Immortality begins with Becoming an Alchemy Grandmaster

”Middle Three Rings?”

Faced with Luo Chen’s sudden visit, the Purple Mist City Lord appeared slightly caught off guard, especially with the question posed.

She was more aware than anyone else what it meant.

The Purple Mist City Lord hesitated for a moment but couldn’t help advising, ”Brother Luo has only been in the Annihilation Nine Rings for merely ten years. Why not consolidate the first and second realms further? Why rush to a more dangerous place?”

Luo Chen smiled, still showing a persistent attitude.

The Purple Mist City Lord sighed and stopped advising, instead smoothly sharing her knowledge about the Middle Three Rings.

”Chaotic energy decreases in a spiral downward trend, its concentration lower the further down you go, and higher the further up. Correspondingly, the requirements for martial artists’ realms increase as well.”

”Thus, any martial artist able to set foot in the Middle Three Rings must at least be at the mid-stage of the Leakless Realm.”

”Otherwise, it’s hard to withstand the erosion of chaotic energy.”

”But!”

”Having the realm alone isn’t enough because the number of cultivation stones in the Middle Three Rings is extremely limited.”

”As far as I know, the Sixth Ring has no more than thirty-six cultivation stones. The Fifth Ring has only eighteen. Rumor has it that only late-stage Leakless Realm martial artists can access the Fourth Ring, where the number of cultivation stones has dwindled to single digits!”

...

As Luo Chen listened to the Purple Mist City Lord’s introduction, he recalled Fang Zhibai’s earlier reminder to him.

When verified against each other, they weren’t far off.

In other words, martial artists of the Sixth Ring are at least strong enough in the mid-stage of the Leakless Realm.

Moreover, due to the limited number of cultivation stones in the Fourth Ring, there may still be some late-stage Leakless Realm martial artists forced to remain in the Fifth and Sixth Rings.

Such a phenomenon is not strange.

After all, any cultivation system is like this; the further you go, the slower your cultivation speed becomes.

Instead, he was an anomaly!

Because of the Primordial Chaos Tripod, he could greatly enhance his cultivation efficiency.

An ordinary person might barely break through a minor realm in hundreds of years, while he only needed a few years to achieve it.

Of course, there’s a precondition!

The supply of energy from the outer world must keep up.

And this is the primary reason why Luo Chen frequently changed cultivation stones.

The Purple Mist City Lord’s introduction continued.

”The changing of ownership of cultivation stones follows those so-called unspoken rules, but there is some manipulation possible within. If you have familiar friends, they can initiate challenges themselves during the interstice. Both parties can put up a show of martial arts to bypass the rules.”

”I just lacked friends, which is why I ended up being forced into a challenge by Old Monster Qu ten years ago.”

”But martial artists in the Middle Three Rings won’t act like this. Apart from a few, most of them are old-generation martial artists who entered the Annihilation Nine Rings two hundred years, or even three or four hundred years ago. They’ve already mastered these unspoken rules, or you could say they created them. To avoid trouble, they’ve formed alliances, unified against external forces, and avoided internal consumption.”

”For instance, the Vulture Alliance is led by Du Gucheng, the head of the Dujiao Business Alliance. Within, there might be no less than double the number of martial artists visible on two hands.”

”Brother Luo, if you want to enter the Middle Three Rings, it’s best not to offend the Vulture Alliance; otherwise, trouble will come one after another.”

Luo Chen’s mind flashed back to the elderly man he had briefly met during a trade meeting.

Du Gucheng?

He formed a power base within the Annihilation Nine Rings.

So it seems the martial artists here aren’t solely focused on cultivation.

Thinking of this, Luo Chen suddenly became curious about something.

”Cultivating within the Annihilation Nine Rings is undoubtedly dangerous. Minor injuries lead to severe wounds, exacerbating the struggle over centuries to find spirit medicine. Severe injuries can lead to immediate demise, vanishing without a trace. If a Dao Seeker has a firm will, so be it—just a bitter cultivation session. But people are varied, there must be those with wavering will, or those who see their own potential. Why don’t they leave the Annihilation Nine Rings and return to enjoy life in their original cities?”

Faced with this question, the Purple Mist City Lord looked rather surprised.

”Brother Luo, do you believe the Wuyou Order is that easy to accept?”

Luo Chen suddenly understood, blurting out four words, ”Master of Wuyou Realm?”

The Purple Mist City Lord gently nodded, her tone becoming much softer.

”Every hundred years, the envoys representing the Master of Wuyou Realm tour the Seventy-two Cities, issuing the Wuyou Order to every martial artist who breaks into the Leakless Realm. Order bearers must, when the century is completed, go to Wuyou City and ultimately enter the Annihilation Nine Rings to cultivate.”

”Unless they are inherently unsuitable for this environment and fail and return, they cannot easily leave the Annihilation Nine Rings. However, such people wouldn’t live long after going back anyway.”

”There were violators before, but the end often was their eradication.”

”Over time, no one dares to ignore this forbidden commandment anymore.”

This explanation made sense.

It even clarified why Fang Zhibai previously told him to reduce exploitation of other large cities.

The Master of Wuyou Realm earnestly seeks fellow Daoists with whom to explore leaving the Returning Ruins.

For this purpose, nearly draconian restrictions are placed on martial artists of the Great Destruction Realm.

High-level martial artists cannot affect the growth of low-level martial artists, and resource requests must be controlled within certain limits.

And once low-level martial artists grow, they must enter the Annihilation Nine Rings to cultivate, striving to reach higher realms and become fellow Daoists of the Master of Wuyou Realm.

Anyone who disobeys might face direct annihilation by a Martial Arts Human Immortal level existence.

Thinking about this, Xiang Fei seems to have found a loophole.

She should have returned to await death, but due to encountering Luo Chen, she healed from her injuries and could thus avoid the harsh cultivation environment.