An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Inside the Water Manor of Qinhua River, Luo Chen gazed at Li Jinhuang. The man sat cross-legged, his features gaunt and his face deathly pale. The once perfectly fitted wide robe now draped loosely over his frail frame, making him look almost hollow.

So this is the state of a Foundation Establishment Initiate about to reach the end of his lifespan and enter final seclusion...

An ordinary cultivator might not have noticed, but with Luo Chen’s sharp eyesight and keen spirit consciousness, he could clearly sense the constant loss of vitality. His body was like a sieve, unable to hold anything in.

The Dao Foundation that had once sealed his life force was now failing completely. At this point, his body was like a cracked vessel, leaking away all his strength, energy, and spirit without restraint.

Facing Luo Chen’s scrutiny, Li Jinhuang remained calm. He made no effort to hide his true state, and instead openly let Luo Chen see every detail. It was a gesture of goodwill; it allowed Luo Chen to understand as much as possible what a Foundation Establishment cultivator faced in their final days. Perhaps, if Luo Chen himself were to reach such a state one day, this understanding might allow him to prepare in advance.

Or perhaps this kind of goodwill had been ongoing ever since the Li family of Qinhua River established ties with the Luo Tian Society on Danxia Peak. After all, Li Jinhuang’s own granddaughter had married into the Luo Tian Society. He had offered a Foundation Establishment pill quota during the auction. He had helped Luo Chen handle Spirit Passage pills. And even now, with his own life nearly extinguished, he was still giving his all.

Luo Chen understood his intentions. Everything he did was to ensure that after his passing, Luo Chen would continue to watch over the Li family.

After a long moment, Luo Chen averted his gaze. ”Fellow Daoist, you didn’t ask me here just for this, did you?”

Li Jinhuang opened his mouth and spoke in a hoarse, heavy voice. ”You already know what I want, Fellow Daoist. The Li family is at its most dangerous point now. Once I fall, the wolves surrounding us will surely pounce and tear the Li family to pieces. That would be a disaster that would make me die with regrets!”

Luo Chen frowned slightly. ”With the Luo Tian Society’s protection, those enemies of the Li family shouldn’t dare act rashly.”

Li Jinhuang let out a bitter laugh. ”But some of them weren’t enemies before!”

Luo Chen was momentarily puzzled. But after Li Jinhuang’s explanation, he learned about these unexpected foes.

The Danyuan Sect!

Hearing that name, Luo Chen was a little surprised. The Danyuan Sect had been one of the major competitors when the Luo Tian Society first tried to enter Tianlan’s low-tier pill market. Leaving aside other minor pills, their essence nourishing pill still held a place in the market.

Yet, caught between the fierce competition from the Luo Tian Society and the Zheng family, the Danyuan Sect had slowly lost ground and was still struggling today.

The essence nourishing pill was quite potent, but it was expensive and they refused to lower the price. As a result, their sales had been steadily declining.

Only a handful of loyal old customers still bought from them. To be honest, Luo Chen had long stopped paying the Danyuan Sect any attention. Their pills no longer had any real competitive edge, and they had only a single mid stage Foundation Establishment elder left.

Besides, the Li family of Qinhua River had also sold first-tier cultivation pills back then.

”Weren’t they always your competitors?” Luo Chen asked.

Li Jinhuang shook his head slowly. ”They were competitors, but also partners. Danyuan Sect needed a key ingredient to refine their essence nourishing pill and only the Li family grows it in large quantities in Tianlan Immortal City. Even before their old sect leader passed away, we had already established a partnership. And because we controlled the main ingredient, they couldn’t lower their prices.”

Luo Chen understood what his interlocutor was implying. ”So, once you’re gone, the Danyuan Sect might no longer hold back?”

”Exactly,” Li Jinhuang confirmed. ”Who would want their lifeline to be controlled by someone else?”

The current leader of the Danyuan Sect, whose name was unknown to most, had been given the Dao title Dan Yuanzi many years ago for his outstanding alchemy skills. That title even sounded similar to Luo Chen’s former Dao title, Dan Chenzi, back in Dahe Market.

What if he decided to act against the Li family?

”What’s his exact cultivation?” Luo Chen asked.

”One stage lower than me,” Li Jinhuang replied without hesitation. ”Fourth stage of Foundation Establishment.”

Hearing that, Luo Chen felt a bit more confident. ”No problem. When the time comes, I’ll handle it myself.”

A hint of disbelief crossed Li Jinhuang’s face. ”You?”

It wasn’t that Li Jinhuang didn’t trust Luo Chen, but after all, Luo Chen was only in the early stages of Foundation Establishment...

