0389

Before bidding farewell to the Island Lord, Qin Ran made a request:

"I have always been fond of reading. Yesterday, while wandering around your residence, I noticed that you have an entire tower filled with books. You must be a book lover as well. Would you be so kind as to allow me the honor of visiting your library?"

The Island Lord, who needed a favor from him, naturally wouldn't refuse such a "small" request. He replied with a smile, "Those old books were bought to be read. If you're interested, I'll issue a verbal order right away."

It seemed Qin Ran could get a benefit without having to go out and scavenge. He bowed to the Island Lord and said, "Thank you, Island Lord."

Qin Ran was intensely curious about the Tianlan Sea Region, but he couldn't go around asking people. Thus, books would be his best teachers.

Now that he had the Island Lord's permission, he didn't go out or return to his lodgings. He did nothing else but went straight to the library.

The library was vast, occupying three floors in an imposing building. One could imagine the wealth of books it must contain.

However, there was an interesting point to note...

The Island Lord of Dragon Whale Island was merely a body cultivator. What is a body cultivator? A brute, nothing more!

Why would a brute build such a luxurious library? Of course, it was to affect an air of sophistication, to feign culture and refinement.

So in this spacious and luxurious library, as Qin Ran walked through, he didn't see a single person... at least not on the first floor.

He had entered from the first floor and searched for a while, finally finding a book at the end of a bookshelf that systematically explained the cultivation system of the Tianlan Sea Region.

He took it, squatted down by the bookshelf, opened it, and read carefully. Only then did he understand how the cultivation system of the Tianlan Sea Region worked.

The so-called body cultivators are practitioners who use breathing techniques to refine heavenly and earthly spiritual energy into their physical bodies. They purely enhance their physical form, believing in breaking through with sheer force.

Compared to the body cultivators of the Lingnan Region, regardless of their profession, all cultivators in the Lingnan Region essentially follow the path of Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Spirit Transformation, Dao Fusion, and Great Perfection. Even body cultivators need to form a Golden Core, though they focus more on using the Golden Core to refine their bodies... the Golden Core itself has the function of body refinement.

However, the body cultivators of the Tianlan Sea Region don't need to form a Golden Core or Nascent Soul. For them, the physical body is the Golden Core, and they just need to keep enhancing their physical form.

As for the so-called spirit cultivators, they are practitioners who fuse heavenly and earthly spiritual energy into their souls through visualization techniques. They purely enhance their souls to obtain the power of the primordial spirit.

Similarly, compared to the cultivators of the Lingnan Region, many professions like alchemists, array masters, and puppet masters greatly need primordial spirits, but they still essentially follow the Foundation Establishment and Golden Core system. They only obtain a primordial spirit when they reach the Spirit Transformation stage.

However, in the Tianlan Sea Region, spirit cultivators have primordial spirits from the first rank.

Seeing these two paths, Qin Ran quickly understood the difficulties involved.

Body cultivators, because they don't have a Golden Core, would be limited by lifespan; spirit cultivators, because they start with soul and primordial spirit cultivation right away, would inevitably be limited by talent.

He then thought of the nameless spirit cultivation mantra from Dan Peak... could it have been transmitted from the Tianlan Sea Region?

At the same time, he finally realized how much the nameless spirit cultivation mantra from Dan Peak had helped him. It allowed him to possess a primordial spirit early on... its effect was even greater than he had imagined.

Because he was both an alchemist and an array master, two professions that heavily rely on the primordial spirit.

The Qi cultivators of the Tianlan Sea Region were probably the most similar to the cultivators of the Lingnan Region. They don't fuse spiritual energy into their physical bodies or souls; instead, they directly absorb spiritual energy into their dantian.

Of course, there were differences, as they don't need to form a Golden Core. They only need to keep absorbing spiritual energy into their dantian.

For Qi cultivators in the Tianlan Sea Region, cultivation means accumulating spiritual energy to strengthen the dantian, and as the dantian expands, it can hold more spiritual energy. When the dantian reaches its limit, spiritual energy turns into spiritual liquid, and spiritual liquid turns into spiritual pills.

