allendalepharm Chapter 249 Ethereal Guidance, The Path to the Fourth Tier
Chapter 249 Ethereal Guidance, The Path to the Fourth Tier
Chapter 249 ethereal guidance, the path to the fourth tier
Before this, the general public believed that the spirit objects that formed the Nascent Soul were naturally born from the essence of heaven and earth. If Chen Yi could manually refine them using his spiritual cooking skills, even if the cost was high, it would still be a terrifying achievement that overturned people's understanding.
Having figured this out, everyone present turned their gaze to Chen Yi—if he could really do it, the evaluation of his culinary skills would need to be raised to a whole new level.
Seeing that Chen Yi had not spoken for a long time, Yue Qingqiu became a little anxious.
This is an excellent opportunity to befriend the top prodigy of the Thundercloud Sect in Central Continent. In the future, whenever the Thundercloud Sect has any related needs, they will definitely come to us first. At that time, a large number of orders will be placed one after another, which will be a sure-fire opportunity for the Starmoon Sect.
As for whether it could be done, Yue Qingqiu already had a good idea. When Chen Yi asked her about the direction of thunder brewing, he mentioned that two paths could be tried.
However, the transaction was now entirely in Chen Yi's hands, so she couldn't interrupt rashly and could only wait patiently to see how he would handle it.
Chen Yi frowned slightly, looking troubled, and said, "I have actually tried the refining method suggested by Fairy Qiu."
Upon hearing this, Qiu Li subconsciously leaned forward, her eyes filled with tension and anticipation, holding her breath as she waited for him to continue.
"However, this method is extremely difficult to refine. The core ingredient not only requires the blood essence of a fourth-order thunder beast, but also a wisp of thunder spirit liquid containing the spiritual energy of ten thousand years of ancient thunder."
Chen Yi spoke solemnly, slowly revealing the key point: "Compared to the refinement of Thunder Brew using Escape Techniques, the cost of this method is more than double. Moreover, there are currently no demand for Enlightenment Thunder Brew in the Moon Lake region, so I have not delved into it."
He paused, then analyzed further: "Therefore, whether from the perspective of cost or success rate, refining Enlightenment Thunder Brew is quite unprofitable."
I suggest that Fairy Qiu give up. If you can gather a set of materials, their value is enough to purchase a Nascent Soul artifact.
"If you ask me to refine it, the success rate is only about 30%. You might need three sets of materials to finally get a bottle of Enlightenment Thunder Brew."
Chen Yi shook his head and sighed softly, his tone sincere, frankly indicating that his abilities were limited and that the difficulty of refining such thunder brew was truly beyond the norm.
Upon hearing Chen Yi's words, while the reactions of the others remained unclear, Yue Qingqiu was already filled with doubt.
Something seems off!
[Junior Brother Chen clearly told me back then that he had basically developed two directions of thunder brewing, and that the technology was already mature, right?]
And the materials he mentioned for the Enlightenment Thunder Brew weren't that much more demanding, were they?
Could it be that he said those words on purpose?
Yue Qingqiu was filled with doubts, but she temporarily suppressed her urge to ask further questions and decided to continue observing to see how Chen Yi would respond.
Sure enough, the others smiled knowingly after hearing Chen Yi's words.
In the end, Ji Wuchen spoke first, his tone revealing a clear understanding: "Hehe, Brother Chen, you've already done very well."
"With only twice the amount of materials, you can refine Enlightenment Thunder Brew. This level is far superior to that of my Ji family's third-tier brewers!"
He changed the subject and looked at Qiu Li, adding, "As for the thunder liquid containing the spiritual energy of ten thousand years of ancient thunder, it may be scarce in other places, but what kind of place is the Thundercloud Sect?"
That's one of the orthodox lineages of the ancient Thunder Soul Sect. How could they lack something like that?
Including the fourth-tier thunder beast essence blood you need, the Thundercloud Sect also keeps several fourth-tier thunder beasts.
For Fairy Qiu, obtaining three drops of lightning liquid and three portions of essence blood would be much easier than for other cultivators.
Upon hearing this, Qiu Li rolled her eyes at Ji Wuchen, clearly annoyed. His words had exposed all her trump cards.
However, she did not refute it. After all, the Thundercloud Sect had a profound heritage, and as the chief disciple, this amount of exertion was not difficult for her.
However, she also knew in her heart that if the refining cost was really that high, it would be almost impossible for other ordinary disciples to order Enlightenment Thunder Brew. It would take three sets of materials to make one Thunder Brew, which was too much of a price.
Qiu Li sighed inwardly, turned her gaze back to Chen Yi, and asked firmly, "I can prepare the materials you mentioned earlier."
