Immortality begins with Becoming an Alchemy Grandmaster

At the foot of the mountain lay Dan Court.

Luo Chen halted his steps, quietly watching the busy scene within the courtyard.

Only after a long while did things inside grow more leisurely, and figures walked out one after another.

As they passed Luo Chen, they all seemed not to notice him.

Only when Luo Chen spoke did someone respond, ”Lü Su, what are you all doing?”

Lü Su, who was in the middle of locking the gate, froze for a moment, then naturally broke into a smile.

”So it’s Xuan Luozi!”

He pointed at the several warehouses in the courtyard and explained, ”Of late, the masters on the mountain have needed more and more spirit medicines for Pill Refinement, so our Dan Court has to do the logistics properly. Everything in there has just been received from the Spirit Medicine Institute.”

”Oh.”

Luo Chen let out a soft ”oh,” then turned and left, just as he had done earlier.

Watching Luo Chen’s back, Lü Su felt somewhat puzzled as to why the other would ask such questions whose answers were obvious.

Leaving Miao Dan Peak, Luo Chen’s pace did not slow.

He followed the path through the forest, passed by the lakeside and stream bank.

Under the night curtain, Su Ling Sect had another kind of charm of its own.

Glints of cultivators flying past looked like shooting stars, brilliant and eye-catching.

Suddenly, one Glint stopped, descending from above. After putting away a handkerchief-shaped Flying Magical Treasure, its owner greeted him warmly.

”Senior Brother Xuan Luo!”

Luo Chen looked at the newcomer; it turned out to be Feng Zhiyan, who had entered as a Beginner alongside him back then.

Several years had passed, and her Realm had changed.

”Junior Sister Feng, you’ve reached Foundation Establishment!”

Feng Zhiyan’s smile was sincere. ”I owe it to the help of the senior brothers and sisters on Jade Spring Peak. I was only lucky enough to build my foundation. And you, Senior Brother—what are you doing here so late?”

Luo Chen calmly pointed in the direction of his Cave Mansion. ”Going home.”

”Why not fly? Walking like this, you’ll be at it till daybreak.” Feng Zhiyan was quite curious, then as if she had suddenly guessed something, she spoke with a squinting smile: ”Senior Brother must be savoring mortal life, measuring the earth with his own feet, carrying out some higher-level Cultivation, yes?”

Luo Chen was taken aback, yet he did not refute her, because he himself did not know what sort of state he was in at the moment.

He only looked at her in puzzlement; that trace of weariness was something she could not conceal.

”Where are you coming back from?”

Feng Zhiyan gathered her spirit and said, ”After Foundation Establishment, Cultivation tasks grow ever heavier; relying on oneself alone just won’t do. This morning I went to Chuan Gong Hall to listen to a lecture; in the afternoon I took a task from the Foreign Affairs Hall and went to the medicine gardens on East Splendor Peak to do some insect-clearing and pest-removal work.”

Luo Chen nodded. ”You’re living quite a full life.”

”This is nothing.” Feng Zhiyan waved her hand, her eyes seeming to shine with light. ”In just thirty years, it’ll be time for the Sect Grand Competition. Before that I have to take more tasks, temper myself more, and strive to shine in the competition, to win honor for our Jade Spring Peak!”

Luo Chen uttered another ”oh.” The Sect Grand Competition—he seemed to have heard of it from someone.

But the Alchemy Institute had been busy researching new Elixirs these past few years, so he had never paid much attention.

”Senior Brother, will you be taking part then?” Feng Zhiyan asked expectantly.

”Me?” Luo Chen smiled, but gave no answer.

The two chatted for a while longer, then took their leave of each other.

After she left, Luo Chen stood there for a long time. The confusion in his eyes lingered, yet gradually, a hint of clarity appeared.

He finally understood why that Dao Heart of his, which ought to have been like an ancient well without ripples, would occasionally loosen and stir with faint ripples.

This time it was no longer the pressure and assault of some powerful foe, nor was it because he had encountered some earth-shattering event.

It was merely that, during his period of moving incognito within Su Ling Sect, he had come to know a group of ”living, breathing” people.

It had been a long time since he’d felt anything like this.

Was it during the Nascent Soul Stage, or after Divine Transformation?

Luo Chen did not know. He only knew that when he first entered the Immortal Cultivation World, everyone and everything at his side had been vivid, full of life.

But as his Realm rose higher, the people and events that could move his heart grew ever fewer.

The so-called ”ants” in his eyes had been born in that stage.

Toward those whose Realm was beneath his, Luo Chen would often look on with a kind of indifference.

The journey to the Returning Ruins had magnified this mindset to its extreme.

Be it Jing Lan, who had saved his life, or Xiang Fei, with whom he had fought before they knew each other and then shared a century together, or any of the others—

In Luo Chen’s eyes, they were all but strings of symbols.

He had never truly opened his heart to these people; he had always interacted with them as a mere bystander.

This state reached its apogee when the entire Returning Ruins were destroyed!

The annihilation of countless living beings did not move him in the least.

Even after coming to the Mystic Realm, this state persisted.

So even though he had come to know many people in Su Ling Sect, Luo Chen remained indifferent, still viewing them all as ”ants.”

In the words of the Buddhist family, this could be explained as the mind of discrimination.

In the words of the Daoist family, it might be called having one leaf before the eye that obscures the view of the mountain.

Until today: the idle chatter of the Little Poison Lord, Senior Brother Xiao’s stubborn mouth, and Ning Fu’s teasing had, without his noticing, tugged at that long-sealed Dao Heart of his.

Only then did he suddenly realize with a start that he might have gone astray, or perhaps stood at the threshold of some crucial bottleneck in his Mental State.

He viewed others as ants, yet in the eyes of those at higher Realms, was he, Luo Chen, not equally an ant?

In truth, though people may differ in Realm and strength, status and wealth, gender and temperament, in countless ways, in essence they are all still people.

If one widens this scope, all things under heaven should be seen in this light.

Mountains and waters remain mountains and waters; the essence of living beings bears no true distinction.

No Self Aspect should not be taken as mere Only Self; it ought rather to be No Person Aspect, No Sentient Being Aspect!

Upon realizing this, that Mysterious Breath on Luo Chen’s body grew ever denser.

And in the Depth of the Sea of Conscience, that vast Divine Soul seemed as though bathed in a spring rain, becoming even more rounded and flawless.