As he read on, Qin Ran suddenly realized...

This seemed to be the limit he had envisioned!

The limit of the Foundation Establishment stage!

If one reaches the limit of the Foundation Establishment stage without forming a Golden Core, they become a Qi cultivator; if one reaches the limit of the Golden Core stage (using the physical body as the Golden Core) without forming a Nascent Soul, they become a body cultivator; if one reaches the limit of the Nascent Soul stage and obtains a primordial spirit, they become a spirit cultivator.

The cultivation system of the Tianlan Sea Region gave Qin Ran a feeling that the cultivation system of the Lingnan Region seemed to have integrated the Tianlan Sea Region's system and advanced it further.

However, in some aspects, such as alchemy and arrays, it didn't seem to have advanced further. Because obtaining a primordial spirit earlier would allow one to go further in these paths... if one's talent was sufficient.

"To simplify cultivation, someone integrated the original cultivation systems and created a new one. In this process, some things had to be sacrificed," Qin Ran slowly came to this conclusion. "To accomplish such a world-shaking feat, it couldn't have been the work of just one person, but rather a group of people. It must have been a group effort to make cultivation simpler and more accessible, to allow more people to cultivate, to make the path of cultivation less difficult..."

"What a magnificent history that must have been," he couldn't help but marvel and sigh.

If Xuan Qin's avatar were here, he would have another perspective... because Emperor Zhao Zheng of Xuan Qin is currently working on establishing an immortal dynasty's cultivation system, aiming to advance cultivation further, making it simpler and more accessible.

To give cultivators rules and mortals dignity.

This world has never been one of raw meat and blood, of jungle law, of a dark forest. Humans have always been different from other species; there have always been people who care for the masses, who are willing to dedicate their lives for the weak.

People are different. There are those like Qin Ran who seek their own peace, and those like Zhao Zheng who work for the greater good; there are those like Jian Yuanjie who are selfish, and those like Lu Junxing who are generous and righteous...

Qin Ran closed the book, pushing the admiration and praise out of his mind. He put the book back on the shelf and got up to find more books to read.

He had already understood the cultivation system of the Tianlan Sea Region, so now he needed to learn about its power structures, geography, customs, and so on.

This would help him survive and develop in the Tianlan Sea Region.

Most importantly, he wanted the dragon blood in the possession of the Island Lord of Dragon Whale Island... He didn't have the ability to refine the Dragon Breath Pill, but he wanted the dragon blood.

In this short time, Qin Ran had actually made many plans, but most of them had been eliminated.

First, the option of forcefully taking it was definitely not feasible. Although he was confident in his ability to escape, it was just confidence, not arrogance. The task of stealing something from someone's lair and escaping unscathed would be incredibly difficult.

More importantly, based on his actual observations in Whale Fall City over the past few days, he had a feeling that although the cultivation system of the Tianlan Sea Region was behind that of the Lingnan Region, their alchemy and array techniques were more advanced than those of the Lingnan Region.

So, if he tried to take it by force, once the arrays on the island were activated, he probably wouldn't be able to break through them and would end up captured.

As for the option of deceiving... it was actually quite tempting to Qin Ran.

Because for an alchemist, refining pills depends on success rate, and it's not always successful. If he took the Island Lord's medicinal materials, used up the dragon blood, and then claimed the refinement failed, the success rate of this plan would be higher than forcefully taking it.

However, before doing this, there was an important thing to consider carefully. That is, why couldn't a second fourth-rank alchemist be found on the entire Dragon Whale Island?

It's worth noting that the alchemy of the Tianlan Sea Region was stronger than that of the Lingnan Region.

The answer could be that either many fourth-rank alchemists had already died trying to refine the Dragon Breath Pill, or other alchemists didn't dare to try, unable to bear the consequences of failure.

Otherwise, why would the Island Lord of Dragon Whale Island ask Qin Ran, a complete stranger, to refine such an important pill right away?

