Longevity starts with choosing Hextech enhancement

Chapter 274 The Parchment Scroll: Entering the New Ruins
"Forget it, why think about those things?"

Xiao Chen put away the spirit pearls and turned his gaze to the four spirit-gathering treasure boxes in front of him: "How about a thrilling box-opening game?"

"Let me see, which one should we open first?"

In fact, from the outside, there is no difference at all.

So Xiao Chen picked up a Spirit-Nourishing Treasure Box based on his intuition and opened it to take a look.

Inside the box was a small triangular flag, which looked exquisitely crafted with orderly patterns.

"Huh? Why would you put something like this in a Spirit Gathering Box?"

Xiao Chen couldn't help but wonder, "Is it necessary?"

Battle flags are actually not that easy to break.

Although it's not as sturdy as a magical artifact, it's definitely not the kind of fragile item that would be damaged by a slight bump.

"Hmm~, next one."

Since he couldn't figure out what the item was for, Xiao Chen chose to skip it.

He opened the second Spirit-Nourishing Treasure Box directly.

The box contained a small, pure white jade bottle.

"Why does this pill look so familiar?"

Xiao Chen uncorked the bottle and looked inside: "This is... the Yuanqing Longevity Pill!"

He carefully recalled the previous Tingtaohai auction and immediately remembered this special fourth-tier spiritual herb.

Unexpectedly, after many twists and turns, this pill ended up in his hands.

Unfortunately, he didn't really need such a thing.

If Xiao Chen had obtained this elixir earlier, he would most likely have chosen to exchange it for spirit stones.

After all, there's still a million-dollar bounty hanging in Cangming Market.

But now, of course, it's impossible to use it to prolong that old dog's life.

The jade bottle was resealed and placed back into the box.

Xiao Chen threw the entire Spirit-Nourishing Treasure Box into the bottom of the Vast Ocean Ring to gather dust.

This thing won't be taken out again until he breaks through to the Nascent Soul stage and takes his revenge.

Then there's the third Spirit-Nourishing Treasure Box.

Inside was a whole strip of pale yellow silk, folded up, which was ten feet long and six feet wide when unfolded.

Upon closer inspection, a battle formation diagram was found to be embroidered on the front.

"Wow! What a complex formation!"

Xiao Chen had some basic knowledge of array formations, but looking at this array diagram was like reading a book written in a foreign language.

The sheer number of colorful, densely packed lines on it dazzled him.

If I'm not mistaken, this must be at least a fourth-order formation diagram.

After searching along the embroidery, I finally found a row of small vertical characters at the very bottom right corner.

The Six Extremes Control Waves Dividing and Returning Spirit Array.

"Oh, I see, so those six spirit orbs were meant for this purpose!"

Just from the name, Xiao Chen immediately thought of the six spirit orbs from before.

He looked at the array diagram again and found exactly six array bases, no more and no less.

Of course, these two things alone are clearly not enough.

"Could it be that the last box contains the matching battle flags?"

Xiao Chen picked up the fourth Spirit-Nourishing Treasure Box and opened the lid directly.

Surprisingly, the treasure box contained a slightly larger lotus-shaped jade bottle.

"Isn't this right?"

Xiao Chen couldn't understand at first. Why did they have the array diagram and core spiritual materials but not the array flags?

The small array flag alone was not enough to control such a complex array.

However, he quickly realized that the other party was different from him, and there were likely other accomplices in charge of the remaining parts.

"Then what is this thing?"

Xiao Chen picked up the lotus-shaped jade bottle and gently pulled out the stopper.

Immediately, a bewitching purple aura surged from the bottle.

At the same time, a wave of spiritual energy rushed straight to the person's face.

Looking inside, one could see a half-full bottle of a special spiritual liquid that appeared slightly viscous, with tiny, bright purple specks floating on its surface, while the rest of the liquid was as deep and dark as the night sky.

In an instant, five large characters suddenly appeared in Xiao Chen's mind—"Purple Fire Refines the Essence!"

Several years ago, he had seen an illustration of this thing in his memoir, "Treasures Seen in the Eastern Regions".

