An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Luo Chen had always been cautious when it came to refining Imperial Nectar. The reason was that it was a spirit medicine capable of increasing the chances of breaking through to Foundation Establishment.

Since achieving Foundation Establishment himself, he had barely touched the recipe. Even though more and more Perfected Mastery Qi Refinement cultivators had emerged under his command, and all of them were desperate for a Foundation Establishment pill, he had never revealed its existence.

The reason wasn’t that he was stingy or selfish. Rather, he had long since understood that such breakthrough medicine, comparable to a sect’s treasured Foundation Establishment pills, was a privilege reserved for major sects. If the Imperial Nectar were to be exposed even by accident, at best, he’d be forcibly recruited. At worst, it could spell utter destruction for both him and the Luo Tian Society.

This time, however, he had a perfect opportunity to refine it. The outside world was already spreading rumors that the Luo Tian Society had unearthed the cultivation chamber of an ancient cultivator and obtained a hidden trove of Foundation Establishment pills.

Even though those truly in power could see through such rumors at a glance, the facts spoke loudly enough. After all, in the recent conflict, the Luo Tian Society had toppled five entrenched families and slain no fewer than eleven Foundation Establishment experts.

Every one of those men was a long-established figure within Tianlan Immortal City. Each of them had access to various channels for acquiring Foundation Establishment pills. So it was only natural for the Luo Tian Society to end up with a few more Foundation Establishment pills after absorbing their assets.

If nothing else, even Luo Feng from Luosha Market had openly declared before a crowd of rogue cultivators that the Divine Craftsman Sect had promised him a Foundation Establishment pill. And that very sect had fallen at Luo Chen’s hands. With that, who could say for certain how many of such pills had fallen into his possession? And if he’d gathered one from here, another from there, it wasn’t at all unreasonable for him to have a stockpile of sorts.

To make this story seem plausible, Luo Chen had already given Sima Huiniang a subtle signal as soon as the war ended. He hadn’t spelled it out too clearly at the time, but the meaning had come across loud and clear.

He knew that, with her intelligence, she’d have no trouble deducing his true intentions. And just as expected, she had begun to release carefully worded rumors into the public sphere, to the effect that the Luo Tian Society had indeed acquired several Foundation Establishment pills.

She didn’t make loud proclamations or wave banners. Instead, she wove the story naturally into the process of recruiting rogue cultivators, using it as bait to attract capable cultivators from the lower ranks. Naturally, some of these cultivators didn’t keep the information to themselves; soon, it was spreading across the city like wildfire.

In this way, when Luo Chen refined Imperial Nectar and discreetly handed it out, it would seem perfectly natural.

Without such a setup, Luo Chen would’ve kept the whole matter tightly under wraps.

***

As time ticked by, the auction hall within Snow Lotus Palace gradually began to fill. There wasn’t a massive crowd, just around a hundred cultivators. The vast majority were at the late stage of Qi Refinement, while a handful were Foundation Establishment Initiates.

The Initiates who arrived all paused to nod politely toward Luo Chen, their expressions carrying a touch of goodwill. The title of Fire Spirit Lord blazed brightly across Tianlan Immortal City these days, and he was fast becoming a rising star in the cultivation world.

He returned every greeting without exception. Even when the faces were unfamiliar, he responded with warm courtesy. After all, no one would slap a smiling face. They might be strangers now, but after this encounter, there’d be common ground the next time they met.

Under everyone’s watchful anticipation, Shi Boying entered the central platform and announced the start of the auction.

Unlike the large-scale auctions of the past, this kind of auction was cobbled together by a few local markets under one sect and was quite modest in scale. Naturally, the process was very straightforward. Most attendees had already gathered intel on what items would appear. Everyone came with clear intentions.

“One second-tier Glacial Ice Toad corpse,” Shi Boying announced. “The body is intact, and its yin qi remains sealed within. An excellent resource for both alchemy and artifact forging. Any Daoists who are interested may wish to consider this. The starting bid is six thousand low-grade spirit stones!”

With a graceful wave of her hand, she directed attention to the massive corpse lying on the platform. The three-meter-long toad rested silently in death, yet its body radiated a chill so biting that the weaker Qi Refinement cultivators shuddered, feeling as if even their souls might freeze.

A startled voice rose from the crowd. ”This body does not even have a scratch. Which cultivator managed to kill such a thing so smoothly?”

Shi Boying seized the opportunity to raise the stakes, her smile widening. “Just so everyone is aware, these demonic beast corpses were all casually slain by a Golden Core Adept from the Ice Fortress. Each of the five second-tier demonic beasts is perfectly intact; at most, they have some minor traces of frost damage.”

Everyone looked at one another in astonishment. An ice-attribute beast... frozen to death? How powerful must that Golden Core Adept be to wield such overwhelming frost power?

Another cultivator raised a doubtful question. ”Do most Glacial Ice Toads not lose their yin qi? How was this one preserved?”

Shi Boying’s expression grew slightly awkward as she responded, ”Ordinarily, they expend it during mating, releasing the yin qi to advance their cultivation. But this time, the River-Swallowing Toad that usually resides near the Great Snow Mountains chose to mate elsewhere. That’s why this particular Glacial Ice Toad managed to retain its strand of yin qi.”

The crowd was stunned into silence. What kind of bizarre luck is this?

While they stood dazed, Luo Chen had already raised his hand. “Seven thousand low-grade spirit stones!”

Someone in the crowd, eyeing the intact second-tier demonic beast, immediately jumped in with a counteroffer. “Seven thousand five hundred!”

Luo Chen raised his hand again, calm and steady. “Eight thousand.”

