Nine Star Hegemon Body Art c1-2048
Page 460
“Why not? She’s very beautiful.” Tang Wan-er continued in her questioning, refusing to let Long Chen off just like this.
“What? Do I have to like someone just because they look beautiful?” Long Chen was practically speechless. What kind of logic was this?
“Don’t change the subject. Is she as beautiful as me and sister Meng Qi?”
“Wan-er!” Meng Qi was blushing. Who asked people questions like this?
Long Chen laughed, “When it comes to beauty, she might barely be able to stand on the same level as you. But when it comes to the vastness of her heart, she is too lacking.”
“The vastness of her heart?”
Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er didn’t understand what he was saying at first, but following his gaze to their chests, the two of them immediately blushed.
“Long Chen, you pervert! How dare you say something like that!”
Long Chen laughed and ran off. Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er shot off in hot pursuit. It had been a long time since Long Chen had felt this relaxed, laughing and talking with his beauties.
Although he liked this kind of feeling, once they got back, he had to get down to business. He gave Huo Wufang’s spatial ring to Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er so they could organize what was inside.
At the same time, he thought of what he had won for taking first place at the Pill Emperor Competition. He hastily looked inside that golden spatial ring.
This was also a huge life ring, and it was even vaster than Huo Wufang’s.
“A pill furnace!”
Long Chen saw three things in the ring. One was a golden pill furnace. The runes carved onto it gave it an elegant aura.
“It’s actually a pill furnace on the Enchanted item level.” Long Chen was shocked. Pill furnaces were a must-have for alchemists, second only to Pill Flames. But pill furnaces were no ordinary items, and not just anyone could create them.
An ordinary Forging Master might be able to create all kinds of weapons, but they would be unable to create a furnace. That was because forging a pill furnace required the usage of a Pill Flame.
Only through the usage of Pill Flame would the furnace possess its own spirituality. Then, refining more pills wouldn’t cause it to wear down, but would instead nourish it. As it refined more pills, its quality would increase.
The more a pill furnace was used, the more valuable it became. So true alchemists would always pass on their pill furnace to their most beloved disciple before dying.
However, to have this kind of effect, the pill furnace had to have reached the Enchanted level. Other pill furnaces could also possess a slight nourishing effect, but that effect was essentially negligible.
Pill furnaces on the Enchanted level had special formation runes carved into them. When refining pills, those runes would draw the surrounding natural energy into the pills to raise their quality.
The alchemist could also use their Spiritual Strength to multiply the effects of those runes, but not every alchemist had that qualification. That was because just refining the pill would be very taxing on their Spiritual Strength, and they wouldn’t have any leftover energy to activate the runes.
But Long Chen was different. His Spiritual Strength was incredibly vast, and he wasn’t even able to finish using it all. This furnace was practically tailor-made for him.
“Hehe, a treasure, definitely a treasure! I’ll be able to refine twice as fast with half the effort now!” Long Chen was delighted.
In Huo Wufang’s spatial ring, he had found a sixth tier pill furnace. It was definitely peak grade amongst sixth tier furnaces. At that time, he had directly thrown it into the primal chaos space.
But compared to this Enchanted level pill furnace, that sixth tier furnace was absolute trash.
Just this pill furnace completely satisfied him. Currently, he had consumed close to a thousand Enlightenment Palace Pills, but the cyclone had still not reached its peak state. He estimated he would need close to another thousand to reach that point.
The main problem was that the pills he was consuming weren’t high enough quality. Huo Long was only able to refine one-ring pills. That was much lower quality than the pills he refined personally.
But he didn’t have enough time to refine. This Enchanted level pill furnace solved one of his urgent needs.
Although the quality of the pills wouldn’t immediately be much higher, as time passed, under an Earth Flame and the medicinal pills’ nourishing, this pill furnace would become better and better, allowing the quality to gradually increase. The more the furnace was used, the better.
