Longevity starts with choosing Hextech enhancement

Chapter 461 Challengers Enter Cloud Pool Sea Territory
"Fellow Daoist Xiao, please think it over!"

Xiao Chen's straightforward plan completely surprised True Monarch Fu Bing.

He never expected that Xiao Chen would prepare to deal with the Yin Corpse Sect in such a simple and brutal way.

That's one of the few hegemonic forces in the entire Eastern Region.

To deal with such a behemoth, shouldn't we form alliances, devise strategies, and meticulously weave a large net to hunt it down?
What's with this "suddenly knocking on their door" thing?
That's not to say that such a method is completely unacceptable.

The problem is that the simpler the plan, the higher the requirements for the executor's hard skills.

If you want to wipe out the Yin Corpse Sect in a fair and square manner, you must have the strength to crush all the True Monarchs within its sect.

The problem is that, hundreds of years ago, Lord Yangjiu was already a top-tier Lord in the Eastern Region.

He had mastered a Heaven-rank cultivation technique to perfection, possessing not only a large amount of true essence but also extremely high quality of true essence.

He is also proficient in many heavenly-level spells, and after so many years, he must have already reached the pinnacle of his cultivation.

Throughout the entire Eastern Region, no one dared to claim they could absolutely crush Lord Yangjiu in terms of magic.

In other words, in the eyes of True Monarch Fubing, Xiao Chen's response plan did not even meet the basic conditions and had no chance of success.

He couldn't even pass the test of the Calamity Lord alone.

Not to mention, he also has three junior brothers who can help him.

"Fellow Daoist Xiao, there may be some things you don't know."

After carefully considering his words, True Monarch Fu Bing tried to be as tactful as possible: "Last month, the Heavenly Sound Sect sent an invitation to the other sects on behalf of the Yin Corpse Sect."

"The main purpose is to hold a discussion and exchange meeting, and incidentally celebrate True Monarch Youzhong's breakthrough to the late Nascent Soul stage."

"So the Yin Corpse Sect now has another late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator."

"That makes it even more difficult to deal with."

However, after he finished speaking, all that was heard was a faint "Oh," and then nothing more.

Xiao Chen's expression remained almost unchanged.

It was as calm as hearing something like, "There are ants moving house outside, it might rain soon."

The Yin Corpse Sect has gained another late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator!

Why aren't you responding?
When True Lord Fubing first received the invitation, he was so angry that he almost ground his back teeth to powder.

The matter of revenge seems to be becoming increasingly difficult and arduous.

However, Xiao Chen didn't care at all, as if Youzhong Zhenjun's breakthrough to the late Nascent Soul stage had nothing to do with him.

Fu Bingzhenjun muttered to himself.

Could it be that he didn't clearly explain the seriousness of the problem?
However, if he had expressed himself more bluntly, he might have been accused of boosting the morale of others while diminishing his own.

But if we just let it slide like this, won't Xiao Chen suffer the consequences?

For a moment, True Monarch Fubing was at a loss for words.

Fortunately, Xiao Chen roughly guessed his thoughts from the change in his expression: "Haha, fellow Daoist, don't worry too much."

"Since I chose to come back, I naturally have complete confidence."

"Slight changes are insignificant. Just rest assured and wait for my good news about eliminating demons and protecting the righteous path."

Upon hearing this, True Monarch Fu Bing was taken aback.

Complete certainty?
To exorcise demons and uphold justice?

But he soon realized—oh, I get it, there's a backup plan!

It's possible that there are other True Lords acting as ambushes in the shadows.

There are just some things that might not be convenient to say directly.

understand!

I completely understand!
Such an important strategic plan certainly cannot be revealed casually.

As the saying goes, things are accomplished in secrecy.

True Monarch Fubing immediately put aside his original worries, smiled knowingly, and let the matter drop.

He simply picked up his teacup and said, "Then I'll use tea instead of wine to wish Fellow Daoist Xiao a swift success!"

Xiao Chen smiled at him and raised his glass to drink with him.

After chatting for a while, he took the initiative to get up and say goodbye: "There are still some preparations to be made before heading to the Tianyin Sect."

"Fellow Daoist, there's no need to see me off. Let's part ways here, and meet again someday."

Upon hearing the word 'prepare,' True Lord Fubing became even more certain of his previous suspicions.

