Nine Star Hegemon Body Art (WN)

“The Ghost Sovereign? Why are you asking about him?” asked the sweeping elder, putting down his broom and looking at Long Chen.

Long Chen didn’t conceal anything. He told the elder about what had happened in the heavenly tribulation, as well as what had happened on the Ghost Ship.

The elder sank into thought. He said, “The Ghost Sovereign is the master of the Ghost Dao. He controls all the lives of the Ghost Dao and is also the strongest existence of the Ghost Dao. His origins have always been a mystery. Some people say that he is a lifeform from the primal chaos era who cultivated step by step to become the master of the Ghost Dao. Some say that he is the conglomerated resentment from lifeforms dying over trillions of years. He has longevity as long as heaven and earth, undying and indestructible.”

Long Chen jumped in shock. This was Long Chen’s first time hearing of such a terrifying existence. Someone from the primal chaos era? Undying and indestructible?

“Why would such a terrifying existence place a mark on me?” asked Long Chen.

“Because he previously encountered an existence even more terrifying than himself. In that battle, his physical body and soul were destroyed. Even as an undying, indestructible existence, he was badly wounded. For him to recover faster, his subordinates secretly pick out some powerful geniuses and place Ghost Sovereign marks on them. Once they grow up to a certain extent, they are devoured by their heart-devils and become puppets of the Ghost Sovereign. They then return to the ghost world and become a part of the Ghost Sovereign’s body. However, you are different. Other people have marks placed on them. But you were infected by karma which transformed into the Ghost Sovereign’s mark,” replied the elder.

“His body and soul were destroyed by an existence even more terrifying than him?” asked Long Chen, feeling shocked. What kind of existence could defeat the master of the Ghost Dao?

“You’re so smart. You should be able to guess,” said the elder with a smile.

Long Chen suddenly thought of it and held his breath. “Could it be…”

“This thing called karma can truly be marvelous sometimes. No one can say anything for sure about it. Although the Ghost Sovereign is said to possess an undying body, there are no absolutes. Back then, if the Nine Star Master had possessed a primal chaos item, the Ghost Sovereign would have been wiped out of existence. Within the nine heavens and ten lands, the only thing capable of killing him is the most primordial primal chaos energy of primal chaos divine items. The Nine Star Master wounded him, and ever since then, he hadn’t made a sound. But you, a nine star heir, ran into a Ghost Ship with his spiritual mark on it, resulting in a Ghost Sovereign mark condensing on you. But you don’t need to worry. Before reaching the World King realm, he won’t be able to notice you. There are truly many Ghost Sovereign marks. Unless he pulls in the net, you will be safe,” said the elder.

Only then did Long Chen learn just how terrifying an existence the master of the Nine Star Hegemon Body Art was. Even the master of the Ghost Dao was slain by him. Long Chen was unable to calm himself down for a long time.

“Senior, if the Nine Star Master was so powerful, why did he die?” asked Long Chen.

“That is something that you nine star heirs must comprehend on your own. All I can tell you is that the most dangerous existence in the world is the human heart.” The elder picked up his broom and continued sweeping.

Long Chen knew that the elder was done talking. Clearly, he still knew a great deal but was only able to say so much.

After cultivating to this point, Long Chen knew just how terrifying the thing called karma was. Everyone had to be cautious about it. If their mouths had no filter, it was all too easy to harm others. Even supreme experts had to be careful about it.

Only through this talk with the elder did Long Chen learn just how big this world was, and just how terrifying it was.

However, he was also uneasy. The Nine Star Master was almost capable of ending the Ghost Sovereign. But his cultivation technique had now been changed by him, and his progress was slow. Still, he could only rely on himself to bring it forward. There was no way to describe just how much pressure he was under now.

At the same time, the little bits of information in his mind combined with the tiny clues he had gathered told him that his future path would not be an easy one.

However, this immense pressure also stimulated him. He felt a powerful drive.

“Born as an ant, longing to be a swan. One’s life is as thin as paper, but one should not yield. My life will be controlled by me. I will walk my own path.” Long Chen clenched his fists. He knew that he had been drawn into an unimaginable vortex. He was currently getting closer and closer to the heart of that vortex.

He still had time to get stronger, so he would accumulate more trump cards to face the challenges of the future.

Back in the seventh branch academy, other than Bai Shishi, everyone else was in slumber. Meanwhile, the Elders of the academy were busy at work, constantly feeding the unconscious disciples medicine to nourish their souls.

Many people had been pushed to the very limit of their physical bodies. Although it was still within the limit of their physical bodies, their souls had not been able to endure that pain, and there were signs that some might grow insane.

Fortunately, the Soul Calming Elixir could nourish their souls while they slept. Those Elders also used soul arts to let them enter the land of dreams, calming their souls to avoid a heart-devil appearing.

As for Long Chen, he returned to his room and then took out a five-colored seed of the Devil Eye Water Lily. This was a fourth tier Devil Eye Water Lily, one that was in the same realm as him.

Taking out the pill furnace, he carefully refined the seed into medicinal powder. However, he didn’t use the Demon Moon Furnace. Instead, he used the Moon and Star Refining Furnace because it had more experience with refining pills. It was more reliable and had a lower chance of failure.

This time, he was going to refine the Violet Tower Pills. Just the cost of the ingredients was enough to buy a whole city. There were certain ingredients that came from demonic beasts, spirit beasts, and other non-plant ingredients that he couldn’t grow. Thus, he couldn’t waste any attempts at refining them like before.

Eye of the devil dragon, fang of the blood bat, gall of the deep sea serpent, essence blood of the violet sable… One medicinal ingredient after another was refined into powder. Long Chen was completely focused, not daring to be the slightest bit careless.

Just purifying the medicinal ingredients took a full day. Due to his intense concentration, he rested for two hours before starting to refine the pill.

The five-colored powder of the Devil Eye Water Lily seed was the first to enter the pill furnace. It was the main ingredient. All other ingredients were controlled by it.

When the flame ignited, one powder after another entered. A rainbow mist then appeared within the pill furnace. At the same time, the runes on the pill furnace automatically lit up.

“What terrifying power. The pill furnace’s self-preservation runes have been forced to activate.” Long Chen’s heart shook. The pill furnace had actually reacted to the refinement and automatically activated its defenses.

The rainbow light began to grow turbulent as more medicinal powders entered. It began to crash against the pill furnace.

Fortunately, this was no ordinary pill furnace but a Daynight Furnace. If it was the old King item pill furnace, Long Chen might have needed to give up.

This was only the start, but it was already causing such a phenomenon. If the pill furnace wasn’t strong enough, it would not be able to endure.

Close to a thousand ingredients entered the pill furnace, and five-colored light shone brightly. It created a current that crashed against the pill furnace like a surging dragon.

“Now I have something to play with.” Sensing that immense power in the pill furnace, at the same time as he tensed up, Long Chen also grew increasingly excited.