An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

[1] Tao Wan had departed. As the leader of a sect, her responsibilities were endless. Green Pill Valley had provided her with a spirit land, aided her Core Formation, and even prepared a life-bound enchanted treasure for her in advance. Of course, all of that did not come without a price.

Handling countless affairs on behalf of the sect was the cost she had to bear. Naturally, it consumed much of the time she could have devoted to her own cultivation. Still, gains and losses always came in balance.

She couldn’t help but envy Dan Yangzi, who now cultivated in peace and focused solely on the Dao of Alchemy. She also felt a certain sympathy for Luo Chen, who spent his days bargaining and running about to forge alliances. Without power, backing, or the protection of elders, some people were simply destined for a life of toil.

Compared to him, her own days were far more comfortable, and perhaps that was why she occasionally looked at him with quiet admiration. Even with a sect behind her, she found the world troublesome enough. It was hard to think how much harder it must have been for Luo Chen, once a mere rogue cultivator, to reach his current heights.

However, Luo Chen himself harbored no self-pity. He was at the height of his confidence and success. Yes, he now had to personally meet and speak with one Adept after another, and every word that left his mouth had to be chosen with care. Yet he was already well used to such exchanges, and his cultivation now gave him true composure. At the very least, he no longer had to bow respectfully and address each of them as a senior.

He had just seen Tao Wan off when he found himself once again the target of words of praise.

”Big Brother Luo, you really became an Adept! If my grandfather saw this from the afterlife, his eyes probably popped right out from the shock!” said Chen Shuyi with a look of pure admiration.

In the quiet courtyard among the mountains, the young girl’s eyes shone with reverence. The grandfather she spoke of was none other than Old Man Chen—the talisman maker who had once shared a humble market stall with Luo Chen. The old man had passed away fifty years back, at the age of ninety. For a Qi Refinement cultivator, that was considered short-lived but not unexpectedly so.

In his early years, he had earned his living by making talismans, and he’d also taken on extra work preparing beast hides to afford his granddaughter’s cultivation. Not paper or bark, but real animal skins that took a lot of effort to clean, tan, and refine. Working with such materials for decades, how could he not have worn himself out early?

Even back at Dahe Market, when he was just past sixty, his body already showed signs of age. Later, he had traveled across thousands of li to the Divine Talisman Domain. There, he set up a new stall and resumed his old trade. In the end, his life simply ran its course. Perhaps his only comfort before death had been seeing his granddaughter reach the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Luo Chen felt a faint ache of nostalgia at the thought of the old man. For a moment, it was as if the clamor of their old market days still echoed in his ears. He gave a small shake of his head and handed Chen Shuyi a jade bottle.

”What’s this?” Chen Shuyi asked curiously as she accepted it.

Luo Chen smiled. ”A bottle of Jade Dew Pills. It may help you reach the middle stage of Foundation Establishment.”

Chen Shuyi’s eyes lit up, and she clutched the jade bottle tightly against her chest.

Seeing her reaction, Luo Chen was puzzled. ”The Divine Talisman Sect is an upper sect, isn’t it? How could you be lacking pills?”

Fu Xiuxiu, who was beside her, sighed despondently. ”Precisely because it’s an upper sect, there are too many disciples. The competition is fierce, and advancing further is extremely difficult. Little Shuyi formed her foundation in her forties, which is excellent for a rogue cultivator, but in the sect, it’s nothing special. Of course, there are also plenty of talisman makers. So she receives no special treatment.”

Talisman makers? Of all things, the Divine Talisman Sect lacked such people the least. It was not just the main sect itself; within the entire Divine Talisman Domain, nearly every talisman-related trade was monopolized by the sect’s affiliated families. There was no place for Chen Shuyi. And when her time spent managing sect affairs and going out on assignments was taken into account, it was clear that reaching the peak of the third stage had taken extraordinary effort.

That was the way of cultivation in sects. Resources were limited, chances scarce, and competition endless.

Luo Chen looked fondly at the granddaughter of his old friend, then turned to Fu Xiuxiu. ”Xiuxiu, you’ve done well. You’re already at the seventh stage of Foundation Establishment!”

She had left Dahe Market over eighty years back and was now just past a hundred years old. To have reached such a stage meant Core Formation was well within reach.

Fu Xiuxiu shook her head. ”I merely had some luck with my constitution. I established my foundation in my second year at the sect, and Elder Ye took me as his disciple. That’s the only reason I’ve reached this stage. Compared to you, it’s nothing.”

She spoke lightheartedly, but Luo Chen knew her path couldn’t have been easy. From his experience, he could recognize her rare constitution—it was the rare Descending Marsh Physique. Though not on par with Li Yingzhang’s Ninefold Winding Physique, her spirit power was pure and abundant. It was flowing like the calm waters of a great lake. It was because of that physique that she had dared to attempt Foundation Establishment without a Foundation Establishment Pill back then and survived.

Once more, Luo Chen took out a bottle of top-grade Jade Dew Pills and handed it to her. Fu Xiuxiu hesitated. ”You’ve already formed your core, and we haven’t even brought a congratulatory gift. How could I accept yours?”

”It’s not a gift,” Luo Chen said with a smile. ”Just a small token of goodwill. Besides, bringing Fellow Daoist Ye Xiang to my ceremony and lending his presence to my Luo Tian Sect was a gift beyond measure.”

