Chapter 649: Consolidating the Foundation, Reaching the Ninth Stage; The Ice Fortress's Casualties; Chu Kui Visiting (I)

Luo Chen had shown complete confidence in front of Sima Huiniang when speaking of Core Formation. Yet was that truly the case?

Of course not.

Luo Chen was going to prepare thoroughly before attempting Core Formation; he would ensure he had absolutely everything ready, from the traditional triad of vital essence, qi, and spirit to secret arts and pills. Yet the Golden Core Realm stood as the true dividing line between the low-tier and high-tier cultivators of this realm, and was hardly something easy to predict. Nascent Soul sects with millennia of heritage trained disciples from the outset with complete cultivation systems, able to carry one from Qi Refinement all the way to Nascent Soul. Aiding that process were appropriate secret arts, spirit medicine, spirit lands, and guidance from elders. And even so, those sects were filled not with countless Adepts but with countless failures.

Even among the chosen Dao Scions of those sects, there was no lack of people who failed to form their cores. Did those major sects not grant their favored Dao Scions the very best resources for Core Formation? Obviously, they did! Therefore, no one could claim near certainty at this hurdle. Luo Chen's firm display of confidence had been for Sima Huiniang's peace of mind. If even he lacked confidence, how could others keep theirs in him?

***

After returning to his cave residence on Tianlan Peak, Luo Chen's first task was not cultivation but healing. The wounds he carried from the Great Snowy Mountains appeared minor on the surface, yet their severity ran deep.

They were not injuries left by battle, but the result of excessive exertion. The overuse of various methods had drained his primal qi. That depletion manifested in many ways—his spirit power was exhausted, his divine soul fatigued, and his body weakened. The wilderness was not a good environment for recovering from this depletion, which was why Luo Chen had hurried back home.

After giving orders to the Luo Tian Society regarding issues that had to be addressed right away, the first thing Luo Chen did was sleep. And that sleep lasted for three days and three nights. When he finally awoke, his spirit was clear and his mind refreshed, and only then did he begin tending to the other problems he was facing.

The Radiant Youth Scripture left behind by Sun Sifang played a great role in this process. It recorded several formulas for medicines that restored primal qi, each of which far surpassed the fortified essence nurturing liquid he had formulated himself. Among them, he chose the most expensive but also the most effective, the Thousandgold Elixir. To him, such a formula was exactly like the name implied—a thousand times more precious than the finest gold.

Beyond that, Sima Huiniang began regularly sending him various demonic beasts. Most were first-tier, with the occasional second-tier ones. There were only two requirements: They had to be large, and they had to be alive. The greater the size of the beast, the stronger its life force.

With the Withering-Flourishing Fire, Luo Chen ruthlessly refined those living demonic beasts and seized their life force. Even if the fire devoured the lion's share, he could still absorb two or three parts in ten for his own use.

As he absorbed more and more life force, his ability to recover grew noticeably stronger. Reaching the third-tier Archaic level had turned his body into what basically amounted to a human-shaped slab of steel, the epitome of sheer toughness and strength. Ever since, this physique had been his greatest asset. Yet strength alone was not perfection. Such a body was just as difficult to repair as it was to damage.

Luo Chen had taken up medicine alongside alchemy precisely because his body recovered unusually slowly from injuries. Yet as he absorbed the life force, a subtle suppleness began to temper the rigid strength within him.

In his cave, Luo Chen watched a second-tier demonic bear over two zhang tall let out a final agonized roar before turning to ash.

He put down his hand slowly, his expression thoughtful.

It was said that in ancient times, countless wild beasts once roamed the Mountains and Seas Realm. They did not have to consciously and intentionally cultivate along the path of demonic transformation, as each possessed natural formidable might. They could chase the stars and catch the moon; sweep the seas and shatter mountains with their strength. More so, they could regrow limbs at will, and it was said that some were capable of being reborn from as little as a single drop of blood.

"If my body could absorb enough life force to match the recovery power of those archaic beasts... could I also be reborn from a single drop of blood?"

The notion seemed somewhat fantastical, yet not entirely without reason. Among cultivators, the higher the cultivation, the stronger the means of survival. For instance, a Sage would not perish so long as their nascent soul remained intact. In a sense, that too was a form of rebirth, much like the beasts' revival from blood.

"Sadly, this meager life force I've gotten so far is just a drop in the ocean. Reaching that level....

Hmm

... The Life Severing Finger?"