I just want to know, if all the materials are ready, how long will it take you to ship the goods?
"Six months, six months should be about right." Chen Yi pondered for a moment before giving a clear answer.
"Alright! I'll send someone over with three sets of documents right now, and I'll wait for you here for six months!"
Qiu Li's tone was decisive, without hesitation.
In her view, since there was an opportunity to improve her chances of reaching the Nascent Soul stage, she had to seize it firmly, as opportunities in the cultivation world often passed in the blink of an eye, allowing no room for hesitation.
At the same time, she secretly added to Chen Yi using telepathy:
【If you fail to accomplish your goal, or if the effects of the Thunder Brew are too perfunctory, I will inform Chengcheng of your philandering here and have her come to Zhongzhou in person. Then we'll see how you handle the situation!】
Despite Qiu Li's telepathic threat, Chen Yi remained calm and unperturbed, not taking it to heart.
He has never formed a Daoist partnership with anyone, so how could he be bound by such so-called "moral constraints"?
After Qiu Li's matter was settled, Ji Wuchen smiled and said, "Brother Chen, the matter we need to discuss next concerns you, me, and the three of us, including Fairy Kongling. Why don't we go to the inner room to talk in detail?"
At this moment, Yue Qingqiu on the table was still pondering to herself:
Is Chen Yi's method of raising the bar and leaving room for maneuver during negotiations something he only recently learned, or has he always acted this way?
If this continues, then when he came to the Star Moon Sect, signed a contract with the sect, saved her from a desperate situation in the previous battle, and did he always act in this way?
For a moment, Yue Qingqiu's mind was in turmoil, and she couldn't sort out her thoughts.
In the end, only one thought remained in her mind: if Chen Yi had always been so secretive, how many more things was he hiding from her?
When Yue Qingqiu saw that Ji Wuchen was going to meet Chen Yi alone with Fairy Kongling, she was even more puzzled.
Ji Wuchen and Chen Yi had a past relationship, so it was understandable that they would have a private chat.
Who is the ethereal fairy?
He was already a cultivator with strength comparable to a Nascent Soul cultivator, and was also an extremely rare fourth-order body cultivator among the younger generation, with a very high status and vision.
What could such a person possibly have that would require Chen Yi to discuss alone?
As Yue Qingqiu was filled with doubts, Ji Wuchen, Fairy Kongling, and Chen Yi got up and left their seats, heading towards the inner chamber of Chen Yi's cave, ready to begin this private conversation.
Chen Yi's inner cave dwelling was set up with layers upon layers of arrays within arrays, which eventually led to the body-refining courtyard.
The group ventured deeper along the path, passing through several layers of large and small formations, each layer containing ingenious arrangements.
The ethereal fairy kept her hands behind her back, walking with a leisurely pace. She seemed to be casually strolling around, surveying the surrounding formations, but in reality, she was calculating in her mind how many punches she would need to throw to break through these several layers of third-order formations.
She stopped only when she reached the training ground, nodded slightly, and uttered a casual remark: "The formation is not bad."
She secretly added to herself that although it was only a third-order formation, the multiple layers of nested arrays did have some intricacies.
It took three punches to break through all these formations, which was much stronger than ordinary third-order formations. In a small sect like the Star Moon Sect, it was a valuable piece worth taking a second look at.
Along the way, while Fairy Kongling was observing the formation, Ji Wuchen kept explaining Fairy Kongling's origins to Chen Yi through telepathy: "Brother Chen, didn't you keep telling me to keep an eye out for opportunities related to immortal martial arts?"
"Hehe, last year you asked Brother Yuntian to pass on a message saying you didn't want to go to the Black Mountain Secret Realm with us, so I was thinking of finding another body cultivator to accompany us to strengthen the team."
"Coincidentally, the celestial maiden Kongling, the head of Hongfeng Cave Heaven, has some free time recently and is willing to take a few of us junior cultivators to the Black Mountain Secret Realm for some training."
With her around, our group might have the confidence to attempt larger, more challenging objectives and obtain more valuable opportunities.
"The reason I specially brought her to the Star Moon Sect this time was because I begged her for a long time before I finally managed to invite this great deity here."
She's already agreed to teach you three immortal martial arts techniques, so you'd better seize this opportunity and be proactive later!
Ji Wuchen paused, then added, "Oh, I almost forgot to mention the specifics of Fairy Kongling."
She was born with an ethereal Dao body and follows the cultivation path of the Immortal Martial lineage. Now her body refinement has reached the fourth level, and she is also the closed-door disciple of the Mountain-Shaking True Monarch.
