An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

The instant Di Wanyun uttered those words, the air froze solid. The world seemed to sink into the dead stillness of winter, every breath turning to ice. Luo Chen tried to move, but his limbs felt like they were weighed down by mountains. Even breathing became a struggle.

”You’ve got guts, I’ll grant you that,” Di Wanyun sneered. ”You killed my son, yet you didn’t flee. Instead, you dare to parade yourself across the battlefield. I can’t tell whether you’re truly fearless or simply begging for death.”

Luo Chen forced out a hoarse reply. ”Senior, I tried everything to erase this cursed mark. Why is it still there?”

”You want to know why?” Di Wanyun let out a cold laugh.

As Luo Chen looked on, hope flickering in his eyes, a burst of golden light exploded from the old man’s hand. ”Go to the underworld and kneel before my son; maybe he’ll deign to tell you!”

Just as the golden light reached him, a cracked shield suddenly materialized in front of Luo Chen.

Clang!

The moment it made contact, the golden light exploded with deafening force, shattering the iron shield into countless fragments. Amid the rain of flying shards, a blue-hued barrier flared into existence, glazed and luminous like polished glass. It started wide, encompassing the area like a dome, but the golden light bore down with unstoppable momentum, pressing the barrier inward until it hugged Luo Chen’s figure tightly.

Luo Chen’s expression twisted in strain as his body trembled violently. The golden light finally ceased its advance.

Di Wanyun narrowed his eyes and recalled the golden light. It coalesced into his hand, revealing a cloud-shaped enchanted treasure that morphed fluidly—at one moment a blade, the next a hammer, ever-shifting and uncanny.

”A broken defensive enchanted treasure, coupled with a high-tier defensive spell,” he muttered. ”No wonder you two had the nerve to run wild on the battlefield.”

Opposite him, Chu Kui’s face was grim. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected Luo Chen to have provoked a Golden Core cultivator!

”Senior, bullying the weak with strength, doesn’t suit someone of your status, ” Chu Kui said, stepping forward.

”You’re trying to reason with me?” Di Wanyun spat coldly, and the cloud in his hand morphed into a golden flying sword.

Luo Chen’s expression shifted as he shouted, ”I am a guest elder of Ice Fortress! I have ties with Fairy Ruthless. Do you dare to kill me?”

”I am sure my son said something similar before he died,” Di Wanyun snapped. ”Did you spare him? Enough talk! Die!”

Whoosh!

The flying sword shot forth with blinding speed. Luo Chen surged his spirit power, forcefully casting Glazed Skyveil on the spot. But this time, the sword slipped through the veil like a fish through water, completely unhindered.

Clang!

Another explosion rang out. A black-and-gold staff suddenly extended, batting the sword aside. Yet again, the attack failed. For the first time, Di Wanyun looked seriously at Chu Kui. ”There’s something strange about you.”

Luo Chen’s eyes, too, widened in shock. A strange aura was rising from Chu Kui’s body, thick, turbulent, and shrouded in mist, pulsing with a power that felt far beyond Foundation Establishment. Is this the secret method he’d mentioned before?

Right in front of them, a round pill appeared in Chu Kui’s hand, and he swallowed it without hesitation. The strange energy exploded into a torrential surge. A voice echoed in Luo Chen’s ear. ”I know your flight speed is unmatched. You go first, I’ll follow.”

”But—”

”No but! He may be a Golden Core cultivator, but he isn’t strong enough to keep me here.”

Luo Chen cast Chu Kui a long, solemn look. Then, spectral wings burst from his back. He shot backward like a streak of lightning, so fast it left all eyes wide in disbelief. However, a mere Foundation Establishment-level voice transmission couldn’t be hidden from an Adept.

Di Wanyun grew anxious. ”Trying to flee?! As if!”

Seals flew from his hands as the cloud-shaped enchanted treasure swelled into a colossal hammer. He lifted it high and brought it down with crushing force across a radius of several li.

Facing the blow, Chu Kui raised his head sharply. With both hands gripping his Heaven-Equaling Staff, he thrust it upward.

Boom!

With a thunderous clash, the hammer was sent flying back. Chu Kui rose steadily into the air, both hands gripping his long staff. A wild surge of energy roared from within him, and in the blink of an eye, his aura completely overwhelmed Di Wanyun’s.

”Mana—it’s mana!” Di Wanyun’s expression darkened. ”You lucky bastard, where did you find a Golden Core Pill strong enough to extract mana from it?!”[1]

Chu Kui remained solemn, offering no reply. The ground trembled as the Heaven-Equaling Staff tightened and struck down once more. Di Wanyun’s golden cloud artifact morphed frantically, forming a luminous shield to intercept the blow.

Boom!

After the first strike, Chu Kui pressed the attack relentlessly, swinging again. One strike. Two strikes. Three strikes....

Each blow landed harder than the last. Chu Kui’s staff whistled through the air with crushing force, and the luminous shield shuddered beneath his strikes. Sparks burst forth in brilliant flashes and the barrier bent and distorted, straining to hold against the relentless assault.

Di Wanyun, an Adept though he was, found himself being driven back step by step. This astonishing scene didn’t go unnoticed. Across the battlefield of the eighth mountain, countless powerful cultivators turned their eyes toward the clash.

Several Adepts, scattered across the high ridges and war-torn valleys, abruptly shifted their attention. A streak of light tore through the sky. A figure from the distant horizon burst forward at incredible speed, racing toward the scene.

A mere Foundation Establishment Initiate... was suppressing a Golden Core Adept. Such an unthinkable scene unfolded right before the eyes of the strongest from the six Jade Cauldron Sects. Utterly absurd, utterly astounding!

