An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

The lack of combat experience was indeed Luo Chen’s greatest weakness.

However, this weakness stemmed from multiple factors, with his cultivation level being the greatest limitation.

A rogue cultivator without a decent enchanted artifact, powerful skills, or a high cultivation level couldn’t be expected to possess rich combat experience, and Wang Yuan was one of the rare exceptions.

As a Grandmaster of secular martial arts, his physical strength already surpassed most Qi-Refining cultivators. Moreover, even before practicing immortality, Wang Yuan had accumulated extensive experience in fighting other humans.

Otherwise, among the tens of thousands of rogue cultivators in Dahe Market, with hundreds of them at the late-stage of Qi-Refining, why was Wang Yuan the only one with a formidable reputation?

With his seventh stage Qi-Refining cultivation, he openly sold dubious enchanted artifacts in the marketplace every day and lived unscathed?

Now, Luo Chen also had a decent enchanted artifact, the Soul-Breaking Nail, and a powerful spell, Perfection-level Fireball.

Improving his cultivation realm had become his top priority.

Fortunately, Luo Chen had the basic resources to advance his cultivation level!

That bottle of qi-nourishing pills contained all ten pills, completely untouched.

Rumor had it that with enough investment, a thousand qi-nourishing pills could create a ninth stage Qi-Refining cultivator. Of course, that was just a rumor.

A thousand bottles would cost hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones, equivalent to ten top-grade spirit stones!

Even major sects wouldn’t spend so extravagantly.

Furthermore, people with excellent spirit roots could cultivate quickly even without pills.

However, since Luo Chen’s spirit roots were weak, he would undoubtedly rely on pills to compensate for his lack of cultivation aptitude.

Using the calming incense, Luo Chen ran another cycle of the Long Spring Art to restore himself to peak condition. With this state, he consumed one qi-nourishing pill.

As the pill entered his body, it was activated by spirit energy, transforming into a surging heat that filled him and rushed toward his meridians and spirit pathways.

A bloated sensation spread throughout Luo Chen’s body.

With a frown, he practiced the Long Spring Art, channeling the medicinal energy into his dantian.

The absorption and refinement of spirit energy through techniques were greatly hindered by the quality of spirit roots, significantly reducing efficiency.

However, pills weren’t affected! Once ingested, the pills’ medicinal energy might take time to refine, but it would remain within the body.

Given enough time, it could eventually be refined and absorbed into one’s energy.

The process of refining the pill lasted an hour.

When Luo Chen assessed the condition of his body and opened his eyes, he was overjoyed!

He opened his status panel.

[Status Panel]

Name: Luo Chen

Lifespan: 27/75

Spirit Roots: Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth

Realm: Qi-Refining Realm Stage Three (78/100)

Achievement Points: 2

[Technique]

Long Spring Art: Proficient (280/300)

[Spells]

Fireball: Perfection (355/500)

Carefree Wander: Proficient (203/300)

Entangle: Skilled (176/200)

Cleanse: Beginner (52/100)

[Skills]

First-tier Alchemist

It increased! It increased!

Having a status panel that displays real-time attributes is truly beneficial.

Luo Chen could monitor his condition at any time.

The last time he checked, the realm section showed third stage Qi-Refining: 76/100.

After refining the qi-nourishing pill, it increased by two points, reaching 78.

In fact, Luo Chen also noticed that the attributes displayed on the panel followed different standards.

For techniques, spells, and skills, they were based on proficiency.

But for lifespan and cultivation realm, they appeared as progress bars.

If he fully refined this bottle of pills, the progress bar would likely reach 96/100, leaving him not far from breaking through to fourth stage.

”The proficiency of the Long Spring Art is also increasing rapidly. With the help of the calming incense, it should soon reach the Perfection level.

”The Fireball underwent a qualitative change upon reaching the Perfection level. Wonder what changes will the Long Spring Art bring upon reaching that stage?”

Luo Chen exclaimed to himself. He was eager with anticipation!

***

The next day, Luo Chen returned to his routine life.

Routine, yet not boring.

Each pill he refined represented an increase in wealth.

The refinement of qi-nourishing pills helped him progress in his cultivation. While the proficiency in Fireball and Carefree Wander enhanced his combat strength. This visible, continuous progress was almost addictive.

If not for the limited resources and external dangers, Luo Chen would have been content to spend his entire life cultivating in peace.

