Immortality begins with Becoming an Alchemy Grandmaster

Chapter 1692: Chapter 622: Apprehension in the Heart, The True Intent of a Forked Path

Inside the Star Dou Hall, a white-robed Daoist sat cross-legged in meditation.

Silent and motionless, as if he were immersed in eternal stillness.

After an extended silence, he suddenly exhaled a breath of turbid Qi.

This protracted rhythm of breathing would undoubtedly have made others uncomfortable, yet it exuded a profound cadence on this Daoist, reminiscent of the ancient Xuanturtle absorbing Heaven and Earth Qi.

Suddenly.

The Daoist slowly opened his eyes.

Feeling his current state, he revealed a relieved smile.

”Indeed, prolonged focus on artifact refining greatly impacts cultivation. Thankfully, my foundation is stable enough to recover.”

To refine the Demon Emperor’s Metamorphosis, Luo Chen had spent an entire year.

Just before that, he had barely broken through to the sixth layer of the Golden Core stage.

What should have been a chance to capitalize on his newfound advancement turned into prolonged artifact refining, which severely drained his spirit and physique.

Moreover, indiscriminately consuming top-grade True Flame Pills as restorative pills left a significant amount of fire toxins accumulated within his Sea of Qi.

This had gone unnoticed while he was immersed in refining.

It was only after nurturing the artifact and returning to his regular cultivation rhythm that Luo Chen realized the anomaly.

His newly attained sixth-layer Golden Core realm was on the verge of regression.

In response, Luo Chen first employed the Slaying Dragon Technique to expel the fire toxins from his body, consumed various supplements, and rested for about a month before restoring his body to normal condition.

Afterward, he restrained himself and practiced cultivation for two months, finally stabilizing his realm.

At this moment, the words [Golden Core Sixth Layer 1/100] quietly displayed on his attribute panel brought Luo Chen a sense of immense security.

”The artifact is already forged; what’s left is nurturing it and engraving arrays. My schedule has suddenly opened up.”

”Three months of recuperation have restored my essence, Qi, and spirit to their peak, but I cannot afford further complacency.”

Gazing at the attribute panel, Luo Chen began to plan his next steps.

The time spent awaiting the completion of the artifact could not be wasted; he had to find something to occupy himself.

The first priority, undoubtedly, was cultivation.

Luo Chen divided his regular cultivation into two parts.

Qi Refinement and Body Refinement.

In terms of combat power, Body Refinement took precedence, but for pursuing the Path of Longevity, Qi Refinement cultivation was equally indispensable.

Luo Chen, using his previous cultivation speed as a benchmark, made a rough estimate.

With the ”Phoenix Nirvana Sutra” as his natal Qi cultivation technique, a large supply of Ascendant-grade True Flame Pills for support, and the optimal environment of Star Dou Hall’s third-order top-grade Spirit Land, his training efficiency was on par with that of a Heavenly Spirit Root cultivator.

Finally, Luo Chen arrived at an approximate timeline.

”Ten years!”

”If undisturbed by external matters, secluding myself within Penghu Star Dou Hall would allow me to reach the seventh layer of the Golden Core stage in just ten years, achieving the level of a genuine Great Cultivator!”

Previously, advancing from the fifth to the sixth layer of the Golden Core stage had been projected to take six to seven years.

Yet it ended up taking nine years in total.

The extra two to three years were due, firstly, to taking on sentinel tasks at the Quyang Defensive Line, where the Spirit Qi environment of the cave mansion was merely third-order lower grade, significantly slowing his cultivation.

Additionally, he had devoted some effort to improving ”Myriad Paths Confluence,” repeatedly adjusting his Body Refinement methods, which had also impacted his body.

Ultimately, these factors resulted in a three-year delay before breaking through to the sixth layer.

Magic and Body Double Cultivation proves to be such a challenging path.

Immortal cultivators often disregard the physique, yet the physique undeniably affects cultivation efficiency.

Cultivating both simultaneously inevitably leads to conflicts. Even with Luo Chen’s attribute panel assistance, he still had to pay a significant price.

Fortunately, the adjustments to ”Myriad Paths Confluence” had already succeeded, so it should no longer hinder his normal cultivation.

At present, he possessed combat power comparable to a Great Cultivator. After ten years, he would solidify that level genuinely, and his combat prowess would grow even more terrifying.

If the artifact’s arrays were engraved successfully, granting him a defensive magic item forged from the Demon Emperor’s Metamorphosis.

By then, Luo Chen might proudly declare: ”Unless a Nascent Soul appears, who can stand against me!”

Of course, such aspirations remain confined to speculation for now.

For the moment, the path must be taken step by step.

After Qi Refinement comes Body Refinement.

[Ancient Desolation Third Order 81/100]

Gazing at the attribute panel, Luo Chen calculated the remaining amount of Black Emperor Ointment.

”It should be enough to reach the perfection of the third-order Body Refinement, right?”

He was uncertain.

This invented path of Body Refinement had started smoothly. Later, he substituted fire for lightning to accelerate the process and recently combined internal and external refinement through pseudo-toolcasting, yielding flawless results.

At least, flawless within the scope of Luo Chen’s current vision and understanding.

Yet overall, the path still carried a rough and uncultured nature. Even the System’s classification did not provide layered distinctions like the Golden Core stage; instead, it merely categorized the process by the broad boundary of Ancient Desolation Third Order.

This lack of finer layers made it challenging for Luo Chen to gauge overall progress clearly.

Moreover, as with any Great Dao cultivation, progress becomes exponentially harder as one advances.

Between the progress bar’s current state of eighty-one and the perfection mark at one hundred, Luo Chen had no firm idea how much resource consumption would be required.

”For now, I’ll take it one step at a time!”

This path lacked precedent or clear guidelines, leaving Luo Chen no choice but to navigate it by trial and error.

After Qi Refinement and Body Refinement, Luo Chen turned his attention to the Arrays section.

Fourth-order Formation: Yin Yang Liu Jia Array

This was a composite formation, with the third-order Two Forms Array as its core, supplemented by six third-order defensive arrays.

The six third-order defensive arrays had all been cultivated to Grandmaster Level, and he had crafted six suits of Mysterious Armor as their respective cores.