As Li Jinhuang hesitated, Luo Chen formed a hand seal, and a powerful surge of spirit energy radiated from him. The aura was as sharp as Li Jinhuang’s at his peak, or perhaps even stronger!

Li Jinhuang’s eyes widened. ”When did you reach the middle stage of Foundation Establishment?!”

”Just recently,” Luo Chen said softly with a tone filled with quiet confidence.

Protecting the Li family was not only about repaying years of goodwill. The Li family also brought enormous benefits to the Luo Tian Society. Though the Li family was known as an alchemy family, the profits from pill business were only a small part of their income. Their main source of wealth had always been the medicinal materials business.

When the Luo Tian Society’s Jade Essence pill entered the market, it devastated other competitors. The biggest winner had been the Zheng family. The Li family of Qinhua River, meanwhile, had been the least affected because their main business was not in alchemy.

Even Luo Chen was extremely envious of their medicinal trade. Still, he held to his principles and promises. He would never seize the Li family’s medicinal materials business after Li Jinhuang’s passing.

But the Luo Tian Society could work closely with the Li family to expand and strengthen their medicinal materials business, taking a share of the profits. Even without considering the big picture, simply buying herbs at fair prices for their own use would save the Luo Tian Society a significant amount in spirit stones.

When Li Jinhuang sensed the surging spirit power emanating from Luo Chen, he was first shocked. But then, he couldn’t help but begin praising Luo Chen.

”Good! Good! Good!” he exclaimed. ”With your strength, that’s even better!”

While Luo Chen was confident and proud, he was also a little curious. ”Even if I hadn’t advanced to mid stage Foundation Establishment, with the four Foundation Establishment Initiates in the Luo Tian Society, we could still easily suppress Dan Yuanzi! So why would you be worried about this?”

Li Jinhuang’s smile faded, replaced by a serious expression. ”There are wolves on all sides, not just the Danyuan Sect.”

Luo Chen shook his head. ”Seems like your family’s networking hasn’t been very effective!”

”It has nothing to do with relationships,” Li Jinhuang replied calmly. ”It’s simply that an innocent man with a treasure invites envy. The territory the Li family controls has even greater potential than your Danxia Peak. Because of that, no matter how well I’ve treated people in my life, once I’m gone, there will always be someone who can’t resist making a move.”

He paused and took a deep breath before continuing, ”I believe most of the other enemies will wait and watch for now. Only the Hu family has a life-and-death feud with us. And over these years, they’ve gone to extreme lengths, draining every bit of the family’s wealth to forcibly cultivate three Foundation Establishment Initiates. Once I’m gone, whether for profit or revenge, they will definitely attack the Li family.”

Luo Chen’s expression grew grave as well. He knew exactly which Hu family Li Jinhuang was talking about: the Hu family of Tangqiu, which indeed boasted three Foundation Establishment Initiates!

Over the past decade, their power had grown significantly, enough to rival even the Luo Tian Society. Moreover, as a native Tianlan family, they commanded more respect from the local rogue cultivators than even the Zheng family of the Rolling Dragon Ridge, which also had three Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Yet in the eyes of those who truly understood the situation, the reputation of the Hu family didn’t amount to much. They had only been able to nurture three Foundation Establishment initiates by draining every last resource from the family, and each was only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment. Worst of all, the “draining” was no exaggeration; it was, in fact, the literal truth.

Logically, with three Foundation Establishment cultivators at the top, the Hu family should have had plenty of Qi Refinement cultivators at the bottom. But that wasn’t the case. Their Qi Refinement cultivators lived lives of unimaginable hardship.

The Hu family was also an alchemy family and had once been one of the Luo Tian Society’s competitors in the pill market. Inside their family, however, alchemy assistants weren’t called medicinal apprentices or fire handlers but rather medicine-handling slaves and fire-handling slaves. Day and night, they were forced to refine pills nonstop. Many had their cultivation paths severed, died from furnace explosions, or exhausted their spirit power and failed to advance.

At present, the Hu family only had a dozen or so Qi Refinement cultivators capable of fighting. It could be said that the Hu family’s centuries-old foundation had been completely depleted in this generation.

Only by such extreme means had they forcibly nurtured three Foundation Establishment Initiates. Such desperate, militaristic management was not unique, but it was looked down upon wherever it appeared, and for good reason.

Luo Chen fully believed Li Jinhuang when he said they would strike at the Li family without hesitation. After all, they were almost at the end of their rope. Their vaults had been emptied, their pill business had suffered huge losses due to the Luo Tian Society and the Zheng family, and their three Foundation Establishment Initiates were desperate for cultivation resources. With all these problems weighing on them, they had long been eyeing the Li family hungrily.

