An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

After bathing and cleansing herself, Gu Caiyi sat quietly across from Luo Chen, looking completely renewed. Her skin glowed with a soft sheen; her eyes were wide and luminous with hope and a flicker of nervousness.

”Can I really... restore my dantian?” she asked in a low, uncertain voice.

Luo Chen nodded gently. ”This pill holds the power to pull someone back from death. Restoring your dantian? That’s the least of what it can do. I originally planned to wait until you completed your Physique Refinement before giving it to you. But these are turbulent times. If something unexpected happens, I might not be able to protect you. The sooner you recover your cultivation and reach Foundation Establishment, the better your chances of survival.”

Gu Caiyi’s expression turned solemn.

She was not ignorant. Ever since her condition had stabilized, Luo Chen had stopped sheltering her from the truth. She knew the Luo Tian Society was going through a difficult time. Yuan Xiaoyue was good, but still too inexperienced, and could not replace her forever. If she could reach Foundation Establishment, she might help shoulder some of Luo Chen’s burdens.

Besides, if Sima Huiniang can contribute, why can’t I?

”Don’t worry. Though your Physique Refinement isn’t complete, I’ve become extremely familiar with your physical condition over the past six months. Once you take the pill, I’ll guard you through the entire process,” Luo Chen assured.

Gu Caiyi nodded, firm and unwavering. ”I trust you.”

Luo Chen smiled faintly and patted her shoulder. She turned obediently, facing away from him and keeping her back straight.

He didn’t immediately let her take the Revival pill. Instead, his smile faded into calm focus. His ten fingers danced through the air like butterflies weaving through flowers, forming magical gestures one after another.

The flow of his spirit power was strange and unfamiliar, not a spell he’d ever used before. In truth, this was a second-tier spell he had carefully selected from the many spell manuals he’d gathered in the society’s library over the past half year.

More accurately, it wasn’t just an ordinary spell, but a healing technique rooted in the Dao of Medicine: Spring Wind Rain Transformation!

A water-element technique that healed not just wounds, but the very divine soul of a person. It was easy enough to learn, but the requirement was for the cultivator to have a powerful divine soul.

Fortunately, Luo Chen had exactly that. With a divine soul comparable to the eighth stage of Foundation Establishment, this technique came as naturally to him as water flowing downhill.

Now, as he cast it again and again, pure strands of spirit power flowed into Gu Caiyi’s body like gentle spring rain. Soft, mist-like spirit rain descended silently.

The healing effect was ready to activate, but Luo Chen restrained it with sheer spirit consciousness, halting its effects and storing the energy for later.

After casting Spring Wind Rain Transformation eighteen times in a row, Luo Chen finally stopped. He exhaled deeply, then patted Gu Caiyi’s shoulder again.

She turned to face him. Her bright eyes glistened slightly with emotion as they met his gaze.

”Take it,” he said softly, reassuringly. ”I’m here. You have nothing to fear.”

She nodded firmly. ”Alright!”

Without hesitation, filled with absolute trust in Luo Chen, Gu Caiyi tilted her head back and swallowed the Revival pill.

The next instant, her expression changed drastically!

A pain that tore from the depths of her soul erupted all at once. Her entire body convulsed violently. Veins bulged beneath her pale skin, writhing like blue serpents.

The pain was unbearable!

”Hold your breath and focus! Do not resist it! Don’t try to activate your stored spirit power. And stay conscious! Whatever you do, do not pass out!”

Luo Chen’s words boomed through her mind like the ring of a giant bell.

Gu Caiyi bit her lip hard, and her head trembled as she forced it upward. In mere moments, her eyes were bloodshot from the strain, yet she somehow mustered a faint, defiant smile.

She tried to speak, but the pain twisted her voice into something inhuman.

”Crk... crk...”

Luo Chen’s face turned grim. At that moment, he sent his entire divine soul into her body. It swept through her eight extraordinary meridians, through each subtle point of spiritual acupressure, racing toward the shattered sea of her dantian.

After half a year of meticulous care, he knew her body like the back of his hand.

