

Looking at it now, unless there was a powerful soul attack exceeding three times Luo Chen's main soul, it would be impossible to hurt his main soul!

In the current world, apart from Soul Transformation great powers, who else could have such soul foundation?

It was likely very few.

And even if there were, Luo Chen would not stop his forward progress; his sub-souls would become more numerous, and the "Prison-Suppressing" soul technique would become stronger.

"Han Zhan was truly a pity back then!"

"If his body were still there, with a sea of consciousness to rely on, and he used this technique with nine sub-souls, even if I had the Dragon-Slaying Technique, it would be hard to break his defense."

Never forget the well-digger when drinking the water; Luo Chen muttered a few words about that old friend whose impression was becoming increasingly blurred.

Afterward, he rested peacefully.

A few days later, at the gate of the Tongxuan Hall.

Luo Chen, dressed in white, stood still for a long time before finally turning to leave.

Xixia Xixia Yuanjun was not there!

The "moon-viewing maid" in the hall naturally would not, and dared not, open the door for him.

Luo Chen did not force it; he had only wanted to go through the motions and thank this "senior" who traded fairly.

He did not visit Master Qing Shuang and Master Youquan; their relationship was not that good.

He only found Fairy Huamei.

He handed the new Transformation Pill formula he had obtained from the Heaven-Refining Demon Lord to her.

"This pill formula does not require the Nascent Soul essence blood of a Nascent Soul cultivator, and its scope of use is not limited to below the fourth grade; even fourth-grade demon beasts can use it."

Fairy Huamei was incomparably happy and once wanted to pull Luo Chen aside to ask more questions about alchemy.

But Luo Chen's intention to leave was set.

He had no qualifications to take away his old friend Senior Haoranzi; this was all he could do.

At least, in the future, when Mount Mount Cangwu refined Transformation Pills, they wouldn't go to draw his blood again.

Even as a prisoner, life would be a little better.

Luo Chen transformed into a streak of red light and vanished within the bird-encircled Mount Mount Cangwu range.

Upon reaching a thousand miles outside the mountain, his figure paused.

A streak of black light broke through the soil from the ground, rushed toward him, and finally vanished into his arm.

The red light flashed, already in the sky.