Chapter 941: Fear in the Heart; Mastery Beyond Mastery (I)
In the Starry Palace, a white-robed Daoist sat cross-legged. Even from up close, he looked perfectly dead; he had no pulse to speak of, and he was not breathing.
A long time passed before he finally exhaled slowly. It would have been a suffocating experience to other people, but to him, this was a constant rhythm—breathe in slowly, hold it in for a while, exhale slowly, wait for a while until the next breath—that made him appear like an ancient tortoise in slumber.
He opened his eyes slowly and finally felt himself. A look of relief spread over his face.
Just as I thought, spending too long on crafting really does affect my cultivation. Good thing my foundation's solid enough to keep things steady.
Right before starting to work on his defensive treasure, he had just broken through to the sixth stage of Golden Core. It should have been the time to press forward and consolidate his cultivation, yet instead, he spent over a year processing Demon Emperor Profound Rock's remains. The prolonged effort took a heavy toll on both his mind and body. Worse still, he even treated supreme-grade True Flame Pills as ordinary recovery medicine and took them whenever needed. In the end, a large amount of fire poison accumulated within his sea of qi.
He did not notice it while immersed in crafting. It was only after finishing the enchanted treasure embryo and returning to his usual cultivation that he realized something was wrong. His newly advanced cultivation had nearly regressed! To deal with it, he used the Dragon-Slaying Art again and again to purge the fire poison. He followed that with a lot of supplements and rested for over a month before he returned to normal. Afterward, he cultivated with care for another two months and finally stabilized his energy.
Now, the realm entry read Golden Core Stage Six (1/100). Seeing that there was progress, which meant that there was stability, he finally felt relieved.
"The embryo's already formed. All that's left is nurturing it and inscribing the formations. That gives me a bit more breathing room. Grr, three months of recovery have brought me back to peak condition, but from here on, I can't afford to slack off."
He looked at the status panel and began planning his next steps. The time spent waiting for the embryo to mature could not be wasted. He needed something to fill it. The first matter was, of course, cultivation. His usual routine was split into two parts: qi cultivation and physique cultivation. In terms of combat strength, physique cultivation took priority, but when it came to the path of immortality, qi cultivation could not be neglected in the slightest.
With the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture as his core technique, supplemented by large quantities of top-grade True Flame Pills and a top-grade third-tier spirit land, his cultivation speed was just about optimal. With that in mind, he made some calculations and reached a conclusion. "Ten years! If nothing gets in the way and I stay in seclusion at the Starry Palace, then ten years is all I need to break through to the seventh stage!"
He had expected six or seven years from the fifth stage to the sixth stage of Golden Core. In the end, it had taken him a full nine years. The extra time was due, in part, to his time at the Winding Defensive Line. The cave residence there only had a low-grade third-tier spirit vein, which significantly slowed his cultivation. Additionally, he had poured effort into improving Myriad Path Convergence and using Black Sovereign Paste and flame refinement to improve his body. Such was the price of cultivating both physique and qi! Immortal cultivators usually did not value their physical body as much, yet it unquestionably impacted the speed of cultivation. Therefore, to advance in both paths at once meant walking a narrow line, where progress in one could easily disrupt the other, and every gain carried a hidden cost. Even with the system panel, he had to pay the price.
Fortunately, he had successfully improved Myriad Path Convergence, so his physique cultivation speed would keep up. Even now, his combat strength rivaled that of a grand cultivator. In another ten years, when he reached the seventh stage and became a grand cultivator himself, his strength would rise to even greater heights. And if he successfully created this defensive enchanted treasure... then perhaps he could boldly declare, "As long as no Sages show up, who can stand against me?"
Of course, such expectations remained only a fantasy for now. He still had to take things one step at a time. Luo Chen shifted his attention to his Physique Refinement section. He was finally at 81/100 of the third tier. He silently calculated how much Black Sovereign Paste he still had left.
"It should be enough to reach the peak... right?"
He used to think he had plenty, but he was not entirely certain anymore. The Physique Refinement path he had carved out for himself had begun smoothly at first. Later, he had replaced lightning with fire to hasten his progress, and not long ago, he had even combined some artifact creation techniques to temper himself inside and out. For all practical purposes, his path was flawless.