Now, under his gaze, her shattered dantian was engulfed by a raging medicinal force, and utterly collapsed!

Nothing is established without destruction and only by breaking can one rebuild! That was the true essence of revival!

Yet although destruction was easy, restoration was unimaginably difficult.

The moment her dantian shattered, a thunderous sound erupted from her body. She began to collapse backward. But before she could fall, a firm hand caught her.

”Endure this, and everything will be better!”

The words brushed against her ears like a lifeline cast into the stormy sea. On the brink of blackout, Gu Caiyi felt something deep inside her stir again.

That’s right!

She had endured so much. So much pain and powerlessness. So many nights staring at ceilings, wondering if tomorrow was even worth it.

If she passed out now, she might never wake again. Might never see him again.

Could she bear that?

***

The reconstruction of the dantian was not something that could be completed in a short time.

Such intense pain was something an ordinary Qi Refinement cultivator could never endure. It was only because Gu Caiyi had frequently consumed Spirit Passage pills, raising her divine soul foundation to a level comparable to early-stage Foundation Establishment, that she could even survive this kind of agony. Even so, her physique was not strong enough to endure it alone.

Ultimately, her Physique Refinement simply wasn’t there yet.

But Luo Chen had anticipated this.

Facing the situation, he took a deep breath and jabbed his finger forward like a flash of lightning.

In the blink of an eye, he struck eighteen precise acupoints across Gu Caiyi’s trembling body.

The next moment, she writhed violently in his arms like a wounded white python.

The pain was still there, but instead of being concentrated at a single point, it was now spread evenly across the eighteen acupoints.

This way, although she still felt the pain, it became more bearable.

This was Luo Chen using Divine Breaker of Malevolence to stimulate her vitals. To keep the pain manageable, he deliberately held back and limited the stimulation to only eighteen acupoints. The full execution of Divine Breaker of Malevolence would have stimulated thirty-six major acupoints all at once.

Moreover, Luo Chen had a follow-up prepared for this step!

”Activate!”

With a low shout from Luo Chen, the eighteen strands of energy created by Spring Wind Rain Transformation, which had been suppressed earlier, instantly spread out. They flowed like misty spring rain, seeping gently into each of the activated acupoints.

The woman in his arms gradually stopped thrashing. What she felt now was a soft, tingling ache—a throbbing itch beneath the skin. And throughout this process, her dantian was slowly reconstructed.

Soon after, one phase was complete. But it wasn’t over, and what came next would be no less difficult.

Luo Chen straightened her body and looked into her eyes, sending a command with his spirit consciousness.

”Activate your core technique! Ignore the strain on your meridians. Channel every last bit of your spirit energy in your body into your dantian. Now!”

His voice was accompanied by a powerful cast of Soul Intimidation. His eyes darkened. His divine soul made itself felt with fearsome weight and might.

Under the immense pressure of his presence, Gu Caiyi’s body moved on instinct. Like a puppet on invisible strings, she responded, unconsciously activating her core cultivation technique.

Under his guidance, the vast reserves of spirit energy scattered throughout her body began surging into her newly restored dantian like swallows returning to their nests, like rivers flowing into the sea.

The process appeared smooth on the surface, but for the person experiencing it, the pain it brought was second only to the reconstruction of the dantian.

It was like a piece of shrapnel embedded in the flesh during an explosion. It hurt when it happened, but if left alone, the body would eventually grow used to it. It still hurt, but it was the kind of chronic pain that came from years of silent endurance—until the body adapted, accepted the foreign objects as part of itself.

And now, someone was tearing those pieces out. The accumulated spirit energy that had become part of her flesh and soul was being forcefully pulled out.

With her own strength alone, Gu Caiyi could never have survived this. That was why Luo Chen had to be the surgeon in charge of the operation. As for the Soul Intimidation he had just cast? That was his scalpel.

Right now, Gu Caiyi was cycling her energy almost entirely under his control. Over the past six months, he had studied her Qi Refinement technique inside and out, examining it countless times until he understood its every nuance. Otherwise, he could have never done something like this.

