An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Each breakthrough into a major realm of cultivation brought about a qualitative transformation.

When one advanced from Qi Refinement to Foundation Establishment, the dantian expanded into a sea, the body underwent marrow cleansing, and an unparalleled foundation was built to bear the weight of the Great Dao. Spirit consciousness could extend outward and spirit power began to condense into liquid, filling the sea.

When one rose from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core, a bright moon rose within that sea, a condensation of all lifetime gains into a single cluster. From then on, cultivation had a solid anchor, and tempering the core became the foremost task.

The Golden Core also carried the power of the divine soul. As a result, the energy within could be accessed not only by spell chants but also directly by the divine soul. One’s divine consciousness could extend outward and reflect heaven and earth; one’s spirit power would transform into mana, and its might was inexhaustible.

Such a transformation naturally brought many extraordinary benefits. The first was the ability to wield stronger enchanted treasures. For people like Luo Chen, the second was being able to practice spells without restraint. Previously, due to having a weak divine soul and limited spirit power, he had always needed to restrain himself while practicing spells. But now? High-tier spells were still somewhat costly, but he could practice low-tier spells as much as he wished.

Through Gu Caiyi’s arrangements, large batches of live low-tier demonic beasts were delivered to his cave residence every month. Although the Frontier War was still in its early phase, cultivators had long since begun hunting demonic beasts, and this allowed Gu Caiyi to purchase far more live demonic beasts for him.

Once these demonic beasts arrived, Luo Chen made the most ruthless use of them. He cast Spirit Beguilement to cloud their already meager wits. Then he cast the Sword of the Golden Harvest to sever their limbs. After that, he used Limb Restoration to reattach and restore them. After such a cycle, the demonic beasts remained dull and uncomprehending, almost unable to feel pain at all, as their minds were fully lost to the illusion spell. Finally, Luo Chen summoned his primordial true fire and incinerated them to ash while they were still lost in confusion and seized what little life force they had.

Luo Chen had never been able to practice his spells with such unrestrained abandon. He no longer needed to worry about exhausting his divine soul or draining his spirit power. First and second-tier spells required only the faintest thread of mana and posed no burden on him.

Of course, this did not apply to his targets. There was a good reason Luo Chen made sure to use every bit of them thoroughly. After all, a single intact demonic beast, even one of the first tier, could cost thousands. In other words, behind his efficient spell practice lay the steady consumption of the wealth that the Luo Tian Sect had earned on his behalf.

Beyond spell practice, Luo Chen also purchased a large quantity of spirit plant seeds from the immortal city. Most of them were flower seeds. Naturally, his goal was to practice Flower Fairy, the second-tier wood element spell that had been stuck at the same level for years.

These low-tier spells did little to enhance his current combat strength and were almost negligible. However, when Flower Fairy, Water Mirror, and Spirit Beguilement were cast together, they could unleash a third-tier illusion spell, Mirror Flower Water Moon! Luo Chen had long intended to practice those three spells to Perfected Mastery in order to get more proficient with the illusion spell. After all, these fusion spells always possessed terrifying power. Back in his Initiate days, he had relied on Landslide to run rampant among his Initiate peers.

In the battle of Qinhua River, the war at the Thundernet Nine Mountains, the conflict at Incense Burning Valley, and the expedition to the Great Snowy Mountains, Landslide had played crucial roles. For that reason, Luo Chen had high expectations for Mirror Flower Water Moon as well. If he could master it, he would gain an additional trump card. After all, this was a rare spell that attacked the divine soul!

While cultivating, Luo Chen even considered fusing it with Immortal Ballad River, the soundwave art he had obtained from Hermit Xiao. However, he lacked any foundation in music, which made it extremely difficult to grasp. And since he’d yet to reach major mastery in Mirror Flower Water Moon, he set the matter aside for the time being.