I never expected to find the actual product here.

The function of this thing is quite simple: it uses fierce purple flames to refine the cultivator's true essence.

Then it plays a role similar to purification or 'dehydration'.

In short, it can help cultivators effectively improve the quality of their true essence, enhance the power of their spells, and slightly increase the success rate when breaking through bottlenecks.

It's somewhat similar to increasing the total amount of Qi and blood to help break through bottlenecks.

Of course, for cultivators of magic, the effect of the quality of true essence is relatively limited.

"This is a real gem! This half-bottle is probably worth at least several bottles of Nine Luminaries Mystic Pills."

Xiao Chen was quite optimistic, after all, this was a fourth-tier spiritual marrow, something usually reserved for Nascent Soul True Monarchs.

Giving this to a Golden Core cultivator would definitely yield twice the result with half the effort.

For him, this was far more useful than any battle flags; it was a completely unexpected delight.

The only problem is that this process of refining true essence may take some time.

Considering that the new ruins are about to open, he probably won't have time to use them now and will have to wait until they're released.

Replace the stopper and store the Purple Flame Refining Essence.

Xiao Chen picked up the two parchment scrolls and opened them one after the other.

The first one is only one foot long and six inches wide, yet it depicts a simple map of the Merciful Sea.

Because such a large area had to be drawn on such a small nautical chart, the markings on it were very rudimentary.

It merely pointed out the locations of a few major powers' strongholds.

However, Xiao Chen noticed that there were three different monsters drawn on the edge of the nautical chart.

These are the scallops located on the north side of the Sea of ​​Compassion, the octopus on the south side, and the nautilus on the east side.

Not only that, but three dotted lines were also marked in red on the map.

It connects to the three-headed demon beast on one side and to Pudu Temple, which occupies the most central position in the Sea of ​​Compassion, on the other.

"There's another giant sea monster?"

Xiao Chen looked at the nautilus image on the right with some surprise.

However, he had just seen a giant octopus with his own eyes, which means that the credibility of this nautical chart should be very high.

"What's going on? The three great beasts are besieging Pudu Temple?"

Xiao Chen recalled the direction the octopus had moved, and it was indeed generally in line with the red dotted line.

If the route isn't changed due to other factors, you might actually pass by Pudu Temple.

"Where did this nautical chart come from? How could it predict the movement of giant sea monsters in advance?"

However, Xiao Chen thought again that the possibility seemed unlikely.

After all, taking that giant octopus as an example, it had to pass through the Listening Waves Sea first in order to reach the center of the Compassion Sea.

Yuntao Sword Pavilion will definitely react accordingly at that time.

They will likely organize an encirclement and attack, or try to change its direction of movement in advance, forcing it back into the open sea.

"Those things are not my concern."

Xiao Chen looked at the path outlined by the red dotted line again: "It's best to avoid these places from now on."

For him, the purpose of this nautical chart was to know the route in advance, thereby avoiding danger.

Well, if that's the case...

Could it be that the bronze-masked monk was able to obtain this sea chart in order to avoid danger in advance?
"And what is this one?"

Xiao Chen picked up another parchment scroll and unfolded it.

This one is slightly larger than the previous one, and it looks very similar to the ancient sea map that the Sun family used to help guide them.

Aside from black and white, there are almost no other colors; only a red circle marks the location of an ancient cave.

It looks like one of those 'ancient' treasure maps that's worth a hundred spirit stones at a street stall, with a buy-one-get-one-free offer.

The key point is that, judging from the materials, this thing is actually quite new.

Although Xiao Chen wasn't very professional in this area, his experience allowed him to easily determine that this was definitely a new sheepskin from the last few years.

"It doesn't seem very reliable. If I have time later, I'll try to take a look."

Xiao Chen put away the parchment scroll and then picked up the last letter.

The wording in this letter is strange; it seems to be a superior instructing and urging his subordinates.

The cultivator named 'Copper King' was instructed to quickly take the Forbidden Flag to the Earth Dragon Ruins, retrieve the items left inside, and deliver them to Golden Phoenix.

"The Earth Dragon Ruins?"

