Rediscovering the Old Craft, Chapter 150

In the mountains, time loses all meaning; years pass unnoticed.

After Uncle Su and Gu Huo departed from the Thousand Vine Immortal Gorge, Luo Yu and the others immersed themselves in cultivation, research, and development. With the establishment of the teleportation array, entering and exiting the Defying Heaven Palace became remarkably convenient. However, now that their cultivation had reached the Nascent Soul stage, staying outside the realm felt somewhat uncomfortable. Consequently, they relocated their personal experience-gaining flying moon plug-in to the Yunlu Immortal Mansion. Everyone seldom returned home; only Grandpa and Luo Ling would come over daily for some leisure.

Luo Yu, drawing inspiration from the seal on Gu Huo, simplified and integrated it, altering key elements: previously, Gu Huo’s sealing technique relied on external magical power, but Luo Yu transformed it to use his own internal energy. He also modified the sealing strength to be “variable”—much like setting table dimensions in a computer spreadsheet. If the width and height were fixed in pixels, a larger monitor would render the table too small; by switching to percentages, the table would scale appropriately. Thus, this sealing technique became universally adaptable across all levels.

Finally, Luo Yu added a “switch.” After three years of refinement and testing, he successfully released the self-sealing technique named “Luo’s Spiritual Energy Butler.” The first true user was Bai Wuhuo, who, since arriving on the continent, had not returned to the Luo family. Each time the group returned to the Defying Heaven Palace, Bai Wuhuo was left behind at Yunlu Immortal Mansion, trailing a few tails of hair—now, with the Butler, everything was complete. Risking his life without hesitation, he conducted the final test for Luo Yu—and the results were excellent! Although the array’s runes were complex, cultivation practitioners could easily replicate the method, making it extremely practical.

Luo Yu had achieved his goal, and Luo Li’s work was progressing well.

Through reports gathered by their subordinates, despite the abundance of life on this continent, the spiritual mineral resources were of relatively poor quality—far inferior to those beyond the realm. Take, for example, the legendary “Red Flame Gold” used by Qin Yue in forging the Chiyuan; the native minerals on the continent possessed barely half the potency of those made in the Outside World. Thus, cultivators here turned to utilizing skins, fur, claws, and bones of various exotic beasts as primary weapon materials. These were significantly superior to their counterparts beyond the realm, relegating mineral deposits to a supplementary role.

Upon receiving these reports, Luo Yu pondered: why was the situation here so different from that of the Celestial Empire? It seemed the continent’s spiritual minerals had been nurtured by spiritual energy for only the past ten thousand years. Could it be that the Celestial Empire once had even richer spiritual energy long ago? Cultivators truly were a destructive force! Might this continent one day suffer the same fate? Perhaps cultivators here should implement population control measures in the future. But such worries were premature; after all, the continent’s spiritual energy supply currently exceeded demand. As long as a large number of Grandmaster-level cultivators did not arise, there would be no danger in another ten thousand years—Grandmaster cultivators were not so easily produced. Such concerns were mere needless anxiety.

However, the mutation of life here was impressively rapid. In just ten thousand years, spiritual plants, immortal trees, and beastmen had emerged. Biological evolution was far more advanced than that of inanimate matter.

To protect the scarce resources beyond the realm, Qin Yue and Luo Yu declared: duck feathers must only come from ducks, and they resolutely forbade importing materials from beyond the realm for forging. However, exporting from within the realm was another matter—items derived from exotic beasts were inexpensive and highly profitable. This was worth considering.

Additionally, after three years of development, the subordinates Luo Li brought had made preliminary inroads on the continent. They had opened shops in several nearby cultivation towns, earning their first profits. Experience grinding at the Defying Heaven Palace no longer relied on spirit stones but switched to spirit coins—also known as demon stones. Though this reform was somewhat troublesome, as each type of demon stone catered to different soul roots unlike the universally usable spirit stones, the current situation demanded that spirit stones remain scarce and not be wasted.