This period of seclusion did not consist solely of spell practice. Each day, he refined the Heavenly Moon Purple Gold Wheel with his primordial true fire. With the secret method for refining enchanted treasures through true fire at hand, his refining speed grew steadily faster, and he could already command the wheel with ease.

Lastly, he needed to unlock Qin Tairan’s storage ring. And the reason for that was... he was broke! To break through to Golden Core, he had burned through his resources to pay for the cave residence, leaving him with very few spirit stones. As a result, even the Luo Tian Sect itself was pretty badly in the red. It was no wonder the sect’s cultivators were so eager to participate in this Frontier War—all of them had been dragged into it by their Supreme Elder.

His trip to Green Pill Valley had brought great gains, but the price was that his personal savings had hit rock bottom once again. He was left with only fifty top-grade spirit stones. Top-grade spirit stones were extremely important strategic resources, invaluable to Adepts, so he could not spend them carelessly. Even if they just sat there unused for ninety-nine percent of the time, in that one percent of cases where he did need them, they could prove life-saving.

In this way, Luo Chen had fallen into an extremely tight financial situation. Only by unlocking Qin Tairan’s storage ring might he be able to reverse his current predicament.

Time passed slowly as Luo Chen remained in orderly seclusion.

Outside, winds surged and clouds shifted. From time to time, intelligence from the front lines was sent to him. He had already decided that he would not go to the front until the immortal city in the Howling Moon Mountain Range was complete, so as not to waste time waiting there idly.

***

One month later, his proficiency in Limb Restoration reached Perfected Mastery. He offered a moment of silent condolence for the demonic beasts whose limbs had been severed and reattached again and again.

Soon after, Sword of the Golden Harvest also reached Perfected Mastery. Many years had passed since Yuan Dongsheng casually taught him the spell, back when the man tilled the spirit fields outside his home. Those spells of a higher tier than this had already reached major mastery. He had not expected that it would take so long to reach Perfected Mastery.

Another two months passed, and Spirit Beguilement and Flower Fairy reached Perfected Mastery. This came as no surprise to Luo Chen. His divine soul was already strong, and he had previously learned the first-tier Soul Intimidation, so advancing in Spirit Beguilement was practically effortless. And once Flower Fairy hit Perfected Mastery, Luo Chen discovered that Mirror Flower Water Moon, which he had scarcely practiced, had leaped directly from Proficient to Perfection. In fact, there was only the slightest step left to reach Grandmaster level. This was the advantage of fusion spells.

By this point, the low-tier spells on Luo Chen’s status panel had mostly reached Perfected Mastery. The third-tier spells that remained were the Great Handprint of Primordial Qi, Mirror Flower Water Moon, and the Life-Severing Finger. He suddenly had far more time at his disposal.

Luo Chen asked his subordinates to stop delivering demonic beasts. At seven or eight per month, even the Luo Tian Sect could not withstand such wasteful spending. It was not that the sect could not earn that much, but with so many disciples under its banner, its own payroll expenses were a massive burden.

With the extra time, Luo Chen devoted himself to practicing the Great Handprint of Primordial Qi and to breaking the divine consciousness seal on Qin Tairan’s storage ring. The former was a third-tier spell with endless subtleties; although it relied on a single type of energy, it could be activated by any of the five elemental attributes. Jin Buque had once pointed out that each element brought its own advantages. Thus, cultivation progressed slowly. As for the latter, Luo Chen was feeling quite frustrated.

”I don’t believe this. After grinding at you for so long, you still won’t open?”

***

The fifth month finally arrived. Luo Chen looked at the black ring glowing with a faint red hue and exhaled deeply.

”As expected of an Adept of the Flame Alliance. Even without specializing in formations, he still mastered basic restrictions. Even with the power of my divine soul, it still took me nearly eleven years after forming my core to crack this. As they say, tearing the coin out of a dead man’s grip is no easy task.”

After a brief sigh, Luo Chen sent his divine consciousness into the ring without hesitation.

What entered his sight caused his vision to instantly blur.

”I struck it rich...”