He directly tossed the pill furnace to Huo Long, having it continue refining Enlightenment Palace Pills. He would need to trouble Huo Long during this time. Normally, when Huo Long wasn’t refining pills, it was devouring the energy from the beast flames. Once it got full, it would continue working.
Long Chen moved on to the next item. It was a prayer mat.
“It was woven out of Nine Yang Heavenly Unicorn Grass. What money!” Long Chen was shocked. This was a kind of extremely magical grass that could nourish a person’s soul. A single stalk of it could be used for a hundred years.
But this entire mat was woven out of it. There had to be at least hundreds of stalks.
“Unfortunately, although it’s a good treasure and practically a divine item to alchemists, it’s useless for me. But Meng Qi and Wan-er can use it, and it’ll be especially beneficial to Meng Qi since she’s a pure soul cultivator. She has no suitable housepets right now, and so she has to rely entirely on soul arts.
“With this prayer mat, her cultivation will definitely advance rapidly, and there’s no worry of her foundation growing unstable as a soul cultivator. I suppose I’ll first take out a stalk and plant it in the primal chaos space.”
After that, he moved on to the third and final item.
“This is… damnit, they really cheated me!”
The last item was a medicinal pill. It was known as an ancient pill, something that had flowed down from the ancient era.
The Pill Dao was filled with variations. Although the majority of medicinal pills were supposed to be consumed immediately or within a certain amount of time, some weren’t. They were to be stored over long periods of time.
These pills were covered in a special layer called a pill veil that allowed them to absorb energy from the sun and the moon to nourish the pill. This nourishing effect was very slow.
The method to refine such pills had already been lost. Thus, such pills were normally only found when exploring ancient ruins.
But not all pills could be stored for so long. Some pills would eventually become toxic, and as soon as you consumed them, you could ascend.
Although this pill was covered in a pill veil, Long Chen could tell what pill it was. It was a seventh tier pill: the Hidden Glyph Tiger Soul Pill. Its main ingredient was a seventh rank Hidden Glyph Tiger’s soul.
The Hidden Glyph Tiger was a Magical Beast from the ancient era. But even back then, it had been extremely rare.
The Hidden Glyph Tiger had a set of lines on its body. Those lines weren’t set at their birth. Instead, those lines would constantly change as their cultivation base grew.
It was rumored that the Hidden Glyph Tiger was no ordinary Magical Beast. It actually relied on comprehending the Heavenly Daos in order to cultivate. That sounded like absolute nonsense; if Magical Beasts relied on comprehending the Heavenly Daos, would they even be Magical Beasts?
However, this kind of backwards Magical Beast did exist. The Hidden Glyph Tiger’s essence soul contained extremely dense Heavenly Dao energy. That kind of energy was very miraculous, and could help a person comprehend the Heavenly Daos and allow them to break through a bottleneck.
After absorbing the sun and moon’s essence for countless years, its rings had disappeared. Instead, a figure could be seen on the outside of the pill. That figure moved about as if it were alive.
This pill had already broken through the limit of high grade pills
to reach the top grade classification. If Long Chen were to use a top grade seventh tier Hidden Glyph Tiger Soul Pill to break through to Sea Expansion, it would be an absolute waste of a treasure.
More importantly, this thing was essentially useless to Long Chen. He cultivated the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art. His cultivation path was different from others, and this pill would have no effect on him.
Furthermore, it wasn’t just that he couldn’t use it. The others had no need of it either. Everyone’s foundations in the Xiantian realm were incomparably solid. Even without this pill, they would smoothly reach the Sea Expansion realm.
“Hm, if I add some material to this pill, I could give it to big sister. If she’s lucky, she’ll have a definite chance of breaking through to Foundation Forging.
“Then with an Ancestor-level expert backing me, couldn’t I be as crazy as I wanted to be in the Xuantian Dao Sect? I could slap whoever I want… I could snatch whoever’s women I wanted…”
For a Sea Expansion expert, this pill’s effect would be a bit lacking. But Long Chen found a very complicated formula within the Pill Sovereign memories. That night, he refined a bowl of medicinal liquid.
