An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

A party of nine cultivators surged forward at full speed. Every one of them was a Foundation Establishment Initiate! Their combined strength would have been formidable under any other circumstance, yet on this day, their fortune had run dry.

At the start of the battle, they were all struck by a volley from the Falling Cloud Sect’s puppet army, and because they were caught off guard, every single one of them was wounded. After barely escaping that barrage, they decided to retreat through the flank. Eight of them now followed behind their most heavily injured member, a cultivator at the late stage of Foundation Establishment. For good reason; he wasn’t just any cultivator. He was a True Inheritor of the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect! Even wounded, such a man was not one to be taken lightly.

As they raced through the terrain, a few kept nervously glancing back.

”True Inheritor Lan, the Falling Cloud Sect cultivators are still on our tail! What should we do?” one of the men cried out, his voice tinged with panic.

The moment those words left his mouth, the others tensed up. None of them had expected this. The Falling Cloud Sect had always seemed mediocre at best, never drawing much attention in past battles. But today, they had erupted with astonishing force.

They no longer engaged in individual duels. They now fought as tightly coordinated units, either marching in disciplined companies of hundreds or moving in fluid teams of three to five, coordinating their strikes with deadly precision. Backed by their powerful puppets, a few of them could even hold back a late-stage Initiate!

Even those who managed to force their way in found themselves trapped. The Falling Cloud Sect would simply use their puppets to stall them, retreat while fighting, and even control the machines to circle and launch surprise attacks from behind.

After several such bloody encounters, fear had begun to spread among the enemy.

True Inheritor Lan’s face was pale as he cast a hateful glance behind them.

”We can’t keep running like this!” he barked. ”Prepare yourselves, we’ll turn around and strike. Catch them off guard, and wipe them out!”

One cultivator hesitated. ”But that’s Han Zheng chasing us! He’s the grandson of Han Zhan, the Nascent Soul Sage! If we harm him, won’t that bring disaster upon us?”

The mention of a Nascent Soul Sage sent a chill down their spines, let alone offending one.

True Inheritor Lan’s eyes turned frosty. ”So what if we offend him? He stepped onto this battlefield like the rest of us. Are we supposed to stand there and let him kill us, just because of who his grandfather is? If anything, taking his head would earn us tremendous merit points with the Sword Sect!”

His voice sharpened. ”What, are you all so afraid of Han Zhan that you’ve forgotten our Jade Cauldron Sword Sect has its own Nascent Soul elder?”

That struck a chord. One by one, their hearts steadied. Yes, the enemy had a Nascent Soul Sage, but so did they. On the battlefield, status and bloodlines meant nothing. Everyone stood on equal ground. There was no such thing as waiting quietly to die.

In an instant, the nine Initiates found their courage regained. Some even grew eager, fantasizing about the rewards they might receive if they landed the killing blow on Han Zheng.

While they were lost in such fantasies, five figures soared through the sky with blinding speed behind them. Though their numbers were small, their presence alone was enough to draw attention. Any minor faction cultivators who caught sight of them quickly stepped aside in fear. All five of them... were disciples of the Falling Cloud Sect.

At a glance, they appeared to be just five individuals, but no one knew how many puppets they could unleash at full force. And who knew whether some of those puppets rivaled late-stage or even Perfected Mastery Initiates?

Among the five, several had already reached the sixth stage. But despite their cultivation, all subtly deferred to the person at the center, who was only at the fourth stage.

”Junior Brother Han Zheng, are those retreating stragglers really worth this much effort?” one of the senior disciples asked with a puzzled frown.

Han Zheng responded with a faint smile and said, ”The other eight are nothing, but there is a late-stage Initiate sword cultivator, a True Inheritor from the Sword Sect. That’s our real target!”

The others nodded—it made sense now. A late-stage Initiate from the Sword Sect? Such prey didn’t come along every day. How could they let it escape?

Just as they were going on their pursuit, Han Zheng suddenly froze. A flicker of confusion passed over his face. ”Hmm?”

”What is it, Junior Brother?” asked one of his companions.

”Speed up!” Han Zheng’s expression changed as he gave this sudden command.