Shi Boying’s eyes lit up at the sight of his confident and deep-pocketed demeanor. ”Fellow Daoist Fire Spirit Lord bids eight thousand! Any other bids?”

When she noticed some hesitation in the crowd, she quickly added, ”That wisp of yin qi, whether infused into an enchanted treasure or absorbed during moments of soul weakness, offers tremendous benefits!”

Her words stirred the atmosphere once more.

“Nine thousand!” someone shouted.

Luo Chen shot Shi Boying a resentful glance before raising his hand again. ”Ten thousand!”

“Ten thousand five hundred!”

“Eleven thousand!”

Bids rose one after another, echoing through the hall like clashing waves. Only when Luo Chen shouted a high bid of thirteen thousand did the competition finally die down.

That price had genuinely exceeded his expectations. After all, he recalled that the complete corpse of a second-tier Blazing Cloud Roc with its demon core intact had only cost him eight thousand back then. The Blazing Cloud Roc, being far harder to hunt, was much more precious than a Glacial Ice Toad. He had not expected the premium to be so steep.

As Luo Chen brooded over it, Shi Boying brought out the remaining four demonic beast corpses, one after the other. And seeing that the next three also sold for over ten thousand, Luo Chen finally came to a realization: Perhaps the frog corpse hadn’t been overpriced after all.

It was just that in Dahe Market, demonic beasts were everywhere, and the corpses weren’t worth much to begin with. Tianlan Immortal City was an inland metropolis and a bustling trade hub on a vital transit route. Ten-plus thousand was actually right about market price for a second-tier demonic beast here.

When the fifth corpse, a Frost Demon Wolf, was brought out, Luo Chen struck again.

Without hesitation, he leapt past the five-thousand starting bid. ”Ten thousand!”

Such a sudden jump in price drew startled murmurs from the hall. Frost Demon Wolves were common among second-tier beasts and not particularly prized, which meant few were eager to compete.

Moreover, the Fire Spirit Lord’s reputation stood tall, and the undeniable wealth he had amassed during the recent conflict; no one dared bid against him. In the end, he secured the corpse with this first bid, the act serving as a subtle gesture of respect from the others.

A few Foundation Establishment cultivators exchanged curious looks at his repeated purchases. The reason became clear only when a well-connected elder leaned in to explain. ”You all know him as the Fire Spirit Lord, but have you forgotten? He is also a second-tier alchemist.”

The moment those words landed, everyone understood. Using demonic beast flesh and cores as alchemical ingredients was no novelty these days.

Meanwhile, Luo Chen’s thoughts were already elsewhere. He calculated how many batches of Imperial Nectar could be refined from the two corpses. At his current Beginner-level success rate of ten percent, he could expect to produce five or six at most. Each one would need to be allocated with care.

Even with a convincing excuse to cover its existence, the Imperial Nectar remained a dangerous secret. It could only be entrusted to those closest to him, people who would never allow a single word of it to leak. That alone ruled out many within the Luo Tian Society.

His gaze darkened slightly as his mind drifted. If Sister-in-law fully recovers, maybe she could attempt Foundation Establishment again. Back then, I promised Big Brother Qin a Foundation Establishment spirit medicine to reassure her and coax her into trying, but if I truly have the means now, maybe I could make good on that false promise.

Another thought soon followed. The only concern is his age... He’s already past the sixty-year threshold. Imperial Nectar doesn’t work as well on humans as an actual Foundation Establishment pill, maybe just a twenty percent chance. Will it really work...

While Luo Chen was lost in contemplation, Wang Yuan suddenly broke the silence beside him.

“Twenty thousand, I want it all!”

Luo Chen turned at the voice, and his eyes narrowed in surprise.

On the platform, a swirl of pitch-black fiend qi curled around Shi Boying’s fingertip. It radiated a deathly aura, like water drawn from the depths of the Netherworld.

“Centennial Netherworld Yin Fiend, sourced from Ice Wolf Valley. Fellow Daoist Wang has offered twenty thousand. Any other bids?”

It was a second-tier Netherworld Yin Fiend! Luo Chen was startled. He hadn’t seen this item on the earlier auction list. It must have been submitted shortly before the auction began.

Unlike most forms of frenzied fiend qi, this one exuded a heavy, chilling stillness, an aura steeped in pure death. Such an aura usually appeared only in vast burial grounds, and to most cultivators it was little more than a useless oddity.

Yet Luo Chen knew that Wang Yuan would never let it pass him by. The Netherworld Yin Fiend was one of the three core ingredients required to refine the Blood Fiend pill.

Wang Yuan had once hoped to use it to break through into Foundation Establishment. Now that he’d already achieved Foundation Establishment, he still sought the Blood Fiend pill to refine and elevate his physical strength.

During this time in Tianlan Immortal City, Wang Yuan had been no recluse like Luo Chen. Instead, he often roamed about attending auctions of all sizes and browsing countless shops in the city. In addition to gathering strength-related materials, he had long been on the lookout for Netherworld Yin Fiend. Now, after all these years, he had finally come across it, and judging from the amount, it wasn’t a small portion.

Wang Yuan said in a low voice, “Of the Blood Fiend pill’s three main ingredients and various secondary ones, I’ve already collected nearly everything. If I can get this jar of Netherworld Yin Fiend, there will be nothing missing. Luo Chen, can you refine the Blood Fiend pill now?”

In response to Wang Yuan’s voice transmission, Luo Chen said with unshakable confidence, “Bid without worry. I’ve studied that pill formula inside and out. As long as the ingredients are all there, I will definitely refine the pill for you!”

With that guarantee, Wang Yuan no longer hesitated. When another bidder called out twenty-three thousand, he raised it decisively. “Twenty-five thousand!”

I must have it!