On his status panel, a third-tier spell had long been listed under that name. It was a spell he had learned from Li Jinhuang. It was mysterious and profound; activating this could sever a strand of a cultivator's life force and preserve their soul for a time. That life force would slowly grow until the soul reached peak power, then vanish in an instant like dew under the scorching sun.

In principle, the life force extracted from the target could not be absorbed by the user. But if the technique was used in conjunction with the Withering-Flourishing Fire, perhaps Luo Chen could draw it into his body instead of letting it be devoured by the fire.

The theory was enticing, yet the reality was riddled with obstacles. He made several attempts, but all of them ended in failure. He gradually abandoned the idea and focused instead on using Withering-Flourishing Fire to draw life force from beasts.

Through that steady routine, Luo Chen's life force grew ever stronger, and his wounds began to heal at an astonishing pace. He had once estimated it would take two or three years to recover, yet it only took half a year before he returned to his peak form. Then, there was one day when Gu Caiyi came to see him, and she was surprised to see a few black strands mixed among his grayish-white hair.

That was not the only good news. By extrapolating from the Yi Wood Medicine King Codex, Luo Chen had finally pushed the Eternal Youth Evergreen Sutra to Perfected Mastery, after many long years of effort. This was the absolute peak; the technique could no longer be improved any further. After all, he had only really acquired the Qi Refinement chapter of the greater Codex; that he had managed to complete the Foundation Establishment chapter with the aid of the system was already a stroke of extraordinary luck.

At Perfected Mastery, the Eternal Youth Evergreen Sutra revealed another effect, in addition to its abilities to nourish the body with spirit power—it could now sharpen the senses to more easily seize spirit energy, and open meridians to cleanse the marrow.

Or rather, it was not that a new effect had emerged, but rather that an existing effect had become vastly stronger. The automatic qi recovery that came with Grandmaster-level mastery of the Long Spring Art during his Qi Refinement stage had suddenly intensified beyond expectation. Fundamentally, it was the same thing, but the spirit power recovery rate shot up tenfold!

Whenever Luo Chen unleashed a spell of great power in a place dense with spirit energy, he no longer needed to do anything at all; the spirit power he expended would replenish itself instantly. Even in areas relatively poor in spirit energy, he will still be able to recover a great deal on his own. With this, the issue of his endurance in battle had been completely resolved.

The Withering-Flourishing Fire had strengthened his body's capacity to recover through the refining of life force, while the Perfected Mastery Eternal Youth Evergreen Sutra had amplified the recovery of his spirit energy. Together, the two changes did little to hasten his cultivation progress, yet they granted him a decisive edge in combat. If he ever returned to the Great Snowy Mountains, he was confident that his performance would far surpass the last.

"Yeah... better not test out that hypothesis," he murmured with a self-mocking smile. He had no wish to involve himself in unnecessary battles now. At present, cultivation remained his foremost priority. He would follow the plan step by step and cultivate to the ninth stage of Foundation Establishment first.

For the next several years, he would set aside all distractions and focus on only two pursuits: cultivation and alchemy. Daily cultivation could not be set aside; its results might not be visible in the short term, yet over time its benefits far exceeded those gained from consuming pills. As for alchemy, that would be the main focus for now. He intended to refine in advance everything that might be needed—the Jade Dew Pills required by the Ice Fortress in the years ahead, along with all the supreme-grade Blood-Boosting Pills, Dustfall Pills, and Spirit Passage Pills he would use in his own cultivation. Once these were done, he would no longer need to worry about alchemy and could focus entirely on his cultivation and breakthroughs.

Time flowed quietly, passing as gently as water. In the first year, Luo Chen refined all the Jade Dew Pills that the Ice Fortress would require for the next twenty years. In the second and third years, he refined all of the supreme-grade Blood-Boosting Pills and Dustfall Pills he would need for his cultivation. As he crafted the improvised version of the second-tier Spirit Passage Pills, his proficiency rose to Perfected Mastery, and both his speed and the pills' quality improved once more.

Such a vast alchemical undertaking consumed staggering quantities of resources. Nearly all the spirit stones earned by the Luo Tian Society over those years were spent. Not only that, but the batch of Foundation Establishment blood essence left by Blood Devil had been exhausted as well. But even though the ingredients had run out and there was no way to replenish them, the pills he'd already made were enough to sustain his cultivation all the way to Perfected Mastery of Foundation Establishment.

With everything prepared, Luo Chen entered a period of seclusion. He saw no visitors and ignored all outside affairs.