Immortality begins with Becoming an Alchemy Grandmaster

Chapter 806: Chapter 333: Dual Path? Nothing to Fear!

“Tao Wen, this woman, is very strong!”

“Generally speaking, after cultivators advance to the late stage of Foundation Establishment, if they don’t use magic items, the gap between them actually isn’t that big.”

“Everyone has a robust reserve of spirit power, and the maximum power that ordinary magical instruments can unleash is also just so much.”

“Therefore, the standard for judging the strength of late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators lies more in the extent to which they have refined their magic items.”

“The deeper the refinement, the greater the power of the magic item that can be unleashed, and the stronger the strength displayed.”

Hearing this explanation,

Luo Chen couldn’t help but ask, “Is this not a bit one-sided? A cultivator’s battle should also take into account other things, like talismans, techniques, secret techniques, arrays, puppets, and more.”

Chu Kui shrugged his shoulders.

“That’s why I said, under normal circumstances.”

“The things you mentioned, high-grade talismans are hard to come by, techniques are easy to learn but hard to master, secret techniques are rare, and arrays need to be prepared in advance…”

Luo Chen raised his hand, “Okay, I understand what you mean.”

Chu Kui smiled. He had forgotten that Luo Chen had made a name for himself in the battle at the Qin Flower River, relying on his superb technique to forcefully triumph.

Upon further reflection, in the Eastern Wilderness Immortal World, there was indeed the Five Elements Divine Sect known for its technique.

What he said was indeed too simplistic.

“Let’s just say the influence of magic items on the strength of Foundation Establishment cultivators!”

“Those at the early stages, if they can master 10 or 20 percent, are considered to have some strength.”

“For a middle-stage cultivator like you, if you could refine it to 30 or 40 percent, a sudden strike could overpower an enemy of the same realm, with few capable of blocking it.”

Luo Chen nodded in agreement.

The power of magic items indeed greatly surpasses ordinary magical instruments.

It could even be said that they shouldn’t be weapons that Foundation Establishment cultivators at this level should master.

Take Wang Haichao, for example, who forcibly stimulated the Xuanhuo Sword and consequently destroyed his top-grade magic item, the Green Musk Aggregation Jiao Flag.

If it wasn’t for his Lan Ke Black and White Chess for temporary defense, being at the early stage of Foundation Establishment like him, he probably would have been severely injured.

But!

Chu Kui was underestimating him.

With his strong divine soul endowment, and the refining conducted through spirit consciousness restriction techniques, his mastery over the Xuanhuo Sword was very high.

After the refining of the Flame Dragon Nine Turns Array.

Now at the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, he had already refined the Xuanhuo Sword to about 60 percent.

In other words, he could unleash 60 percent of the power of this magic item!

It was for this reason that he was able to suddenly release a sword strike, instantly killing Fei Changqiu of the Divine Craft Clan.

According to Chu Kui’s theory,

If a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator can refine their magic item to 50 percent of its power, they are considered strong among their peers.

So what should we make of Luo Chen’s strength now?

“Tao Wen is strong because she has had a magic item passed down from Ancestor Nanshan since she was young, the Cloud Stream Sleeve!”

“In the Immortal Cultivation World, there are countless magical instruments and treasures named after the Cloud Stream Sleeve. But the one Tao Wen has is quite mighty, rumored to be personally crafted by an elder of Tian Fan City and is a worthy item to be refined as a natal magic item.”

“Tao Wen has been familiar with this treasure since she was young, and after Foundation Establishment, she worked even harder to refine it and can now use it to a miraculous extent!”

“In my opinion, she has already refined it to about 70 or even 80 percent!”

Chu Kui sighed repeatedly, his eyes not without admiration.

You must understand, for magic items, a Foundation Establishment True Cultivator at most can only bring out about 80 percent of their power.

Any higher would be limited by the barriers of their realm and would be unattainable.

“I once crossed hands with her on the Dao Debate Platform,”

“Although it was only a simple spar and didn’t involve a life-and-death struggle, her magic item had a very obvious restraining effect against my fierce and domineering Equal Heaven Stick.”

“Therefore, she’s ranked third and I’m ranked seventh, which I am very convinced by.”

Luo Chen exclaimed in surprise, “It’s rare to see you admire a peer cultivator like this! Even when you talked about Dan Taijun before, you didn’t show much respect.”

“What is there to respect about the women of the Ice Castle, capricious and volatile as they are.”

Chu Kui curled his lip.

It was only because he was far away from Tian Lan Immortal City that he would speak poorly of the female cultivators of the Ice Castle when not in public.

But back to the point!

“In my opinion, within the vast Qingdan Valley, not counting those older late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, among those of our generation, only Dan Yangzi can definitely press down on Tao Wen, with He Yuanqing and Fu Li being merely on par with her.”

Such high praise?

Curious, Luo Chen asked, “What about Shangguan Yan?”

“Pfft, that proud and self-important foolish woman, she can’t even make it into the top three of the Sky Pride List in her own sect’s Immortal City, how can she compare to Tao Wen?”

Is Shangguan Yan’s assessment this low?

Thinking of the hurried encounter at the Foreign Affairs Hall, Luo Chen pondered.

The way she tried to undermine Tao Wen’s competitiveness by trying to poach him,

It’s obvious that her own strength can’t be too impressive.

“So you think Tao Wen is very likely to win the Seed Cultivator Position?” Luo Chen said.

Chu Kui smiled.

“That’s hard to say.”

“How so?”

Chu Kui spoke eloquently, “The battle for the Seed Cultivator Position in Qingdan Valley doesn’t just look at personal strength, but overall ability. Things like financial resources, pill technique, and connections, etc.”

“From the rankings of the Great True Disciples before the True Disciple Sword Fight, you should be able to deduce this.”

Luo Chen mulled over these words.

In the end, he had to admit that it was indeed very similar to what Chu Kui had said.

Whether it was the first round of the competition for the Great True Disciple position or the second round’s Pill Refinement Competition, it all involved their overall strength.

Otherwise, just being able to fight might not be enough to secure a position among the Nine Great True Disciples.

Only the last round’s True Disciple Sword Fight was truly a test of individual strength.