Chapter 1090: Lifespan, Corpse Burned, and Ashes Scattered (II)
Chapter 1090: Lifespan, Corpse Burned, and Ashes Scattered (II)
Luo Chen's excitement immediately faded. Without delay, he activated his divine consciousness and swept it across the island. Back when he was still an Adept, he could only extend a few hundred li. Now, it surged past one thousand li, then two thousand, before reaching his limit at three thousand li.
Black King stared at him in disbelief. How is his divine consciousness this powerful...
He had never understood how exceptional his master truly was in this aspect. Luo Chen's divine soul had always been among the strongest of his peers, and such an extraordinary foundation brought even greater gains with every breakthrough. Over the past decade, he had widened that advantage further by refining a substantial portion of Han Zhan's soul power. An ordinary early-stage Sage could extend their divine consciousness across only a thousand li, and even the most outstanding rarely surpassed two thousand. Luo Chen, however, had already broken through that limit despite being only at the first stage.
Wait, the first stage? How did he get there so fast?!
Black King was still reeling in thought when Luo Chen's expression darkened. He rose into the air and circled Dragon Abyss Island. In the end, his findings confirmed Black King's conclusion. The earth veins beneath Dragon Abyss Island were indeed fracturing, and the damage appeared to be irreversible!
The formation surrounding the veins had once locked the island's natural energy deep underground, keeping most of its spiritual vitality confined within the abyss and allowing very little to reach the surface. Now that the formation had been disrupted, all that stored energy was rushing outward in large quantities.
At a glance, the island seemed more prosperous than ever, but that abundance was only temporary. Rather than true growth, it was better described as demolishing its foundation to build a higher wall. If it were to be described as a living being, this would be its final burst before collapse. It was only because its foundation was so deep that this final resurgence had dragged on for so long and the energy was still unspent even after ten years.
Luo Chen murmured, "My tribulation must've started it, and then Black King's fight with the White Tiger puppet made things worse. They must've thrown the spirit vein out of balance..."
As the full implications settled in, Luo Chen realized his time on Dragon Abyss Island was coming to an end. The thought did not stir much emotion; he had never planned to remain here indefinitely, and there was too much waiting for him beyond the island. He needed to get a suitable cultivation technique, gather the resources required for Soul Split, and prepare for the dangers scattered throughout the Demon Sea. More than that, there were people he needed to see and matters he could no longer leave unresolved.
After taking a moment to collect himself, he returned to Emerald Ripple Pool and began making arrangements.
"Black King, you're free to enter the abyss whenever you need to. Find every raw spirit stone deposit that's reached the supreme grade, and mark the locations of the top-grade ones too. Jinghe, you..." Luo Chen paused. "Never mind. Just focus on cultivating. Do your best to reach the Golden Core Realm within ten years."
Finally, he looked at Heavenjade. "I'll leave the remaining task to you. Gather all the graded spirit soil on Dragon Abyss Island."
The meaning behind his orders was obvious. He was preparing to leave. Whether it happened tomorrow, next year, or some other day not far off, they would not remain on the island much longer.
Heavenjade asked softly, "Master, what about the puppet...?"
"I'll make time to take it down."
Then, spirit light flashed in Heavenjade's hand, and a corpse appeared before them. "And what about this?"
It was Han Zhan's corpse, or rather, the body that had once belonged to Flying Cloud. Bringing it out on the joyous day Luo Chen emerged from seclusion felt deeply inauspicious. Heavenjade had no intention to bring up the matter today, but the urgency in her master's actions had unsettled her enough to do so.
Luo Chen narrowed his eyes slightly to study the corpse more closely. He did not worry that Han Zhan had left behind some kind of contingency measure. Possessing another body required everything one had, and in that state, Han Zhan would not have had the strength to prepare any backup plan.
Still, the corpse could not be kept. It had once been Flying Cloud's body, and carrying it around would only serve as a constant reminder of Luo Chen's role in his death. If it were ever recognized, it could easily draw the attention of Flying Cloud's descendants or former followers.
A faint thread of azure flame slipped from Luo Chen's fingertip and quietly spread across the corpse. In just a few breaths, the body of the once-renowned Sage was reduced to a small pile of ash.
"Scatter it into the sea. He was from the Northern Sea. Let him return there in the end."
Black King swept his claw across the ground and scooped up the ashes along with some of the surrounding soil. "I'll handle it."
He flew out over the open water and scattered everything with a casual flick of his claw. The sea churned almost at once as demonic fish and sea beasts surged toward the surface and fought to devour the remains. Even reduced to ash, the remains of a Sage still contained enough power to drive these beasts into a frenzy.
Black King watched with an amused huff. He had no interest in paying respects to the dead. As far as he was concerned, he had completed a simple task and removed one more burden from his master's shoulders. The body was nothing but trouble, whether because it was Flying Cloud's corpse or because it had housed Han Zhan's soul. Letting it disappear completely, without leaving even a trace behind, felt like the most fitting end!
