Immortality begins with Becoming an Alchemy Grandmaster

Moreover, he could sense that his Purple Mansion had not collapsed, and treasures like the Primordial Chaos Tripod, the Yuan Tu Sword, and the Bone Burial Umbrella were still hidden inside.

Although he couldn’t mobilize them at all, as long as they were still there, it was fine.

”Before ascension, I consumed the first ripe Devil-Demon United Fruit, bringing this physical body to the Ancient Wilderness Five Stages and condensing True Spirit Origin Blood.”

”In the battle with the Qi Xia Emperor, my True Spirit Origin Blood was completely burned through, but a small amount of ordinary Source Blood still remains.”

”My meridians are shattered at the moment, and my physical body is severely injured. However, as long as I can mobilize a small amount of Source Blood, I can conduct preliminary clearing and healing.”

”For me, this is not difficult!”

Luo Chen closed his eyes, silently sensing his body’s condition, searching for a method of recovery.

Yet, while it sounded simple, it was actually quite complex.

In the situation where Divine Perception could not be used, stimulating the Source Blood to clear the body became extremely difficult.

In such cases, one must find another way and use strong willpower to drive the Source Blood.

This doctrine was rather unfamiliar to Luo Chen.

Because it was the technique of orthodox Body Refiners!

Body Refiners do not cultivate Immortal Law, do not employ Divine Perception, and their entire strength is condensed as one, solely driven by strong willpower.

This was something that Wang Yuan taught him at the beginning when he led him into the path of Body Refining Technique.

However, later on, Luo Chen’s path in Body Refinement took another route, relying on resources, and with the convenience of Divine Consciousness and Divine Perception, he rarely used the most instinctive methods.

Now, he could only clumsily use willpower to drive his body, letting the Source Blood hidden throughout flush through his physical meridians.

Sizzle...

Beneath the quilt, blood flowers bloomed, caused by wounds bursting open where the Source Blood passed.

Luo Chen was unaware, disregarding the pain, continuing to persist.

Yet occasionally, he could feel a sense of heat besides the pain.

The words Jing Lan spoke before leaving echoed in Luo Chen’s mind, indeed it was quite hot during the day.

...

”How did this happen; bleeding again, wasn’t it already healed?”

A worried and gentle cry resounded, followed by the action of opening the quilt.

Luo Chen awoke from his muddled state, just in time to see the dusty and tired Jing Lan cleaning his body.

Luo Chen forced a grin but said nothing.

The first forceful attempt to repair his body, failing to control the strength, resulted in extensive bleeding and the terrifying gaping wounds, which indeed looked quite dreadful to an ordinary person.

Jing Lan’s motions were very gentle, yet deftly quick.

She first washed, then wrapped clean linen, though when it came to changing clothes, a look of distress clearly appeared on her face.

Luo Chen shook his head slightly, indicating otherwise, allowing Jing Lan to breathe a sigh of relief and cover him with the quilt.

He decided not to wear clothes for the time being.

”Wait for me a moment, I’ll prepare a meal to eat right away.”

After treating the blood-stained bandages, Jing Lan went off to wash herself.

Only this time, she hung a curtain across from the fireplace, blocking Luo Chen’s view.

Once the aroma of rice mingled with the smell of smoke spread, the bloody scent in the small room seemed to be covered up, becoming gentle and warm again.

Jing Lan hastily gobbled a few bites before bringing a bowl to Luo Chen’s side.

It was still the same feeding gesture, as if she had done it many times before, very skilled and natural.

Facing Luo Chen’s gaze, she was no longer as shy as the day before, rather she was much more open.

As she fed porridge, she casually spoke of the day’s sights.

”The sun-facing rice in the field is growing well, not affected by the Ghost Rain, the harvest this year should be very good.”

”The Tobacco Workshop has changed chiefs, heard it was someone sent from Yixian City.”

”That person’s temperament is somewhat irritable, Mr. Pu San was merely slower due to old age, yet when seen by him during inspection, he was beaten until unconscious. We had to bring him back by evening.”

”If only the Valley Chief was still here, the Valley Chief although strict, had a sharp tongue but a soft heart, was quite kind to us before, and the production of Mi Xian Smoke was stable. But now that Master Yan has taken over, our future days might become difficult.”

”Fortunately, the work in the Tobacco Workshop usually only lasts until the end of October, when the autumn wind blows, it’s not suitable for sun-drying the tobacco.”

...