In the next instant, all five of them erupted in bursts of spirit light and surged forward with renewed speed. Not only that, each of them also summoned puppets ready for combat at any moment. Yet by the time they realized something was amiss, it was already too late.

Han Zheng stopped in his tracks with a jolt, and his eyes went wide as he stared in horror at the night sky. A blazing sun burst out from the darkness!

Boom!

A deafening roar followed, and then endless waves of fire rolled outward, sweeping the ground and consuming everything within a ten-li radius.

Caught within the blast, nine Foundation Establishment cultivators cried out in shock, each scrambling to raise defenses against the sudden onslaught.

Though it had caught them unprepared, the combined strength of nine cultivators was still enough to withstand a first-tier or second-tier spell. But that wasn’t the end; a figure charged into their broken formation like a tiger leaping into a herd of sheep. In his hands was a long staff that shifted in size and shape; he slaughtered them one by one without mercy.

Aaagh!

Pui......!

”Damn it, it’s Tian Kuizi!”

One, two, three... After that terrifying Solar Flare shattered their defenses, their formation had completely collapsed, and Chu Kui’s ruthless assault followed with deadly precision. No one among them could mount a proper defense. In just a few short breaths, six were dead, one of them even a mid-stage Initiate.

True Inheritor Lan watched in disbelief, his eyes nearly popping out in fury. With enemies before them, pursuers behind, and no open road in any direction, they were well and truly cornered.

Suppressing the blood that surged to his throat, he shouted hoarsely, ”Split up and run!”

Without hesitation, the remaining two mid-stage Initiates veered off, fleeing in a different direction. True Inheritor Lan himself transformed into a streak of sword light, erupting with speed in an attempt to escape.

Sword cultivators were known for their speed! Even without reaching the Golden Core Realm, few within Foundation Establishment could rival their speed unless they mastered Five Element Escape or similar techniques.

However, just as he bolted away, a figure just as fast appeared in front of him in the blink of an eye, crimson robes fluttering in the wind. ”Fellow Daoist, I’ll be taking your head!”

”You wretched bastard, don’t even think about it!” True Inheritor Lan roared.

Without hesitation, sword light surged around him, condensing into a brilliant sword that lunged toward the crimson-robed figure. This sword strike was razor-sharp and deadly!

Without a doubt, it was the strongest attack Luo Chen had faced in a while. It went far beyond the level expected of a seventh-stage Initiate. He took a deep breath and thrust the long sword from his back straight forward.

Swoosh!

With a sharp screech, the Mystic Flame Sword shot forward like a falling star. At that same instant, Luo Chen’s eyes widened. A ghostly light flickered within them, as if a creature of the Netherworld was gazing upon the mortal sky.

Under that eerie gaze, True Inheritor Lan froze. It lasted no longer than a heartbeat, but it was enough. When he regained focus, he realized his sword orb had plunged into an endless sea of blue light, struggling forward like it was moving through molasses. Ahead of him came dazzling firelight and the cry of a sword piercing into his body.

”How... how could this be...”

The words barely slipped from his trembling lips before the Mystic Flame Sword drove him backward, nailing him into the cliffside.

Buzz!

Within a glowing glassy barrier, the sword orb spun slowly in place. As its master perished, it let out a mournful hum and gradually ceased moving.

”Hmph.” Luo Chen snorted coldly and reached out, forcibly snatching the sword orb from midair. Then he looked up in the other direction, and there he saw Chu Kui sweeping his long staff sideways, smashing two mid-stage Initiates into pieces in the air.

”Dan Chenzi, don’t you think this is going a bit too far?!”

A furious voice echoed from above. Luo Chen calmly turned to the speaker. There stood Han Zheng, riding atop a black wooden kite with a face no less dark than the ubiquitous thunderclouds of Jilei.

Behind him, four mid-stage Initiates had already readied themselves; their auras were flaring without restraint, and they made no effort to conceal their killing intent.

At some point during the confrontation, Chu Kui had silently gathered the spoils of his own battle, and he immediately returned to Luo Chen’s side. The two of them stood shoulder to shoulder, calm and unflinching as they faced the five ferocious gazes glaring down at them like wolves circling prey.