”You deserve to die!” Di Wanyun’s furious roar split the air. He had already sensed Luo Chen’s retreat and the gazes of the other Golden Core cultivators falling upon him. If this dragged on any longer, with their silent judgment and their scrutiny...

Thump!

Di Wanyun pressed a single finger to the center of his forehead. It felt as though something sealed had been unlocked. In an instant, his suppressed cultivation exploded.

Twice, then thrice...

In the blink of an eye, he returned to his peak state. With a wave of his hand, the golden cloud condensed into a massive hammer and smashed forward.

From afar, a slender hand extended. A wall of solid ice rose in front of Chu Kui.

Crack!

The ice wall only lasted a moment before it shattered with a thunderous boom. At the same time, Chu Kui’s full-powered staff strike couldn’t match the force of that hammer. The next moment, he was sent hurtling through the air, crashing into the ground somewhere dozens of li away.

Di Wanyun gave a cold snort, not even glancing at the white-robed figure who had intervened. His body dissolved into golden mist and streaked away, racing beyond the mountain peaks.

”Luo Chen, you won’t escape!”

Whoosh!

Fairy Ruthless appeared in a blur, catching Chu Kui’s limp body midair. She narrowed her eyes at the unconscious man, then scoffed. ”Absorbing someone else’s Golden Core? Fool. You’re begging to die.”

With a flick of her fingers, a pill the size of a longan fruit appeared in her palm. Its spirit glow flickered faintly with clear instability. Then, with a gentle push, Chu Kui’s unconscious body soared toward the seventh mountain, which had been seized by the Four-Sect Alliance.

”Moonshade, take care of him,” she called out coldly

On the seventh mountain, Moonshade gave a soft chuckle. ”Senior Sister, you’d better hurry. If that little guy dies at the hands of Di Wanyun, you’ll have some serious explaining to do to the Supreme Elder.”

”Hmph!”Fairy Ruthless snorted again. A white shuttle appeared beneath her feet, carrying her as she raced after Di Wanyun.

***

A crimson-robed figure streaked across the sky, fleeing with frantic speed. One instant, he stood within sight; the next, he was dozens of zhang away. Blurred shadows trailed from his movements, and the air around him howled with wind. Luo Chen pressed his palm to his forehead, his expression dark and still.

Impossible... I clearly removed that thing. So why is it still here? How could he track me through it?!

The searing heat in the center of his forehead only made the chill in his heart grow colder.

No... something’s not right. The method I used before was effective. Otherwise, Di Wanyun would have hunted me down long ago. He avoided the question earlier. That must mean he used some other method to confirm it was me.

Luo Chen’s deduction was, in fact, almost right on the mark. Di Wanyun had already been at the Jilei Nine Mountains battlefield for quite some time. But no matter how he tried to activate the bloodline resonance, he couldn’t sense even the faintest connection to the Withering-Flourishing Mark.

With no other choice, he turned to the Flame Alliance’s intelligence network, seeking anything related to his son. The information he received was very simple: The last report of Yan Leizi before his disappearance was during the assault on the seventh mountain.

After that, he was invited to pursue some fleeing enemies. The key names involved were Huo Quan, also known as Withered Toad, and a minor figure from the Luo Tian Society, Wang Yuan. Just like that, the list of suspects had narrowed drastically.

Wang Yuan had immediately gone missing, and Withered Toad’s fate remained unknown. Yet soon after, Luo Chen and Chu Kui began making names for themselves on the battlefield.

Today, on a mere whim, he had probed Luo Chen, and to his astonishment, the residual Withering-Flourishing Mark had reacted. With that confirmation, there was no longer any need for further investigation. His son’s murderer stood before him, and only death could repay the blood debt!

Once Luo Chen confirmed that his own lack of skill wasn’t what had given him away, a weight lifted from his heart. However, that relief didn’t last. A heavier weight soon settled instead.

Right now, his best course of action was to make full use of Ninety Thousand Li and return to the Four-Sect Alliance encampment. If he made it there, Di Wanyun would have no way to touch him; he was confident in that. Ever since fleeing from the eight mountain, Di Wanyun had chased him relentlessly but never once managed to close the gap. That alone proved that this third-tier flight technique he had painstakingly mastered was indeed extraordinary.

The problem was... what would happen after he returned?

Eventually, he’d still have to go back to Tianlan Immortal City, back to the Luo Tian Society. With a Golden Core enemy hunting him, he’d never feel safe. Unless he stayed close to Fairy Ruthless every day, he’d always be looking over his shoulder. A man defending against a thief had to be lucky every day; the thief only had to be lucky once.

At that moment, a wild thought surged into Luo Chen’s mind. I must kill him!

At first glance, Di Wanyun’s strength hadn’t seemed all that overwhelming. Even Chu Kui had been able to hold his ground using his secret method. If he set a proper ambush, who said he couldn’t kill the old man? And even if he couldn’t do it himself, as long as he stalled Di Wanyun, Fairy Ruthless would surely arrive in time. And then...

Luo Chen took a deep breath and looked toward the thunderclouds that had loomed over the ninth mountain for centuries. A wave of madness surged through his chest!

1. The word we translated as ”mana” here literally means ”law power.” It appeared a couple of times about 500 chapters back, where the author was using it interchangeably with what we have as ”spirit power,” but he then settled with ”spirit power” for that use. As of now, it seems that he only uses this word to refer to the power of a Golden Core cultivator. It does have a connection to natural laws, but for the sake of brevity, we have decided to use the term ”mana” for it. There is a bit of cultural interference here, given that the idea of mana comes from Oceanic populations; however, the meaning of it is very similar to the idea of qi in traditional Chinese philosophy, and given its more recent use in gaming, we felt that it’s not inappropriate. ☜