Chapter 252 – Fourth-Realm Dao Artifact: Royal Dragon Sword, Using Fortune as Ink…

Within the Academy, after Lu Chen used the Mystic Pill Furnace to restrain Zhao Zhongming, he began his experiment.

In the Dungeon: Cauldron-Carrying Warrior, Lu Chen had already elevated his mastery of the Creation Pill Art to an extremely high level.

After numerous experiments, he had nearly grasped the essence of the Creation Pill Art.

The key of the so-called Creation Pill Art lies not in the “Pill Art,” but in the “Creation.”

Creation—transformation and evolution.

Fundamentally, it involves fusing a collection of old elements to evolve into something new.

Thus, the Creation Pill Art is a technique, not a method.

Yet even as a technique, the difference between an Immortal’s technique and a Mortal’s technique is vast.

Ordinary people cannot even extract the essence of the Dao.

They are incapable of merely coming into contact with the Dao’s resonance.

The most remarkable aspect of the Creation Pill Art is that it approaches the level of the “Dao” through the form of a “technique.”

In this way, even those with insufficient Realm can still employ this technique.

What Lu Chen was doing to Zhao Zhongming was precisely this.

However, unlike his previous experiences in the Dungeon: Cauldron-Carrying Warrior,

Lu Chen now sought to extract not only the Dao within Zhao Zhongming but also his inherent “spirituality.”

As the saying goes, humans are the foremost among all beings.

The greatest distinction between humans and other creatures lies in this “spirituality.”

The reason Zhao Zhongming could not leave the True Immortal Trial was that his spirituality depended on the Immortal’s dream.

Therefore, if he wished to depart from the True Immortal Trial, he had to anchor his “spirituality” to a tangible object.

This was clearly no simple task.

But despite the difficulty, Lu Chen was determined to attempt it.

This had nothing to do with Zhao Zhongming; it was purely Lu Chen’s desire to see how far the Creation Pill Art, as a “technique,” could reach.

As Lu Chen began the refinement process, Zhao Zhongming’s Physical Body gradually grew illusory, like a bubble on water, seeming as though it might vanish at any moment.

Yet within this translucent body, a peculiar golden Gu Insect stood out distinctly.

Its appearance resembled a long worm, but upon closer inspection, it bore a striking resemblance to a Dragon—or rather, it was a Golden Dragon shrunk countless times in size.

Lu Chen controlled the flames within the Alchemy Furnace, purifying Zhao Zhongming’s cultivation while severing the connection between this Golden Dragon Gu Insect and the Spiritual Power.

Whether due to Lu Chen’s exceptional skill or Zhao Zhongming’s own lack of resistance,

the refinement process proceeded without the slightest opposition.

Its smoothness even surpassed that of his earlier attempts in the dungeon.

And this was only the first step.

After roughly the time it takes an incense stick to burn, three substances remained within the Mystic Pill Furnace.

The first was Zhao Zhongming’s original cultivation at the Third Realm Perfection.

This cultivation had been refined, leaving less than one-tenth of the original.

Even so, it was sufficient to elevate an untrained individual to the Golden Core Stage overnight—

provided their Realm was adequate.

The second was the Luck power within Zhao Zhongming.

Zhao Zhongming’s previous ability to borrow Dynastic Luck relied on this cluster of Luck power.

In Lu Chen’s own understanding, this Luck was equivalent to Zhao Zhongming’s inherent destiny.The final cluster contained Zhao Zhongming’s ‘spiritual essence’ and ‘Immortal imprint.’

And this last cluster was the most troublesome of all.

Because Lu Chen wasn’t certain he could separate Zhao Zhongming’s spiritual essence from the Immortal imprint.

But some things could only be known by trying.

Soon enough, Lu Chen began the process of refining the ‘spiritual essence.’

This process was less like alchemy and more like performing delicate surgery.

Carefully severing the connection between the spiritual essence and the Immortal imprint.

A single misstep in this process,

and Zhao Zhongming’s spiritual essence would be completely destroyed.

Another term for the destruction of spiritual essence was Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.

This was Lu Chen’s first time being in such close contact with spiritual essence, so he proceeded with extreme caution.

After all, once he reached the Golden Core Stage, he would also begin cultivation related to spiritual essence.

The Nascent Soul Stage, the Nascent Soul Stage—transforming the core into an infant.

To condense a Nascent Soul, one must awaken their true self.

And the so-called true self is the cultivator’s own ‘spiritual essence.’

Therefore, starting from the Golden Core Stage, what cultivators enhance is no longer just simple cultivation base.

Rather, through cultivation methods, they continuously elevate their own spiritual essence to reach the stage of awakening their true self.

This was also why many cultivators, upon reaching the Golden Core Stage, would choose to train in the Mortal World.

The purpose was to use ‘tempering the heart in the Mortal World’ as a method to continuously improve their ‘spiritual essence.’

This was likewise the reason why cultivators placed increasing emphasis on heart-nature cultivation as they progressed further.