Xiao Chen could easily guess that the so-called 'Bronze King' was the cultivator with the bronze mask.

Could this earth dragon site be the cave mentioned on the parchment scroll?

"Hiss~, could I have already gotten involved in some kind of conspiracy?"

Xiao Chen had a bad feeling.

That copper-clad guy was hiding his true colors; he was clearly no good.

If he really did go to that cave, or rather, the earth dragon ruins, as recorded in the parchment scroll.

Then you might encounter that 'Golden Phoenix' or some other cultivator.

Then, inevitably, they were drawn into a series of extremely complex and thrilling events.

"Hmm... then let's not go for now, we'll talk about it after we reach the Nascent Soul stage."

Xiao Chen unleashed a burst of spiritual fire, burning the letter.

Regardless of whether there were any conspiracies or schemes involved, he planned to postpone it until after he reached the Nascent Soul stage.

With enough power, one will naturally have no fear of any villains.

No matter how brilliant the plan, it is powerless in the face of absolute power.

"Hopefully, we can find the Nine-Aperture Jade in the new ruins."

After tidying up his storage ring, Xiao Chen lay down on the large bed in the inn and fell asleep with high hopes: "Hmm, it would be best if there were two more streams of evil energy."

I slept until I naturally woke up, and it was only early morning, around 7 a.m.

Once you reach the late stage of the Golden Core realm, simply restoring your energy no longer requires much time.

Unless it's a situation where one's spiritual energy is excessively depleted, a short rest of one or two hours is enough to refresh one's spirit.

Now that he was awake, Xiao Chen decided to go to the outer perimeter of the ruins to wait.

As he stepped out of the inn, he ran into three acquaintances.

It was the Sun siblings I had met before.

I didn't expect them to come too.

That makes sense; other reclusive families would naturally not miss such a major event.

Moreover, they were accompanied by several clansmen, who were standing together at the street corner, seemingly waiting for someone.

"Big brother, look! It's... um...."

When Sun Haoze saw Xiao Chen, his eyes lit up, and he turned around and pulled Sun Haoran to remind him.

He was silenced before he could finish speaking.

"What's wrong with you so early in the morning!"

Sun Haoran glared at him, his eyes filled with warning. He had also seen Xiao Chen and was somewhat surprised.

However, Sun Haoran was unaware that the Wang family had already obtained intelligence from the black market.

Therefore, he remembered his previous promise to keep it a secret and did not intend to go over to say hello. He even reached out and covered Sun Haoze's mouth before he could shout.

Although he was surrounded by members of the Sun family or a few reliable retainers.

However, it's best if as few people as possible know about this.

Sun Haoqi was relatively less reckless, only glancing at Xiao Chen twice.

After they parted ways last time, she would often think of that white figure who came under the moon and saved the three of them in her spare time.

Noticing that the other person was looking over, he quickly lowered his head and avoided their gaze.

Don't dare to look at him.

Seeing Sun Haoran pull Sun Haoze back, Xiao Chen silently gave him a thumbs up.

He then turned and left, going directly to wait on the sea more than 1,300 miles away.

This distance wasn't far for him, but it wasn't close for many ordinary cultivators, especially Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Therefore, along the way, he also saw many monks who were making their way ahead of time.

Some cultivators even arrived a day early, using the wooden planks they carried with them as temporary shelters.

Normally, it would be very dangerous to stay on the sea surface with just a piece of wood like this.

But as the saying goes, it's good to have a big tree to lean on for shade.

These cultivators cleverly spent the night near the spirit ships that the major powers had arrived in advance, and naturally, they were safe and sound, with no spirit fish daring to approach.

"Good heavens, so many spirit ships!"

Looking around, Xiao Chen saw that there were fourteen large spirit ships and more than twenty small spirit boats moored there.

The Buddhist and Taoist sects are respectively concentrated in two locations, presenting two huge fan shapes.

The independent cultivators, however, were almost all concentrated on the Buddhist side, with some even leaning their wooden planks against the edge of the spirit ship, yet no one reprimanded them.

Xiao Chen naturally didn't need to borrow the tiger's power.