So he didn't linger, but said, "I had a very pleasant conversation with Fellow Daoist Xiao today. If I have time in the future, I will definitely come to visit again."

After leaving the Fubing Sect, Xiao Chen found a deserted island nearby to settle down.

All he needed to do was simply strike while the iron was hot and try to take the "Crimson Sky Mountain-Splitting Palm" to the next level.

However, before actually starting the cultivation...

Xiao Chen first took out three storage rings of different styles and focused on breaking the restrictions on them.

My main goal is to see if I can find more spiritual items that can help me cultivate fire magic.

If you have them, you can use them together.

Thanks to Xiao Chen's cultivation level, which has reached the mid-stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

The total time he spent deciphering the three storage rings was also reduced by an hour and a half.

He first used his divine sense to count all the spirit stones stored inside.

These three storage rings together provided a total of 4.28 million low-grade spirit stones and 20,820 mid-grade spirit stones.

Of course, spirit stones are not the main point.

As Nascent Soul True Monarchs, what they value most in their storage rings are the fourth-tier spiritual items they carry with them.

Unlike the sect's warehouse, which mainly stores items that have already been selected by the sect's True Monarchs.

Or perhaps some basic raw materials or spiritual items that are easy to preserve.

These three storage rings contain many different types of fourth-tier talismans and fourth-tier elixirs.

The former is mostly used to assist in combat, while the latter is diverse and varied.

There are pills that can increase the speed of true essence recovery, pills that can accelerate the condensation of true essence, and pills that can be used for different functions such as detoxification, healing, and harmonizing different types of true essence.

"Perhaps we can keep this bottle of Ze Ping Shun Qi Pills?"

Xiao Chen put the rest of the spirit pills in his storage ring for easy access and resale later.

He separately put away the bottle of Zeping Shunqi Pill, which could harmonize different types of true essence.

Although so far, he has never encountered the problem of alien true essence invasion, whether he is fighting against cultivators or great demons.

But we might need it in the future, so it's better to be prepared.

"As for these battle flags, I wonder if they're still of any use?"

Xiao Chen took out a total of twenty-three array flags of different sizes and styles from the three storage rings.

He could roughly recognize some of them; they should be large-scale formations used for protecting mountains.

The two sides of the Yin Corpse Sect are naturally useless now, since the mountain-protecting formation is gone.

However, the Tianyin Sect's formation should still be effective until the other side modifies it.

The situation is more complicated for the other part of the formation flags; perhaps only the parties involved know which formation they belong to.

"Never mind, just keep them all."

Xiao Chen thought for a moment and decided that in order to prevent the possibility of something like the Earth Dragon Ruins' Forbidden Flag being inside, it would be best not to deal with it easily.

Fortunately, these small flags don't take up much space.

All you need to do is empty one of the boxes that originally contained spirit stones, and then put all the spirit stones inside for later use.

"Now it's truly a treasured item."

Xiao Chen picked out the oldest-looking flag and placed it at the bottom of the box: "I hope there will be a day when we can take it out and use it again."

Next came mostly semi-finished spiritual materials, a few spiritual artifacts that seemed to be prepared for the younger generation, and miscellaneous items such as sect registers and ledgers.

Besides.

There are also a few relatively valuable items in the storage ring.

First, there is half a secret technique passed down from the Yin Sha Immortal Sect.

Next came two cultivation manuals, one about raising demonic insects and the other about assembling corpse puppets.

Then there was a beautiful ancient zither, entirely crafted from third-tier spiritual materials.

Finally, there are two Spirit-Nourishing Treasure Boxes.

"It appears to be an ancient original, but unfortunately the second half is missing."

Xiao Chen noticed from the beginning that the booklet recording the inheritance clearly showed signs of being torn, and it must have been damaged many years ago.

It is unknown whether an accident occurred during its transmission over hundreds of thousands of years.

It's still the old trick of the Demonic Cult to only give half, using it to control their subordinates.

In short, Xiao Chen only had the first half of the book, which recorded a demonic secret manual from the Yin Sha Immortal Sect that led directly to the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage.

However, it only contains the mental cultivation method; all the accompanying fourth-tier secret techniques are missing.

In other words, if future generations only cultivate this lineage, they can only refine their true essence and reach a certain realm, but they will not be able to master any spells.