Upon reaching the Golden Core Stage, having cultivation aptitude alone was no longer sufficient—one also needed adequate mental fortitude.

Lu Chen believed his mental fortitude far surpassed that of ordinary cultivators.

After all, ordinary cultivators rarely encountered life-and-death crises more than a few times in their entire lives.

But in just one instance, he had experienced hundreds of such near-death situations.

It was equivalent to undergoing hundreds of mental fortitude trainings.

Such tempered heart-nature was naturally incomparable to that of ordinary people.

Thus, Lu Chen had a feeling that once he reached the Golden Core Stage, his cultivation speed wouldn’t slow down but would instead become even faster.

Everything he was doing now was merely practicing in advance for his future ‘spiritual essence’ tempering.

After all, tempering one’s own spiritual essence was dangerous, but tempering someone else’s spiritual essence was safe.

Better the Fellow Daoist die than the poor Daoist. Though Lu Chen wasn’t exactly evil, he wasn’t particularly virtuous either.

So doing such things didn’t burden him psychologically.

Moreover, in a way, he was also helping Zhao Zhongming.

Judge by actions, not intentions. Regardless of Lu Chen’s motives, he was indeed doing a ‘good deed’ at the moment.

It’s just that such good deeds appeared somewhat frightening in the eyes of others.

In the Academy Inner Courtyard, watching Lu Chen—who hadn’t been satisfied with just killing Zhao Zhongming but was now recycling him by refining him into a pill—a Direct Lineage Disciple from another sect couldn’t help but ask, “Tell me, is this really acceptable in your Azure Cloud Sect?”

Meow King glanced at Lu Chen, then turned back with a serious expression and replied, “Danyang Peak Lord focuses on alchemy. Junior Brother Lu is merely practicing alchemy right now—what could possibly be wrong with that? Making a fuss over nothing.”

M-making a fuss over nothing?!

Hearing Meow King’s words, everyone present fell silent.

While it was true that alchemists from Danyang Peak practicing alchemy wasn’t problematic…

But would you care to look at what he’s using for alchemy!

Today he could refine a Gu Cultivator into a pill.Tomorrow he dares to refine cultivators of the Central Province into pills.

The day after, he might even dare to refine the Heavenly Dao itself into a pill.

Is this truly alright?

Though he wanted to say something, recalling Lu Chen’s heaven-obscuring sword strike just moments ago, this Direct Lineage Disciple of the sect ultimately chose to remain silent.

After all, what status did he hold to question Lu Chen’s actions?

As for outsiders’ opinions, Lu Chen paid them no mind at this moment.

Because he had already devoted all his energy to the Mystic Pill Furnace.

With Lu Chen’s continuous refinement, Zhao Zhongming’s spiritual essence was unexpectedly successfully extracted.

[You have obtained a special complete Soul Crystal (Gu Cultivator·Zhao Zhongming). Your proficiency in Creation Pill Art has increased…]

[Complete Soul Crystal (Gu Cultivator·Zhao Zhongming)]

[Grade: Third Realm]

[Effect: Can be absorbed with a certain probability of obtaining the target’s Dao lineage, or stored in a suitable container for Rebirth through borrowed form]

[Note: Complete Soul Crystals have limited duration and cannot be preserved for extended periods]

Lu Chen looked at the game interface prompts with a peculiar expression.

Through this panel information, he had also learned an important fact beyond cultivators’ spiritual essence:

What exactly these so-called “Soul Crystals” were.

It turned out Soul Crystals were essentially spiritual essence in nature.

The Soul Crystal Shards he obtained earlier were actually fragments of spiritual essence.

The higher a cultivator’s cultivation level, the higher their spiritual essence realm typically was.

Naturally, the quality of Soul Crystal Shards dropped upon defeat would be correspondingly higher.

Did this mean that when he returned to the real world, even if defeating enemies there didn’t yield drops,

he could still use Creation Pill Art methods to obtain precious Soul Crystal Shards?

After careful consideration, Lu Chen found his theory highly feasible both in principle and practicality.

Once he completed the True Immortal Trial and returned to reality, he could definitely test this.

Retrieving Zhao Zhongming’s spiritual essence from the Mystic Pill Furnace, Lu Chen pondered momentarily before taking out an Azure Mystic Puppet from his Storage Bag.

After transferring Zhao Zhongming’s spiritual essence into the Azure Mystic Puppet, he stored it away.

The Fusion of spiritual essence with a physical vessel required time.

Lu Chen couldn’t immediately determine whether Zhao Zhongming had achieved resurrection through this Azure Mystic Puppet.

Additionally, Lu Chen wanted to use Zhao Zhongming to verify another matter:

Whether he could bring someone from a previous era into the real world through spiritual essence Fusion.

For instance, storing this special Azure Mystic Puppet in his Divine Soul space before returning to reality.

This worked with Classic of Mountains and Seas Mythical Beasts.

But whether it worked with “people” remained uncertain to Lu Chen.

Tasks should be handled step by step – the matter of carrying spiritual essence could be addressed later.

