Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)

“Those chosen by the heavens, individuals pampered and loved by the Heavenly Daos, embodiments of the ten thousand laws who rise up with destiny—these are the beings known as Heavenly Doyens. Every single Doyen is someone chosen by the heavens and enjoys exceptional blessings. Whether in terms of strength, comprehension, or talent, they stand as apex existences. However, this apex… it usually isn’t something you achieve by relying on yourself…” The Earth Cauldron suddenly paused for some reason.

“Not by relying on yourself? Then what does it rely on?” asked Long Chen in confusion.

“It relies on the accumulation of your ancestors or the favor of the Heavenly Daos. An explosion of luck can propel one into the ranks of Doyens. Take that Earth Spirit race girl for instance. The accumulated blessings spanning millions of years from the Earth Spirit race have been channeled into her, giving her the chance to become a Heavenly Doyen. Without that accumulation of luck from the Earth Spirit race, no matter how good her talent is, it would have been meaningless. Sometimes, there is no such thing as fairness when it comes to the Heavenly Daos,” explained the Earth Cauldron.

Long Chen was startled. For the Earth Cauldron to say this, didn’t that mean that becoming a Heavenly Doyen depended solely on the heavens?

If that was the case, there was no chance that he would become a Doyen. The heavens were always against him.

“Then let me ask you, if Heavenly Doyens represent the heavens, doesn’t that mean they guide the growth of the world?” inquired Long Chen.

“In theory, yes.”

Long Chen couldn’t help but press on. “But the Heavenly Daos are supposed to be a natural and autonomous cycle. If the Heavenly Daos are directed by others, can they still be considered the Heavenly Daos?”

“That’s a good question,” the Earth Cauldron commended Long Chen.

However, despite the commendation, Long Chen found himself waiting in vain for an answer. That left him a bit speechless. Just as he was about to press further, the Earth Cauldron spoke once more.

“Whether or not the Heavenly Daos remain true to their nature isn’t important. What matters is that you comprehend the essence of the Heavenly Daos.”

“Are you saying that the Heavenly Daos have changed?” asked Long Chen.

“I didn’t say anything.”

Long Chen was stunned. The Earth Cauldron was speaking vaguely, as if guiding him somewhere without saying it directly. Long Chen seemed to realize something yet also wasn’t sure what it was.

The Earth Cauldron didn’t elaborate further. Long Chen knew that it didn’t want to inflict him with great karma. In the previous heavenly tribulation, his accrued karma had been settled. However, if the Earth Cauldron disclosed too much information, Long Chen would just accumulate more karma, making his next heavenly tribulation even more terrifying.

Thinking of his last tribulation and how close he had been to death, Long Chen didn’t dare to pursue this topic anymore. He should rely on himself to comprehend certain things.

“Alright, no need to dwell on random thoughts. You still have a path ahead to tread. When the time is right, you will see what needs to be done. Let us keep refining pills. We have enough Sacred Light Pistils to refine nine furnaces of the Sacred Light Snow Lotus Pill. This pill is extremely important to us, so we should hurry up,” urged the Earth Cauldron.

Long Chen nodded and started to refine the Sacred Light Snow Lotus Pill together with the Earth Cauldron. With his prior experience, the process was way smoother. Furthermore, his augmented Spiritual Strength removed the necessity for any breaks, enabling them to finish the refinement in one go.

Furthermore, the disturbance inside the cauldron was stronger than last time. The Earth Cauldron explained that the interruptions during the previous session had impacted the pill’s spirituality. But this time, without the need for interruptions, more spirituality was locked in, and it enhanced the potency of the medicinal energy.

When this refinement was complete, the heavenly tribulation appeared once more. Similar to the previous occasion, Lei Linger charged up and was shattered nine times before reaching her limit.

On the other hand, Long Chen was almost killed in one blow yet again. The thunderforce was then sealed inside him, triggering another transformation.

This cycle repeated nine times, with Lei Linger progressing from withstanding nine attacks to enduring eighteen.

Yet, Long Chen showed no signs of improvement. He remained on the brink of death after a single attack, left battered and unconscious, incapable of resisting a second attack.

Through this process, his Spiritual Strength strengthened even further. It had expanded so vast that refining the Sacred Light Snow Lotus Pill posed no difficulty to him.

After nine refinements were complete, the Earth Cauldron’s aura had clearly strengthened. The process of refining the Sacred Light Snow Lotus Pill proved highly advantageous for it.

Long Chen now had eighty Sacred Light Snow Lotus Pills in his hand. Nevertheless, as per the Earth Cauldron’s guidance, he could only use them one by one and shouldn’t take out two at once.

The appearance of two pills simultaneously in this world, whether in a spiritual ring or another dimension, would inevitably lead to the destruction of one. The law dictated that no two peerless pills could coexist in this world. However, this restriction didn't apply within the primal chaos space.

Upon leaving the primal chaos space, however, they would be limited by this law. Thus, these eighty peerless-grade pills could only be left in the primal chaos space for now.

This refinement process took up a full month of Long Chen’s time, during which he made huge gains.

“I’m sorry, but I can no longer refine ordinary pills for you after today. It would just exhaust my energy for nothing. I can only assist you in refining pills on the Saint level from now on,” expressed the Earth Cauldron apologetically.

To be explicit, once the Earth Cauldron recovered to a certain realm, refining lower-tier medicinal pills would yield no benefits for the Earth Cauldron. It would merely deplete its energy for nothing.

“No need for apologies, senior. I won’t require your assistance for ordinary pills,” Long Chen immediately reassured.

In truth, Long Chen didn’t need to refine such pills, as Yu Qingxuan had plenty of pills that she refined herself.

Unfortunately, throughout this period, Long Chen failed to awaken the pill formula for the eighth star, and there was no indication of the eighth star's emergence. Instead of focusing on advancing his realm, Long Chen was spending his time searching for the cause, but thus far, he hadn't identified any reason for it.

Determined not to waste any more time on this matter, he shifted his focus to advancing his realm. The world had changed, and there was ample primal chaos qi around now. The human race’s cultivation speed had soared, and the difficulty of cultivation had dropped. With the help of medicinal pills, everyone’s cultivation speed was beyond imagination.

However, for most people, their cultivation progress could only be deemed above average, as they had to focus on constructing a robust foundation. Remarkably, the new generation of World Kings had the greatest cultivation speed. This new generation, risen after the gates to the other worlds opened, had already reached the great circle of the World King realm and were ready to become Venerates at any moment.

When the Earth Cauldron returned to Long Chen’s spiritual space, Long Chen checked the primal chaos space. The Thousand Leaf Sacred Light Snow Lotus had already regrown. However, without the addition of new corpses, its growth was extremely slow, and it had only given rise to sixty-four leaves, a great distance from a thousand leaves.

“I’ll eat one first and see the effect.”

Long Chen carefully took out a single Sacred Light Snow Lotus Pill. As he consumed it, it instantly melted in his stomach. The power contained in this tiny pill was beyond his imagination. A sea of power instantly permeated every corner of his being.

His blood, meridians, tendons, soul, and mind were all nourished. After this vast power unfurled in him, it then condensed in his chest. Following that, an uncontrollable force blasted toward his current bottleneck.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Three explosive sounds rang out. At that moment, Long Chen was completely stunned.