This medicinal liquid had no use on its own, but when consumed with the Hidden Glyph Tiger Soul Pill, the combined medicinal effect would be ten times greater. Even Shui Wuhen, a late Sea Expansion expert, would have a good chance of advancing.
Just like that, holding the bowl of medicinal liquid, Long Chen rushed off towards Shui Wuhen’s residence.
Chapter 707 Third Heavenstage of Xiantian
Leaving Shui Wuhen’s residence, Long Chen was filled with anticipation. If Shui Wuhen could reach Foundation Forging, he would truly have found a reliable backer for himself.
Shui Wuhen had at first been confused upon seeing Long Chen bringing her a medicinal pill and liquid. Long Chen directly explained that they were special medicine he had refined just for her. Although she found this odd as she didn’t know much about alchemy, she still consumed them due to her trust in Long Chen.
As soon as she did, her expression became one of wild delight. She immediately felt her mental state enter a state of emptiness, and her perception of the Heavenly Daos gradually grew clearer.
The greatest gain was that she actually felt her bottleneck weaken slightly. She was far too familiar with that feeling. She had felt that three times in the past; unfortunately, she had never been able to grab hold of that opportunity.
Now, without Long Chen’s reminder, she immediately knew what to do. She focused on entering a perfect meditative state to take advantage of this opportunity.
For Sea Expansion experts, advancing to Foundation Forging wasn’t as simple as just attacking the barrier.
Shui Wuhen had already been at the late Sea Expansion realm for almost five hundred years. She had tried attacking Foundation Forging three times, but she had failed.
Trying to reach Foundation Forging through force was useless. It relied on grabbing hold of a certain kind of opportunity that the Heavenly Daos bestowed on you. When a person’s mind entered a state of complete calm, it would be easier to grasp that opportunity.
But the world was filled with countless worries. No one was truly able to keep their mind and heart in a perfect state of calm with no distracting thoughts.
After failing three times, Shui Wuhen had already become a bit dejected. She hadn’t managed to feel this kind of opportunity in the last three hundred years. She had already accepted that she would never be able to reach Foundation Forging.
Now Long Chen had given her another chance. Furthermore, her comprehension of the Heavenly Daos had never been this clear before. She would go all-out in her attempt to seize this opportunity and forge an immortal platform.
Foundation Forging referred to creating a platform on top of the expanded sea. This platform was sometimes called the immortal platform. It was also sometimes called the Dao platform. It was the foundation for your chance of ever becoming an immortal or god.
It could be said that only once you reached Foundation Forging were you a true cultivator. As for those so-called immortals and gods, they were just a legend. But it was true that once you reached Foundation Forging, your lifespan would extend a great deal.
Sea Expansion experts had a lifespan of around fifteen hundred years. However, Shui Wuhen would only have a lifespan of twelve hundred years.
That was because most women, especially beautiful women, would train in a kind of secret art. At the price of reducing their lifespan, they could maintain their youthful appearance.
That was also why there were many old men in Sea Expansion but not many old women.
But once you reached Foundation Forging and created your immortal platform, you would be able to absorb the exceedingly thin immortal qi in the air. Then your lifespan would increase to five thousand years, and your youthful looks would be restored.
Long Chen was only able to help out this much. The rest would be up to Shui Wuhen. According to reason, she should have a good chance.
When Long Chen returned, he saw Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er holding hands and quietly whispering about something. He didn’t know what they were saying, but when they saw him, they immediately turned red and shut their mouths.
“To talk badly about someone behind their back, each person is punished with one kiss.”
Long Chen suddenly swooped down and gave Meng Qi and Tang Wan-er a kiss each. The two of them released a tempest of fists against him.
He laughed and rushed off to his private training room. The trial was about to start, and he had to take advantage of this time to increase his strength.
Out of the Four Heavenly Geniuses, he had run into two. That bear had already become enemies with him. Thus, there would definitely be someone to play with in the trial.
