Chapter 823: Refining Monster Cores

Fully recovering from his injuries, Jian Chen pulled out a set of clean clothes from his Space Ring and put them on. He did not go anywhere, sitting back down on the ground and slowly closed his eyes. He waited silently for dawn, as as he always remained vigilant of any activity in the surroundings.

Originally, he wanted to return and rendezvous with the Heavenly Enchantress. But travelling in the night in the Fantasy Star Ocean truly was a bad idea, and the Heavenly Enchantress probably had probably left the region before long ago. It would be extremely difficult to search for her with a limited range of only a few hundred meters.

“I wonder if I can absorb some energy from the monster cores and recover some Chaotic Force here.” Jian Chen thought. Immediately, he pulled out two Class 6 Monster Cores from his Space Ring and held them each in one hand. He awakened the sword spirits from their slumber in his mind at the same time, to get them to help out on the side as he refined the monster cores into Chaotic Force.

The sword spirits discovered the difference of the surroundings as soon as they were awakened. Both of them appeared outside simultaneously and stared around the surroundings in shock. Light in their eyes flickered uneasily.

“Zi Ying, Qing Suo, please help me refine Chaotic Force.” Jian Chen said to the two of them.

They did not seem to hear what Jian Chen said, constantly examining the surroundings as doubt flickered through their eyes.

Jian Chen raised his head doubtfully as he did not get a reply, to look at the sword spirits above him. He could not help but feel slightly perturbed after seeing their expressions. He asked, “Zi Ying, Qing Suo, perhaps you’ve discovered something?”

Jian Chen did not get a reply instantly. Only after a solid moment did Zi Ying’s voice appear in his head, “Master, where is this place?”

“This is the Fantasy Star Ocean…” Jian Chen completely explained all he knew to the sword spirits.

Slivers of doubt appeared on both their faces after listening to Jian Chen’s explanation. Zi Ying then looked towards Qing Suo and asked, “Zi Ying, do you feel it too?”

Qing Suo nodded, “I can vaguely feel a sliver of extremely familiar energy.”

“I feel it too, but it’s very faint, so I’m not certain just what power it is.” Zi Ying said gruffly.

Listening to their conversation, Jian Chen also experienced a wave of doubt. He asked out of curiousity, “Zi Ying, Qing Suo, what energy do you feel? Perhaps there’s something you two are familiar with in the Fantasy Star Ocean?”

“Master, the energy is extremely thin. We only sense a sliver of familiarity, so we can’t confirm just what it is.” Zi Ying looked at the sky as he spoke, “This region of space is filled with an odd energy, as if its formed its own domain. It greatly differs from outside and has already created its own laws.

“Created its own laws.” Jian Chen suddenly understood something. No wonder his Saint Ruler abilities were suppressed here and his sensory perceptions were lowered. The laws of this region of space greatly differed from outside. It had already become its own, independent domain.

“Master, you need to be extra-careful here. I sense several powerful presences. They’re not things that you can handle.” Qing Suo warned with concern, before assisting Jian Chen to refine Chaotic Energy after crossing her legs above Jian Chen.

The two Class 6 Monster Cores were refined by the sword spirits very quickly, turning into a tiny, almost a negligible amount of Chaotic Force which entered Jian Chen.

Jian Chen knew that a single strand of Chaotic Force required vast amounts of energy to be refined. The energy in the two Class 6 Monster Cores was not even enough to refine a tenth of a strand. Class 6 Monster Cores might have only been one class below Class 7, but the disparity of purity was worlds apart.

Jian Chen absorbed the small sliver of Chaotic Force refined from the Class 6 Monster cores. Afterwards, a large pile of monster cores immediately appeared before him with a wave of his hand. Most of them were Class 5, but there were also plenty of Class 6 Monster Cores.

These monster cores were all obtained from the Space Rings of those he had killed; included inside was the collections of the Sect of Dragon and Tiger Saint Ruler and the two ancestors of the Hongfu clan. He had given a lot of them to the Flame Mercenaries and his group of companions before he left, but there were still plenty of high class monster cores left.

“Zi Ying, Qing Suo, refine all these monster cores,” said Jian Chen. He could not afford to care for the consumption of monster cores right now; recovering his Chaotic Force was crucial. Otherwise, he would not even have the ability to protect himself in the Fantasy Star Ocean, much less enter its depths for stardust and Dragon’s Saliva.

Zi Ying glanced at the pile of monster cores in front of Jian Chen, “The energies in these monster cores may not be as much as Ruler Armaments, but there’s a large quantity. We should be able to produce a few strands if we refine all of them.” Zi Ying waved his hand as he spoke, causing all the monster cores to levitate. He began the refining process.

Jian Chen did not just sit around. He assisted the sword spirits in refining the energy of the monster cores, converting the Chaotic Force into his own energy at the same time through the secret technique recorded in the Azulet Sword Law.

