There was a saying that in the mountains, people lose track of the sun and moon, and a thousand years can pass in the blink of an eye. Well, the words might have been exaggerated, but for Luo Chen, the sentiment was not far off. 0

While he secluded himself at Surging Lake to refine the Infinite Blaze Prison, two full years had slipped by without him even noticing. Over that time, his strength had steadily improved. Not only had he developed a new killing move, but he had also made progress in formations and further refined his Primordial Unity Cauldron. If there was anything that had stagnated, it was his cultivation. Maintaining and refining the Pseudo-Domain consumed far too much mana, which inevitably dragged down his cultivation. He had once estimated that it would take a decade or so to reach the seventh stage, but the timeline would now be pushed back considerably. Whether he could break through before setting out for the Sunken Sea remained uncertain. 4

But Luo Chen did not dwell on it. In his view, unless it was a matter of breaking through an entire major realm and undergoing a fundamental transformation, it wasn't enough. One or two minor realms did not make an overwhelming difference; in battles among those of the same realm, the power of items, secret techniques, and other such things were what truly decided life and death. And the Infinite Blaze Prison he had developed was clearly such a decisive move. If he wanted to truly master it, then he had no choice but to temper it through real combat—only by doing so could he understand its strengths...1