What's even more impressive is that she has maintained a perfect record of ten wins, zero draws, and zero losses against early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators.
By the way, she hasn't even been at the fourth level of Immortal Martial Arts for ten years, and she just turned one hundred this year!
Upon hearing this, Chen Yi looked at the beautiful woman who was three fingers taller than him and was examining the design of the cave dwelling with her hands behind her back, and a deep sense of respect arose in his heart.
Those who don't personally train their bodies have no idea how difficult it is to advance to the fourth rank.
He himself, with the help of external aids, still found the body-refining process difficult, while this woman, who was a year younger than him, had already reached the fourth level of body-refining.
Chen Yi couldn't help but sigh inwardly: What kind of terrifying talent does it take to have an innate ethereal Dao body to make her like this?
"This junior student, Chen Yi, greets the senior, Kong Ling."
On the training ground, Chen Yi looked at the ethereal fairy who had already stood in the center of the field and turned around to look at him calmly, and solemnly bowed.
For him, the opportunity to learn immortal martial arts techniques from a high-ranking cultivator was extremely rare, and he naturally cherished it all the more.
"Attack me with all your might, three times."
Yuan Lingling spoke calmly, without any unnecessary pleasantries, and went straight to explaining how to give guidance.
Ji Wuchen tactfully retreated to the sidelines to avoid disturbing their conversation.
Upon hearing this, Chen Yi, though not particularly fond of this "teaching by attacking" approach, felt it inappropriate to make excessive demands since he needed their help.
He immediately focused his mind and tried to condense the ninety strands of golden crystal cores within his body. A golden lotus phantom flashed beneath his feet, and the Buddhist Lotus Step technique suddenly erupted. In an instant, he transformed into a golden light and shot towards the calmly standing figure in the arena.
A hundred zhang (approximately 33 meters) can be covered in an instant with the aid of footwork.
When Chen Yi's figure became clear again, the five golden crystal cores on his right fist were already shining brightly.
With this punch, Chen Yi was confident that he could injure the Red Eagle Elder, whose defense had reached the late stage of the third tier after the human-beast fusion.
However, before the fist could even touch the opponent, Yuan Lingling's voice rang out first: "Diamond Skill, ninety strands of crystal cores, not too far from condensing crystal marrow, the quality of the crystal cores is good."
Before she finished speaking, she simply extended a slender, long finger and tapped it in front of her.
In an instant, she manipulated the spiritual energy of heaven and earth surrounding Yuan Lingling, gathering it all in front of her to form an invisible barrier.
Chen Yi felt as if his long-awaited punch had struck the entire world, only to be firmly blocked by that lightly touched, slender white finger, making it impossible for him to advance even an inch further.
His expression changed slightly, and he quickly stopped his punch, choosing not to launch a forceful attack.
Immediately afterwards, Yuan Lingling's follow-up comments came through: "Her Vajra Kung Fu foundation is solid, and she has also mastered the Buddhist Lotus Steps."
With your late-stage third-tier body refinement strength, a full-force punch can unleash top-tier physical explosiveness among those of the same tier, and your physical body has no obvious flaws. Overall, your performance is quite good.
She paused briefly, then continued, "When continuing to cultivate the Vajra Technique, pay more attention to metal-elemental body-refining medicines, such as Bodhi seeds and the essence blood of high-level metal-elemental demon beasts, which are very beneficial for crystal core condensation."
However, you should know that there are quite a few cultivators who practice the Vajra Technique. The Hundred Threads Golden Crystal Marrow is not only a key stepping stone to the fourth level, but it will also become a tempting Dao Fruit coveted by others.
""
"If one wants to continue to advance to the fourth level with the Vajra Skill, in addition to one's own efforts and opportunities, one also needs the protection of a powerful force."
I suggest you consider joining the Ji family and becoming an outer disciple guard. Perhaps after you successfully break through, you can protect the Golden Crystal Marrow you've painstakingly condensed and prevent it from being plundered.
The ethereal fairy's voice remained flat and emotionless, like a commentary machine devoid of feeling, and she stopped there.
"Second tip: I suggest you cherish your opportunity."
After she finished speaking, she stood still and waited for Chen Yi to gather his strength. She did not make any unnecessary movements and remained calm and composed.
This junior colleague, who's a year younger than me, is quite the airhead.
A thought flashed through Chen Yi's mind: since the other party was so composed, he decided to use half of his abilities in the second move.
The next moment, Chen Yi no longer hesitated and began to slowly accumulate power. Anyway, the rules allowed it, and since Fairy Kongling was guiding him from a higher level, he couldn't be accused of "lacking martial ethics".