As Luo Yu put it: even if spiritual energy here was abundant and spirit stones could regenerate, how many tens of thousands of years would it take for them to appear on this continent? What if cultivators exhausted the spiritual energy before spirit stones could form? In some respects, spirit stones were lifesavers. When spiritual energy became too scarce to survive, one could break down spirit stones with a gathering array to restore spiritual energy and eke out a few more days.

During these years, besides trading to earn demon stones, Qin Yue secretly dispatched agents to investigate where evil dragons plagued the land, intending to engage in black-on-black battles to obtain dragon blood for cultivation. Yet, whether due to the continent’s vastness or the rarity of dragons, aside from a single black dragon encountered in the Kara Empire, no other traces had been found—and even that dragon had since vanished without a trace.

After studying the sealing technique, Luo Yu began considering how to help Huang Xuan gain experience. The flying moon plug-in, like the spiritual barrier, was too powerful and had already been leaked. If this too were spread, he feared the situation might spiral out of control. After much hesitation, Luo Yu decided to adopt another method temporarily: alchemy.

As an alchemist, Luo Yu had not refined pills for many years. Grandpa now enjoyed the protection of the Peaches of Immortality and no longer needed “Inch Grass Pills.” He still had a surplus of healing medicines from before. To support Luo Yu’s return to alchemy, Qin Yue specially refined a high-grade pill furnace—currently producing immortal herbs. These herbs contained spiritual energy even purer, higher, and gentler than ordinary spirit herbs but were also more prone to wastage and demanded exceptional skill.

On the Mu Continent, although cultivation-enhancing immortal herbs were not the rarest, they were not cheap. Regardless, possessing them meant rapid advancement, allowing surplus time to seek auxiliary spiritual items to break bottlenecks—or to fight and earn spirit coins, which was also beneficial.

Though the immortal herbs were expensive, Luo Yu had already made bold promises. Lacking the face to request spirit stones from Huang Xuan, he stuffed his pride aside and used spoils won in the Kara Empire: eight cultivation-enhancing herbs and six suitable for void-transforming cultivators from Bai Wuhuo, plus his own money for pill formulas and auxiliary herbs.

With tears streaming, Luo Yu comforted himself: “Consider this cultivating my artistic sentiment and improving my alchemy skills.” The tears were certainly not over the spirit coins; spirit coins were mere external possessions. It was brotherly loyalty that moved him, willing to sacrifice for friends. His brother was truly wonderful—deeply touching, truly overwhelming.

Luo Yu did not immediately begin refining but took out the “Essence-Accumulating Immortal Plant Pill Refining Manual” he had procured from the Supreme Elder, alongside the “Supreme Purity Two-Polarity Innate Qi Transforming Immortal Vine Purple-Gold Gourd,” and studied them carefully.

The manual explained that the gourd possessed a unique innate flame called “Transforming Spiritual True Fire,” its innate divine power. Luo Yu knew true fire belonged to the “Five Elements Rare Treasures,” which, if left unused and without vital energy nourishment, would vanish within a millennium.

Worried the gourd’s time had expired, he quickly infused his energy to test it. Upon input, transparent purple-gold flames blazed fiercely over the gourd’s surface, enveloping it completely. Surprisingly, the flames were not hot. He had a zombie touch it; the zombie remained unharmed. Then he touched it himself: the fire gently licked his palm, spiritual energy subtly permeating his skin, feeling remarkably comfortable.

This puzzled Luo Yu: the gourd had been untouched for at least two thousand years—how was the true fire still alive?

He probed with his divine sense and found the gourd’s upper half hollow, its inner walls inscribed with array patterns; inside the lower half were strands resembling golden silk pulp, entwining a plump gourd seed wrapped in a circle of transforming spiritual true fire.

