An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

”Mirror Flower Water Moon takes effect anywhere within my line of sight, which means roughly a thousand li, but the effect is stronger the closer the target is. At a thousand li, it’s nothing more than a blinding effect. Ordinary Adepts can easily dispel that with mana. But at five hundred li... no, even at six hundred, it can already exert a slight influence on the divine soul.”

Luo Chen had drawn these conclusions based on the range of his divine consciousness. The reason the effective range had extended to six hundred li rather than five hundred lay in his recent breakthrough to the second stage. His divine consciousness had improved once more, and the increase was substantial.

Naturally, this growth was closely tied to his exceptional divine soul foundation. The stronger the foundation, the greater the improvement. In addition, his long-term cultivation of the Fine Dust Primordial Art also had a subtle effect of refining the divine soul, which had also contributed to these gains.

Perhaps the only bad news was that the Spirit Passage Pill had completely lost its effect on him. He had already built tolerance to the normal formula long ago, and even though he had later created a second-tier version of the pill, with decades of consumption, it was only natural for him to slowly build tolerance once more. Now that his mastery of Mirror Flower Water Moon had reached Perfected Mastery, the Spirit Passage Pill provided no enhancement whatsoever.

His thoughts drifted back to the technique. He deduced that the optimal casting range was around a hundred li, more or less the effective killing range of Adepts. But obviously, this was against opponents of the same realm. To use the technique across realms, Luo Chen had to accurately judge the gap between his own divine soul and the enemy’s and then close the distance accordingly.

”Diwu Qi’s divine soul foundation is far inferior to mine, which is why he has no power to resist. He’s still only at the third stage, after all. But a mid-stage Adept who has not cultivated divine soul secret arts should still be affected. Even a late-stage Adept should be restrained for a moment if I go at full power, unless they have something that gives them resistance to illusions specifically. But in that case, I must also account for the backlash I will suffer once the illusion spell is broken.

”Backlash... hmm... The Forsaken Chess Piece should do the job. I’ve been refining it for long enough. If I incorporate it into my sea of qi and refine it as sort of a life-bound treasure, it should be able to shield me from the backlash.”

Luo Chen seemed to be spending quite a lot of time thinking about his new illusion spell, and the reason was that he had elevated its importance to the very top among all the trump cards in his possession. It surpassed his other spells, the Sky Roc True Form, and the Heavenly Moon Purple Gold Wheel!

It was obvious that if he made proper use of this illusion spell, it would be enough for him to look down on all other Adepts. For this reason, over the past days, Luo Chen had been continuously experimenting with it and finding out its effects, side effects, and limitations. But when it came to refining the Forsaken Chess Piece as a pseudo-life-bound treasure, he remained hesitant.

A five-element spirit root was a double-edged sword. While it granted an unsurpassed, terrifying foundation, it also came with cultivation several times slower, if not even ten times slower, than that of other people. In addition, while Wood Ignition was very well suited to him and provided him with abundant mana, it likewise slowed his cultivation due to focusing on two elements.

To resolve this major problem, Luo Chen had given everything he had. A third-tier mid-grade spirit vein, supreme-grade Starfield Pills, and even the full support of the Luo Tian Sect had been mobilized to sustain him. Only with all of this combined had he barely managed to maintain a cultivation speed on par with the faster Adepts from large sects.

Investing in Moonbreak Wings was something he absolutely had to do. After all, it was a brand new enchanted treasure and required five or six years of refinement with mana to stabilize and bring out its full power. Even if this refinement somewhat slowed his cultivation, it remained within an acceptable range. But if he had to do this with two enchanted treasures...

Finally, after days of careful consideration, Luo Chen finally clenched his teeth and decided to do it anyway.

”Mirror Flower Water Moon is my greatest trump card in the Golden Core Realm. And since I’ve decided that’s how it is, I have to do my best to push it as far as it can go. So even if it drags down my cultivation speed, I can’t afford to hesitate. At worst, once the Frontier War ends, I can stop refining the chess piece. There won’t be a need to use trump cards all the time during peacetime, so at that time, I can just go all in to cultivate.”

With a single thought, the Forsaken Chess Piece hidden within his body flew out. Luo Chen swallowed it in one motion and drew it into the vast sea of qi, where the Moonbreak Wings were already orbiting his five-colored core. Both would now be nourished by his mana.

But even after taking this measure against potential backlash, Luo Chen still had to consider another matter. He raised his hand to touch his eyes, feeling a little uncertain. When he cast the illusion spell on the Grayleaf Wolf King, his eyes hurt quite badly. When he used it on Diwu Qi, there was also some stinging pain. He suspected something rather unpleasant—Mirror Flower Water Moon becoming a natural ability of his eyes was a substantial enhancement, but at the same time, it also resulted in an inherent limitation.

