Chapter 57: Bad Things

With the discovery of the Millennium Iceberg Snow Lotus, Long Xuan immediately decided to return and establish his own medicinal garden as quickly as possible. The spiritual bees required a large quantity of floral spiritual herbs, and he could no longer rely on others' gardens.

This matter could not be delayed any longer. He initially planned to use the Eye of Heavenly secret to draw small formation patterns. On the same area of the formation plate, he could draw a hundred times more patterns than others.

By then, he would develop a new school of formations, becoming the founder of this school in future historical records.

The formation books he traded from Di Xin had already been read by his clone, and the memories had been assimilated into him.

However, he had too many tasks at hand, and creating his own formations was not an easy task. It would require a significant amount of his time, and he had to prioritize.

Now that he was about to transplant the Millennium Iceberg Snow Lotus, he didn’t have the time to research formations. So he decided to use the formations he had seized from Master Jin temporarily.

The formation materials from the previous battle were not significantly damaged, so he decided to use the existing ones for now.

Moreover, the formations set up by Di Xin were not simple and were more than enough to keep the marrow cleansing Gu practitioners at bay. Without such power, how could Master Jin dare to make a home in the wilderness? With the wealth of a weapon refining master, wouldn't he be seen as a walking fat sheep by others?

After warming himself by the fire and replenishing his strength with food, he picked up a piece of wood from the fire, fashioned a simple torch, and walked deeper into the cave.

He hadn’t forgotten his primary task. He needed to bury the Millennium Cold Ice Essence in a place suitable for its growth. After it transformed into the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Ice Essence, he would dig it out again.

From his observations, this place was rich in spiritual energy and had good geomantic trends. With his rudimentary knowledge of Feng Shui, he felt that this was a suitable place for the Millennium Cold Ice Essence to grow, so he decided to bury the ice marrow essence deep in the cave, waiting at the cave entrance.

The cave was narrow and long, and he finally reached the end just as the torch was about to burn out.

However, a deep pit had been dug out of the stone wall at the end, with traces clearly showing that it was man-made and not long ago.

The pit emitted an eerie cold air, similar to the aura of the Millennium Cold Ice Essence.

Long Xuan was stunned. Could Master Jin have dug out the Millennium Cold Ice Essence here? Could it be such a coincidence?

He was dumbfounded. It turned out that he had unintentionally found the original location of the Millennium Cold Ice Essence.

“Good! Good! I want to see what the Divine Ice Flame refined from the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Ice Essence will look like. All clones, prepare the materials immediately...”

Under Long Xuan’s command, another ten days passed quickly.

Refining the Divine Ice Flame was not like refining a Gu; it didn’t take too long.

On the day the Divine Ice Flame emerged, a blue-ice flame descended out of nowhere in the middle of the cave, burning fiercely and releasing devastatingly cold air. The cave’s temperature plummeted, ice formed on the ground and stone walls, and the entire mountain seemed to tremble.

Long Xuan was nearly frozen to death by the intense cold air and had to stay far away, not daring to get close. He didn’t have time to admire it carefully and immediately ordered the Fire Clone to refine the Divine Ice Flame.

It's well known that swallowing flames is highly risky. How could a flesh and blood body swallow flames? Most people would end up being devoured by the flames, with successful ones being a minority.

However, Long Xuan was clever. Instead of refining the flame himself, he let the Fire Clone do it.

All the cultivation achievements of the clone could be returned to the main body. If the clone successfully refined the flame, it would be equivalent to Long Xuan successfully refining it.

Even if the clone failed and died, it was just a clone. The main body wouldn’t be affected. If successful, he could enjoy the fruits without any effort—simply perfect.

Clearly, luck was not on his side. When the Fire Clone swallowed the Divine Ice Flame, its body immediately froze, turning stiff, and its life force quickly drained away. It wouldn’t last long before it perished.

The crucial part was that Long Xuan couldn't see the progress of the flame refining, indicating that failure was imminent.

It was also Long Xuan’s fault. The formula required the Millennium Cold Ice Essence. If he had used the Millennium Cold Ice Marrow as required, with four clones and four chances, his success rate would have been high.

But he chose to substitute the Millennium Cold Ice Essence with the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Ice Essence. Although there was only a one-word difference, the gap was as vast as heaven and earth.

The flame refined from the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Ice Essence was not simple. Its power increased exponentially, becoming as formidable as divine might. How could a mere Spirit Gathering Gu cultivator dare to swallow it?

Things taken to the extreme backfires; creating something too powerful can also backfire.