Fortunately, everything was proceeding smoothly.

Time passed without them realizing it.

***

The sun rose and fell again. Dusk crept in silently like a curtain drawn by unseen hands.

Then, at long last, the doors of the cultivation chamber swung open.

Bai Meiling, who was waiting in the living room, opened her eyes in an instant. She caught sight of Luo Chen stepping out, cradling the unconscious Gu Caiyi in his arms.

”Master,” she asked anxiously, ”did it work?”

Luo Chen gave a faint nod. He looked absolutely drained, worn to the bone.

He laid Gu Caiyi back on the bed, gently tucked her in, and finally stepped outside.

”She’ll likely be unconscious for a few days. Keep an eye on her for me,” he said.

Bai Meiling nodded quickly, her voice firm. ”Yes, I will, Master.”

Luo Chen smiled faintly, ruffled her hair, and turned toward his own quarters.

At that moment, though he looked exhausted, he didn’t go to rest immediately. Instead, he took out a bronze mirror.

Staring into the mirror, Luo Chen fell into deep thought.

Gu Caiyi’s injuries were essentially healed. Her dantian had been reconstructed. Although her meridians had been battered and scattered by the backlash spirit energy, the residual medicinal power of the Revival pill would slowly restore them over time.

Unfortunately, this process couldn’t possibly come with no side effects.

The newly reconstructed dantian had formed an unusually thick inner wall. When the time came to break through to Foundation Establishment again, it likely wouldn’t be as easy as before.

It was similar to the pill toxins barrier he himself had once faced. He had relied on his powerful physique and unyielding will, forcing a breakthrough by consuming five batches of Foundation Establishment spirit medicine in one go and only barely succeeding. But Gu Caiyi didn’t have the same foundation, so even after her injuries fully healed, trying to reach Foundation Establishment Realm would still be extremely difficult.

Turning the bronze mirror in his hand, Luo Chen’s mind stirred with an idea.

When it was intact, this mirror could help cultivators at the Perfected Mastery of Foundation Establishment simulate the Core Formation process.Now that it’s damaged, it may no longer serve that function. But what if... it was used to help a Perfected Mastery Qi Refinement cultivator simulate Foundation Establishment instead? Could it work then?

Back when he had saved Xing Zhonghan, the man had gifted him the records on the Divine Ghost Heartmirror. It was then Luo Chen finally understood how to use it properly.

The key was the Forsaken Black Chess Piece. But it also required a higher-level cultivator to oversee the process and interrupt the user at the critical moment, preventing the simulation from going too deep. Luo Chen himself falling into a dream that lasted over two hundred years was precisely because there had been no senior cultivator to watch over him.

I’ve refined the Forsaken Black Chess Piece for years. Even if I can’t unleash its full power, it’s more than enough to safeguard a Qi Refinement cultivator. With the strength of my divine soul, forcibly ending a Qi Refinement simulation is easy. If I can work out the optimal method, I can help Caiyi reach Foundation Establishment smoothly.

Actually, I could even extend this method to the other Luo Tian Society cultivators who need to break through. Then, if we use Foundation Establishment pills earned through war merits from the Jilei Nine Mountains, as well as my own Imperial Nectar, we can produce a number of Initiates before anybody knows what’s going on!

At that thought, Luo Chen’s breath began to quicken.

Having seen how Green Pill Valley boasted hundreds upon hundreds of Foundation Establishment disciples, he now found the Luo Tian Society’s meager few utterly unsatisfactory. If he commanded a host of Foundation Establishment cultivators under his banner, everything he planned to do would become far easier.

Open more branches? Seize territory? Join battles? All this was possible! Even founding a sect of his own someday!

As he caressed the Divine Ghost Heartmirror in his hand, Luo Chen finally understood why this item, despite being just a low-grade enchanted treasure, could stand alongside the far superior Demon-Locking Pagoda as one of the two guardian artifacts of Valley of Ghosts and Divinities!

But for now... I should get a proper rest first.

Rubbing his brow, Luo Chen suppressed his excitement and drifted into a deep sleep.