“Ah—the seed is still alive!” Luo Yu realized the secret: the seed contained vitality, and the celestial realm’s spiritual energy provided sufficient nourishment, meeting the conditions for the Five Elements Rare Treasure’s survival. Seed vitality was famously resilient; ancient lotus seeds from over a thousand years ago had been discovered in earth near Pulandian, Liaoning, and when planted, they bloomed and bore fruit. If ordinary lotus seeds could survive so long, how could one claim an immortal plant’s seed only lasted about ten thousand years? That would be an insult.

Delighted, Luo Yu fondled the gourd and wondered about the inner wall’s array patterns. Upon further examination, he discovered it was a pill-refining program. The gourd itself was a pill furnace—purely wooden, environmentally friendly, perfectly natural. Aside from the somewhat crude programming, it surpassed the furnace he and Qin Yue had crafted just the day before. It was essentially a transcendent artifact!

After exploring the purple-gold gourd, Luo Yu turned to the alchemy manual. Authored by the Supreme Elder, it chiefly explained how to maximize immortal herb efficacy, emphasizing the preservation of acquired energy and, with equal insistence, the preservation of innate energy.

Luo Yu knew “acquired energy” generally referred to spiritual or immortal energy in cultivation. Although yin energy was technically a form of acquired energy, it was more prevalent in the underworld and seldom used to represent acquired energy in the upper realms. “Innate energy” referred to vitality itself.

He pondered: so immortal herb-grade pills contained vitality? No wonder foundation-establishing pills seemed extraordinary. In contrast, his previous foundation pills had been haphazardly concocted, likely losing much of that vitality. But what use was this vitality upon ingestion?

As a cultivator newly entering the Nascent Soul stage, Luo Yu had heard extensively about “vitality” but had never truly experienced it—mainly because he never deemed it necessary to study.

Continuing to read, the manual stated that innate energy was inherited, akin to the spark of life. Immortals generally believed it could not be significantly increased through external means but could only be supplemented by absorbing acquired energy to prolong lifespan. The author posited that acquired energy was generated by the operation of innate energy; thus, if innate energy could be sufficiently replenished and strengthened, there would be no need to absorb acquired energy. Just as acquired energy could produce magical power, cultivators could become self-sufficient without competing with nature for acquired energy.

Luo Yu understood this analogy: for mortals, innate life energy initiates bodily function, but they must eat food to convert it into acquired energy; without food, no matter how strong their constitution or luck, they would starve to death.

Though cultivators were more advanced than mortals, they still needed to consume acquired energy. The author’s argument of strengthening innate energy to avoid needing acquired energy was akin to telling ordinary people to stop eating and meditate to absorb spiritual energy for sustenance—an impractical notion.

Of course, the author acknowledged the idea’s fancifulness but held firm to its validity and urged attention. He cited experiments feeding mortals low-quality immortal pills and Peaches of Immortality, which demonstrated that mortals could convert some innate energy into acquired energy and even use minor spells. However, their meridians could not accommodate more innate energy, preventing true transformation.

Some powerful cultivators doubted the author’s theory, believing the spiritual energy in mortals derived directly from the peaches and pills rather than from innate energy transformation. Although some agreed with him, given the widespread consumption of Peaches of Immortality and immortal pills, no evident enhancement of innate energy had appeared. Thus, retaining innate energy during alchemy was futile. Like Old Master Luo, who believed in spiritual energy and meditation but could not absorb it—this was the core problem.

Reading this, Luo Yu suddenly realized the mysterious “X substance” in Peaches of Immortality that tormented vampires was, in fact, vitality! The name alone suggested it conflicted with ghostly entities.

He took out a Peach of Immortality and carefully examined it. Previously, his low cultivation prevented any findings; now, however—

Unfortunately, after prolonged inspection, he still found nothing and sighed, storing the peach away. His cultivation was still too low. He resolved to try again upon reaching the Void Transformation stage.

The author added a note: a bug was fixed in the previous 149 chapters—Bai Wuhuo should not have accompanied Luo Li to the Defying Heaven Palace because he was sealed and unable to leave.

Thus concludes Chapter 150 of “Brotherhood Cultivation Chronicles”—the return to an old craft is complete!