"These people from the Yin Corpse Sect really haven't forgotten about the demonic path."

Xiao Chen noticed that True Monarch Mingcan had written down a lot of his thoughts and insights in the gaps between the lines.

It is clear that they are studying this demonic lineage and trying to complete it.

He also discovered that in the other two cultivation manuals, there were excerpts of cultivation techniques from the Yin Sha Immortal Sect.

They attempted to study and improve the original secret techniques of the Yin Corpse Sect through this method.

For example, in the book about raising demonic insects, the Nether Silkworm True Lord mentioned that the essence blood refined using the methods of the Yin Sha Immortal Sect improved the feeding effect by 10%.

To this end, he carefully studied the differences between the two, obtained a completely new improved version, and also formulated a testing plan.

They plan to secretly capture six more Golden Core cultivators of similar cultivation levels over the next three years, dividing them into pairs.

Then, their essence and blood were extracted and fed to a new batch of demonic insects in three different ways to compare the actual effects before and after the improvement.

The reason why True Lord Mingcan made things so complicated and spent so much effort is because...

It was because he had previously obtained a special magic egg in the ruins.

Thanks to the preservation of the surrounding restrictions, it has not been completely cut off from life.

As long as enough essence blood can be collected, it can be re-hatched.

The key point is that, after investigation by the True Lord of the Underworld Silkworm, it was discovered that it was actually the Soul-Devouring Fire Cockroach, ranked ninth among the Ten Ancient Demonic Insects.

Don't let its low ranking fool you into thinking it's not very impressive.

If that's really the case, then they don't deserve to be remembered for eternity.

In fact, nine out of the ten ancient demonic insects are fifth-order demonic insects!

Once it can be cultivated to maturity, even a Nascent Soul cultivator would have to be wary of it.

If used to deal with other Nascent Soul True Monarchs, it would be a piece of cake.

Of course, cultivating such a powerful demonic insect is also very difficult.

Simply feeding and caring for them is not the key point; the more crucial aspects lie in two areas.

The first is the breeding time, specifically the process from larvae to maturity.

This is also the main research direction of the Nether Silkworm True Lord, in order to shorten the cultivation time as much as possible, even if it takes more resources.

The second is the loyalty of the demonic insects.

Compared to ordinary spirit beasts, these dangerous demonic insects may not be loyal to their owners, after all, they have the word "demon" in their name.

If not handled properly, it could potentially devour its master once it matures. That would be equivalent to raising a fifth-tier enemy for yourself.

Therefore, True Lord Mingcan also tried to find some reference material from the inheritance of ancient demonic sects such as Yinsha Immortal Sect.

"Soul-Devouring Fire Cockroach, a fifth-order demonic insect."

Xiao Chen's gaze narrowed slightly: "Logically speaking, this should be a good thing."

And if he wasn't mistaken, the demon egg should be stored in one of the spirit-gathering treasure boxes.

I randomly selected one to open, and sure enough, I saw an antique-looking long-mouthed jade bottle inside.

There were also flashing restrictions on the jade bottle, maintaining the vitality of the demon egg inside.

"Hiss~, no wonder it's one of the Ten Great Wonders!"

Xiao Chen glanced inside the bottle and immediately sensed the fifth-order aura remaining on the surface of the demon egg, which came from the demonic insect that laid the egg.

Thanks to the protection of the seal on the jade bottle, this aura has not dissipated even after so many years.

At the same time, the presence of the aura also strongly proves that this demon egg is genuine and not a fake.

"But should I try to cultivate this?"

However, Xiao Chen hesitated: "I've never learned how long it takes to raise insects before."

Although he had read many ancient books, he had never come into contact with a sect that focused on beast taming.

Not to mention insect control, which is a major branch that is almost independent of beast control.

Naturally, they knew almost nothing about the less common magical insects among insect-controlling creatures.

"If the training period is relatively short, then we can consider it."

Xiao Chen thought for a moment: "But if it takes a long time, then it's definitely not worth it."

Now that he has the "Spirit Devouring and Essence Consolidation Technique" to accelerate the condensation of true essence, it can be said that he has greatly saved cultivation time.

If it was originally thought that it might take ten years to achieve the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage...