Jing Lan spoke, and Luo Chen listened, until the bowl of porridge was finished.

”Sleep early.”

”Mm.”

Tonight, the fire pit did not maintain the burning of firewood.

Likely due to the lack of Ghost Rain.

At dawn, Jing Lan got up early.

Before leaving, she wanted, as she did the previous day, to leave rice balls for Luo Chen, but this time Luo Chen refused when she mentioned it.

Jing Lan didn’t insist; if you don’t eat enough, you’ll lack energy, and it’s easy to make mistakes while working. If the newly appointed Master Yan sees that, it’d be troublesome.

After she left, Luo Chen, as before, began to move.

His physical body was extraordinarily strong, with exceedingly broad meridians throughout.

In ordinary times, these attributes were truly advantageous.

But in this time of serious injury, sorting through the broken and clogged meridians became exceedingly troublesome.

”Take it slowly!”

Luo Chen sighed and said to himself.

...

As time passed day by day, even though Luo Chen never left the house, he gathered some fragmented knowledge about the Great Destruction Realm from Jing Lan.

This was a land rich in resources but perilous at every turn.

The ruler was a formidable existence known as the Master of Wuyou Realm.

The place where Luo Chen resided was merely a remote village called Qingshan Town within the Great Destruction Realm.

Remote didn’t equate to safety; instead, it was fraught with dangers.

There were three major catastrophes that appeared sporadically, threatening lives.

The Heavenly Wind, the Ghost Rain, and the Destruction Mist.

According to Jing Lan, she picked up Luo Chen from the fields after one sweep of the Heavenly Wind.

These three natural disasters were distinctly different from each other.

Where the Heavenly Wind passed, not even a blade of grass survived.

Where the Ghost Rain fell, one would never awaken from slumber.

When the Destruction Mist enveloped all, everything died into silence.

Among them, the Heavenly Wind was the most common, the Ghost Rain was the most mysterious, and the Destruction Mist was the most tyrannical and dangerous.

Fortunately, the legendary Destruction Mist hadn’t appeared for many years.

Jing Lan and the others only needed to follow the directions of the town’s lord during the disasters to stay safe.

In normal times, they made a living by planting crops.

In their spare time, they would do odd jobs at shops in the town to earn some resources.

Jing Lan’s current job was processing something called Mishan Smoke for the Qingshan Smoke Workshop. The pay wasn’t significant, but it included some Dream Stone scraps, a mineral used to withstand the erosion of Ghost Rain. Normally, buying it would cost a hefty sum. Even just offering scraps, many people flocked to this job at Qingshan Smoke Workshop.

All the above constituted the entirety of the information Luo Chen had acquired about the Great Destruction Realm.

After all, Jing Lan was just a mortal who had never left the vicinity of Qingshan Town in her lifetime, and only heard about Yixian City.

Though limited, the information didn’t hinder Luo Chen from deducing more.

For instance, that Dream Stone, once Luo Chen was able to move his limbs, he requested one from Jing Lan to observe.

In fact, Luo Chen had seen this Dream Stone before, it was the white stone burning in the fire during the night of the Ghost Rain.

Through observation, Luo Chen found that once burned, this stone emitted a peculiar fragrance.

After absorbing it, creatures would sleep soundly, without dreaming.

It seemed to have a calming and soothing effect!

This piqued Luo Chen’s curiosity—how could a mere calming influence resist one of the three major catastrophes, the Ghost Rain?

Or perhaps, it wasn’t merely resisting the erosion of Ghost Rain but countering something the Ghost Rain brought?

These speculations were merely Luo Chen’s musings during his leisure time.

His main focus remained on recovering from his injuries.

A month later.

The tightly shut wooden door was slowly opened.

A figure emerged from within.

The soft gaze cast outward, and with just one glance, it dazed the onlooker.

Qing Mountain was lush, and the waterfields meandered.

As three sunsets gradually faded away, the thick yellow halo spilled upon his cheeks.

”No wonder it’s so hot during the day.”

The man murmured and then sat down on the threshold.

Along the winding mountain dirt path, a group of figures, chattering and laughing, ascended from below. Among them was a serene and quiet figure, not participating in the conversation. But at the gesture of a middle-aged woman, that figure let out a startled cry and then rushed over.

”You’re up!”

Jing Lan, breathless and filled with joy, looked at the man sitting on the threshold.

”Yes, finally up.”

Luo Chen slightly nodded, a rare relaxed and content smile on his face.

Having lain there for who knows how many years.