He took out a piece of spirit wood from his storage ring and threw it down. He then sat cross-legged on the spirit wood and waited for the ruins to open.

As time went by, more and more monks arrived here.

The surroundings gradually became lively and even noisy.

After all, opportunities for all the major forces to gather together are actually quite rare.

Many cultivators were discussing the rumors they had heard, and the appearance of some famous cultivators caused quite a stir.

Among them, quite a few people were naturally talking about the recent widely discussed "Eight Directions Arena" incident.

After all, this is one of the biggest events in the entire Compassion Ocean since the Lunar New Year this year.

"Look, that's Xiao Chen!"

"He looks so young, is he really as amazing as you say?"

"Of course it's true. Among the younger generation in the Compassionate Sea, Fellow Daoist Xiao is the strongest right now."

……

"Tell me, if Fellow Daoist Xiao were to compare himself to Arhat Fazhao, who would be more powerful?"

"This... should be about the same, right?"

"I think Fazhao Luohan is more powerful, after all, he is a high monk of Pudu Temple."

"That's not necessarily true. I feel that Fellow Daoist Xiao is definitely superior."

……

Most of the cultivators who had been to the Eight Directions Arena or had received definite news about it were praising Xiao Chen.

However, most of the local monks in the southeast corner, or some isolated rogue monks, were discussing the Arhats led by Pudu Temple.

Objectively speaking, the Buddhist concept of compassion has the upper hand.

Even inside the spirit boat at Pudu Temple, many monks or arhats were discussing similar topics.

Because they had seen the memorial stone from the challenge, several of them praised Xiao Chen.

However, he was refuted by the others around him, who either sincerely or insincerely praised him, and insisted that their senior brother was the strongest.

Arhat Fazhao paid no attention to their discussion.

He looked through the window at Xiao Chen, who was meditating on the spirit tree, and it had been an hour.

He then sighed inwardly, ending the increasingly heated debate: "Alright, let's stop arguing."

He reached out and knocked on the window: "Fellow disciples, come and see, this Benefactor Xiao has the heart of a meditator!"

“In this respect alone, I am far inferior to him.”

Of course, as the foremost figure in Buddhism in the eyes of many, Arhat Fazhao particularly emphasized the point of focusing solely on the mind and nature.

Regarding the matter of combat, he did not believe he was inferior to others even though he had never personally sparred with them.

The monks, curious, took turns looking through the window.

Then it was noticed that in the much noisier environment outside, Xiao Chen was focused on his cultivation, completely undisturbed.

"With the ruins and opportunities at hand, he was able to cast aside distractions; I am far inferior to him."

Another Arhat noticed this and also sighed.

He asked himself if he could calm down, as he was feeling nervous and somewhat expectant.

The other monks also fell silent.

Buddhism places even greater emphasis on meditation, with practitioners spending most of their time in quiet rooms practicing Zen.

Therefore, they understand even more how rare it is to be able to enter a meditative state in such an environment.

I couldn't help but feel a sense of admiration and envy.

Soon, as the sun dipped below the horizon to the west, it cast a beautiful orange glow over the sea.

Various colored lights were also lit in advance, illuminating the entire perimeter of the ruins in a dazzling array of colors.

Xiao Chen also ended his meditation at the right time, stood up and stretched his limbs a little before entering the ruins.

Only then did he notice that, due to the gathering of nearly ten thousand cultivators on the sea, the wooden planks in many places were intertwined, making the area appear extremely crowded.

However, there are about ten places where large circles, each several tens of feet in diameter, remain empty.

Many monks preferred to travel further or stay in one place rather than go to those places.

Take a closer look.

It turned out that in each of those large circles, there was a tall, burly cultivator with exceptionally abundant vital energy.

Even from hundreds of feet away, Xiao Chen could sense the potential explosive power in their thick arms or their ten-foot-tall figures.

No wonder ordinary cultivators dared not go over and intentionally maintained a safe distance.

The fearsome reputation of body cultivators in close-range attacks is well-known, and we must be wary of them.

Incidentally, everyone around Xiao Chen consciously kept a distance of more than ninety feet.

This was because he had been meditating and cultivating beforehand.