”My master only passed by Tianlan City by chance,” Fu Xiuxiu said with a faint smile. ”After I mentioned you, he grew curious and decided to visit.”

Seeing her still hesitant, Luo Chen’s tone grew firm. ”Back then, when you gave me that Moonlight Herb, I accepted it without hesitation. Now it’s only a bottle of pills. It is nothing to someone known across the cultivation world as a master alchemist. Sister Xiuxiu, will you really keep refusing?”

Fu Xiuxiu opened her mouth and silently took the jade bottle. Luo Chen watched her run her fingers across the bottle and sighed inwardly. The two women were no longer who they had been in their youth. He could only imagine how carefully they had to tread within the Divine Talisman Sect, and how hard their lives must have been.

That suspicion only deepened once he learned why they had come. The Frontier War was an opportunity, but it was also a risk. And those with status and wealth would never trade the risk for the opportunity. Only people like Fu Xiuxiu and Chen Shuyi, who lacked strong foundations, would volunteer to come to the front and earn resources for cultivation. In particular, Chen Shuyi had only received a slot thanks to Fu Xiuxiu’s connections.

Yes, even the right to enter the battlefield required a quota. That alone spoke volumes about how fierce the competition within the sects had become.

”It seems we really are fellow sufferers,” Luo Chen said with a faint smile.

Fu Xiuxiu looked at him curiously. ”You mean you’re taking part in the Frontier War too?”

Luo Chen nodded. Chen Shuyi blinked in confusion. ”But, Big Brother Luo, you’re already a renowned alchemist. Plenty of people are courting you, so why take the risk?”

Luo Chen let out a quiet sigh and chose not to explain further. Fu Xiuxiu also gave Chen Shuyi’s hand a gentle squeeze to stop her from pressing further. She understood that behind every moment of glory lay worries unseen.

To say nothing of anything else, just this Danxia Peak beneath their feet was a perfect clue to Luo Chen’s current situation. A mere first-tier spirit land was utterly unworthy of him. What he sought was far greater, and compared to the fleeting prestige shown before others, genuine advancement in cultivation was far more substantial.

After a long and pleasant conversation, Luo Chen took his leave. Before departing, he drew Gu Caiyi, who had been chatting with them, aside and quietly sent her a voice transmission.

”Pick two high-quality low-grade enchanted treasures from the stores and deliver them to the girls before they leave tomorrow.”

Gu Caiyi looked puzzled. ”You think they’re short on enchanted treasures?”

”I am sure,” Luo Chen replied simply.

With Luo Chen’s keen divine consciousness, he could naturally tell whether Chen Shuyi carried the aura of an enchanted treasure. He also knew well that the Jade Cauldron Domain and the Divine Talisman Domain were entirely different. In fact, the Jade Cauldron Domain differed from most other cultivator territories. It was all because of Skysail City’s manipulation behind the scenes; the Jade Cauldron Domain had long been flooded with shoddy, mass-produced enchanted treasures. Other domains had their own overlords maintaining order and would not allow Skysail City to run wild.

In truth, the fact that the Frontier War now involved twenty-seven sects likely bore the hidden hand of Skysail City as well. After all, high-quality enchanted treasures and even enchanted artifacts could last for centuries. Without war, how could they ever be consumed or replaced? Without damage or destruction, how would an artifact creation behemoth like Skysail City ever profit?

As Luo Chen’s cultivation advanced, so too did his vision. Conjectures that had once been mere suspicion now seemed almost certain. In his eyes, when the Falling Cloud Sect suddenly struck the Flame Alliance just as the previous war was about to end, the attack had likely been carried out under Skysail City’s instruction.

They had the channels to know that the appearance of a Divine Transformation pocket world would surely bring cultivators from the Nether Origin holy land. Once the holy land’s powerhouses descended, the Jade Cauldron Domain’s civil war could no longer continue.

Under the holy land’s mediation, human factions would naturally redirect their aggression outward, making a Frontier War unavoidable. By destroying a rival—the Flame Alliance—before that happened, Skysail City ensured the market would be left to them alone and paved the way for immense profit.

This was just a speculation, but Luo Chen had very little doubt about its truth. Otherwise, there was no explaining why the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect had not rescued the Flame Alliance but instead turned to attack Green Pill Valley.

The sides had clearly fought a coordinated war. Each had targeted the force that threatened their own interests. That tacit understanding existed not only between the Falling Cloud Sect and the Sword Sect, but also between the Sword Sect and Skysail City.

At his current standing, Luo Chen could already glimpse the broader picture and judge the situation among the major and upper sects. The only thing he still could not fathom was the true scale of this Frontier War. The Howling Moon Mountain Range covered a vast expanse, far greater than the Jade Cauldron Domain. Yet it should not have required the mobilization of twenty-seven sects.

At first, he had thought Ice Torrent harbored personal ambitions. Yet after Ice Torrent failed to form her Nascent Soul, she could hardly raise a separate banner and launch a war at the same time. That uncertainty was precisely why Luo Chen had decided to form his own alliance!

When the monks were many and porridge was thin, one needed true strength to claim a share. He even felt the Luo Tian Alliance remained a little weak, so he continued to cultivate friendly ties with major sects like the Ice Fortress and Green Pill Valley.

1. The title of this chapter has been altered to reflect the contents. ☜