Only Li Jinhuang, with his mid-stage cultivation, had managed to hold them back. He was teetering on the brink of death, but ”on the brink of death” does not mean ”dead.” He was still alive and keeping their greed in check.

But what about when Li Jinhuang inevitably passed away and they made their move?

Luo Chen thought for a moment about how they would respond to such a situation. After a while, he spoke calmly, ”One mid-stage and three early-stage Initiates. I see. The Luo Tian Society can handle that.”

Hearing Luo Chen’s words, the withered and old Li Jinhuang smiled with relief. He saw the determination in Luo Chen’s eyes to protect the Li family.

Seeing his smile, Luo Chen rolled his eyes in annoyance. ”If things come to that, with the Luo Tian Society putting in so much effort, of course, your Li family will have to pay a fair price. At the very least, I want half of the Li family’s future profits from the medicinal ingredients business.”

Half! That’s an unbearable burden for any cultivation family! Li Jinhuang thought.

But even so, he still smiled and nodded. ”Once I’m gone, the other half of the profits will be enough to support Yingzhang’s cultivation for Foundation Establishment.”

Luo Chen nodded in agreement. Even though he was taking such a large share of the Li family’s profits, it wouldn’t push them to the brink of destruction. The remaining share would still be enough for the Li family to survive.

He had always been a man who weighed his actions carefully. When he dealt with others, he was either utterly ruthless or left enough room for everyone to thrive. He had always judged these balances with remarkable precision.

Yet even so, he couldn’t help but feel that something was off. Suddenly, his gaze fell on the smile lingering on Li Jinhuang’s lips.

”Is there something else you haven’t told me?”

Li Jinhuang nodded.

Luo Chen was speechless.

He knew that even at death’s door, this old man would still consider every possible angle. The reason he had felt something was off earlier was that after weighing everything, he realized that neither the Danyuan Sect nor the Hu family of Sandalwood Hill posed a real threat; the Luo Tian Society could handle them both, and Li Jinhuang knew that.

Even if those two forces joined hands, Luo Chen would remain unfazed. The portion of profit that had been offered was also just as Li Jinhuang had expected. If that were all, there would have been no need for Li Jinhuang to request a solemn meeting right before his passing.

Given how things would unfold, Luo Chen would have followed through on everything they’d discussed anyway. Why bother with this extra meeting?

Under Luo Chen’s gaze, Li Jinhuang slowly spoke. ”The ruling sect of the Tianlan Immortal City is about to change.”

Luo Chen replied, ”I know that.”

”But do you know that every time the ruling sect of the city changes, it’s the time when all the forces near Tianlan Immortal City are in the greatest chaos?”

That makes sense, but what about it?

Li Jinhuang continued explaining, ”At times like this, when the sect’s cultivators are busy with the handover, no one’s really in charge. The enforcement teams are ineffective. Chaos erupts, and there’s always someone ready to fish in troubled waters.”

”With the Ice Fortress behind me, who would dare challenge the Luo Tian Society?”

”Plenty of forces have backers,” Li Jinhuang said, shaking his head. ”My family has old ties with Green Pill Valley. But when disaster strikes, would they really come to our aid?”

Luo Chen shook his head. His relationship with Ice Fortress wasn’t just a matter of old connections. The interests at stake were so significant that even a Golden Core Adept, Fairy Ruthless, had personally invested in them.

If he were ever in real danger, even if the Ice Fortress no longer ruled the city, they wouldn’t leave him to die. After all, Fairy Ruthless had already given him tremendous support, and she was certainly not the type to take a loss just like that.

Seeing Luo Chen’s unconcerned expression, Li Jinhuang sighed. ”A hundred years ago, the Min family of Danxia Peak fell precisely during a sect rotation, when the city changed hands. Twenty years ago, the Fu family of Mirror Lake also collapsed during the same period. Past lessons are guides for the future. Fellow Daoist, do not be careless!”

Luo Chen remained unconcerned. The old man didn’t understand how critical his Jade Dew pills were to Ice Fortress. Sometimes, shared interests forged stronger bonds than mere old acquaintances. But seeing the obvious exhaustion on Li Jinhuang’s face, Luo Chen decided not to trouble him further.

”If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave. When you pass, I will certainly send you off properly.”

”There’s one more thing!” Li Jinhuang called out to Luo Chen just as he was about to leave.

Hmm?

Li Jinhuang continued, ”I have a third-tier spell, and I hope you can learn it.”