Upon seeing him stand up, several cultivators distanced themselves from him once again.

Xiao Chen didn't care about the wariness of others; he was just a little curious that there seemed to be quite a lot of body cultivators in the southeast of the Compassionate Sea.

Because body refinement often requires more cultivation resources.

Under normal circumstances, it is rare to see so many body cultivators with abundant Qi and blood among independent practitioners.

"Could it be because of the overabundance of sea fish on the east side?"

Xiao Chen had previously heard rumors on Red Flower Island that the price of sea fish meat on the east side had dropped significantly.

In fact, if the number of Golden Core Sea Fish continues to increase in the future, it will be a great benefit to the path of body refinement.

As long as the cost of cultivation can be reduced, the path of body refinement should be able to flourish rapidly.

"Unfortunately, the Golden Elixir Sea Fish has almost no effect on me anymore."

Xiao Chen shook his head: "It would be great if a large batch of Nascent Soul Sea Fish could come."

Of course not now.

It's best to wait until he reaches the Nascent Soul stage.

Otherwise, even if they come, they might not be able to win, which would be counterproductive.

"Boom~!"

Suddenly, a loud bang came from beneath the sea.

Immediately afterwards, a series of loud noises accompanied by violent tremors occurred.

The seawater within a radius of a hundred miles seemed to boil instantly, with towering waves dozens of feet high rising up and crashing against each other, creating even larger splashes.

The cultivators present quickly took to the air to increase their distance and avoid this sudden change.

Apart from a few Foundation Establishment cultivators who were somewhat disheveled, there were no casualties.

However, in the next moment, nine whirlpools suddenly appeared on the sea surface.

Eight large vortexes were arranged in an octagonal pattern, surrounding the smallest vortex in the center, radiating a strong attraction.

A large amount of seawater was instantly swallowed up, along with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth within a radius of thousands of miles, which was rapidly drained away.

The rapid extraction even created a strong flow of spiritual energy.

Many cultivators swayed as if they were about to be pulled into the vortex.

"what!"

One of the lowest-level Foundation Establishment cultivators was the first to give in, letting out a scream as he fell to the ground.

This seemed to be just the beginning, as the suction continued to increase and become stronger.

More cultivators couldn't hold on and were pulled down.

Given this situation, it's estimated that none of the Foundation Establishment cultivators present will survive in less than half an hour.

Fortunately, this incident only lasted a moment before it stopped.

As if it had just replenished enough spiritual energy, the seabed was once again tremoring several times more violently.

This time, the impact was much greater, with the sea surface surging for a radius of three hundred miles.

Immediately afterwards, right where the giant vortex had just appeared, eight deep blue beams of light shot into the sky, piercing straight into the clouds.

Each beam of light was ten feet thick, its radiant light almost turning the entire world blue.

"Wow!"

In the very center, there appeared a fountain that was over ten feet high.

Large amounts of seawater, including fish and shrimp, were thrown out.

Even those Foundation Establishment cultivators who had just been sucked in were thrown out as well.

Unfortunately, their robes and flying swords had dimmed and lost all their luster.

Even the spiritual energy within his body had vanished completely, making him look as if he had been drained dry.

In other words, there are actually no traps in the new ruins.

It was simply an accidental injury that occurred during the process of extracting spiritual energy.

"Whoosh!"

Seeing that the pillar of light seemed to have stabilized, a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator actually rushed in.

He was completely unaffected by those rogue cultivators and decisively chose to take a gamble, trying to gain the upper hand.

After all, in a real battle of magic or a contest of treasure-hunting skills, he simply couldn't compete with the disciples of powerful factions.

This is the only one we can fight for.

Fortunately, he won his gamble.

With a burst of light blue light, his figure vanished instantly, having been teleported into the ruins.

Seeing this, the other cultivators dared not hesitate any longer.

They all rushed forward eagerly.

Xiao Chen, however, was not in a hurry. Instead, like the disciples of the other major powers, he paused and watched for a moment.

After the other cultivators confirmed that it was safe, he calmly chose one of the beams of light and flew into it.

(End of this chapter)