Now, as long as there are enough spirit stones, it should take about a year or two.

Even though breaking through major bottlenecks is not an easy task, the new cultivation world offers additional opportunities, which may not necessarily keep him trapped for long.

"Hmm, let's keep this demon egg for now and look up some information about it when we have the chance."

Xiao Chen put the jade bottle back into the Spirit-Nourishing Treasure Box: "We'll decide whether to raise it or not once we have a clear idea of ​​the exact timeframe."

"But information on this is probably not easy to find."

"It seems that there aren't many major powers in the Eastern Region that follow the path of beast taming."

"Hey, that's right!"

Xiao Chen had a sudden inspiration: "It seems that the Golden Cloud Sect is a major sect of beast taming."

"And they are right next to Jingkonghai."

"After dealing with the three major families, I can conveniently go to the Golden Glow Sect to borrow some books from their library."

"Well, it's decided!"

Xiao Chen secretly kept this in mind, and then continued to look at the ancient zither.

Then I put it into my miscellaneous items ring.

After all, he doesn't practice music, so he has no use for such things.

Finally, there is a Spirit-Nourishing Treasure Box.

"Hoo~!"

Even though there was only one box left, Xiao Chen still placed his hand on the lid and took a deep breath, maintaining a certain sense of ritual.

Then he softly shouted, "Open!"

Inside the treasure box lay a round jade disc, about a foot in diameter.

"Huh? What is this?"

Xiao Chen was unable to sense any spiritual power from the jade disc.

Curious, he picked it up and examined it: "It seems to contain a hint of the principles of music?"

"No, it seems like there's more than just a trace?"

When he tried to probe into it with his divine sense, although he could not sense it clearly, he could vaguely perceive that it seemed to contain countless musical pieces.

"It looks like a special fourth-tier artifact?"

Xiao Chen wasn't quite sure what the item's purpose was: "But since it contains the essence of the Great Dao, it must be a treasure from the Tianyin Sect."

It just so happens that he obtained this item from the storage ring of True Monarch Zhiqin.

Those must be the spiritual objects they collected for enlightenment.

"What a pity, it's not a fire-type spiritual object."

Xiao Chen was slightly disappointed, it seemed he could only rely on the spiritual objects he already possessed for cultivation.

Fortunately, he had also collected quite a few fire-elemental Dao-enhancing crystals and fire-elemental spiritual items beforehand.

Having already experienced the benefits of Yundao Crystal.

Xiao Chen simply took the Purple Gold Bodhi Fruit right away, and then absorbed two pieces of Fire-type Dao-nurturing Crystals.

This is to enhance one's understanding of the Way of Fire.

Then he took out fire-type spiritual items such as Azure Phoenix Burning Feather Ash to help him upgrade the Crimson Sky Mountain-Severing Palm to the Great Perfection level.

But five days and five nights have passed.

Two batches of Azure Phoenix Feather Ashes have been used up.

Xiao Chen still felt that he was still a little short and couldn't master the final palm technique.

After thinking for a moment, he absorbed another piece of fire-elemental Dao-nurturing crystal.

But I still feel like I can't take that last step.

"That's strange, why is my control always just a little bit off?"

Xiao Chen pondered for a moment: "Could it be because I didn't use enough spiritual items?"

"That shouldn't be the case. Six fourth-tier fire-type spiritual items have been used in just six days. This level of consumption can only be described as extravagant."

To be honest, most Nascent Soul True Monarchs probably don't have his qualifications.

"Since it's not a matter of quantity, then it must be a matter of quality."

Xiao Chen immediately concluded: "It must be because the fire-type spiritual item I used wasn't good enough, and its helpful effect wasn't strong enough!"

Imagine there is an elixir of immortality that can instantly transform a mortal into an immortal.

Will he still have the same troubles he has now?
Definitely not!

So the problem lies in the fact that the spiritual objects he already has are not good enough!

Of course, there's no hope of finding an elixir of immortality.

However, Xiao Chen happened to have a life pearl left behind after the Golden Phoenix burned out.

He immediately took out the life pearl and used his true essence to activate the fire elemental power contained within it.

As expected, the effect was far superior to that of ordinary fourth-tier fire-type spiritual items.