Well... it was flawless within the limits of what he currently knew. From a broader perspective, this path still felt crude and forceful. Even the system did not break it down into stages like his Qi Refinement cultivation; instead, it was simply listed as "third-tier." And just like any path of cultivation, the further one went, the harder it became. Because of these reasons, his sense of progress remained vague, in spite of the numerical values he could see directly. Even now, with his progress sitting at 81/100, he had no real sense of what it would cost to push through to the peak.
"Let's just take it one step at a time."
In all fairness, this path had no precedent, so he had no guide. He could only explore his own way forward.
After that, his attention shifted to formations—specifically, the Two Poles Six Shields Formation.
He had mastered all of the six defensive formations to Grandmaster level and used them as the foundation to create six sets of armor. But when it came to making the embryo from the Demon Emperor's remains, these six were secondary. He still had to think about the core formation, namely, the Two Poles Formation. This part could not be neglected in the slightest. Though it was only third-tier fundamentally, its power was almost unlimited and depended entirely on the materials used.
What does the concept of dual polarity, the interaction of two extremes, involve? Yin and yang are two such extremes; heaven and earth also. Odd and even, hard and soft, dark and bright, purity and impurity, water and fire, male and female, young and old... All of these embody the same concept. In short, any pair of extreme opposites is a representation of the Two Poles. The Two Poles Formation could be thus powered by materials representing any such pair; the greater the contrast, the higher the tier of the materials, and the better their balance, the more powerful it was. In this respect, the Two Poles Formation resembled the Heavenly Spirit-Seizing Formation of the Valley of Ghosts and Divinities, which also had theoretically unlimited power.
In fact, the Two Poles Five Elements Sword Formation that Han Zhan had used back in the day also relied on the exact same concept. After obtaining the defensive item blueprints, Luo Chen had consulted Han Zhan and managed to learn the basics of the Two Poles Formation quite fast. But as he continued practicing, his progress slowed more and more. Even now, he was stuck at the Perfection level, unable to reach the Grandmaster standard he wanted. This would not do; the formation was the core of his defensive treasure, so how could he be less proficient in it than he was in the secondary formations?
"Looks like I'll have to find some time to visit Senior Han and ask for a bit of guidance."
He let out a sigh; a trace of reluctance could be seen in his eyes. To outsiders, this might seem strange. They had been on good terms, helping each other and getting along well, so why would he now hesitate?
The answer lay in the unease buried deep within his heart. Back on the Resonant Jade, when Luo Chen helped Han Zhan remove the dark energy from the Soul-Nurturing Wood, he had suffered a backlash that struck straight at his sea of consciousness. It had been a perilous moment. Illusions surged within his mind one after another, and even the Forsaken Chess Piece failed to defend against them. In the end, it was Han Zhan who stepped in and resolved the crisis. Then, Luo Chen turned this very misfortune into an opportunity to push his Dragon-Slaying Art to Perfected Mastery and even upgrade Mirror Flower Water Moon. After that, he developed Ghost Immortal Tower, the name of which was inspired by the white-robed cultivator who blurted it out during the demon hunter trial.
Yet the same incident also left a shadow in his heart. Han Zhan had been able to bypass the defenses of the Forsaken Chess Piece and intrude directly into his sea of consciousness. Whether that was a common ability among Sages or a unique divine soul art of Han Zhan's, he did not know. What he did know was that he had felt a deep instinctive fear at being utterly defenseless in front of Han Zhan.
Luo Chen had never shown any sign of such wariness and had continued to get along well with Han Zhan. But ever since arriving at the Society and settling in Surging Lake, he had deliberately chosen to live separately from the Sage. He offered a perfectly reasonable excuse: Han Zhan had obtained the Soul-Nurturing Wood and needed time to recover his cultivation and strength, while Luo Chen himself was burdened with countless matters. If they remained together, they would only end up disturbing each other.
Han Zhan was naturally happy to go along with it. Or perhaps he had seen through Luo Chen's thoughts and chose to keep his distance on purpose. In any case, the two had been living apart for years. Even when he encountered difficulties while improving the Myriad Path Convergence, he chose to explore himself instead of seeking Han Zhan's guidance. But now, he would have to take the initiative for once.
"Guess it's about time we met again. Wouldn't want us to grow too distant," Luo Chen muttered as he sent a transmission talisman out of the hall.
