An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

One year passed, then another...

Lower Path Core Formation arts were nothing terribly complex and largely relied on external aids to form the core. In just three years, Luo Chen had cultivated all three arts to the Grandmaster level. At that point, he stopped pursuing further progress and instead began attempting to merge them with Beaded Curtain Lock.

However, the fusion process did not go smoothly. The four arts came from different sects and systems, each carrying its own nature and methods, and contradictions inevitably arose between them. He spent a year making only slow progress.

By the fifth year, Luo Chen decided to include the principles of Stilling Wind and Waves as well. And when that technique entered the mix, the four conflicting secret arts unexpectedly reached a strange balance.

One day, inside the cultivation chamber, Luo Chen summoned his status panel and held in both hands a bamboo scroll written by him. This was the Core Formation art he had spent five years creating, merging the strengths of many schools and drawing from his own comprehension.

Fine Dust Primordial Art, Core Formation Secret Art... of which path? Let’s see!

When the system displayed the usual prompt, Luo Chen closed it with a smile. In the end, there was no need to rely on the system to achieve Beginner level. Every single part of this art, whether principle or details, was his own creation; no one understood it better than he did, and the foundation had already been laid. There was no need to waste achievement points; all he had to do was practice it normally. As for how long that would take... Luo Chen believed it would not be long!

***

Two years later, Luo Chen stepped out of the cultivation chamber and walked into the living room. One by one, he laid out the resources prepared for Core Formation—three Nether Origin Pills, Ascending Dragon Pills, Ice Phoenix Pellets, Heavenly Mountain Revitalization Liquid, Barrier-Fixing Talismans, Heart-Purifying Incense, Blue Sea Pills, and many others.

Some of these supplies had been collected by Luo Chen himself, while others were obtained through Sima Huiniang, who had mobilized the cultivators of the Luo Tian Society to purchase them at countless auctions throughout the Jade Cauldron Domain. The effort had consumed vast amounts of manpower and resources.

As he surveyed the complete set of supplies, a faint excitement flickered in his otherwise calm eyes. He bathed, changed into clean robes, lit incense, and adjusted his attire. When he returned to the meditation room, he sat upright and let his heart grow calm and his will become sincere.

For a full month, Luo Chen adjusted himself to a peak state. By then, his qi surged in unison, his spirit power flowed smoothly, and his mind was still as water, unmoved even if the heavens were to collapse.

Fifty years earlier, he had first obtained the Divine Ghost Heartmirror and failed in a simulated Core Formation. Fifty years later, three further simulations had all ended in failure, yet each time he had come closer to success. During this journey, he had acquired several treatises on Core Formation, he had gotten firsthand information from Chu Kui, and he had acquired a mountain of resources. He had prepared too much and waited far too long for this day.

”I have done everything I could to prepare. Everything will be decided here and now.”

He parted his lips and drew a deep breath. Within the cultivation room, dense spirit energy condensed into a thick white qi dragon and poured into his body, and something within seemed to respond.

Within the sea of qi, pure spiritual liquid brimmed and a sudden transformation occurred. The restraints on two pills he had swallowed earlier suddenly shattered, releasing two potent medicinal powers into the sea of qi. One was icy cold, the other searing hot. The forces collided, drawing out the powers of water and fire from the sea of qi. In an instant, Kan and Li[1] inverted and crashed.

Under that extreme clash, the sea of qi boiled. Countless streams of spirit liquid converged toward the center, faintly shaping the outline of a round bead. But suddenly, the fledgling core shattered at once. Before it could recondense, it was guided and turned into a tiny vortex.

At first, the vortex was no larger than a grain of wheat. As it continued to spin clockwise, it grew larger and larger. From every layer of the ninefold sea of qi, spirit power poured in and was filtered over and over again like grain passing through a sieve.

Luo Chen had no idea how long the process had lasted. It felt like an instant, but also like ten thousand years. When the step was finally completed, the steady vortex reached a critical point. Then, it began to spin counterclockwise!

That reversal brought a change beyond imagination. Just moments before, it had gently sifted spirit power, removing impurities and pill toxins. Now, as it spun counterclockwise, a tremendous devouring force erupted within him. The entire sea of qi boiled in an instant. Countless streams of spirit liquid surged toward the reversed vortex, and it swelled ever larger. In the blink of an eye, it was as if a tornado had risen from the depths, stirring the vast ocean into chaos.

