Immortality begins with Becoming an Alchemy Grandmaster

Chapter 1736: Chapter 637: Sitting by the Abyss, Luo Chen Lost in Thought_3

Luo Chen listened to him and showed a look of confusion.

”Ten years, is it enough?”

Sang Jiugong smiled slightly, ”Naturally, it is not enough. To ripen these Third Order Purple Monkey Flowers and allow them to save a millennium of strength, it is not so easy. Rest assured, I have some auxiliary methods that can increase the soil fertility to the maximum, enough to extend it for decades!”

Luo Chen’s eyes lit up, ”Oh, then I will look forward to it!”

Sang Jiugong was not lying.

In the days that followed, he indeed performed many high-tier spirit plant master techniques that Luo Chen had only heard of in rumors.

He drew water from the Boundless Sea, merged Luo Chen’s million Spirit Stones, and then used an array to arrange a recurring Grand Cloud Rain Technique, with a downpour of Spiritual Rain every three months.

With a blazing fire, he burned the Purple Spirit Island, countless ancient trees turned to ash and were piled in the Sky Pit. This was the Fire Scorched Wilderness Technique, most effective for enhancing soil fertility.

Even the Black King was used as a laborer, diving into the deep sea to collect many shells for Sang Jiugong, which were then crushed into powder with demonic power and evenly scattered in the Sky Pit.

All sorts of diverse methods dazzled Luo Chen.

He also deeply realized that to master any skill at a profound level is not necessarily simpler than Pill Refinement or Tool Casting.

When the Sky Pit as the ”growth base” for the Purple Monkey Flowers was finally prepared, nearly half a year had passed.

By this time, Sang Jiugong began the formal transplantation of the Purple Monkey Flowers.

He wanted to transplant all the Purple Monkey Flowers from the entire Purple Spirit Island.

Using the strength of the entire tribe to nourish those hundred Third Order Purple Monkey Flowers, making them surpass the millennium of natural growth and advance to the Fourth Order level ahead of time.

Except at the beginning, when Luo Chen used Original Source True Fire to assist Sang Jiugong in the Fire Scorched Wilderness Technique, he did not intervene much thereafter.

The Black King became a laborer, at Sang Jiugong’s beck and call.

For a while, Luo Chen found himself with some free time.

Not entirely idle, he roamed around Purple Spirit Island, surveying the terrain and setting up appropriate protective arrays to prevent powerful Demon Beasts from intruding and damaging the growth of spirit medicines while he is away.

During this process, Luo Chen began to reflect on the deficiencies in his current combat techniques.

Though he excelled in techniques, those Lower Order Spells, when performed by him, still held considerable power.

But as his realm grew, Lower Order Spells inevitably had limitations, greatly reducing their threat to same-level cultivators and even higher realm enemies.

The Mountain Collapse and Fierce Sun Technique, once regarded as killer moves, even with constant optimization, no longer held a decisive lethal effect.

His signature move, Qingyang’s Great Handprint, remained usable, but its advantage of wide area became a flaw against high-order opponents, being wide but not concentrated enough in power.

Unless it’s similarly gigantic enemies, otherwise, when faced with agile Human Cultivators or powerful defense magic items, Qingyang’s Great Handprint has minimal effect.

In front of a cold pool exuding a chilling aura, traces of giant creatures crawling were evident, the former habitat of the Abyssal Crocodile.

Rather than a pool, it would be better described as an abyss.

Luo Chen planted an array flag, then gazed at the seemingly bottomless pool abyss, lost in thought.

”Third Order Techniques, for me, have actually become somewhat of a burden.”

This is not because Third Order Techniques are weak; with his diligent study and system simulation, perfected Third Order Techniques can still unleash formidable power.

This level of power is quite effective against early Golden Core, even middle-stage Golden Core opponents.

But obviously, such enemies no longer pose much threat to Luo Chen.

His hypothetical opponents now are late-stage Golden Core Great Cultivators, and possibly even Nascent Soul True Masters!

In his calculation, Fourth Order Techniques might become his new trump.

However, Fourth Order Techniques are rarely found on the market, and can only be mastered by Nascent Soul True Masters.

Currently, he only mastered two Fourth Order Techniques, namely the Slaying Dragon Technique and the Art of Origin Core.

But neither are offensive techniques, even though the Slaying Dragon Technique has evolved to sever Divine Souls, it is still limited to Luo Chen’s Sea of Consciousness and cannot be projected outward.

The Art of Origin Core, however, is extraordinary; the Origin Core refined by Luo Chen provides him with a ”second hidden energy source.”

He was able to withstand a whole night of stalemate against the Hundred Craft Mountain Master on Seven Star Island and then go on a killing spree on Purple Spirit Island, largely due to the Origin Core besides his Golden Core playing a significant role.

His current Qi Power is as robust as that of a late Golden Core cultivator!