***
Once Luo Chen returned to his cave residence, he settled his thoughts and opened his status panel. After the adjustments he had made, the once-cluttered information was now neatly organized and easy to read.
[Status Panel]
Lifespan: 216/1500
Spirit Roots: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth
Constitution: Fire Spirit Body (Hidden Five-Spirit Dao Body)
Realm: First Stage Nascent Soul Realm (1/100); Archaic Beast Tier Four (40/100)
[Techniques]
Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture: Grandmaster (900/1000)
Myriad Path Convergence: Perfected Mastery
Myriad Beast Sutra: Grandmaster (510/1000)
Soul Split: Beginner (15/100)
[Spells]
Fourth-Tier
[Martial Arts]
[Soul Arts]
Luo Chen glanced across the newly reorganized panel with satisfaction, and then his gaze reached the most remarkable change of all.
"HAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA!"
He threw back his head and let out an unrestrained laugh that echoed through the cave.
When he had first stepped onto the path of cultivation, immortality had seemed like an impossibly distant dream. Now, however, he had taken a real and substantial step toward it!
Advancing to the Nascent Soul Realm normally granted the cultivator a lifespan of roughly a thousand years, yet Luo Chen had gained another five hundred beyond that. The difference most likely came from his physique cultivation. As long as he avoided reckless battles and unnecessary risks, he could expect to outlive nearly all his peers!
Of course, merely living longer than them was far too modest an ambition to hold his interest for long. His attention returned to the other changes on the panel. Reaching the first stage of the Nascent Soul Realm came as no surprise given the extraordinary circumstances of his breakthrough. Golden lotuses had bloomed from the earth during his tribulation, while spirit rain descended from the heavens. Once he survived the lightning, those two phenomena resulted in an immense amount of pure spirit energy pouring into his newly formed Nascent Soul. The influx not only perfected his foundation but also drove his cultivation forward. Combined with the pure mana he had absorbed from the remnants of Han Zhan's Nascent Soul, it was only natural that he had firmly entered the first stage.
It could not have gone much better. Most cultivators needed thirty to fifty years of seclusion after forming a Nascent Soul merely to consolidate their new cultivation and secure their foundation. Dragon Abyss had secluded himself for a full fifty years and rarely shown himself during that time. Han Zhan had likewise spent several decades stabilizing his cultivation before he finally dared to emerge and challenge Sage Jade Cauldron. Luo Chen, by contrast, had bypassed that long period of consolidation entirely, saving decades that he could now devote to something far more important: his core cultivation technique!
Thinking of that, he looked at the entry for the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture. He had reached Grandmaster proficiency and stood only a hundred points away from Perfected Mastery, but whether he should continue using it was still up for debate.
Once he had obtained the Five-Spirit Dao Body in the Heaven of Bright Illumination, he had decided to replace it after he formed his Nascent Soul. The events that followed, however, had caused the Five-Spirit Dao Body to change, or rather regress, into a Fire Spirit Body. Although the panel showed that the Five-Spirit Dao Body was merely hidden rather than truly lost, his constitution still confined him to fire-element cultivation techniques and sharply limited his options.
After considering the matter for some time, Luo Chen sighed. I'll just try to reach Perfected Mastery and see what happens. If my cultivation speed remains acceptable, I'll continue using it. If it slows too much, I'll have to find a fourth-tier fire-element technique...
That was just the backup plan, however. Luo Chen knew all too well how difficult it would be to obtain such a technique. Fourth-tier techniques were rare and immensely valuable. Even the least remarkable among them could serve as the foundation of an individual's cultivation, while the finest were treasured inheritances capable of supporting entire sects. No cultivator or force that possessed such a technique would part with it willingly.
With no immediate solution, Luo Chen set the matter aside and turned his attention to Soul Split. The ten years he had spent enduring the torment of dividing his soul had not been wasted. Right now, he had achieved Beginner proficiency, and a fully formed subsidiary soul now resided beside his main soul within his sea of consciousness. Although the two shared an identical aura, the gap between their strengths was still obvious. The subsidiary soul was only comparable to the divine soul of an Adept, which was far too weak for Luo Chen's requirements.
Part of the problem was simply that he had not practiced the art long enough, which time would eventually resolve. The greater issue was that the technique itself offered no guidance on how to strengthen the subsidiary soul. Fortunately, Luo Chen already had a solution in mind.
The Monarch's alchemical inheritance!
With that, he took an alchemical formula and looked it over: Great Soul Pill.
It was one of the thirty-six alchemical formulas, a fourth-tier pill specifically meant to strengthen the foundation of a cultivator's divine soul. He had once considered refining it while treating Black King, but its medicinal power had been so overwhelming that he had worried Black King could not endure it. And since he had also lacked the necessary ingredients, he had ultimately abandoned the idea. Now, however, it seemed perfectly suited to his needs.
As he studied the formula more carefully, a crease soon formed between his brows. He had seen the main ingredient before.
"It won't be easy to get enough of this..."