Three days later, Duan Li and Sovereign Thatched Mountain bid farewell to Luo Chen and departed together. Purple Spirit Island was left with only Luo Chen and Sang Jiugong. Meanwhile, Black King roamed the nearby seas, hunting low-tier demonic beasts and hauling their corpses back to the island.

Within the island's basin-like valley, Luo Chen and Sang Jiugong crouched on the ground, carefully harvesting three Purple Monkey Flowers shaped like monkey brains.

Including the one on the cliff, that makes four... Looks like they're mine now. Luo Chen carefully stored them away in jade boxes, then watched as Sang Jiugong buried the mangled demonic beast corpses beneath the soil of the basin, including the body of the Abyss Crocodile King. Of course, Luo Chen had already removed every valuable material from the beasts, whether demon cores, scales, or wings. Only their blood, flesh, and bones remained untouched.

After burying the corpses, Sang Jiugong covered them with thick layers of soil before taking out a jade bottle in front of Luo Chen and pouring about a bowlful of green liquid onto the land. Only after finishing everything did he finally let out a breath of relief. "The spirit veins here aren't anything special to begin with, and after being drained nonstop by those four fourth-tier flowers, there's no chance of them advancing any further. Might as well make use of what's left. With enough flesh and blood, plus my Golden Mulberry Green Essence, this place can turn into the perfect breeding ground for the flowers within ten years."

After hearing that, Luo Chen frowned slightly. "Ten years... is that really enough?"

Sang Jiugong smiled. "Of course not. You're talking about forcing these third-tier flowers to skip a thousand years of growth; how could that be easy? But don't worry, I've got a couple methods. I can push the soil's fertility to the limit and keep it going for a few decades."

Luo Chen's eyes lit up. "Alright, then I'll be waiting to see it."

Sang Jiugong had not been exaggerating. Over the following days, he truly displayed numerous high-level spirit-planting techniques that Luo Chen had previously only heard about in rumors. For instance, he drew in massive amounts of seawater, combined it with a million spirit stones provided by Luo Chen, and set up a Cloud Rain Formation to control the weather. With that, it would rain the perfect amount once every three months.

And that was only part of the process. Under Sang Jiugong's control, towering flames soon swept across the island, reducing countless ancient trees to ash; then, winds blew, gathering the remains within the basin. This was Bing Fire Scorch, one of the best techniques to enrich the soil. Even Black King was put to work, diving into the deep sea to gather large quantities of shells, which were then crushed into powder and spread evenly across the basin.

One by one, all sorts of complicated and varied techniques were put on show, to the point where even Luo Chen had trouble understanding what was done for what purpose. With that, he also truly realized that no craft was any easier than alchemy or artifact creation once taken far enough.

By the time the basin had been fully transformed into a proper nursery for the Purple Monkey Flowers, nearly half a year had passed. When the process was complete, Sang Jiugong began the actual transplantation. His plan was to move every Purple Monkey Flower on the island into the basin. By drawing on the strength of the entire colony, he would nurture those hundred-plus third-tier flowers to a level where they'd only get after a thousand years of natural growth, forcing them to advance into the fourth tier ahead of time.

Aside from using primordial true fire to assist with the Bing Fire Scorch at the beginning, Luo Chen did not involve himself further. Black King, on the other hand, was reduced to a farm laborer, constantly ordered about by Sang Jiugong. For a time, Luo Chen found himself with little to do. Well... he was not completely idle. He moved across the island, studying the terrain and setting up suitable formations to guard against powerful demonic beasts that might intrude in the future and damage the spirit plants after he was gone. As he worked, he began to reflect on the shortcomings of his current combat approach.

He had always excelled at spells, and even low-tier ones carried solid power in his hands. But as his cultivation rose, their limitations became increasingly clear. Against peers or anyone stronger, their effectiveness had dropped drastically. Spells like Landslide and Solar Flare, once regarded as his ultimate killing moves, had gradually lost the decisive ability to kill in a single strike, no matter how much he refined them. Even the Azure Yang Great Handprint, his newest signature spell, was no exception. Its wide coverage advantage had become a flaw against high-tier opponents. The range was huge, yet for the same reason, the power was too spread out. Unless he was facing something equally massive, it was difficult to achieve any real effect. Agile cultivators or those protected by powerful defensive enchanted treasures would be unaffected.

At this moment, he arrived before a cold, mist-shrouded pool—though, looking at its size and depth, calling it a pool felt imprecise. It was more like an abyss. Along its edges lay the traces of a massive creature crawling; clearly, it was the former dwelling of the Abyss Crocodile King. Luo Chen planted a formation flag into the ground, then stared into the unfathomable depths and fell into thought. Hmmm... third-tier spells don't really do much for me anymore.

In all fairness, it wasn't that third-tier spells were weak. With his relentless practice and the system's deductions, those brought to Perfected Mastery could still unleash formidable power. At the very least, they remained highly effective against early- and even middle-stage Adepts. But such opponents no longer meant much to Luo Chen. The enemies he now measured himself against were late-stage Adepts, and perhaps even Sages. In his estimation, fourth-tier spells could serve as his next trump card. Yet such spells were exceedingly rare and seldom found on the open market, with only Sages truly in possession of them.

