An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Ten days later, a party of sixteen led by Min Longyu arrived at Snow Wolf Plateau. As soon as they landed, Chu Kui came out to greet them. But before Min Longyu even had time to exchange a few words, his gaze was instantly drawn to the figure floating above the mountain range.

”Is that our Supreme Elder?”

Chu Kui nodded with a smile. Min Longyu watched for a moment, and a look of surprise surfaced in his eyes. ”Is he drawing the earth spirit energy and smoothing the flow of heaven and earth’s spirit energy?”

Chu Kui shrugged lightly. ”I have absolutely no idea what you’re saying. Come with me now. Elder Fu and the others have been waiting for you for quite some time.”

High in the sky, Luo Chen’s eyes were half closed, and he seemed to be somewhat unfocused. His vast divine consciousness had spread fully outward and covered a wide area. Once he sensed the general pattern of the earth veins and the flow of spirit energy, he raised his hands slightly and sent out one seal after another. He used himself as the core and his mana as a guide to direct heaven and earth’s spirit energy to gather within the spirit land.

He had been doing this work for some time already. Anyone who looked up in recent days would often see Luo Chen standing in the sky. Each time he made a move, the formless and intangible spirit energy would be drawn under his control and turned into a storm that swept over the nearby mountains. Even though they had witnessed it many times, they still could not help but marvel every time they saw it.

The Darkness restriction was obscure and difficult to master, but its power was truly unfathomable. To seize and guide the roaming heaven and earth’s spirit energy at will was a feat that demanded the power of a Sage. Yet by relying on the Dragon Trapping Grand Formation and the Darkness restriction, Luo Tian could also manipulate this energy on a basic level. He could not use it to attack or defend, but his control was sufficient to alter the flow of spirit energy so it did not leak outward. He truly wondered if this type of restriction could be incorporated into the way he cast his spells.

After many days of using the Darkness restriction, Luo Chen had gained a basic understanding of it. He had a feeling that this sort of restriction could be fused with spells.

The might of spells was immense. It was on par with the offensive power of enchanted treasures. And given the capabilities of an Adept, some practice would see them easily become proficient in a few high-tier spells. However, it was actually rare for Adepts to use them as the primary means in battle. This was because, among other things, spellcasting was slow and had plenty of tells.

Luo Chen had the status panel, and his spell mastery allowed him to cast most spells instantaneously, or at least quite fast. However, he had never found a way to resolve the problem of telegraphing the movement. For example, the power of the Great Handprint of Primordial Qi was exceptional, yet whenever he used it against cultivators of the same realm, the results could only be called average. It was simply too obvious that he would cast a spell, and that made it easy for the enemy to guard against it.

At the Core Formation Ceremony, the palm imprint had been split apart by a single sword strike from Hong Ling. In the battle of Dream Return Ridge, the He family’s Grand Elder had sensed it in advance with his divine consciousness and avoided it. Even the third-tier Wolf King had been prepared and responded with a counterattack. If he had not infused it with Withering Flourishing Fire, he would never have achieved such a decisive result.

If I fuse the Darkness restriction into these spells, I’ll be able to cast them instantaneously and without a trace. I could end the fight before people even understand what’s going on.

This idea took shape in Luo Chen’s heart and had made him itch to act in recent days. The thought actually came from observing Diwu Qi. That man’s trump card was a technique called Azure Eerie Wind. It was not only tremendously powerful, but also nigh-perfectly concealed. Even Adepts found it difficult to detect. It was the perfect killing move from the shadows. Luo Chen also wanted a similar killing move in reserve, just in case.

Of his three enchanted treasures, the Mystic Flame Sword and the Heavenly Moon Purple Gold Wheel were both direct assault weapons. The Soul-Breaking Nail had a unique effect and worked wonders when used for a surprise attack; however, its grade was too low, and the enemy could simply slap it away under normal circumstances. It was hard to fully display its power. In other words, his treasures would not help him in this respect.