The sensation reminded him of scenes from animations in his previous life, where characters who activated spells with the eyes as a conduit often ended up bleeding from their eyes or even going blind. If that was the case, then every use of Mirror Flower Water Moon would require careful consideration of the price it demanded. Thankfully, in his particular case, this problem seemed to have a viable solution.

”The Withering-Flourishing True Fire... Although it only returns to me a small portion of the life force it takes, that’s still substantial, especially if it’s a strong demonic beast. When I incinerated the wolf, my lifespan limit increased by a full year. More importantly, this life force clearly alleviates the pain that follows the use of the illusion spell. If I refine demonic beasts and seize their life force, perhaps I can offset the aftereffects of Mirror Flower Water Moon.”

Luo Chen had no way of knowing whether the healing effect of the Withering-Flourishing True Fire could fully offset the aftereffects of Mirror Flower Water Moon, or whether the latter were irreversible. But for the present, this was indeed the best he could do.

”No matter what, this is still an additional trump card. Even if it doesn’t make me invincible among my peers, as long as I can protect my territory and run around as I please, that’s good enough.”

When Luo Chen thought of how easily Diwu Qi had been defeated, he could not help but let a faint smile appear on his lips. Since the man had given him the opportunity, he naturally would not let it slip away. In this way, his position as leader of the Luo Tian Alliance had become a de facto position as well. In the future, mobilizing cultivators from the other factions for his use would also be much easier.

”Hmm, Cen Qiusheng should be back by now. I wonder what he’ll feel when he learns that his junior failed Core Formation. Well, at least, he won’t blame me. I did what he asked me and more.”

***

Just as Luo Chen expected, Cen Qiusheng returned to the Luo Tian Alliance a month later aboard the Crimson Flame Dragon Boat. What did catch Luo Chen by surprise was that not only did the man show no injuries upon his return, but there was not even the slightest trace of fatigue!

In fact, the old man stood proud at the bow of the dragon boat, ignoring the wind. His complexion was ruddy, and he looked spirited and thoroughly satisfied. The sight left many clicking their tongues in astonishment.

It was only at the subsequent gathering of the alliance’s Adepts that he revealed the reason. ”I was fortunate enough to obtain a Seven-Star Heaven Lamp Flower. Consuming it has extended my lifespan by seventy years! Haha, as long as nothing unexpected happens, I should be able to live at least another hundred!”

Diwu Qi and the others exchanged looks, momentarily at a loss for words. After a long pause, Luo Chen shook his head and spoke with genuine admiration, ”Fellow Daoist Cen, you are truly lucky. To encounter such an opportunity at your old age is nothing short of miraculous.”

Fu Jiusheng nodded in agreement. ”Indeed. Back when I was an Initiate, I spent two hundred years as a rogue herbalist. I gathered countless herbs in my lifetime, yet I never once saw a lifespan-extending herb in its mature state. Especially the Seven-Star Heaven Lamp Flower. As the name implies, it has seven flowers that bloom like seven stars, and if they do not, then it has no effect whatsoever. If even one flower is the slightest bit unopened, it will not extend your lifespan by a single hour. Fellow Daoist, you truly struck great fortune!”

Diwu Qi forced a smile. ”People always say that the greater the risk, the greater the opportunity. It seems those words truly did not deceive us!”

Seeing the thick envy floating in the room, Cen Qiusheng kept stroking his beard, clearly pleased. ”The only regret I have is that I feared something might go wrong at the time, so after obtaining the Seven-Star Heaven Lamp Flower, I consumed it as it was. Otherwise, if I brought it back and asked Fellow Daoist Dan Chenzi to refine Seven Star Pills for me, it would’ve been even better. One pill can extend lifespan by seventeen years, so a bottle of pills would have gotten me close to two centuries!”

Hearing this, no one quite knew what to say. Seventy extra years of life were already an extraordinary blessing, yet he still spoke as if it were insufficient! Of course, Luo Chen wasn’t taking it seriously. With only a single main ingredient, even with the system at hand, he could not guarantee success in one attempt. It was hardly reasonable to enjoy such a fortune and then complain of what might have been.

After that, Cen Qiusheng shifted the conversation and spoke with great enthusiasm about matters on the front lines. He spoke of the human allied forces, of the Defiant Howl Wolf Court, and of the prodigies who had risen to prominence. This information also sketched out a rough outline for Luo Chen’s upcoming trip to the front.

In particular, it appeared that the Sword Enforcer Hall was filled with formidable experts. The Initiates were all exceptionally talented, with great hope of forming their cores in the future. Among the Adepts, aside from a few old ones at the late stage, most were young and accomplished. Adepts as old as Cen Qiusheng at the early stage were instead rather rare.

”Fellow Daoist Dan Chenzi, considering the achievements you have at your age, I have to say that you are in no way inferior to the Adepts of the upper sects. When you go there, you will stand out among the best.”