Chapter 243: The Falling Clouds Mist, Time Waits for No One (I)

"Hmm? Fellow Daoist Murong, is there something else you wish to discuss?" Wang Yanchang paused in his steps and looked at Luo Chen curiously.

Luo Chen smiled slightly. "I wouldn't dare call it guidance, I just wanted to..."

He had originally intended to probe into the origins of the Precious Dragon Black Market, but found it too abrupt. Thus, when the words reached his lips, they naturally shifted into another topic.

He continued, "Although the current situation appears calm, undercurrents are surging beneath the surface."

Wang Yanchang twitched the corner of his mouth but said nothing, merely watching and waiting for Luo Chen to reveal his true intention.

Luo Chen didn’t delay further and further added, "So, just in case, I would like to double the supply of all the materials on the list for next month. Can your side manage that?"

Double the medicinal materials? Wang Yanchang furrowed his brows slightly before shaking his head. "I can't make that decision. I need to consult with Leader Tian Xingzi before giving you a reply."

"No problem, I can wait."

"Alright." Wang Yanchang nodded and then walked straight into the hall.

Outside the black market, Luo Chen subtly shook his head.

His relationship with Tian Xingzi was fairly amicable, and the latter had frequently shown goodwill. However, that was no reason for him to overstep boundaries.

Investigating the other party’s intentions might be the right move, but ultimately, it would only satisfy his own curiosity.

Even if he learned the truth, what good would it do?

He might even provoke them, damaging the beneficial partnership they had.

By comparison, the phrase

"time waits for no one"

hinted at the possibility of even greater turmoil ahead.

Under such circumstances, what he needed to do was stockpile resources! These raw materials were the very foundation of his survival. Without them, no matter how skilled he was in alchemy, he would have no place to put his talents to use.

Soon, Wang Yanchang returned. He brought back the answer Luo Chen had been waiting for.

Doubling the material supply was possible!

With that settled, Luo Chen had no reason to linger. After bidding farewell, he disappeared into the night.

With his current ninth stage of Qi-Refining, combined with his Perfected Mastery Spirit Suppression, and the complex terrain of the outer district at night, As long as he was careful, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator wouldn’t necessarily be able to track him down.

Of course, that was excluding methods like overwhelming firepower or large-scale artifact sweeps!

***

He moved stealthily along the way. When he was a hundred li away from Luo Tian Society, Luo Chen did not enter immediately.

After experiencing Mi Shuhua secretly using multiple techniques on him, he had become even more cautious. Every time he entered or exited, he would carefully check for any abnormalities on his body.

In his view, as long as a cultivator's realm was not significantly higher, it was impossible to act completely unnoticed.

The reason Mi Shuhua had been able to deceive him in the past was mainly because he had only been at the mid-stage of Qi-Refining at the time. By the time he reached the late stage of Qi-Refining, those techniques had unknowingly coexisted with him for a long time.

Even when he was lucky enough to discover the spirit power imprint, he had still failed to detect the spirit consciousness imprint. After Mi Shuhua’s death, the unowned spirit consciousness imprint had lingered within him for a long time.

Had it not been for Luo Tianhong, the True Inheritor of Jade Cauldron, discovering it, and Golden Core Adept Pang Renxiong personally taking action, that soul seed might have remained hidden for an unknown length of time. If it had acted up at the moment of his Foundation Establishment breakthrough, the consequences would have been disastrous.

Now that Luo Chen's cultivation had advanced, and his divine soul far surpassed others of the same tier, he was vaguely comparable to a Foundation Establishment cultivator. With his Perfected Mastery of Spirit Eyes, he meticulously examined himself and found almost no issues. Yet, even so, he still felt uneasy.

"Expel!" He uttered a low command, casting three consecutive Cleanse spells upon himself.

To an outsider, it simply appeared as though Luo Chen was brushing himself off three times.

After the third time, he checked himself once more and finally felt at ease. Only then did he leisurely step forward and head toward Luo Tian Society’s stronghold.