Thus, Luo Chen decided to focus on the thing he excelled at most: spells! The Great Handprint of Primordial Qi was only one of the spells in his arsenal. What he truly wanted to work on was another third-tier spell, Mirror Flower Water Moon!

With all the auxiliary second-tier spells having reached Perfected Mastery, this had also been practiced to the level of Perfection and was somewhat usable in combat. Of course, it was an entirely different class of spells altogether—an illusion spell that targeted the soul and also interfered with the five senses. This gave it a distinct advantage: Even if it was broken and backfired, it would not harm him as severely as Soul Intimidation, for instance. If he could drag people into an illusion without them noticing, then he would once more hold a firm place among experts of the same realm.

No need to rush. I can discuss it with Min Longyu and the others first. Maybe these formation masters can help me with it.

Luo Chen had long since noticed the arrival of his own sect members. After finishing the day’s work, he descended and went to meet them. There was no need to catch up—before long, Min Longyu had already thrown himself into improving the Dragon Trapping Grand Formation.

Naturally, a grand formation meant to serve as the foundation for ten thousand generations could not be completed in a day or two. Even with many formation masters working hard and Diwu Qi, Cen Qiusheng, and the others helping to gather materials, they had only managed to complete a rough framework. There were still many steps that needed to be achieved before it could truly take form.

For example, they would eventually need to literally move mountains and fill seas. In the future, they would have to find some first-tier and second-tier spirit veins and transport them over to reinforce the main vein. They’d have to dig channels to draw water, reshape the land, and ensure that earth energy was circulated smoothly.

The meal had to be eaten one bite at a time, and the road walked one step at a time. Everyone busied themselves, but the job was done steadily and methodically.

That night, inside Luo Chen’s cave residence, Fu Jiusheng and Min Longyu quietly listened as he finished explaining his idea.

”Fuse restrictions into spells? Is that not a bit of wishful thinking, at this level?” asked Fu Jiusheng.

”How is it wishful thinking? Fellow Daoist Fu, did you not say that Ascendants can fuse the Void restriction into their divine abilities?”

”That’s why I said ’at this level.’ Ascendants can do it because they are Ascendants.”

”Uh...”

”From what I know, merging the Darkness restriction into spells is actually quite difficult. It easily caused conflicts. Either the spell loses power, or it backfires. However....” said Min Longyu.

Under the gaze of the two Adepts, Min Longyu licked his lips as excitement flickered across his face. ”Let’s say you wanted to create a supplementary formation that conceals mana fluctuations and reduces the tells when a spell is cast. That... is actually not so difficult.”

Luo Chen’s eyes brightened as he asked, ”Do you have a method?”

”Not right now, no. But once there’s a direction, I can simply follow it and eventually get somewhere.” Min Longyu smiled with confidence. ”Give me some time. It should not be too difficult.”

Fu Jiusheng shook his head with a sigh. ”As expected, Min Longyu’s talent in formations surpassed mine. What cannot be achieved through restrictions alone, he can approach from another angle through formations.”

Min Longyu chuckled. ”You overpraise me.”

Luo Chen immediately cast several of his signature spells before Min Longyu and allowed him to familiarize himself with the casting methods.

Before leaving, Min Longyu suddenly mentioned, ”Supreme Elder, since we’ve gotten to this point, I must tell you: If you want to accomplish anything in the Dao of Formations, focusing just on the Darkness restriction will not do. That would be like walking on one leg. You must study the other fundamental restrictions as well.”

Luo Chen nodded and took those words to heart. After forming his core, his responsibilities had grown in magnitude but not in number; in a somewhat paradoxical manner, he actually had more free time now. He had long intended to work on a secondary craft alongside his main pursuits of cultivation and alchemy, and now was the time to do it.

Naturally, it was the formation arts he had coveted for a long time. Fortunately, the Luo Tian Sect happened to have two formation masters. Min Longyu’s talent was exceptional, and he often produced unexpected insights. Fu Jiusheng was the conventional type, not outstanding but steady and with a solid foundation. With these two guiding him, Luo Chen believed he could certainly acquire solid skills in formations just as he had in alchemy.

The future was promising!