And even so, it seemed that was still not enough! Suddenly, one of the pills dissolved, releasing an overwhelming medicinal energy that crashed into the churning sea.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

As this energy erupted, nine peals of thunder erupted through Luo Chen’s body. Each thunderclap sent tremors down his limbs. Even with the resilience of his third-tier Archaic physique, fine cracks spread faintly across his skin. It was as if nine lightning dragons were trying to escape his sea of qi and flee from his body. But Luo Chen did not permit it. His body was a cage, and his heart a prison.

”If I have not escaped my own cage, how could I ever behold the Great Dao?”

Under the relentless lightning, the raging medicinal energy could no longer hold back. It surged straight into the sea of qi. The moment it entered, the vortex churned at full power, swallowing it whole.

With the force of the Nether Origin Pill added in, the balance between water, fire, metal, and wood shattered at once.

The ninefold sea of qi split apart, and endless spirit power poured down from the ninth heaven, crashing into the vast ocean and stirring it into chaos. If it continued, the sea of qi would collapse completely before a Golden Core could form!

But right at that moment, a commanding voice resounded.

”Settle down!”

The voice echoed through the unfathomable depths of the sea of qi. Then, a spirit bead shining like a star broke free from an aperture and hovered above the sea of qi. For an instant, the sea fell silent. In the next, it trembled again.

”Another!”

The voice rang out once more, and another spirit bead fell into the sea of qi. Had anyone been able to see inside Luo Chen’s body, they would have witnessed a sight beyond imagination. Within the vast ocean, water quenched fire and fire vaporized water; wood pushed metal up and metal pushed wood down; all the while, his fearsome physique was a thick wall of solid earth that blocked the leakage of spirit energy.

At the center, a colossal vortex spinning counterclockwise devoured the boundless ocean of spirit energy. It tore the ninefold sea of qi to shreds. From the distant apertures, spirit bead after spirit bead descended like falling stars. They struck the raging waves and pinned down the endless tides.

Who could say how much time passed like this? Maybe it was a fraction of a blink, maybe it was as long as it took for a world to be born from chaos.

Then the mighty voice intonated, ”Fuse!”

Three hundred sixty-five stars floated together above the vast and hollow sea of qi. A moment later, they turned into meteors and plunged toward the vortex like moths to a flame. With Kan and Li reversed, water and fire merged; metal and wood rose and sank in balance. The rhythm of the Great Dao was nearing completion. Within that living furnace, the sun and moon burned as creation revealed itself; from nothingness came being, and the dragon and tiger converged in harmony.

Luo Chen had fused Upper, Middle, and Lower Path arts and drawn upon every ounce of his foundation. The Great Dao of Golden Core now lay before him.

”If not now, when will I succeed?”

He let out a low growl, and the 365 spirit beads that had poured into the vortex began to merge under the guidance of his primary divine soul. The vortex had also expanded to its limit and exerted immense pressure, compressing them into one.

Amid the hazy, swirling chaos, a faint glimmer emerged as a glass-like bead began to take form. Its surface radiated light of five colors as it came into being amidst the lightning, wind, and waves.

***

Only ten years remained before the Frontier War.

As one of the three immortal cities nearest to the Howling Moon Mountain Range, Tianlan had long since gathered over a million residents. There were countless Qi Refinement cultivators, and even Initiates numbered in the tens of thousands. Adepts were no longer the rare occasional sight of the past, either; by some estimates, at least a dozen Adepts were in the city at any given time. And that count referred only to regular residents, not the ones merely passing through.

Under such circumstances, the city’s liveliness had reached unprecedented heights. Everyone was waiting for the opening of the war ten years from now. And naturally, with so many high-tier cultivators gathered, demand for spirit cave residences had peaked. Even before, the cave residences on Tianlan Peak were in short supply; now, obtaining one had become nearly impossible. This was especially the case for Adepts—they always had a pressing need for high-tier caves.

From time to time, someone would visit the sect’s administrative hall to inquire when Cave Residence Jia Three might become available for lease. Each time, the answer came back that it was occupied.

One day, an Adept from another domain finally ran out of patience. Before the Falling Cloud Sect Adept overseeing the city, he slammed the table and demanded angrily, ”Why is a mere Initiate allowed to monopolize Jia Three for twenty years?”

The Falling Cloud Sect’s Adept shrugged and said, ”Because he paid enough spirit stones.”

The outsider barked, ”But it’s been twenty years! In fact, you said it yourself that the rental period is three years overdue! So why the hell is he still inside!?”

