An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

At that moment, it wasn’t just the Dahe ghost city that trembled.

Far beyond its haunted borders, countless rogue cultivators struggling to make a living suddenly froze in place, alarmed. All work ceased. Heads turned in unison, gazes filled with dread as they looked toward the distant city cloaked in sinister energy.

Above, flocks of birds shrieked and scattered, their cries mournful as they fled the skies.

On the ground, beasts of all kinds broke into wild, desperate sprints, abandoning instinct and territory in sheer panic.

Within Fallen Phoenix Mountain, large swathes of rock came crashing down. Stone after stone tumbled, rumbling through the valley like an avalanche of doom.

From deep beneath the shattered ground, a massive form began to stir, struggling to rise.

From the depths of the ghostly abyss, torrents of yin energy, ghostly energy, and fiend qi surged toward him. These vile energies poured into its barely-corporeal body, once ethereal and transparent, now growing increasingly solid, more and more real with every breath.

His deep, labored breathing echoed like thunder.

This was not one of those weakened Ghost Kings, repressed for centuries and barely clinging to existence.

This was a mighty Ghost King, newly awakened and still in the early stages of rebirth. Before his death, he had been a sword cultivator of the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect, one whose battle prowess reigned supreme!

Rumble...

A deafening crash followed.

Luo Chen instinctively turned his head. The Fallen Phoenix Mountain, which had accompanied him for three long years, crumbled with a thunderous roar.

A body entangled in gold and black aura knelt in the depths of the earth vein, attempting to rise slowly.

And in that very instant, a sword cry rang out from the void.

Zheng!

A strange scene unfolded before them.

Atop the Fallen Phoenix Mountain, a grand cauldron of mysterious yellow hue slowly emerged. Embedded upright at its center was a massive, weighty greatsword, standing like a solemn incense stick. And that cauldron happened to hover directly above Pang Renxiong’s massive body.

It seemed to be suppressing him?

”The sword and cauldron resonate together... Linghu Yong... you deserve death, death!!!”

A voice filled with grief and hatred stuttered out from the ghostly body. It was like a cry and a plea, like a roar and a shout all at once.

As the sword and cauldron resonated in unison, the massive ghostly form, which had nearly risen, was slowly pressed down once more.

In the distance, Luo Chen, having nearly escaped the Debate Platform, paused in shock when he saw this scene.

He had witnessed this exact scene before. It was during that fateful year when Pang Renxiong had fought the three great Ghost Kings and that mysterious Golden Core Adept.

In the end, that grand battle had concluded with the resonance of sword and cauldron. He never imagined that this technique had lingered until now.

By the looks of it, Pang Renxiong was about to be repressed again before he could even return to the world.

Just as Luo Chen began to feel a sliver of relief, the next moment, his entire body broke out in goosebumps.

The Ghost King, bent over under pressure, tilted his massive form and fixed his murky eyes darkly on him. Suddenly, the Ghost King raised his hand and formed an illusory sword gesture, pointing directly at him!

Zheng! Zheng! Zheng!

Zheng! Zheng! Zheng!

Zheng! Zheng! Zheng!

With that single gesture, both inside and outside the Debate Platform, across the ruins of Fallen Phoenix Mountain, countless remnants of sword energy seemed to respond to a call, erupting in shrill sword cries all at once.

Then, ten thousand swords soared into the sky. Their tips angled downward, forming a vast torrent of radiant sword light that cascaded toward Luo Chen like a waterfall.

It moved with such terrifying speed that there was no time to react.

Luo Chen was seized by dread, thinking, I’m finished!

Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind.

A sword-shaped token flared with dazzling brilliance, appearing just in front of him as a shield.

”Master!!!” Luo Chen screamed hoarsely.

The cry tore from his throat, strained and desperate.

In response, the vast torrent of sword light suddenly paused mid-air. Then it veered ever so slightly to the side and crashed down around Luo Chen instead.

Shhh! Shhh! Shhh...

There was no deafening explosion. Only the soft, slicing sound of blades through tofu echoed around him.

Luo Chen swallowed hard and didn’t hesitate a second longer. He stowed away the sword token, and his entire body turned into a streak of golden light, darting into the passage that led to the outside world.

Beneath Fallen Phoenix Mountain, the Ghost King formed from Pang Renxiong, slowly withdrew his finger in a daze.

”Master... disciple...” he murmured, his muttering faded slowly into silence beneath the resonance of sword and cauldron.

***

Huff... huff... huff...

Ragged breaths spilled continuously from Luo Chen’s mouth.

From the place of arduous cultivation beneath Fallen Phoenix Mountain to the open space of Whitestone Plaza, he had only crossed a few li, yet it felt as though he had walked through a lifetime.

Under the onslaught of ten thousand swords, his mind had nearly flashed with the images of his life, a death reel. If not for the years he had spent cultivating Divine Breaker of Malevolence, forging an unshakable will, he might have simply knelt and waited for death.