This persisted for a large majority of the night. The great pile of monster cores was finally all refined, but it had only produced twelve strands of Chaotic Force despite so many refined. All it did was increase the chaotic neidan to the size of a soybean.

“Looks like I’d need extremely vast amounts of energy if I want to turn the chaotic neidan back to the size it was before. Even if I add in all the monster cores I have on me, it’s far from enough,” thought Jian Chen. Jian Chen frowned in worry. Right now, his Chaotic Force was only on the first layer, yet it was already so hard to increase—wouldn’t recovering the loss of Chaotic Force become even more difficult when he reached the second layer or even the third layer, and layers beyond that?

Jian Chen slowly opened his eyes. He murmured softly, “Energy, energy, I need vast quantities of energy. It’s just a pity that the energy of the world here is thick but the purity is just horrible. If I want to replenish it through absorbing energy of the world, it’ll take even longer. I don’t have that much time to wait around,” Jian Chen sighed gently. Ever since he obtained the Chaotic Body, he was always troubled with the need of huge quantities of energy.

Perfect things did not exist in the world; if there were benefits, there would also be drawbacks. The strength of Chaotic Force was undisputable, but training the Chaotic Body required far more energy than what normal cultivators needed. That was the only disadvantage of the Chaotic Body.

Suddenly, Jian Chen’s expression changed. He stood up from the ground, narrowing his eyes at distance.

Zi Ying and Qing Suo also looked towards the distance together. Caution flickered in their eyes as they said, “Master, there’s people coming. You can’t stay here for long.”

Several powerful presences appeared faraway as soon as they finished what they said, quickly approaching the area.

“Zi Ying, Qing Suo, you two return first. I’ll leave this place immediately.” Jian Chen growled. He carefully hid his presence without any hesitation and walked off silently. He disappeared into the dark night in the blink of an eye.

Not long afterwards, several Saint Ruler living corpses flew over from the distance. They all stopped where Jian Chen was, mindlessly strolling around and did not disperse even after a very long time.

Jian Chen’s figure appeared silently several hundred meters away. He stared closely at the Saint Ruler corpses and thought, “Looks like they’ve been attracted by the energy released when I was refining the Chaotic Force.”

Jian Chen disappeared into the dark night once again with a slight movement, silently moving off into the distance.

Visibility quickly recovered as the darkness of the Fantasy Star Ocean receded in the morning of the next day. Slowly, the island became fully visible once again.

Jian Chen slowly opened his eyes in his seated position on a flat meadow in the Fantasy Star Ocean. He had spent the latter half of the night there and the long-awaited dawn had finally come.

Jian Chen stood up and looked around. His vision was extremely clear again without the concealment of the night. He could clearly see over ten kilometers away in the open area. He did not stay here much longer, following the signs of battle from the night before to continue on his way towards the depths of the Fantasy Star Ocean. He hoped he could find the Heavenly Enchantress who he had been separated from. Only by travelling together could they break free of any Saint Ruler killing formations if they became entrapped.

Jian Chen hurried on his way, but his vigilance did not decrease by the slightest. He would look around for any signs or hidden traps from time to time.

Along the way, Jian Chen found many living corpses wandering about mindlessly. They were all Heaven Saint Master or Saint Rulers, but with no exception, Jian Chen avoided all of them from afar, without even coming within a thousand meter radius. Jian Chen was unsure whether he would remain undiscovered if he became so close.

Four hours later, Jian Chen arrived at a mountain range. The forest on and around the mountain was slightly misty, covering a large portion of it. He paid attention to his surroundings as he walked, arriving at the location where he had separated been separated from the Heavenly Enchantress very soon. Afterwards, he continued inwards.

An hour later, Jian Chen was amidst the mountain range. This was the general region of the Fantasy Star Ocean, sandwiched between the outskirts and the centre. Only by passing through here could he directly arrive at the depths.

He paid attention to the steps nearby as Jian Chen carefully made his way through the forest. He murmured, “Hundred-thousand-year Dragon’s Saliva can only be found in the depths. Then where is the stardust I am looking for?”

Suddenly, Jian Chen paused. He looked towards the boulder that was as tall as a man not too far away. On the boulder grew a plant half a meter long and from the stalk, there were two leaves and a pink-colored flower.

“That’s a Morning Sunflower, an extremely rare heavenly resource on the continent,” Jian Chen immediately exclaimed after seeing the flower. He was overjoyed. He hurried up to the plant to carefully examine it.

“This Morning Sunflower seems to have grown for tens of thousands of years here. It’s a ten-thousand-year heavenly resource. The Fantasy Star Ocean is one of the most dangerous regions on the Tian Yuan Continent, so rarely do any people come here. There must be quite a few heavenly resources,” murmured Jian Chen. Afterwards, he immediately connected with the artifact spirit, getting him to let out the white tiger.

The white tiger was warned beforehand by Jian Chen, so it remained extremely calm after leaving the artifact space. It also seemed to feel that the Fantasy Star Ocean was different, constantly glancing around with eyes filled with a rare sternness.