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Chapter 823: Cruel Demonic Path, An Old Acquaintance's Passing
Chapter 823: Cruel Demonic Path, An Old Acquaintance's Passing
The old man in the small shop appeared ordinary, but he was actually quite accomplished, having reached the Golden Core Realm.
If he were outside, even low-level cultivators would respectfully address him as "Venerable."
Therefore, his knowledge was indeed impressive.
After obtaining the Soul Absorption Essence Extraction Technique from the gray-robed man, he only needed a brief glance to instantly realize the extraordinary nature of the technique.
The technique was clearly recorded, detailing a secret method to extract the essence from living souls.
Souls are unique to beings with spiritual awareness.
Although they seem intangible and formless, they do exist in reality.
Moreover, their uses are numerous, and they are of utmost importance in cultivation.
In the path of cultivation, one refines Qi on the surface, but in actuality, it is the spirit that is being refined.
From the soul, spiritual perception is derived, and after the Golden Core stage, it transforms into divine perception, allowing one to interfere with the outside world.
Upon reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, the Nascent Soul can temporarily serve as the second vessel for the divine soul.
It is said that the Divine Transformation Realm is called "Divine Transformation" because the Nascent Soul can transform into the divine soul.
At that realm, the divine soul and Nascent Soul completely merge, and even if the physical body is destroyed, the cultivator can survive solely on the divine soul, no longer fearing assimilation by heaven and earth or heavenly tribulations.
Why is it said that only those in the Divine Transformation Realm can ascend?
It is precisely because of the existence of the divine soul that during the ascension process, a powerful divine soul can lock onto and guide the spiritual light, ascending to the immortal realm.
I digress.
Back to the Soul Absorption Essence Extraction Technique!
This secret technique can refine the essence of souls from living beings, not only from high-level beings with established divine souls but also from some low-level creatures. This technique can extract their weak and elusive soul essences.
It is truly sinister and demonic, a path of evil!
The old man asked questions while eagerly flipping through the pages of the tattered book.
This shabby little book looked ancient, and it was unclear how many years old it was.
However, the technique recorded in it was quite comprehensive, even detailing the method to create the Soul Summoning Banner, the tool required for refining soul essence.
The old man quickly realized the importance of this technique.
According to the description, soul essence was quite peculiar, as it could be used to cultivate and enhance the foundation of the divine soul, and it could also be used to cultivate certain insidious soul techniques.
As long as it could be created, there would be no shortage of buyers!
Perhaps it could even become the treasure of his shop!
The biggest challenge in refining soul essence was not the difficulty of the technique or the creation of the Soul Summoning Banner, but the acquisition of raw materials.
But this problem was not a problem at all in the current situation.
What is the current situation?
It is a time of racial conflict and war between humans and demons!
The human cultivators of the Eastern Wilderness are clashing head-on with the demons, who have been accumulating their strength for three thousand years.
Every day, countless lives are extinguished, and numerous souls vanish without a trace.
Those are the best raw materials!
Facing the old man's urgent inquiries, the gray-robed cultivator extended his hand with a cautious expression.
"Just tell me if you want to trade or not. If not, give it back to me!"
The old man quickly clenched the tattered beast hide book, smiling obsequiously, "Why be so tense? I'm just asking a few more questions. If this technique came from some famous sect, I'd be worried about endless trouble."
The gray-robed cultivator suddenly understood and explained, "You don't need to worry about that. I obtained this book from the cave abode of an ancient cultivator, and I assure you there won't be any trouble."
The cave abode of an ancient cultivator?
The old man carefully examined the beast hide paper and the writing on it, nodding in agreement.
Indeed, it seemed quite ancient.
Considering the value of this technique, it was worth trading even for a Crimson Blood Herb worth three thousand spirit stones, let alone ten or a hundred times its value!
This junior at the Foundation Establishment stage truly didn't know the value of it!
Since that's the case...
"Trade!"
...
The gray-robed man, having obtained the Crimson Blood Herb, left the shop with a delighted expression. As soon as he stepped out, the small shop behind him slammed its door shut, even closing the small window by the entrance.
It was as if they feared he would change his mind.
However, the gray-robed man didn't seem to mind, and the smile on his face gradually faded.
Casually putting away the Crimson Blood Herb, which he had previously valued highly, he turned and headed down another dark street.
There were many such secluded markets in Lingtian Pass.
Most of the transactions conducted within involved resources that couldn't be openly traded.
Some daring cultivators ventured into demon territories to gather herbs, secretly mined minerals, or even stole and looted during the chaos.
In the past, these transactions were conducted underground, but recently, due to the actions of the Dongyang Sect's Nascent Soul Realm elder, they had started to surface.
Based on the information he gathered, the gray-robed cultivator kept entering and exiting these secluded shops in Lingtian Pass.
Most of the time, he chose to barter.
Among the items he frequently traded was that tattered little beast hide booklet.