At present, he had only mastered two fourth-tier spells: the Dragon-Slaying Art and the Nascent Core Art. Yet the Dragon-Slaying Art was not well-suited for offense. Even though Dragon-Slaying Art could sever the divine soul, it remained confined within his sea of consciousness and could barely be projected outward. As for the Nascent Core Art, that was not even related to offense or defense in any way. Of course, that did not mean it was useless in combat; it was precisely the second Golden Core that allowed him to endure a full night of stalemate against the Liang Baizao on Seven Star Island and still unleash a massacre on Purple Spirit Island afterward. In terms of mana reserves alone, he now stood on equal footing with peak Adepts.

Even so, Liang Baizao should not have lost so badly in a contest of mana reserves. But while fighting, he had to sustain the island formation while simultaneously controlling seven mid-grade enchanted-treasure swords to maintain a sword formation. Under that kind of strain, it was impossible to last for long. Luo Chen, on the other hand, was in a completely different situation. Even as he employed various techniques, his Profound Dust Armor continued to absorb ambiental earth-element spirit energy, even drawing directly from the islands' earth veins. Because of that, he was able to remain composed to the end, ultimately overwhelming Liang Baizao with plenty of power still left in reserve.

But in the end, it's just a battery. My big guns really aren't as big anymore at this level.

He realized that he had reached a bottleneck in the very field he excelled at: spells. With his deep experience and knowledge, he could improve old spells and even create new ones based on them, but their grade and power would never reach the fourth tier. And it was not just spells. The same problem applied to his enchanted treasures.

Whether it was the Primordial Unity Cauldron, the Moonbreak Wings, the Treasurefall Coin, or the Flowing Fire Hammer, all were exceptional in their own right. He even had some unique artifacts like the Forsaken Chess Piece and the Dragon-Nurturing Basin. Yet fundamentally, most of these treasures leaned toward support and defense. The Flowing Fire Hammer had decent offensive power, but it was too slow. Throwing it was less effective than simply closing the distance and striking with it directly. As for the Primordial Unity Cauldron, it held immense potential and performed well in many aspects, but in terms of pure offensive power, it fell short.

This was something Luo Chen had long anticipated. Pursuing balance in all things meant excelling in none. The Primordial Unity Cauldron was not and would never be mediocre, but at least for now, it could not serve as a true weapon for facing strong opponents. In truth, this was a common predicament among Adepts. Life-bound treasures tended to favor versatility and long-term growth, often at the expense of raw offensive power. That was why, as their cultivation deepened and their mana reserves grew, most Adepts would seek out a purely offensive enchanted treasure.

For example, he had no idea what the Angler's life-bound treasure was, but it was clear that the Blackgold Rod, Sound-Capturing Bell, and Heavenly Broken Line formed a set of combined enchanted treasures crafted specifically to compensate for his lack of offensive power. Likewise, Liang Baizao's life-bound treasure was the Hundred Craft Mountain, yet when it came to attack, he relied on the seven swords imbued with fiend qi. Luo Chen himself had followed the same path. The Primordial Unity Cauldron was his core treasure and he had chosen it for its versatility. For defense, he now had the Profound Dust Armor, while for offense, he had first used the Mystic Flame Sword and now the Flowing Fire Hammer. In the past, that had been more than enough. With his almost unlimited range of abilities and almost no clear weaknesses, he could always find a way to counter his enemies. But now, when facing late-stage Adepts, this "almost" had finally become "not good enough."

I'm missing a pure offensive enchanted treasure!

By the cold abyss, Luo Chen sat cross-legged, finally confronting a problem he had long overlooked. After a while, he looked down at the water and saw his tall and powerful body reflected in it. My body's clearly stronger than any Demon King's, almost comparable to a Demon Emperor's, but I'm really no good at using it. I'm not even close to bringing out its full potential.

In the battle at Seven Star Island, he had been held down the whole time, with only a single chance to strike back. Part of that was due to Liang Baizao's island formation, but part of it was also his own failure to make proper use of his body. He was certain that if Wang Yuan had been in the same situation with a physique at a similar level, then even without numerous spells or powerful enchanted treasures, he would never have been forced into such a passive position. At that moment, he recalled what Wang Yuan had once commented upon seeing the Sky Roc Transformation. "A beast transformation is just an imitation; how could it ever measure up to a true human body?"

Is it that the Sky Roc True Form simply isn't suitable for me? When space was restricted and his speed limited, the Sky Roc True Form did indeed seem like nothing more than a big target. But what if it were Wang Yuan's Giant Spirit Transformation instead?

One question after another rose in Luo Chen's mind, each like a bucket of cold water poured over him. Years of cultivation, constant breakthroughs, admiration from all, and praise from his peers... He had long been carried along by that success without noticing it. Yet now, before the cold abyssal pool, he seemed to wake all at once. He looked at himself clearly and realized that as he grew stronger, so too did his flaws and weaknesses.

As he stood at the edge of the abyss, a trace of confusion flickered in his eyes.

"This... shouldn't be happening..."