An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Eventually, Luo Chen brought his cultivation to an end. He sat still for a moment, quietly sensing the spirit power now circulating within his body. A small nod of approval followed. The previously parched sea of qi had now been replenished with flowing energy. At this pace, it wouldn’t take much longer for him to regain his peak condition. But that wasn’t the most pressing concern at the moment.

With a thought, a translucent status panel unfurled before his eyes like a waterfall. It was time to check his status.

[Status Panel]

Name: Luo Chen

Lifespan: 50/250

Spirit Roots: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth

Realm: Foundation Establishment Stage Six (30/100); Archaic Tier Three(1/100)

Achievement Points: 22

[Techniques]

Eternal Youth Evergreen Sutra: Grandmaster (600/1000)

Heavenly Lightning Physique Refinement Method: Proficient (220/300)

Myriad Beast Sutra: Beginner (10/100)

[Spells]

Tier Three

Second Tier

First Tier

Perfected Mastery Spells (click to view details)

[Alchemy]

Clear Origin Mystical Pill: Grandmaster (900/1000)

Essence Restoration: Perfection (371/500)

Scaled Shift: Beginner (18/100)

Star-Plucking: Proficient (281/300)

Perfected Mastery Alchemy Techniques (click to view details)

[Martial Arts]

Mountain Cleaving Monument Breaking Palm: Perfected Mastery

Heavenly Maiden Scatters Flowers: Grandmaster (571/1000)

[Skills]

Second-Tier Alchemist, Second-Tier Healer

Second-Tier Pills

First-Tier Pills

Perfected Mastery Pills (click to view details)

The status panel was packed with line after line of entries, dazzling and overwhelming. Luo Chen was filled with joy at the sight, a deep sense of accomplishment swelling in his chest. Each entry was a tangible testament to the years of tireless work he had endured over the years.

His eyes then landed on the lifespan section. Two hundred and fifty years, twenty years more than his lifespan after reaching the sixth stage of Foundation Establishment. This was likely due to the changes in his physical body.

Still, a question tugged at the back of his mind. If his body had truly reached such a high level, why was the increase so little?

Why is it just twenty years? Is it because my body is still fundamentally human?

After all, demonic beasts were born with astonishingly long lifespans. Their lifespans weren’t necessarily tied to their cultivation, but rather to their species. Of course, the higher their cultivation, the longer they lived; each breakthrough brought a boost. But the fact of the matter was that even at a lower cultivation, they far outlived humans.

Luo Chen had only acquired the physical strength of a demonic beast, but his fundamental genetic makeup hadn’t changed. This had to be why he’d gained so little additional lifespan. It also made clear that unless he made significant breakthroughs in the path of Physique Refinement, further gains in lifespan were bound to remain limited.

After all, he wasn’t following the traditional Physique Refinement methods developed by human cultivators to prolong lifespan. Back when he created his own technique, his goal had been momentary survival, not longevity.

Still, Luo Chen wasn’t the least bit disappointed. Two hundred and fifty years of lifespan was already excellent. For an ordinary Initiate, that was nearly the limit, unless one had access to secret techniques or profound longevity pills. And if they suffered serious injury during the cultivation of such secret techniques? They aged and withered fast, and died an early death. Moreover, right now, Luo Chen was only at the sixth stage of Foundation Establishment. As his cultivation advanced, his lifespan limit would only grow higher.

Just then, something on the status panel caught his attention, pulling him from his thoughts.

There was a change in his Physique Refinement entry. Gone were the familiar stages of human Physical Refinement cultivation realms like Vajra, Blood River, Furnace Body... These had all been replaced by one single unfamiliar term: Archaic Tier Three.

His brows arched as he murmured, ”Archaic? Could it be referring to the primeval beasts that are the ancestors of demonic beasts?”

If that was the case, then the implications were astounding.

In the world of the Shanhai Realm, humanity had studied demonic beasts for countless generations because demonic beasts were mankind’s greatest threat in this realm. Every major sect, every powerful family, had suffered at the claws and fangs of some great beast. Knowing their ways wasn’t just knowledge; it was survival. Modern-day demonic beasts typically walked the path of transformation, a system that had evolved only after the ancient era.

The first tier was Qi Absorption; the second, Core Condensation; the third, Sentience; the fourth, Transformation; and by the fifth-tier, they earned the title of Ancient Demons, beings on par with human Divine Transformation cultivators.