”Who would’ve thought... it was still Pang Renxiong’s token that saved my life in the end,” Luo Chen murmured.

”By the river banks of Lancang, that one call, fine disciple, still echoes in my ears. Though we never fulfilled the master-disciple bond, in the end, I still called you my master.” Luo Chen let out a bitter laugh.

Fate’s twists and human affairs, how winding the path had been.

”If my cultivation advances and my path touches the mysteries of creation, then one day, I will help you escape your sea of suffering.”

Steadying his breath, Luo Chen prepared to take another step forward. But suddenly, his body sensed a piercing gaze, sharp and unsettling.

He turned his head around.

A pair of sharp, shadowy eyes were locked tightly onto him.

No...

More precisely, they were fixated on the golden sword orbs circling beside him.

”Give... it... back...”

”Give it... back to me...”

”Give it back to me!” the voice roared.

At first, it was broken and faltering. However, in an instant, it had become a furious roar.

This time, Luo Chen did not hesitate in the slightest.

Sword light flared brilliantly!

The Soul-Refining Banner unfurled in full force! A massive cauldron suddenly expanded, casting out four-colored tassels that stretched across a whole li of space and in his hand, a blazing sun began to rise slowly.

***

A fierce battle erupted abruptly within the ghost city, unnoticed by the outside world.

Luo Chen unleashed all his techniques. In just an instant, he completely subdued Luo Tianhong, who had transformed into a Ghost General.

”Before your death, I owed you some respect, but in death...

”Why go out of your way to suffer, just to trouble me?”

Luo Chen’s eyes gleamed with cold menace as he raised the massive fireball and hurled it down.

An explosion resounded.

Blazing heat rippled outward in waves. The surrounding yin energy melted away with a hiss, like snow under sunlight.

The Ghost General’s form had already been pulled by the Soul-Refining Banner and suppressed by the Four Symbols Cauldron.

At that moment, he had no strength left to resist.

Boom!

Luo Chen retreated swiftly, arriving at the edge of Whitestone Plaza.

He gazed toward the blast’s center and finally let out a breath of relief. Ever since he chose to cultivate using the spirit veins beneath Fallen Phoenix Mountain, he had considered how to face a being of Ghost General level.

The Solar Flare was undoubtedly the most effective technique.

Given the unpredictable movements of spectral entities, Luo Chen planned to use the suppressive force of the Four Symbols Cauldron and Soul-Intimidation as distractions. However, the latter could easily rebound on the user, so Luo Chen only intended to use it in absolute emergencies.

Fortunately, he had acquired the Soul-Refining Banner, a weapon tailor-made to deal with ghosts, which compensated for this flaw.

Now, his strike has proven effective. All his painstaking preparations had paid off.

Looking at the sword orb hovering around him, Luo Chen let out a sigh.

”If I’m not mistaken, this sword orb must have been Luo Tianhong’s treasured cultivation artifact.

”It had been nurtured for decades. If he had one day reached the Golden Core Realm, it could’ve become his life-bound enchanted treasure.

”No wonder he was so desperate to get it back once he saw it.”

Luo Chen stowed the sword orb, shifted his energy flow, and prepared to leave.

But just as he turned, his gaze tightened slightly.

In the center of the plaza, inside the massive crater, Luo Tianhong’s tattered ghostly body was slowly melting away.

Yet at the center of that ghostly form, a black chess piece emitted a faint halo, halting the dissolution of his body. The yin energy that had been cleared away gradually returned. It slowly began to restore his form once more.

In no time, his body appeared just a bit more solid.

”What is this?” Luo Chen raised an eyebrow in surprise.

At the same time, Luo Tianhong opened his eyes once more, his gaze stubbornly locking onto Luo Chen.

A thought stirred in Luo Chen’s heart, and he immediately turned to leave.

Behind him, Luo Tianhong let out a low growl and began to chase after Luo Chen.

When he reached the edge of Whitestone Plaza, he hesitated for a moment. But upon seeing the golden light reappear around Luo Chen’s figure, he roared and gave chase once more.

While flying, Luo Chen kept his spirit consciousness trained on the activity behind him.

When he saw Luo Tianhong following closely, a sense of relief subtly settled in his chest.

As expected, his obsession isn’t only with guarding the Sword Pavilion, but also with reclaiming the sword orb he cultivated as his life-bound treasure.

Using it as bait to lure him away from the area he knows best, Whitestone Plaza, he’ll be at my mercy.

That treasure... I must claim it!

Still, I’ll need to find a relatively safe location to set everything up first.

As these thoughts passed through his mind, Luo Chen’s figure suddenly paused midair.

Then, he vanished into the alleyways.

The Ghost General paused briefly, then dove into the alleys without hesitation.