For now, focus on this Creation Pill refinement.

Lu Chen collected his thoughts and redirected his attention to the Mystic Pill Furnace before him.

Currently, only two items remained within the Mystic Pill Furnace:

One was Zhao Zhongming’s original cultivation base, the other was the Dao rhythm carrying an Immortal’s mark.

Lu Chen had long contemplated how to utilize these two things.

He raised his hand, and the Ink Dragon Sword immediately flew into the Mystic Pill Furnace.

Lu Chen knew nothing about Artifact Refining, but he understood Alchemy thoroughly.

Moreover, what he intended to do now wasn’t about altering the Ink Dragon Sword itself.Instead, it utilized Zhao Zhongming’s pure cultivation base and the highly compatible Dragon Dao Rhyme with the Ink Dragon Sword to catalyze the growth of the Ink Dragon Sword’s own artifact spirit.

Therefore, what he needed to do was actually quite simple: assist the Ink Dragon Sword in absorbing the refined cultivation base and Dragon Dao Rhyme within the Mystic Pill Furnace.

[Your Ink Dragon Sword absorbed the cultivation base of a Three Realms Gu Cultivator and a special Dao Rhyme. The artifact spirit is Awakening…]

After an unknown amount of time, as the warm sun rose from the edge of the Imperial City.

The original ink-black color of the Ink Dragon Sword had completely faded away.

In its place was a light, pale gold.

Though this pale gold was not particularly dazzling, it exuded an indescribable sense of understated luxury.

More importantly, even as the pale golden longsword hovered quietly within the Mystic Pill Furnace, it still emanated an inexplicable sense of pressure.

This feeling was as if they were not facing a mere sword, but the emperor of a Dynasty—solemn and majestic.

[You have obtained a new item… Fourth Realm Dao Artifact · Sovereign Dragon Sword]

[Name: Sovereign Dragon Sword]

[Grade: Fourth Realm]

[Trait 1 · Blood Ink: Can devour enemy blood to nurture itself and enhance the Spirit Sword’s grade]

[Trait 2 · Ink Spirit (7/10): Can imprison the souls of those slain and summon them to battle when necessary]

[Trait 3 · Dragon Transformation: The sword body transforms into an ink dragon to engage enemies and autonomously unleash certain special Divine Abilities]

[Trait 4 · Dragon’s Sovereignty: Can borrow the power of the earth’s dragon veins for combat, using Luck as ink to command with authority, and summon dragon-type creatures below the Nascent Soul Stage]

[Description: All the land under heaven belongs to the king; all the people on the shores are the king’s subjects. Wherever the moonlight shines and the rivers flow, all is the king’s domain.]

Lu Chen looked at the panel information of the Sovereign Dragon Sword and immediately reached out his hand.

The next moment, the pale golden Sovereign Dragon Sword flew into Lu Chen’s grasp.

The moment he held the Sovereign Dragon Sword, Lu Chen suddenly felt as if he could, like Zhao Zhongming before him, harness the Luck of the entire Great Ying Dynasty in battle.

If combined with the ‘True Dragon Sword Intent’ on the Sovereign Dragon Sword.

Lu Chen felt that, with the Sovereign Dragon Sword alone, as long as it was deployed in a suitable location to unleash its Sword Domain.

Even a Nascent Soul Stage Cultivator would be a match for the Sovereign Dragon Sword itself.

Of course, this was contingent on the dragon veins of that land being sufficiently powerful.

But regardless, the Fourth Realm Dao Artifact Sovereign Dragon Sword was no longer comparable to ordinary Magic Treasures or Magical Artifacts.

Even someone who had never cultivated, as long as they could slightly unleash the power of the Sovereign Dragon Sword.

While they might not be able to handle the Nascent Soul Stage, below that level, there was truly nothing to fear.

Such was the terror of a Dao Artifact.

Unfortunately, the birth of the Sovereign Dragon Sword was difficult to replicate.

After all, the other three Spirit Swords could not be catalyzed using Luck.

If he wanted to elevate the other three Spirit Swords to the Fourth Realm, he would need to find other methods.

After completing this, Lu Chen immediately dispersed his Mystic Pill Furnace and stored away the Sovereign Dragon Sword.

Just as Lu Chen found Cloud Deer and prepared to leave the True Immortal Trial.

He suddenly noticed a mist enveloping his surroundings.

By the time the mist dissipated, Lu Chen had arrived at a Small Thatched Hut.

On a table inside the hut were placed a Chessboard and an ancient Cultivation Manual.

With a hint of curiosity, Lu Chen turned his gaze toward the Cultivation Manual.Because if nothing unexpected happens, this cultivation manual is precisely what Gu Yue True Immortal left for him.

【Name: Immortal Thief】

【Maximum Stage: Great Vehicle Stage】

【Cultivation Requirements: Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment, Creation Pill Art attained to Dao Entry Realm】

【Effect: A special Immortality Art capable of stealing the power of heaven and earth for personal use. As long as immortals exist, the great theft never ceases…】

(End of Chapter)