Immortality begins with Becoming an Alchemy Grandmaster

”What is this?”

A handful of crystal gravel rested in a firm palm, rustling softly with the breeze, leaving only a single piece at the fingertips.

Luo Chen stared intently at this single piece of gravel, as if his spirit were diving into it.

His face showed a look of sudden realization, yet with a hint of disbelief.

His gaze wandered, from the chiseled and hewn Soulbreak Cliff to the endless Netherworld Sea, finally settling on the beach beneath his feet, adorned like a blanket of black jewels.

”If this really is that legendary thing, there’s too much of it, isn’t there?”

Luo Chen couldn’t help but swallow, ripples spreading through his otherwise calm mind.

To ensure he wasn’t mistaken, Luo Chen performed several experiments.

Qi Power infusion, unaffected by Spirit Qi.

Blood Essence dripped, sparkling as before.

Divine Consciousness enveloped the black gravel, which emitted a faint glow, flying out from his fingertips and hovering around like a bee.

Finally, Luo Chen cautiously used True Fire to burn it, the black gravel slowly melting, releasing wisps of green smoke. His nose twitched slightly; just the scent caused his Divine Soul to drift into bliss, making him almost lose himself.

Luo Chen didn’t control his emotions and laughed out loud.

He was certain, this was indeed what he had hoped it to be—a soul stone!

”Refining Heaven Demon Monarch didn’t deceive me; such an exotic treasure truly exists in the world!”

It’s no wonder Luo Chen was so excited, for this exotic treasure known as the ”soul stone” was exceptionally rare.

Its effects were incredibly defiant of natural order, allowing one to directly absorb and bolster their Divine Soul Endowment!

This single object far surpassed a thousand Soul Forging Secret Techniques and countless Soul Nourishing Elixirs.

Back in the day, Refining Heaven Demon Monarch had a great fortune when he accidentally acquired a soul stone the size of a fist, which, after absorption, brought his Divine Soul to Great Success.

Later, his yearning for this item led him to eventually develop the medicine recipe for the Great Soul Pill.

Even the main ingredient of the Great Soul Pill, soul essence, he had only conceived as a substitute for the soul stone.

Both, in reality, are the essence condensations of life souls.

But the difference is immense!

Soul essence is artificially extracted, limited by the Soul Refiner’s technique and influenced by the original material’s strength, often leaving a vast amount of the life form’s consciousness intact before its death.

Crafting elixir with it presents many obstacles, and complete purification is challenging. While consuming a Great Soul Pill, one must exert significant effort to suppress and purify those consciousness, thus it is time-consuming and labor-intensive.

Even with Luo Chen’s powerful Divine Soul Endowment, it previously took him one to two months to digest just one Great Soul Pill.

Furthermore, according to Buddhist Dao theories, utilizing life souls for cultivation may appear to accelerate progress but poses significant latent threats.

The more profound one’s cultivation, the more residual karma accumulates, making it highly likely to cause demonic deviation during breakthroughs.

But soul stones are different!

They seem as if they have been sifted through countless times, long since abandoning all residual consciousness, leaving only the purest soul essence, highly condensed.

Cultivators can convert them into elixir or directly absorb and refine them to strengthen their Divine Soul Endowment.

The difference between the two is as vast as a chasm.

And according to Refining Heaven Demon Monarch, who was also a master Artifact Refining Saint, crafting magic items with large quantities of soul stone materials would undoubtedly result in top-tier Divine Soul Attack Magic Items!

It’s said, wherever such items exist in the world, connoisseurs would never miss out on any piece of soul stone.

With a pounding heart, Luo Chen felt parched and dry-mouthed.

The soul stone in his hand was only gravel-sized, far from the fist-sized piece Refining Heaven Demon Monarch obtained back then.

However...

Looking across, black gravel covered an entire beach!

The quantity was self-evident.

”If I could absorb and refine all the soul stones here, how much would my Divine Soul Endowment grow?”

”It’s not too much to say, could my Nascent Soul ascend directly to the Primordial Spirit realm?”

Swallowing hard, Luo Chen took a deep breath, using the ”Dust Origin Technique” to stabilize his mind.

In an instant, he returned to his previous calm state.

Looking around, Luo Chen pondered carefully in his heart.

This place is strange!

There were many soul stones spread across the beach, yet when the waves of the Netherworld Sea surged, they weren’t carried away; instead, they accumulated more and more.

The pattern of waves from the Netherworld Sea had already been understood by him over the past few months.

Unlike normal tides, the Netherworld Sea was extremely violent during the day and calm at night.

When seeking treasure, one must avoid daytime to prevent being swept away again.

Luo Chen didn’t dare to gamble on entering the Netherworld Sea once more and surviving.

He even suspected that these soul stones were deposited bit by bit on the beach by the Netherworld waves after swallowing countless living souls.

If he’s not careful, he might become just another grain of gravel in this vast expanse.

”Let’s first test whether Refining Heaven Demon Monarch exaggerated the effect of soul stones.”

With that thought, Luo Chen acted, standing at a high point, his Divine Consciousness sweeping outward.

This soul stone, unlike other materials, was unaffected by Qi Power or Origin Force; only the Power of Divine Soul could absorb and control it.

At this moment, during the day, the Netherworld Sea waves were still surging; he could only seize this opportunity to grasp a handful with his Divine Consciousness.

A handful of soul stones wasn’t large, easily grasped, yet with Divine Consciousness, it felt inexplicably heavy.

Fortunately, Luo Chen’s Divine Soul was strong enough to eventually gather quite a bit.

As soon as he got it, he hurriedly returned north to his Cave Mansion.

Glancing at the still-dormant Withering and Flourishing Fire Spirit in the Purple Mansion, Luo Chen opted to invoke the Nirvana Sacred Fire.

A little golden bird flew from his mouth, slowly breathing golden flames over a gravel-sized soul stone, wisps of green smoke rising.