In just a day or two, nearly seventy copies of the Soul Absorption Essence Extraction Technique were spread from his hands!
And for a short time, no one discovered this.
Within the West City Alchemy Sect's cave abode, a calm grey-robed man activated an array, blocking any detection.
Then, his entire body crackled as his stature rapidly grew taller.
His originally sallow skin turned fair and white.
His facial features contorted, eventually forming Luo Chen's youthful and handsome face.
He scanned the remaining beast hide booklets in his storage ring and dismissed the idea of continuing to spread the soul extraction technique.
"It's enough."
"This secret technique requires a large number of people to be effective."
"They will help me continue spreading it."
This was Luo Chen's plan for his future cultivation of the Soul Splitting Technique.
By splitting and dividing his soul, he would weaken his current main soul, causing him to enter a period of weakness.
But there was another drawback, which was why Luo Chen decided against increasing the number of divided souls.
It was the Great Soul Pill!
Without the complete Soul Splitting Technique, he couldn't quickly improve the cultivation of the divided souls and had to rely on the Great Soul Pill as an aid.
To refine the Great Soul Pill, he needed precious soul essences.
Currently, the number of soul essences he possessed was sufficient to support the cultivation of his main soul and two divided souls.
But if the number of divided souls increased to three, four, five...
By then, he might have a large number of divided souls but would be unable to improve their overall quality, which would become a burden.
This was evident from Han Zhan's situation.
Han Zhan started practicing the Soul Splitting Technique at the Foundation Establishment level and, after a hundred years in the Nascent Soul Realm, he had nine divided souls.
He seemed extremely powerful, but in reality, he was "weak."
As Luo Chen's cultivation level increased, his understanding of Han Zhan's nine divided souls became clearer. Each of them seemed to be at the early Nascent Soul level, but they fell one after another under Luo Chen's Dragon Slaying Technique without any resistance.
It was evident that the strength of these divided souls couldn't be considered true Nascent Soul level souls.
They were even inferior to the two divided souls that Luo Chen had carefully cultivated.
For this reason, Luo Chen began to prepare in advance.
He spread the method of creating soul essences obtained from Fu Chaosheng, using the war as an opportunity to have those fugitives create soul essences for him.
Once the production of soul essences increased, they would inevitably be sold.
Perhaps many high-level cultivators would be interested in soul essences, but they wouldn't have the correct method to utilize them.
At that time, Luo Chen could start harvesting them openly.
As for why Luo Chen personally disguised himself to do this instead of entrusting it to the Luohe Sect's cultivators, and even went to the trouble of making the beast hide book look old by using the art of artifact refinement, the reason was simple—the Soul Absorption Essence Extraction Technique was ultimately a demonic secret technique!
Using living soul essences as materials was extremely harmful and evil.
Even the Yuan Mo Sect distributed it to its subordinate forces instead of doing it themselves, which showed its harmful nature.
Compared to the Yuan Mo Sect, the Luohe Sect was extremely fragile.
If the sect's members were to do this and were discovered, the consequences would be dire.
Even the reputation that Luo Chen had painstakingly built could easily be tarnished.
"It's a bit underhanded, but for the sake of longevity, it's not worth mentioning."
Luo Chen smiled slightly and put this matter aside for the time being.
His attention turned to the refinement of the Heart-Questioning Mirror.
The attribute panel expanded.
With a thought, he spent ten achievement points to directly enter the realm!
He faintly felt that he had gained some new experiences.
"It's time to take advantage of my recent free time and refine this thing. Let's see what materials are needed..."
Luo Chen narrowed his eyes, a plan forming in his mind.
...
Sometimes, when you're sleepy, you find a pillow.
And coincidentally, many people were eager to offer him a pillow!
On this day, the Spiritless Immortal Maiden had just sent away a Golden Core cultivator and returned with an invitation.
Her eyes revealed a sense of helplessness.
Yet another Nascent Soul cultivator had sent an invitation through his disciples.
Over five years, she had received many such invitations, and quite a few were from people she couldn't easily offend.
Especially today's invitation.
"Venerable Lu from the Dongyang Sect, who claims to have a past connection with you, has specifically come to invite you. But since he's in seclusion, I can't promise on his behalf."
As the Spiritless Immortal Maiden was feeling troubled, the clouds covering the mountain suddenly dispersed.
She froze for a moment, instantly realizing something, and immediately flew up on a cloud.
...
In the cave abode, Luo Chen flipped through the invitation cards.
【Supreme Elder of the Luohe Sect: We've long heard of your great name, excelling in pill refinement and various skills... If you have the time, please grant us a meeting. We eagerly await your guidance. Signed, Yao Ping, the head of the Crimson Pill Peak of the Seven Peaks Mountain.】
The Seven Peaks Mountain was one of the early Nascent Soul level sects in the thirty-six territories of East Chaos.
Its establishment was around the same time as the Dongyang Sect, and it had also participated in the ancient war between humans and demons.