Shui Wuhen had told him that he was an earth attribute expert. If he summoned the Cry of the Heavenly Daos, then whether it was heaven or earth, endless energy would become his to use.
He was different from a fake like Huo Wufang. He was a true rank two Celestial, and the two of them were as different as heaven and earth. Although Long Chen wasn’t afraid of him, if he was speaking frankly, his chances of winning weren’t high.
As for Zhong Wuyan, she was clearly no kindhearted woman. As soon as she opened her mouth, it was like she wanted to take a bite out of someone. Furthermore, Long Chen felt she was too arrogant. She liked to look down her nose on people. That was something that he didn’t like. Although she wouldn’t necessarily be an enemy, the chances of them becoming allies were essentially zero.
As for the other two, he doubted they would be well-disposed toward him, especially that Water Pipe. He would very likely make things hard for him in the trial.
According to Shui Wuhen, this trial was extremely beneficial. So many people would be going all-out for this trial. It was because Long Chen knew this trial was so important that he trusted that Zhao Wuji would definitely tidy all the bricks so he could participate.
Right now, Long Chen needed to urgently increase his strength. Otherwise, in the trial, he might get suppressed. Then it wouldn’t be so fun.
He took out his pill furnace. He needed to personally refine some higher grade pills to condense the cyclone.
“Ah, how refreshing.” Long Chen had only just opened the furnace when it began to dimly shine. As he poured in his Spiritual Strength, the furnace’s runes grew brighter, almost looking like they were alive.
He had only just poured in the powders when they instantly merged. The pill furnace also gave him much greater control, and he didn’t need to worry about the flame suddenly growing and turning the ingredients to ashes.
Also, the pill furnace’s runes were being activated by his Spiritual Strength, which absorbed the air’s energy and poured it into the pills.
The furnace shook slightly. Long Chen was stunned. He had actually refined it so quickly. Opening the lid, he saw nine, jade-like sparkling pills that were still slowly rollin
g in the furnace.
“Damn, they’re all nine-ring pills. This is too amazing.” Long Chen gulped. This was the best pill furnace he had ever encountered.
In his delight, he refined nine furnaces of pills in one go, and they were all nine-ring pills. And with the nourishment of his soul, the pill furnace only became better.
After that, he placed the furnace back in the primal chaos space and had Huo Long refine on its own. In any case, Huo Long didn’t have anything better to do. The beast flames it had confined were only able to give him a single bite of energy after a whole day’s recovery. Huo Long had nothing else to do during the rest of the day, so it directly became Long Chen’s hardworking apprentice.
As Huo Long’s strength increased, its intelligence also grew. It actually gave birth to the slightest bit of soul energy. It was able to communicate simple thoughts with Long Chen, and it could even use its soul energy when refining.
BOOM!
An explosive sound came from Long Chen’s body. He was delighted, thinking that the cyclone had been fully formed. But then he realized he was wrong. Instead, he had advanced to the third Heavenstage of Xiantian.
Although he hadn’t deliberately cultivated, the enormous amount of energy in over a thousand Enlightenment Palace Pills had pushed his cultivation base higher.
Eighty-one nine-ring Enlightenment Palace Pills were consumed in just a few hours. It went without saying that the energy contained in nine-ring pills was truly enormous. The cyclone had grown much larger.
Long Chen estimated that he would completely condense it with just a hundred more pills. He was about to continue refining when Tang Wan-er called him out. Everyone had gathered. The trial was about to start.
Long Chen tidied up and walked out with Tang Wan-er. He had only just come out when he saw Meng Qi talking to Shui Wuhen.
“It was a failure?” Long Chen couldn’t help being disappointed upon seeing Shui Wuhen. Her aura hadn’t changed in the slightest.
Shui Wuhen was doing her best to suppress her emotions, but she was unable to conceal the excitement and delight in her eyes. She didn’t hide the truth from him. She whispered, “It was a success.”