Chapter 18: Soul-Breaking Nails, Tranquility Incense

Luo Chen and Wang Yuan's connection was not complicated.

Back then, they both entered the Great River Market as wandering cultivators around the same time.

However, unlike Luo Chen, who only had the strength of the first level of Qi Refinement, Wang Yuan was a secular world's innate grandmaster who, by chance, transitioned from martial arts to the path of immortality.

Therefore, when he first entered the Great River Market, Wang Yuan displayed remarkable combat prowess.

He even joined a hunting team, daring to venture into the mountains to hunt low-level demonic beasts.

At that time, Luo Chen had no real strength, but to make a living, he also went along to help with miscellaneous tasks and transportation.

Back then, due to his personality and experiences, Wang Yuan was different from the cautious wandering cultivators. He was bold and decisive, with the demeanor of a martial grandmaster.

However, this demeanor brought him trouble in the Great River Market.

Several cultivators at the middle stage of Qi Refinement robbed him, taking everything he had and severely injuring him.

After Wang Yuan recovered from his injuries, his personality changed.

To gather resources for cultivation, he planned to re-enter the mountains.

Some acquaintances lent him some items, and Luo Chen, who could already refine Abstinence Pills, lent him several bottles.

In the vast Eastern Wasteland, there were countless demonic beasts.

Cultivators entering the mountains never dared to start fires to cook, so the Abstinence Pills were very useful.

Wang Yuan, alone and silent, stepped into the Ancient Plains Mountain Range.

A month later, he returned with the corpse of a first-stage demonic beast.

After that, it didn't take long for the cultivators who had robbed Wang Yuan to die one by one. Everyone knew it was definitely Wang Yuan who had taken revenge in secret.

However, no one dared to cause trouble for him because Wang Yuan had joined the Mountain-Breaking Gang.

As the largest wandering cultivator force in the area, the Mountain-Breaking Gang had a small but notable reputation. With Wang Yuan's ruthless and cruel nature, he had firmly established himself in the outer city.

Especially in the following days, Wang Yuan frequently sold magical artifacts and cultivation techniques in the market.

These were all of unknown origin, and considering Wang Yuan's various rumors when he first appeared, people feared him even more.

It was somewhat heart-wrenching to say, but Luo Chen and Wang Yuan had entered the Great River Market around the same time.

Ten years had passed.

Luo Chen had barely reached the third level of Qi Refinement, but Wang Yuan was already a late-stage seventh-level Qi Refinement wandering cultivator.

It had to be said that the gap between people was greater than the gap between people and dogs.

"Why did he suddenly ask me to join the Mountain-Breaking Gang and say he would protect me?"

After arranging the medicinal materials, Luo Chen sat at the entrance, playing with the iron token engraved with the character "Mountain."

"Is it because of past connections?"

"Or because I killed that fifth-level Qi Refinement short-lived ghost beyond my level?"

Luo Chen didn't know, so he carefully put the token away.

The days that followed were monotonous.

Processing various raw materials, cultivating the Eternal Spring Technique, and healing his injuries.

It wasn't until nine days later that the wound on Luo Chen's abdomen had fully healed.

According to the previous plan, he could officially begin refining the Wondrous Pill tomorrow.

However, Luo Chen's attention was on another item.

"These Soul-Breaking Nails are actually a high-quality magical artifact!"

In his hand, there were two dark and heavy long nails, sharp at the front and large and heavy at the back.

Both nails carried a strong bloody smell, with thin threads of blood visible against the black background, which was somewhat eerie.

He continuously injected mana, and the Soul-Breaking Nails hummed, then suddenly flew out.

Swoosh!

One Soul-Breaking Nail, at a lightning-fast speed, pierced deep into a large stone in the courtyard, disappearing from sight.

"Such sharpness!"

"If there's no mistake, it must have an armor-piercing array inscribed on it!"

Magical artifacts have grades: upper, middle, and lower.

The standard for determining the grade is the number and quality of inscribed arrays.

This pair of Soul-Breaking Nails only had one array inscribed, but the armor-piercing array is a second-stage array, making it incredibly powerful.

"No wonder I was severely injured without any chance to fight back."