Three days later, in the middle of the night, Luo Chen trembled all over.

He then opened his eyes, unable to contain his joy.

”The Long Spring Art has reached the Perfection level!”

”I wonder what changes it brought?”

After resting briefly, Luo Chen tried running again, carefully sensing the differences from before.

An hour later, there was a strange expression on his face.

”The time required has halved. Previously, it took two hours to complete one cycle; now it only takes an hour. The amount of spirit energy refined has also doubled.”

If the spirit energy absorption and conversion efficiency of a five-spirit root cultivator was the baseline, then four-spirit root cultivators were roughly double that, three-spirit root cultivators were four times as efficient, and dual-spirit root cultivators were eight times as efficient.

As for single-spirit root cultivators, also known as the legendary heavenly spirit roots cultivators, was still unknown to Luo Chen, as he had never encountered one. But it was said to be at least twenty times the baseline!

After all, the cultivation world spoke of heavenly spirit root cultivators achieving Foundation Establishment in just ten years without consuming any pills.

That was truly terrifying!

The main reason sects hadn’t recruited Luo Chen in the past, besides his age, was the burden of his five spirit roots aptitude.

Without any external aids, it would take him at least two hundred years to reach Foundation Establishment. But Qi-Refining cultivators had a maximum lifespan of only about one hundred to one hundred and twenty years.

Now, the efficiency of the Long Spring Art in absorbing and converting spirit energy has doubled!

What did this mean? It meant that his aptitude was now comparable to that of a four-spirit root cultivator. Without relying on external aids, he could achieve Foundation Establishment in just a hundred years.

”This is good news; it means my spirit energy recovery rate has greatly improved, giving me more power to increase my spell proficiency.

”However, I can’t afford to be arrogant or complacent.

”They say I’m comparable to a four-spirit root cultivator, but even four- spirit roots are considered mediocre. Moreover, I only have forty eight years of lifespan left, and Foundation Establishment is still a distant dream. So, simply cultivating endlessly won’t work.

”In the end, I still need to rely on pills! To afford pills, I need spirit stones; qi-nourishing pills aren’t something everyone can afford.

”The plan to earn spirit stones must continue. This is a lifelong, century-long plan!”

Calming his emotions and savoring the lingering scent of the burnt calming incense, Luo Chen peacefully drifted off to sleep.

***

The sky faintly lit.

On the misty plains by the stream, a figure darted up and down like a great roc.

Each time the figure moved, it left behind a series of silhouettes.

Fireball, go!

With a low shout, a blazing fireball shot out, creating a massive crater on the plain.

The figure didn’t pause or check the results, instead it continued moving at lightning speed to another spot.

Just like before, it launched another Fireball from a few different angles.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

When Luo Chen stopped, the wasteland was in complete disarray, with craters of various sizes emitting a searing heat.

After catching his breath, Luo Chen was quite satisfied with the results of today’s training.

He no longer fantasized about flying through the sky or decapitating enemies with a single sword. Instead, he began to emulate Wang Yuan’s combat style.

Wang Yuan had transitioned from the Dao of Martial Arts to the Dao of Immortality, but his combat style still retained elements from his mortal days.

He utilized his powerful physique for rapid movement, combined with sharp enchanted artifacts and various techniques to charge his enemies.

The image of Wang Yuan dragging a large blade, stepping across the rooftops, and descending from the sky had left a profound impression on him.

His victory against three opponents at once was even more astounding.

Luo Chen wasn’t a fool; he quickly learned from the strengths of that approach.

”Although I lack strong close-combat abilities, my Perfection-level Fireball has an incredibly fast casting speed and decent power.

”Using the lightness technique from Carefree Wander, I can become a ruthless moving turret.”

”If I encounter enemies that the Fireball can’t penetrate, I still have the two Soul-Breaking Nails as my backup.”

Close combat was far too dangerous for a cultivator with a weak physique while a moving turret strategy was relatively safer, allowing both offense and retreat.

Through constant practice over the past few days, Luo Chen had roughly determined his future combat style. Once his cultivation realms improved, he could begin to focus on gaining real combat experience. And that day was not far off!

With the refreshing morning breeze, Luo Chen leapt over the stream and muttered to himself as he headed home, ”Time to refine pills, refine pills!”

As of now, all that Luo Chen wanted to do was to make money!