His body began to flash alternately with golden light on one side and lightning on the other, and the light grew brighter and brighter.
Gradually, he forcibly condensed six gold crystal cores containing ninety strands of energy and six lightning crystal cores containing ninety-nine strands of energy, which floated on both sides of his body.
Then, Chen Yi wrapped his arms around himself and gathered the crystal cores towards his chest.
During the process, the energy contained in the crystal core was extremely unstable, as if it could explode at any moment. If it got out of control, even Chen Yi himself could be affected and injured.
As time went by, the six gold crystal cores and the six lightning crystal cores merged on his chest, forming a multi-core energy body interwoven with gold and lightning. The energy fluctuations became stronger and stronger, and it had just reached the level of the quasi-fourth rank.
The ethereal fairy in the center of the arena remained motionless, only slightly narrowing her eyes and nodding her chin as if to show approval, before making no further reaction, as if the terrifying energy body before her was insignificant.
Until Chen Yi finished charging up, he suddenly unleashed the golden lightning crystal core array from a distance of several dozen feet. A terrifying golden lightning energy wave, comparable to a quasi-fourth-tier, shot towards the ethereal fairy like a meteor.
This time, the ethereal fairy extended not a finger, but a slender, jade-like hand.
She spread her five fingers, gently rotated her wrist half a circle, and then suddenly grabbed and clenched her fist in the air.
In an instant, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a space of several dozen feet around her was forcibly drawn in and shaped into a ball of spiritual energy about ten feet in diameter.
The ball of spiritual energy precisely enveloped the six golden lightning crystal core arrays, binding them tightly. It hovered a foot in front of her, and no matter how much energy surged within the crystal core arrays, it could not break free of its control and remained immobile.
After stabilizing the Golden Lightning Crystal Core Array, the ethereal fairy slowly offered her comments: "Not bad. Dual cultivation of Golden Lightning is indeed a unique path."
"As you probably know, there are too many cultivators practicing the Vajra Technique, making it extremely difficult and risky to break through to the next level."
However, the danger of lightning-based body tempering is much greater than that of the Vajra Technique, and the requirements for the cultivation environment and spiritual energy are extremely demanding. Unless you master the art of lightning brewing and can continuously acquire lightning resources, you simply cannot follow this path.
Her tone remained calm, yet she accurately pinpointed Chen Yi's predicament: "You should have tried it too. Breaking through from ninety-nine strands of crystal core to one hundred strands of crystal marrow is an extremely difficult hurdle to overcome."
Both of these individual body-refining techniques are difficult to master on their own, which is why you chose the combination of metal and lightning to enhance your combat power.
"The idea itself is good, but the way it's combined is not quite right."
If the fusion can begin at the wisp energy stage and gradually condense into a fusion crystal core of ninety wisps, the final explosive power can at least double again.
This could be a research direction for you to improve your combat capabilities in the future.
After a pause, she changed the subject and pointed out the core issue: "Of course, these are just superficial adjustments; the essence remains unchanged."
Without the essence of crystal, one cannot mobilize the power of heaven and earth;
Without condensing the essence, one can never reach the threshold of the fourth-order body refinement.
If you aspire to reach the fourth tier, you might consider aligning yourself with a major power for self-preservation, while specializing in either metal or lightning, striving towards refining crystal marrow.
It was another well-organized commentary, and the attitude was relatively neutral and objective, but it didn't have much practical effect on Chen Yi.
Hearing this, Chen Yi's enthusiasm for the guidance had waned considerably.
What he most wanted to know was how to mobilize the power of heaven and earth for marrow refining, and what obstacles he might encounter on the way from the peak of the third rank to the fourth rank, and how to solve them. However, judging from the attitude of the ethereal fairy, she clearly had no intention of revealing these core contents.
However, Chen Yi also understood that Ji Wuchen had brought the person specifically, and that Ji Wuchen meant well, so he couldn't let him down.
After a moment's thought, Chen Yi bowed again, his tone sincere: "Thank you for your guidance, Senior Kongling. I have benefited greatly from it."
As for the third move, Chen Yi had lost interest in using it.
At this point in the conversation, he was already mentally preparing to end this so-called guidance session. He raised his hand to straighten his robes and was about to turn and leave the training ground.
In his view, continuing would not yield any new gains, so it was better to end it sooner rather than later and not waste each other's time.
However, seeing Chen Yi turn to leave, Ling Lingling finally frowned slightly.
With her keen mind, she had already sensed that Chen Yi was not entirely satisfied with the previous guidance and seemed to still have some doubts.
After thinking for a moment, she softened her tone and said, "Xiao Chen, you don't need to belittle yourself."