"My Cleanse spell has been at Grandmaster level for a long time, but it's still over two hundred proficiency points away from Perfected Mastery. I need to find time to max it out and perhaps it will yield unexpected benefits."

Luo Chen had high expectations for every spell that reached Perfected Mastery. Though he had been disappointed by the Perfected Mastery of Carefree Wander and Traction, the Perfected Mastery of Fireball, Wind-Control, Spirit Suppression, and even Spirit Eyes had greatly surprised him.

By comparison, Cleanse, despite being a widely used utility spell, had already demonstrated great potential at the Grandmaster level. It could cleanse not just ordinary filth but also traces of pill energy, medicinal energy, spirit energy, and even demonic energy.

He was eager to see what transformations the Cleanse would undergo at Perfected Mastery. If it could grant an ability to purify the entire world, wiping out all traces, that would be truly marvelous.

Hmm, I've arrived home.

Time to stop daydreaming!

Luo Chen unhurriedly began his preparations for cultivation.

He brewed essence nurturing liquid, replaced the spirit stones in the small spirit-gathering array, and placed a full stick of calming incense into the burner...

Once everything was ready, Luo Chen placed a Dust Transformation pill in his mouth and began his cultivation for the day.

By dawn, Luo Chen leisurely concluded his previous day's cultivation.

"After taking the Spirit Passage pill and experiencing soul growth, I never expected this kind of benefit." Luo Chen remarked. He felt invigorated even after a full night of cultivation.

This was unimaginable in the past.

The reason why low-realm cultivators had slow progress without consuming pills was that their divine soul strength was insufficient, limiting the number of times they could circulate their cultivation techniques each day.

Cultivating it once in the morning and once in the evening was already pushing the limit. This issue had long been recognized in the cultivation world, and many skilled individuals had sought to address it. The ultimate solution they found was the use of external aids.

Such as calming incense!

However, this still could not fundamentally solve the problem.

The only way to resolve this issue was to reach Foundation Establishment, where the divine soul would be strong enough, even allowing spirit consciousness to extend outward. Only then could one circulate their core cultivation technique multiple times.

It was said that high-level cultivators could enter seclusion for months or even years at a time. This was because they had overcome this very limitation.

As for Luo Chen, he had long been plagued by this issue. Even though he had been fortunate enough to overcome a Heart Tribulation and his divine soul had doubled in strength, he was still restricted to circulating his technique only twice.

But now, he saw hope of resolving this issue while still in the Qi-Refining Realm!

"If I continue taking the Spirit Passage pill, perhaps soon I will be able to circulate the Long Spring Art multiple times a day." Muttering to himself, Luo Chen tidied up the spirit vein cave.

He then went to the Alchemy Hall and returned the Purple Cloud Copper Furnace to its original alchemy room.

After that, he unhurriedly retrieved a jade scroll from his storage pouch.

"Do I need to make a Great Dao oath?" Luo Chen wondered.

Rubbing the jade scroll, he took a deep breath and solemnly declared, "I, Luo Chen!

"Hereby swear! Regardless of whether I master it or not, I shall never pass this alchemy technique to a second person.

"Whether intentional or unintentional, if I ever leak it to another, I shall suffer the backlash of the Great Dao and remain forever stagnant in my cultivation!"

As his firm declaration came to an end, the hazy spirit light lingering around the jade scroll gradually dissipated.

At the same time, Luo Chen faintly sensed a slight discomfort. It felt as though some unseen force had glanced at him at that very moment.

"Could it be that the cultivation world truly has a concept of the Heavenly Dao?" Luo Chen muttered to himself, then carefully examined the jade scroll in his hands.

After confirming that there were no hidden traps, he cautiously pressed the jade scroll against his forehead.

A torrent of information surged into his mind in an instant.

"Ugh..." A muffled groan escaped him, and his face turned pale.

Yet, he persisted, refusing to put the jade scroll down. After a long while, he slowly removed the jade scroll.