The Falling Cloud Sect’s Adept replied mildly, ”His subordinates have already paid the fee for three years on his behalf. I can hardly drive him out, can I?”

The outsider fell speechless. After a moment, he could not help but say, ”Fellow Daoist Qu, can you not make an exception? I urgently need to practice a major technique for the Frontier War. A third-tier spirit land is indispensable. To let an Initiate use it was truly a waste. How about this... Whatever he paid you, I’ll match it. Will that do?”

Oh, is this the carrot after the stick? Please... Adept Qu of the Falling Cloud Sect curled his lips in a faint smirk. In an immortal city, cultivation meant little; spirit stones spoke louder. And if the spirit stones happened to be equal, then things were decided on a first-come-first-serve basis. Besides, although his interlocutor’s cultivation surpassed the current occupant of Jia Three, the occupant had close ties with the Falling Cloud Sect. An outsider demanding that Dan Chenzi be kicked out? Preposterous.

Still, he had no intention of explaining further. He was just thinking of how to politely send the man away when his expression suddenly changed. Without another word, he strode out of the hall and stared fixedly toward Tianlan Peak.

The visiting cultivator’s irritation flared again. Yet in the next instant, he too sensed something strange. When he stepped outside and looked toward the peak, he could not help but sneak a glance at the man beside him. Rumor had it that the Falling Cloud Sect specialized in the art of soul refinement. Their divine consciousness was said to far surpass that of ordinary peers. The other had noticed the disturbance before him, which proved the rumors true.

Was I too rude just now? the man thought uneasily.

While he fretted, a soft exclamation sounded.

”It’s only Core Formation. What’s there to be so shocked about?” the outsider said with a puzzled frown. Yet when he focused on the phenomenon unfolding over Tianlan Peak, he blurted out, ”By the Immortal Sovereign... which major sect’s Dao Scion is forming their core here?”

Adept Qu shot him a glance and snorted. ”Hmph, how ignorant. You think such a display could come from a mere Dao Scion of a major sect?”

The outsider stiffened, and his face turned pale.

And he was far from the only person to sense the strange phenomenon atop Tianlan Peak. Before long, throughout the entire city, from Adepts to mere Qi Refinement cultivators, all cultivators had taken notice. The Core Formation phenomenon was simply too terrifying to ignore.

The wind howled as colorful clouds gathered. The sound of dragons roaring and tigers howling echoed without end. Above, the vortex twisted against the heavens. From all directions, spirit energy poured toward that vortex. And this was only the beginning. After about the time it took to burn one stick of incense, the vortex did not shrink but grew even larger. Its force spread across the whole of Tianlan Peak. Countless first-tier and second-tier cave residences shook violently. The spirit energy sealed within them was pulled toward Cave Residence Jia Three Even the third-tier spirit vein beneath the immortal city was affected!

As he watched, Adept Qu’s expression changed from curiosity to shock, and finally to hesitation.

What the hell, that guy’s foundation is insane! A man-made third-tier spirit vein cannot possibly sustain him. If he continues absorbing energy like this, half the city’s cave formations will collapse!

After a long moment, he finally made up his mind. So be it! The Sage said we should stay on good terms with him. I’ll lend him a hand.

With that thought, Adept Qu left the Adept from the other domain alone and flew toward the central grand hall of Tianlan Immortal City. Not long after his departure, the entire city shook with a thunderous boom.

The foreign Adept, still on site, stared in disbelief. ”Did he just... unlock the seals on the city’s spirit vein!?”

While he was still in shock, torrents of spirit energy surged from every corner of the city. The density of that energy instantly raised the city’s overall spirit energy from first-tier to second-tier. At the same time, the entirety of Tianlan Peak transformed into a third-tier spirit land!

The vortex, strengthened by this surge of spirit energy, swelled even further. The force that devoured the spirit energy of heaven and earth became fiercer still, like a whale opening its giant maw to devour everything in the sea!

A few moments later, a lone figure emerged from the swirling mist of wind and clouds. His bearing was tall and commanding, his face almost unreal in its clarity. Behind him, long black hair fluttered freely, setting off a pair of deep eyes that seemed to reflect the truth of the world itself.

The light in his eyes was divine, yet beneath it lurked the faint shadow of a devil.

1. 坎离 (kan li) are the trigrams of Water and Fire respectively. Kan corresponds to the lower dantian and kidneys, symbolizing yin within yang. Li is associated with the heart and upper dantian, representing yang within yin. All in all, they signify the harmonization of yin and yang, spirit and vital essence. ☜