It certainly wasn't because Qin Ran had a more handsome face!

It was only because if Qin Ran failed in refining the pill and turned the materials containing dragon blood into ashes, it would be easier to deal with.

Underhanded methods were definitely not an option, so Qin Ran could only consider the proper way.

What was the proper way? It was to legitimately find a way to refine this Dragon Breath Pill that required a Spirit Transformation stage cultivator to create.

So he needed to think clearly about what he still lacked to refine such a pill.

He had the technique, the understanding, and even a divine spirit that ordinary cultivators lacked. What he was missing was only magical power... and dan water.

If he had dan water... if his true body were here, he could really give it a try.

But he was only an avatar. So he needed dan water, and preferably dan water imbued with spiritual energy.

Regarding dan water, besides alchemy, Qin Ran had another idea: since his entire body was made of water, what if he could find a special type of otherworldly water, and use it to form his physical body? Would his strength increase dramatically?

If his avatar could also cultivate and grow stronger through the divine spirit visualization diagram of the celestial sea realm... then wouldn't he, this avatar that originally couldn't cultivate and improve, be able to cultivate as well?!

With this in mind, Qin Ran spent seven or eight consecutive days reading books in the Island Lord's library. This not only gave him a general understanding of the celestial sea realm but also led him to discover a type of special water... or rather, divine water!

A divine water called Divine Essence Condensation!

Legend had it that 70,000 years ago, a legendary qi cultivator of ambiguous immortal or demonic nature emerged in the Tianlan Sea Region. He not only dominated the entire era of the Tianlan Sea Region but also ventured out of it, making a great name for himself in the central area of the celestial sea realm, the Seven Islands territory. What he relied on was precisely the Divine Essence Condensation!

According to the book, it was because of this figure that even now, the Seven Islands territory dared not encroach upon the Tianlan Sea Region.

Qin Ran was skeptical about this latter claim. Because if the Tianlan Sea Region was equivalent to the Immortal Remnant Lands, it would mean that an extraordinary genius from the Immortal Remnant Lands went to the Lingnan Immortal Sect and scared them off... it sounded like a tall tale, an exaggeration.

This legendary figure called himself the Divine Essence Demon Lord, and his last known appearance was when he returned to the Tianlan Sea Region to seclude himself for a breakthrough.

What level was he trying to break through? Nobody knew.

Did he succeed in his breakthrough? Nobody knew either.

In any case, he hadn't been seen for 70,000 years.

The book recorded that some said he was still in seclusion; some said he had already succeeded in his breakthrough and was now establishing a sect in the Seven Islands territory; of course, more people said he had already passed away.

After all...

According to another book, someone had already found his place of passing.

However, the fact that they found this place but didn't "borrow" his numerous treasures wasn't because the cultivators of the Tianlan Sea Region were all of high moral character and held great respect for this legendary figure, not wanting to disturb him. It was because he had sealed off his place of passing.

To this day, no one had broken his seal.

So, how does one break his seal and obtain his legacy?

Pills...

Because this legendary qi cultivator who possessed the Divine Essence Condensation was undoubtedly an alchemist.

To break his seal, one had to offer seven pills outside his seal. If the pills could resonate with the seal, it would open on its own. As for what kind of pills were needed? Nobody knew that either.

By doing so, one could obtain the Divine Essence Demon Lord's entire legacy and countless treasures.

"Hmm..." Looking at the records in the book, Qin Ran fell into deep thought again. He seemed to have fallen into a legendary logical loop:

"Sorry, our position requires work experience."

"How can I have work experience if I don't work?"

"Then go find a job!"

"Isn't that why I'm here looking for a job?"

"Sorry, our position requires work experience..."

He needed dan water to refine the Dragon Breath Pill, to find dan water he needed to break the Divine Essence Demon Lord's seal, to break the seal he needed to refine pills, and to refine pills he needed dan water...

Closing the book, Qin Ran looked out the window, narrowing his eyes. No matter what, he had to give it a try, whether it was dragon blood or Divine Essence Condensation.