But now, it has long since declined, and is no longer the grand scene of seven peaks at the top, all of them in the Nascent Soul Realm.
Instead, the leader of Crimson Pill Peak, Yao Ping, is quite skilled in pill refinement, and is respectfully called Mr. Yao.
His invitation seems to be seeking guidance from Luo Chen on pill refinement, but the tone in the letter is not very polite.
It's full of flattery towards Luo Chen, but also subtly challenging him to a competition.
Luo Chen only glanced at it twice before putting it aside.
With his current status and reputation, he doesn't bother to compete with others in pill refinement.
Winning is expected, but losing would only serve to bolster the reputation of the declining Seven Peaks Mountain.
He opens another invitation.
This one is more familiar, as it's from a certain power asking Luo Chen to refine a lost cultivation pill for their sect.
Luo Chen usually refuses such requests.
Cultivation pills often require more than just one or two attempts to refine.
It needs a large and stable supply, which would take up too much of his time.
Even if this power is willing to pay a large amount of spirit stones and the Vermilion Heaven Qi he needs.
But Luo Chen still carefully reads the content of the invitation, stroking his chin and showing a thoughtful expression.
The Vermilion Heaven Qi is a resource that only those in the Nascent Soul Realm can collect, so it's extremely precious, but it doesn't seem to be that rare? Most Nascent Soul Realm cultivators can provide one or two.
Later on, he even discovered that the Nine Spirit Lord's grand technique, the Nine-Colored Light River, is actually the result of the Vermilion Heaven Qi combined with spiritual power.
S
The Nine Spirit Sect, where the Nine Spirit Lord resides, is not that ancient, but with their accumulated resources, they were able to gather a large amount of Vermilion Heaven Qi, allowing the Nine Spirit Lord to cultivate this technique, and even have the surplus to trade some of it to Luo Chen.
What if it were the more ancient Seven Peaks Mountain, Dongyang Sect, or even the Divine Earth?
Is the scope of his previous friendships a bit limited?
As Luo Chen ponders, he casually asks, "Wasn't it Xiao Liu who used to deliver the invitations, and you who received the visitors? Today, why are you delivering it yourself?"
Although the Frost Queen has joined the Heavenward Sect and accepted the reversal of their statuses, she still subconsciously avoids meeting him.
Awkward!
Today's invitation delivery is rather unusual.
Unexpectedly, the Frost Queen hears this and her cold face shows a complex expression.
The woman speaks softly, "He's already gone."
Luo Chen is taken aback, and his hand stiffens for a moment.
"When?"
"During your third year of seclusion. He passed away peacefully, with his wife and daughter seeing him off. His remains were buried in Ba Li Qing Quan. Elder Li, in the name of the elder, exceptionally placed his spirit tablet in the Heavenward Sect's ancestral hall."
Luo Chen opens his mouth, but in the end, he just sighs softly.
Five years, for someone at his level, is just a minor period of secluded cultivation.
Moreover, the purpose wasn't even cultivation, but to break through the bottlenecks of the third and fourth layers of the Nascent Soul Realm.
Yet, in this way, a close companion quietly passed away.
If he wants to break through to a higher realm in the future, it will take decades, or even a hundred years. When he comes out of seclusion, how many familiar faces will be left to celebrate with him? Shaking his head, Luo Chen quietly picks up the next invitation.
And this one is exactly what he needs.
"Dongyang Sect, True Man Lu!"
The Frost Queen explains beside him, "He has a past connection with you, so even though his invitation is just asking you to attend a gathering, I picked it out."
Luo Chen acknowledges this with a sound of agreement.
True Man Lu does indeed have a connection with him, although it was just a brief encounter.
Back then, when traveling from Dongyang Domain to White Crane Domain, Gu Zuokai, the intermediary, found True Man Lu from Dongyang Sect.
At that time, Luo Chen specially sent a bottle of a fairly good Fourth Stage Hongyuan Pill to the other party.
He remembers that True Man Lu was quite moved at the time and repeatedly asked Luo Chen if he had any plans to continue selling this pill.
"Dongyang Sect has a deep connection with Abyss Sect, and can even be considered an affiliated power under Abyss Sect."
"Therefore, as soon as this Elder Lu arrived at Lingtian Gate, he received great support from the Lingtian City Lord, and everything he did was unhindered."
"He promoted the formation of the Heavenly Gate Fair, established relevant rules, and even sent people to maintain order. He has an excellent reputation among low-level cultivators. Not only that, but he also holds Golden Core Level and Nascent Soul Realm exchange meetings in the name of Dongyang Sect from time to time."
"He really wants you to personally attend one!"
As the Frost Queen explains, Luo Chen understands the whole situation.
And such exchange gatherings are an excellent environment for high-level cultivators to exchange resources.
Luo Chen hardly hesitates and immediately asks, "When is the next gathering?"
"Three days from now!"
"Good! Please reply on my behalf, Luo will definitely attend on time."
(End of Chapter)
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