Chapter 800: Rapid Advancement; Han Zhan Awakens (I)

Luo Chen still felt lingering fear. He had not expected the medicinal power of the True Flame Pill to be so domineering. It was not merely abundant in quantity; its true ferocity lay in the sheer impact of its quality.

If the Starfield Pill resembled a sky filled with countless stars that allowed the consumer to pluck them at leisure, then the True Flame Pill was like a blazing sun that did not allow anything to hide from its radiance. If ordinary cultivation pills were like gentle streams that could be slowly absorbed without spilling over, then the True Flame Pill was a surging torrent that crashed violently through the meridians and sea of qi, causing floods wherever it passed.

In other words, the True Flame Pill was much less like an ordinary cultivation pill and much more like a breakthrough pill. Rather than the mild and steady medicinal power suited for gradual absorption, it provided the kind of violent pulse that was much more suitable for breaking through bottlenecks.

It was common knowledge in the cultivation world that although such pills contained immense medicinal power, they were the least suitable for long-term cultivation. Prolonged consumption would destabilize the cultivator's foundation, often leading to regress rather than progress. But because of this, Luo Chen finally understood something that had long weighed on his mind.

"No wonder the Flame Alliance cultivators kept refining these even though they weren't using them for cultivation. They were using them for breakthroughs!"

This made a lot of sense. Fortunately, Luo Chen's foundation was solid enough. Otherwise, as an ordinary Adept, he never would have dared to consume True Flame Pills over a long period. The reason was simple—back in the Foundation Establishment Realm, he had truly established a deep foundation. Once he formed his core, that solid base was further reinforced, and its advantages were becoming increasingly evident over the long years of cultivation. On top of that, his physique was more than capable of withstanding the direct impact of the True Flame Pill.

"Alright then, let's see where that medicinal fiend is."

Luo Chen spread his divine consciousness throughout his body, carefully searching bit by bit for the rumored fiery fiend of the True Flame Pill. After a long while, his expression shifted slightly.

Huh... It clings directly to the core...

A cultivator's core was the most crucial part, yet also the most easily overlooked. If Luo Chen had not faintly sensed an obstruction in the flow of his mana, he might never have discovered this anomaly. He'd been wondering why the Flame Alliance cultivators had problems with it in spite of their mastery of fire arts, and here was the answer: This fire-element medicinal fiend actually stuck to the Golden Core and hid itself very well. Who would dare gamble with such stakes?

Well, Luo Chen most certainly did dare. Now that he'd found it, it could be dealt with. Through experimentation, he confirmed that he had three methods to remove the fiend qi. The first was to slowly grind it away with mana. It was a relatively slow process, and likely the common method used by Flame Alliance cultivators after achieving a breakthrough. The second involved the Fine Dust Primordial Art. With this, he could scrape away a trace of the fiend qi from the core, but the effect was minimal and he had to repeat it a lot.

"Just as I thought, this kind of fiend qi has nothing to do with pill toxins. Ordinary detoxification methods barely work."

This outcome did not surprise Luo Chen. After all, the fire-element fiend qi generated by the True Flame Pill was itself part of its medicinal nature. Without it, the pill lost its violent quality, but it also lost both its potency and its ability to force breakthroughs.

Fortunately, he still possessed a final method.

He rapidly formed seals with both hands, so fast that an ordinary observer would have felt dizzy looking at him. Mana flowed along a unique pattern, and as it reached his fingertips, he slowly and carefully tapped his lower abdomen.

In the next instant, a small saber wreathed in fierce flames appeared within his sea of qi. The saber slashed down at the core, severing a thin strand of faint energy. The Golden Core kept spinning rapidly, as if nothing was happening. Then he struck again, and more of the impure energy was peeled away with each cut. He held his breath until his face flushed red, nearly turning purple, before suddenly exhaling in one sharp breath.

Hissssss...

A charred hole instantly appeared on the ground. At the sight of it, Luo Chen felt both joy and shock. The joy lay in the fact that his third method, the Dragon Slaying Art, truly was highly effective at removing medicinal fiends. The shock, on the other hand, came from just how vicious the fiend qi of the True Flame Pill was. While it stayed around his Golden Core, it barely revealed itself. Once expelled, however, its corrosive nature manifested in full. It was difficult to imagine how disastrous the fate of a core would be if one consumed the pill over a long period without clearing away the fiend qi.

Luo Chen stared at the charred hole on the ground and fell into silence. After a long while, he gave a slow, thoughtful nod.

"This thing is outright vicious. I suppose most people can get rid of the fiend qi from a pill or two, but...

hmm

... I wonder what would happen if someone gathered the fiend qi of a couple thousand pills and used it to attack people. What kind of awful person would do that?"

𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

***

With the assistance of eighteen "apprentices," the time Luo Chen used to spend processing medicinal materials was completely freed up. As a result, his cultivation in such areas as defensive spells or physical training advanced by leaps and bounds. His life-bound treasure was likewise improving day after day, and it slowly started to radiate a subdued glow. Its power became increasingly apparent, and Luo Chen's control over it grew ever more effortless. Not only that, the two martial arts he had long found difficult to improve in also steadily approached Perfected Mastery as he took time to practice in the nearby sea.

Of course, his mana cultivation also advanced at a rapid pace. With the support of a third-tier spirit land, he could go at it without restraint. A cultivation speed comparable to that of a heavenly spirit root cultivator, his increasing mastery of the True Flame Pill and the consequent higher-grade results, and a progressively deeper understanding of the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture—with all these factors combined, Luo Chen could clearly sense himself drawing closer and closer to the middle stage.

Naturally, such visible progress began to exert an increasingly profound influence on the Flying Swallow Archipelago. The first to be affected was the Cheng family. In order to acquire the Azure Yang Pill Codex, Cheng Dou behaved almost like a madman, sparing no expense to gather all kinds of medicinal materials for Luo Chen. These did not only include the ingredients required for the True Flame Pill, but even a portion of the materials needed to refine a Nascent Soul Pill.

Indeed, just as Luo Chen had already begun planning for Core Formation when he first entered the Foundation Establishment Realm, he was now thinking about forming his Nascent Soul as he slowly approached the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm. In his view, only three conditions were required: maintaining a solid foundation, finding a suitable fourth-tier spirit vein, and finally, refining a Nascent Soul Pill as the finishing touch.

Since he did not expect to return to the Eastern Wilderness anytime soon, he simply made use of the Flying Swallow cultivators to gather Nascent Soul Pill materials on his behalf. Given enough time, he was confident he could eventually refine the pill himself. The ones who truly suffered from this arrangement were the archipelago's families. The cost of supplying True Flame Pill materials alone was already considerable; as for the vast quantities

and

qualities required for a Nascent Soul Pill...

The smaller families harbored doubts, but Cheng Dou paid them no heed. With Yan Nantian gone, even while constantly traveling for the merchant caravan, his cultivation had steadily advanced to the Perfected Mastery. For him, Core Formation was within reach. Across the entire archipelago, there had never been a respectable Core Formation secret art. In the past, cultivators relied solely on their own accumulation and the favor of fate. Now that the freshly minted Devil Lord was giving him a chance, how could Cheng Dou not do everything in his power to grasp it?

It was not just him. Among the thirty six islands, any family with a late-stage Initiate of suitable age spared no expense in collecting medicinal materials for Luo Chen, all in the hope of exchanging for the Azure Yang Pill Codex as early as possible. Under such circumstances, this small cultivation bubble hidden away in a remote sea region sank into a kind of pathological frenzy.

Each family's foundations, wealth, and manpower were steadily drained away. Everything expended ultimately turned into countless medicinal materials that flowed toward the small island in the with a ten li lake. Naturally, the strength of the major families did not increase during this period, but rather stagnated. In such a state, had there been external enemies and no Devil Lord to ensure peace, internal strife would have already erupted. In that case, stagnation alone would not have been the end and decline would have been inevitable.

Faced with these bizarre circumstances, small families with only one or two Initiates trembled in fear. But those with more knowledge understood the reasoning behind it. Since Azure Yang dared to use a Core Formation art as a prize, it meant he had the tolerance and openmindedness to accommodate others and did not mind an Adept emerging under his command. On their side, all the major families were Foundation Establishment families. Once any family produced an Adept, they would instantly rise above the rest and suppress all others. Even the Cheng family, despite being on the best terms with the Azure Yang, would lose the initiative if they lagged behind by even a single step.

This was a competition, and a fierce one at that. And in this heated battle royale, the greatest beneficiary was ultimately Azure Yang alone. With nothing more than a single Core Formation art, he had stirred the once peaceful archipelago into an exhausting race. He truly lived up to the title of Devil Lord!

Meanwhile, Luo Chen knew nothing of the outside world's frenzy or of how his new underlings evaluated him. Even if he did, he would not care. He had immersed himself fully in his own small world, sensing his own growth at every moment. Were it not for the limits imposed by lifespan, and were it not for his ties to Sima Huiniang, Gu Caiyi, Wang Yuan, Duan Feng, and the others, Luo Chen might well have wished to remain in this state forever.

The feeling of perceiving one's own progress at all times is simply too intoxicating.