The Hundred Craft Mountain Master should not have been so embarrassingly defeated in terms of the depth of Qi Power, but managing the Beidou Seven Peaks Formation while simultaneously controlling seven Medium Grade Magic Flying Swords to form a Sword Array, how could it last long?

In contrast, after Luo Chen deployed many techniques, the Xuan Chen Armor could absorb Earth Type free Spirit Qi and Earth Vein Qi.

Therefore, in the end, he was able to calmly surpass his opponent with energy to spare.

”But these are ultimately fundamentals and cannot directly display powerful lethality!”

Luo Chen frustratingly realized he had reached a bottleneck in what he was best at, the realm of Techniques.

Even with his profound accumulation allowing him to create Techniques, obviously, the level and might of those Techniques could not reach the Fourth Order level.

It’s not just Techniques, but also Magic Items!

He has an abundance of Magic Items like the Primordial Chaos Tripod, the Breaking Moon Wings, even the Treasure-dropping Copper Coin and the Flowing Flame Hammer, all of which are of excellent quality.

Additionally, there are those extraordinary Strange Gate Magical Treasures like the Lan Ke Black Chess and the Dragon Rearing Basin.

But ultimately, these Magic Items are more inclined towards assistance and defense.

The Flowing Flame Hammer does possess decent offensive power, but it’s too slow; when thrown to smash, it’s not as fast as him flying over with it to strike.

The Primordial Chaos Tripod, as his Natal Magic Item, carried exceptional potential and had miraculous effects in several areas.

Only in the aspect of attack, it’s slightly lacking.

Luo Chen had long expected this situation; comprehensive development means comprehensive mediocrity. The deep foundation of the Primordial Chaos Tripod certainly wouldn’t be mediocre, but at least in the short term, it cannot become a formidable weapon for breakthrough.

In fact, this kind of dilemma also appeared in most Golden Core Cultivators.

As life-bonded cultivation items, Golden Core Cultivators value the profoundness and comprehensiveness of Natal Magic Items, resulting in some lack in the aspect of attack.

Therefore, many Golden Core Cultivators, after their realm improves and they have surplus Qi Power, will try to obtain a second offensive Magic Item as best as they can.

For example, the Fishing Elder, Luo Chen doesn’t know what his Natal Magic Item is, but clearly, the set of combined Magic Items — Xuanjin Rod, Sound-Capturing Bell, and Heavenly Remnant Line — is deliberately refined to fill the gap in offense.

Also, like the Hundred Craft Mountain Master encountered not long ago, his Natal Magic Item is the exceedingly weighty Hundred Craft Mountain, but for attack, he opted for the immensely sharp and unmatched Qi Sha Swords suffused with Evil Qi.

Luo Chen previously also followed this path, with the Primordial Chaos Tripod as the Natal Magic Item focusing on comprehensiveness while the Xuan Chen Armor for defending the entire body.

He previously had the Xuanhuo Sword and later the Flowing Flame Hammer as attacking implements.

He used to think it was enough, and indeed it was enough, after all, he had many techniques and virtually no weaknesses, so whenever he encountered an enemy, he always had a way to counter.

However, after facing enemies at the Late Golden Core Stage, he found a considerable gap.

”I’m missing a purely offensive Magic Item!”

By the Cold Pool Abyss, Luo Chen sat cross-legged, finding a problem he previously overlooked.

Finally, through the reflection in the water, he saw his own strong physique.

”My physique is clearly incredibly powerful, far exceeding that of Third Order Demon Beasts, comparable to genuine Savage Beasts!”

”However, my usage of it is too crude, seemingly not realizing its true potential at all.”

In the battle on Seven Star Island, Luo Chen was suppressed from beginning to end, with only one opportunity to counterattack.

This situation resulted partly from the suppression of the Beidou Seven Peaks Formation by the Hundred Craft Mountain Master and partly from his own inadequate exploitation of his body.

He believed that if Wang Yuan, possessing such physique, faced that situation, even without numerous Techniques and powerful Magic Items, he wouldn’t have been so passively beaten.

An inexplicable memory emerged in his mind from when Wang Yuan evaluated the ”Sky Roc Transformation” Cultivation Technique — Class Demon Change, how could it compare to the True Body of our Human Clan.

”Is it that the Sky Roc True Body is not suitable for direct combat?”

Under circumstances where space was suppressed and speed limited, the Sky Roc True Body seemed indeed just a live target.

So, if compared with Wang Yuan’s Giant Spirit Transformation, what then?

One question after another, Luo Chen found them all one by one, like buckets of cold water poured over him.

Years of cultivation, constant progress, admired by all, praised by peers, the long complacent Luo Chen, amidst spring breeze and intoxicated with success, suddenly and clearly realized in front of the Cold Abyss Pool.

Observing now, he unexpectedly discovered that as he became increasingly stronger, his shortcomings and flaws also became more numerous.

”It shouldn’t be like this...”

The Daoist sat by the abyss, muttering to himself, his eyes seemingly lost in confusion.