To be able to cultivate both the Vajra Skill and Thunder Spirit Body Tempering to this level simultaneously, with virtually no hidden dangers to one's physical body, demonstrates a talent and perseverance far exceeding that of one's peers.
You likely still have untapped potential; you might still have a chance to reach the threshold of the fourth-tier body refinement.
"Since I promised Xiao Ji that I would guide you, I will do my best to fulfill my duty."
Since you are unwilling to make the first three moves, then you will make them tonight.
As soon as she finished speaking, Lingling took a step forward.
In an instant, a silver spatial ripple gently spread around her, like ripples on the surface of water.
In an instant, her figure passed through the spatial layers, traversing several feet, and silently appeared behind Chen Yi, near the entrance of the training ground. She maintained a distance of about several feet from Chen Yi, neither appearing offensive nor failing to allow him to observe her clearly.
"Watch closely, the power of heaven and earth will surge forth in this way!"
Although it was supposed to be "one punch," Lingling only raised her right hand and gently pointed her index finger.
A tiny, red and silver crystal slowly separated from her fingertip.
The crystals appeared extremely slowly, as if deliberately slowing down the process, for fear that Chen Yi, who was at the Core Formation stage, would not be able to see the details clearly.
The moment the crystal appeared, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a radius suddenly seemed to come alive, all of which was stirred by Ling Lingling, flowing rapidly around her fingertips and forming a visible vortex of spiritual energy.
At this moment, Chen Yi immediately activated his Insightful Eyes and simultaneously activated his fourth-order divine sense, which surpassed the level of the Void Fairy, to observe the silver-red crystal marrow with full concentration, in order to understand the underlying principle that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was stirred when the power of the crystal marrow emerged.
In his perception, within a radius of ten feet, countless streams of fiery spiritual energy and silver spatial patterns were flowing rapidly according to a certain specific pattern.
This pattern is subtly contained within that tiny silver-red crystal marrow, and it is extremely similar to the Dao patterns on Chen Yi's Golden Core. It seems that Ling Lingling can condense these spiritual energies and spatial textures into a terrifying killing form, or construct a specific spatial passage, all in a matter of moments.
[Can injure enemies, can also be used to escape]
Chen Yi instantly understood the abilities of those spatial patterns. Moreover, he also saw that Ling Lingling had condensed a dual-attribute crystal marrow combining space and fire. Furthermore, the condensation strength of this crystal marrow far exceeded that of the basic Jiu Lu crystal marrow, indicating that it had undergone a deeper level of tempering.
The most important discovery was that Chen Yi realized that the way the power of crystal marrow drove the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was almost exactly the same as the principle by which his golden core Dao patterns attracted the energy of heaven and earth!
This discovery was like a flash of inspiration, instantly breaking down the barriers in his understanding of body refinement and Golden Core cultivation.
So that's how it is! Whether it's Dharma cultivation or physical cultivation, they ultimately lead to the same goal.
At this level, one must closely align with the essence of the laws governing the universe in order to thereby influence its power.
This realization illuminated Chen Yi's path of cultivation like a guiding light, adding another layer of profound understanding to his heart.
The next moment, Chen Yi suddenly felt the temperature around him rise sharply, as if there were invisible flames burning around him.
The spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a radius of ten feet was tinged with a faint red at this moment, and the air was filled with a scorching aura. It was as if he had been thrown into a huge furnace, and his skin could clearly feel the burning power.
Chen Yi focused his mind and quickly discerned:
Yuan Lingling actually managed to separate the spiritual power of the Five Elements Fire from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and the intensity of the fire spiritual power she mobilized had reached the fourth level.
As time went by, the flame's spiritual power became increasingly concentrated, and the pressure at its core also increased, even causing the surrounding space to appear slightly distorted from the heat.
However, Chen Yi was completely immersed in comprehending the surging power of heaven and earth, seemingly unaware of the scorching heat and pressure around him. He did not make any counterattack from beginning to end, but simply stood quietly in place, letting the fiery spiritual power envelop him.
Seeing that Chen Yi could withstand the pressure of the fourth-level flame spiritual power without making a sound, Ling Lingling raised her eyebrows slightly, a hint of surprise flashing in her heart. Chen Yi's physical strength and mental fortitude were even better than she had expected, and he was quite resilient.
The thought flashed through her mind, and Yuan Lingling's fingertips twitched slightly before she pointed forward again.
The next moment, a condensed fiery finger strike suddenly shot out, carrying the power of a beggar who had just reached the fourth level, and rushed towards Chen Yi at high speed like a crimson lightning bolt.
She didn't use her killing move, but wanted to use this finger strike to see where Chen Yi's potential limit really was.