Chapter 52: Devoted Cultivation

Chapter 52: Quiet Cultivation

In the cultivation world, flames and spirit plants are also ranked, from highest to lowest: Supreme, Precious, Extraordinary, Rare, Advanced, Intermediate, and Common.

The higher the grade of the herb, the more powerful the flame you need.

Shen Lian had harvested an advanced-grade spirit plant that day and tried to refine it with his flame. He thought it wouldn't work, but the process went surprisingly smoothly.

The success rate for forming pills reached nearly eighty percent.

That was all he needed—a good alchemy furnace.

Shen Lian pored over the alchemy manual repeatedly, studying it day and night.

At first, he could only follow the pill formulas exactly.

Later, as he became more familiar with the process, Shen Lian began to experiment and develop his own pill recipes.

Shen Lian thought it would be difficult, but unexpectedly, the moment his hands touched those spirit plants, it was as if they came to life.

Shen Lian crouched down and gently picked one.

With just a touch, Shen Lian felt as though he had become one with the spirit plant.

He could see how the plant grew.

How it absorbed every trace of spiritual energy, how it flowered and bore fruit.

Chen Xue was stunned after hearing this.

"Master, I've never heard of anyone like you. The last Alchemy Cultivator to ascend was only naturally gifted at controlling the heat."

"That person used pills alone to send himself straight to the realm of ascension."

"He basically walked all over the cultivation world, because everyone needed his pills. Even those with higher cultivation than him had to show him respect."

Shen Lian broke into a delighted smile.

"Ascension, huh."

It was only through years of traveling between the two worlds that Shen Lian gradually learned more about the world.

Apparently, when one reached the peak of cultivation in this world, they could ascend. No one knew what lay beyond ascension.

But Shen Lian was now closing in on his goal.

He lowered his head, staring at the pill in his palm, his nerves on edge.

In the past, he would refine more than a dozen pills at once.

This time, he only refined one.

This pill shimmered with iridescent colors on its surface.

This was the Qinghe Pill.

As long as he took this pill, Shen Lian could successfully break through from the Void Insight stage to the Spirit Transformation stage.

Three years passed in the blink of an eye. Shen Lian had cultivated the demon clan's core technique, but at the same time, he hadn't given up cultivating his spiritual power.

Shen Lian's eyes flickered.

But dual cultivation meant he had to expend more energy than others, but this actually made his foundation more stable than most.

However, there was one problem: spiritual power and demonic energy were always at odds within his body.

At first, Shen Lian could suppress it, but when he broke through to the Spirit Transformation stage, the clash grew increasingly fierce. By the time he reached the Tribulation Transcendence realm, he would be consumed by demonic energy and lose his mind.

And none of this had been told to him by the demon. If Shen Lian hadn't found out on his own, he would have fallen into the same trap again. No wonder the demon had told him to come back before reaching Spirit Transformation.

If he had stayed any longer, he would have been exposed.

Fortunately, Shen Lian had traveled throughout the demon clan's outer territories and finally found a way to suppress it: a Supreme-grade spirit plant called the Taixu Yin-Yang Grass, which helped balance and stabilize.

But despite Shen Lian's careful refinement, the pill in his hand still shattered at the very last moment.

Shen Lian felt a twinge of regret. The Taixu Yin-Yang Grass was hard to find—it had taken him two years to find just three plants.

Chen Xue said, "It looks like we still need a good alchemy furnace."

Shen Lian nodded in agreement. It wasn't a problem with his flame; it was just that the Taixu Yin-Yang Grass was too fragile and required a balance of yin and yang.

He would need a water-type Supreme-grade alchemy furnace to refine it.

He put out the flame in his palm. Unfortunately, over all these years, Shen Lian had found no records about this flame either.

"A dark blue flame? An Eight-Winged Demon Dragon? Never heard of it, never heard of it."

A drunk demon waved his hand dismissively. "I've been all over the demon realm for years and never seen anything like it."

Shen Lian had to give up for now. Besides, he was already at the Void Insight stage, only one step away from Spirit Transformation.

Just as Shen Lian was about to get up, his vision went dark for a moment.

He had used up all his spiritual power on alchemy, and his body couldn't recover right away.

Shen Lian grabbed a pillar to catch his breath.

And at that very moment, a cool sensation slowly seeped from his heart, flowing through his mind and carrying away the stabbing pain.

Shen Lian's mind cleared, completely unaware of what was happening around his heart.

He gathered his things. A water-type Supreme-grade alchemy furnace was extremely rare—where was he supposed to find one?

Supreme-grade items generally only existed in the top sects.

Although alchemy had declined, the great sects still kept some alchemy furnaces.

Shen Lian traded a bottle of Intermediate-grade Qi-restoring Pills for some information.

The Zichen Sect, which was nearby, was currently recruiting disciples. As the eighth-ranked sect in the entire cultivation world, the Zichen Sect naturally had alchemy furnaces.

Shen Lian packed his things, getting ready to join the Zichen Sect's recruitment.

Before setting out, Shen Lian also traded a bunch of pills at the weapon pavilion for various treasures and money.

Teleportation scrolls, magical treasures—he stocked up on everything.

Although he was an alchemy cultivator, he never neglected training his body.

He didn't want to be stuck standing in one spot tossing pills, or relying on others for protection.

Still, these things were essential.

After cramming his storage ring full, Shen Lian took one last look at the forest cabin he'd lived in for so long, then turned and left.

Little did he know, the moment he was gone, someone from the Weapon Pavilion showed up.

They cut straight to the chase: "Did someone exchange pills here?"

The Pavilion Master's smile vanished instantly. "You here to start something?"

After all, Alchemy Cultivators were rare, and pills were hard to come by—no one would willingly give up stuff like that.

He'd been hoping to sell them at a high price.

But the second he finished talking, his soul got crushed, and he died with his eyes wide open, not believing what happened.

The men in black then walked in, easily breaking the restrictions, and found the pills Shen Lian had left behind.

They traced their fingers over the pills and looked at each other.

"These are the exact same as the ones going around in the demon realm—same maker."

"Who's got the chops to sell in both realms?"

"We've gotta find this person."

Shen Lian was already on the Immortal Boat, leaving the human and demon realms behind.

As he traveled, he watched the cities below go from run-down and barren to more and more prosperous.

That told him he was getting closer to the very center of the Taichu Realm.

He overheard people talking nearby.

"I heard that prodigy from the Tianheng Sect is just about at the third stage of the Void Immortal realm!"

Shen Lian's fingers paused for a moment, then went back to what they were doing.

The Tianheng Sect was the top sect in the Taichu Realm—not that tiny branch sect where Shen Lian had taken his test before. That was just some remote outpost.

This was the main Tianheng Sect.

"Yeah, yeah, but have you heard what happened with that genius?"

"What about it?"

"Three years ago, that genius almost got taken down by demons. The Sect Master saved him, but he was seriously hurt. And wouldn't you know it, he was right at the Tribulation Transcendence stage. With his wounds still not healed, the thunder tribulation hit him."

"Ninety-nine strikes total, almost blasting his soul to pieces. When the last bolt came down, he just disappeared."