It only consumed about half of the power, yet it successfully helped Xiao Chen fully master the fifth move of the Crimson Sky Mountain-Splitting Palm – the Sky-Shattering Mountain-Melting Palm.

He elevated this spell to its highest level.

"I knew it, the problem really was with the spirit object."

Feeling the unprecedented power in his palm, Xiao Chen couldn't help but reveal a satisfied smile.

He had mastered the magic and all matters had been resolved.

He didn't waste any more time, got up, opened the latest sea chart given to him by True Monarch Fubing, and determined the direction.

Then they headed straight for the location of the Tianyin Sect.

During the few days that Xiao Chen practiced the Crimson Sky Mountain-Severing Palm.

The True Lords of the other forces in the Inner Sea have already arrived.

They were all there to attend the upcoming philosophical exchange meeting.

In reality, they each had their own agendas, coming to observe the Yin Corpse Sect's reaction and to understand the situation in the Sea of ​​No Light.

In order to obtain the most authentic, detailed, and useful information.

The major powers also used their own methods and almost every channel to gather information about Xiao Chen.

Through their efforts, they actually obtained a very crucial piece of intelligence.

That is, the island where the Dai family lived was attacked by Xiao Chen.

The island's fourth-tier defensive array and guardian spirit beasts combined couldn't withstand more than two moves before being crushed.

Then, as if heavenly fire had descended, the entire island was engulfed in a vast sea of ​​flames.

Even though Xiao Chen had left, the remaining flames continued to burn for three days and three nights.

During this time, a rogue cultivator at the Golden Core stage tried to scout the island, but his spirit shield, used for probing, melted into a pool of molten iron the moment it touched the remaining flames.

The frightened onlookers all abandoned their plans to land on the island ahead of schedule.

When the news reached them, it naturally surprised all the True Lords present.

"I originally thought it would be Fellow Daoist Fu Bing who would step forward."

The Azure Sky True Lord of the Five Thunder Temple was clearly somewhat surprised: "Judging from this, the strength of that Heavenly Star Demon Lord must also be quite extraordinary!"

Lieque Zhenjun of the Divine Sword Pavilion also sighed, "Indeed, the residual power of magic alone can melt spiritual artifacts."

"Even though it's only a third-tier spirit shield, that's enough to demonstrate its terrifying power!"

The Venerable Hengyi Zhenjun from the Ten Thousand Immortals Alliance also noticed something: "According to the nearby rogue cultivators, that was an area-of-effect spell, yet it already had such power."

"If it were a single-target spell, its power would be several times greater."

Regarding this point, Huo Xinghuai added: "There were rumors in the early years that he was following the path of enlightenment."

"Now it seems that it's pretty much a 100% accurate prediction."

Upon hearing this, another elder of the Myriad Immortals Alliance, the Wrathful Wave True Monarch who had been in seclusion for a long time, suddenly realized: "So that's how it is! No wonder he has such attainments in magic!"

"I was wondering about that just a couple of days ago."

"Why did he dare to spread the word and claim that he would come to fight the other fellow Daoists of the Yin Corpse Sect?"

"Now it seems that in a one-on-one fight, I might actually have a fighting chance."

Gao Changgeng of the Star-Picking Sword Pavilion disagreed: "I think that Heavenly Star Demon Lord is just an overconfident fool."

Upon hearing this, Mu Yayang, who was standing behind him, quickly and quietly tugged at his sleeve.

Remind him that today's occasion is different from usual, and he should be mindful of the impact of his words.

Gao Changgeng immediately explained, "As everyone knows, Fellow Daoist Yangjiu achieved the Great Perfection of the Nascent Soul stage two hundred years ago."

"Whether in terms of realm or magic, he has reached the pinnacle and is rarely matched."

"Look at that Heavenly Star Demon Lord, he has only broken through to the Nascent Soul stage for less than six years."

"In my opinion, he needs to go back and train for a while before he has a chance of winning."

"At best, he's an overconfident challenger."

As everyone was talking, a disciple suddenly came to report.

Two days ago, someone saw Xiao Chen enter the Flying Crossing Sea.

Xuanren Zhenjun, also from the Zhaixing Sword Pavilion, chuckled and said, "If we estimate based on this speed..."

"At the latest, we will hear from our disciples again by tomorrow night."

"Challengers enter the territory of Yunchi Sea."

(End of this chapter)