Yet according to ancient legends, the mainstream path for demonic beasts was originally entirely different. Back then, they tempered their bodies by simply absorbing the pure spirit energy of heaven and earth, and cultivated their innate divine abilities. Among them were both mindless wild beasts, creatures of raw destruction with no sentience, and beasts whose wisdom rivaled humans; some, in fact, were even capable of grasping the Great Dao. The latter were the origin of what came to be known as fifth-tier Ancient Demons.

Back when he had just created his Physique Refinement method, Luo Chen lacked the leisure to comprehend the subtle changes of blood qi. He had simply pushed his body to its limits, burning lightning power like fuel. In other words, what he practiced was nothing more than the most primal, brute-force method of tempering the body, something that indeed resembled the path of those archaic demonic wild beasts from before the ancient era.

Luo Chen pondered to himself. It was part reflection, part an attempt to piece together a path not found in modern scrolls. Conflicting emotions began to stir within him as he considered the possible directions of the Heavenly Lightning Physique Refinement Method. A trace of uncertainty weighed on his thoughts.

Using demonic beasts’ cultivation methods with a human body... where will that ultimately lead? If I go all the way, will I still be considered human in the end? Or will I be something else entirely?

After a brief pause, Luo Chen shook off the doubt and straightened his spirit.

Who cares! This technique had been crafted by the system for me, tailored down to the finest detail. Who says it has to be a demonic beast’s cultivation method?

At the end of the day, all paths lead to the same destination! Still, certain changes on the status panel related to the Physique Refinement path did catch his attention.

Divine Breaker of Malevolence, the Wang Secret Manual, the Qi-Physique Origin Method, and Turtle Spirit Armor were gone! These four techniques had once formed the backbone of Luo Chen’s Physique Refinement foundation. They encompassed an entire spectrum of methodologies—tempering the body with fiend qi, forging the will, refining vital essence into qi, transmuting qi, and mastering conventional human Physique Refinement disciplines.

Among them, Turtle Spirit Armor stood out as a masterpiece. It was modeled after the ancient great demonic beast Black Tortoise, and it contained four profound secret arts: Turtle Breath, Turtle Armor, Death Avoidance, and Life Extension. Together, it had been a marvel of tremendous complexity.

Luo Chen had pushed that art to Grandmaster level, mastering three of the four arts: Turtle Breath, Turtle Armor, and Death Avoidance. He had relied on those to survive perilous moments, and their use was woven into the very core of his combat instincts. Now, they were gone for good.

Without question, every one of those arts had been seamlessly fused into the Heavenly Lightning Physique Refinement Method by the system. And this was not just a mere cultivation art with a single focus, but a true condensation of hundreds of paths. It was a seamless whole that encapsulated everything Luo Chen had ever cultivated or learned.

Beyond Physique Refinement, it now contained threads of alchemy techniques like the Clear Origin Mystical Pill, Core Formation secrets arts like the Dragon-Phoenix Tribulation, as well as methods for Aperture Opening through fiend qi and lightning. With this taken into consideration, calling it the Heavenly Lightning Physique Refinement Method no longer felt appropriate.

Back when Luo Chen first created the technique, he’d slapped on the name hastily. It had been born out of crisis, when lightning and survival were the only things on his mind.

After a brief moment of contemplation, the entry on the system panel shimmered and changed. Heavenly Lightning Physique Refinement Method was now renamed to Myriad Path Convergence.

The meaning was simple. Since this method had drawn from countless disciplines and clearly had room to grow, it might as well be named Myriad Path Convergence, symbolizing the gathering of all methods into one—a path toward forging a truly invincible self. This name honored his origins while carrying his ambitions for the future!

”This counts as the first technique I’ve truly created since I began cultivating. I wonder how far I’ll go with it.”

A faint smile tugged at his lips. Joy and pride flickered gently in his chest. It was not the arrogant pride of youth, but the well-earned and well-tempered pride of a cultivator who had walked a hard road and now dared to claim he knew the path like the back of his hand.

Although the new cultivation art was based on the Sky Roc Transformation, every single technique, cultivation art, and spell it integrated was the result of Luo Chen’s painstaking efforts over the years.

The system had merely assisted, accelerating the process through achievement points, but the foundation had always been Luo Chen’s own. Even without the system, who could say he wouldn’t have reached this point one day? Perhaps in some moment of insight, in the middle of battle or meditation, he might’ve arrived at the same truth.

Hence, he clenched his fist and said slowly and with certainty, ”Everything I have was earned through my efforts! The status panel is a crutch, not the legs I walk on. Let’s see how far it can go... No, let’s check the other entries first!”

With a sigh of satisfaction, Luo Chen turned his attention to the next section of the panel.

Realm: Foundation Establishment Stage Six (30/100)