"According to the short-lived ghost's dying words, even Wang Yuan couldn't defend against it, showing that its penetration ability has reached the pinnacle among magical artifacts."

Wang Yuan was no weakling; before transitioning to the path of immortality, he was a martial grandmaster in the secular world.

After embarking on the path of cultivation, he had killed countless people and demonic beasts.

High in cultivation and strong in combat.

The short-lived ghost could injure Wang Yuan at the fifth level of Qi Refinement, and the Soul-Breaking Nails played a significant role.

"However, the drawbacks are also quite obvious."

"Releasing one Soul-Breaking Nail consumed half of my spirit energy. If I release both, I would instantly be drained of all my spirit energy."

"Moreover!"

Luo Chen continuously channeled spirit energy, but the Soul-Breaking Nail inside the stone remained motionless.

One-way trip!

The advantages and disadvantages of this high-quality magical artifact were too obvious.

Its penetration ability was top-notch.

It consumed a large amount of spirit energy and could not be controlled or recalled after being released.

The material was sufficiently hard and wouldn't easily break, otherwise, it would be considered a disposable magical artifact.

Perhaps this is why, despite having a second-stage array inscribed, it could only be a high-quality magical artifact, not the rumored supreme-quality magical artifact.

Luo Chen broke the stone, dug out the Soul-Breaking Nail, and happily put it in his storage bag.

"The one-way trip isn't really a drawback for me because I haven't learned any traction techniques."

"Compared to the rusty lower-quality magical sword I used before, this is like trading a bird's gun for a cannon."

After a moment of joy, Luo Chen returned to his room and lit a Tranquility Incense.

The fragrance, like orchids and musk, gradually calmed his agitated soul.

A deep sense of comfort from his soul almost made him moan.

But Luo Chen didn't have time to enjoy it; he quickly began to cultivate the Eternal Spring Technique.

One Tranquility Incense per day was enough to allow a cultivator to practice their life-bound technique five more times on top of their original foundation.

With Luo Chen's original limit of two to three times, he could now cultivate the Eternal Spring Technique eight times!

What does eight times mean?

One time restores 20% of spirit energy, so eight times would restore 160%, enough to cast 32 Fireball Spells.

It could be said that the value of the Tranquility Incense in this harvest was second only to the storage bag and the Soul-Breaking Nails.

It was higher than the lower-quality magical robe, the Qi Nourishing Pills, and other items.

Because this box of Tranquility Incense could allow him to practice multiple times, refreshing the proficiency of the Eternal Spring Technique and other skills.

"In the future, when I have money, I will not only buy a house but also buy a lot of Tranquility Incense!"

After finishing his cultivation, feeling that the half of his spirit energy consumed by the Soul-Breaking Nails had partially recovered, Luo Chen sighed.

After sighing, he recalled the situation from ten days ago, taking advantage of the calm and focused state induced by the Tranquility Incense.

For the past ten days, he had almost constantly been thinking about it.

Even in his dreams, the scene had replayed several times.

It was the first time he had faced death since crossing over!

Continuously recalling it wasn't out of fear but to remember the situation and prevent it from happening again in the future.

With the help of the Tranquility Incense, Luo Chen suddenly realized that he could have handled that battle better.

The Soul-Breaking Nails were fast, but he had practiced the Free and Easy Wanderer technique, which could have allowed him to try to dodge.

Even if he couldn't dodge, he wouldn't have been so severely injured, almost dying on the spot.

Moreover, the enemy was in a very poor state at the time. If he had taken the initiative, could he have caught the enemy off guard?

Striking first is advantageous, while striking second is at a disadvantage. He had been indecisive and harbored侥幸.

Even during the subsequent direct combat, there were significant shortcomings.

Clearly, the third Fireball Spell had already broken the enemy's defense, and he only needed to follow up with two more at most.

But in his excitement, he exhausted all his spirit energy in one go.

As a result, he had no combat ability afterward.

It was just his luck that he encountered Wang Yuan.

What if he had encountered someone else?

Would that person also recognize him and let him off?

Ha ha, even if they recognized him, they might still be tempted!

The wealth of two Qi Refinement cultivators is a substantial gain.

"My combat experience is really too limited!"

(End of Chapter)