An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

”Get out of the way!”

Facing a Green Emperor Crab that rushed toward him, Luo Chen quickly struck with his sword. A vast sword light came crashing down. With overwhelming mana surging in that strike, the early-stage Green Emperor Crab King was cut in half.

He did not even glance at it and flew onward even faster. The Green Emperor Crab King hurriedly retrieved its severed body parts and began repairing itself. As it watched Luo Chen’s departing figure, shock filled its eyes. ”The power of that single sword strike... just what realm has this person reached?”

Just then, another voice transmission reached Luo Chen. ”Another mid-stage Crab King is coming.”

Luo Chen remained calm and formed seals as he prepared to cast a spell. Soon, a massive Crab King broke away from the battlefield and charged toward him. Its body was bright red as if it had been boiled. Clearly, it was a member of the Crimson Rock Crab clan. Before the crab could even approach, Luo Chen struck his palm out, and a gigantic green palm print crashed down from the sky.

B-BOOOOMMMM!

A deafening roar echoed through heaven and earth. The Crab King had not even approached before the force of the palm made its soul tremble. It hastily used defensive methods to defend against the strike. Yet the overwhelming power pushed it back and forced it to retreat hundreds of zhang. Without even checking the result, Luo Chen activated his wings and surged to the limit of his human form.

”There are three Demon Spider Crab Kings ahead. They’re only at the early stage, but the way they’re positioned is a bit weird. Be careful.”

Hearing Han Zhan’s transmission, Luo Chen’s expression wavered slightly. Ahead, three Demon Spider Crab Kings covered in white markings guarded his path forward. This route was the shortest way off the island, and he could not detour!

When the Crab Kings saw Luo Chen approach, they spat out large swaths of spider silk without hesitation. They used their legs to grip the ground and formed a tripartite formation. In an instant, a massive Heaven and Earth Net covered several li around them. Under such a blockade, no Adept could break through. Even if someone managed to break it, their movement would still be stalled.

Yet Luo Chen showed no intention of slowing down. Next moment, layers of green flames appeared around the sword in his hand. The Mystic Flame Sword was soon wrapped completely in blazing fire. Then spirit light burst forth as his eyes focused sharply and locked onto the weakest point of the net.

”Go!”

With a soft shout, he sent out the Mystic Flame Sword and pierced right at the center of the net.

Whoosh!

The sword light shot forward and struck the web. Demonic energy and mana collided in an instant. The clash should have formed a stalemate. Yet under the spread of Withering-Flourishing True Fire, the web tore apart like thin paper. The Mystic Flame Sword pierced through the net and opened a gap. Luo Chen seized the moment and slipped out of the encirclement.

On the ground, the three Demon Spider Crab Kings looked at one another in disbelief. Their clan particularly specialized in forming squads of three to make up for weaker individual combat power. With the three, they could advance and retreat in coordination and could support each other. Their techniques rarely failed and were nearly unstoppable. Even the self-detonation of Ring-Head Turtles did not concern them much. Yet the carefully arranged net had just been broken with such ease.

”That flame...”

As it muttered, shock appeared in their eyes. Luo Chen, who had already escaped the blockade, had no interest in their thoughts. There were far too many experts of the same tier on this battlefield. He absolutely could not stop. Otherwise, even with the Ring-Head Turtle clan distracting them, he would be swallowed by the vast tide of the demonic beast war. At that point, no matter how confident he was, he could not survive. Only by escaping now in one continuous burst and escaping a thousand li away from Profound Rock Island could he survive.

”Luo Chen, you’re about to leave the Water Mirror coverage. With my divine consciousness can only scout about a hundred li ahead for you. Several Crab Kings nearby are chasing you. If they manage to surround you, you won’t escape even with wings. But they’re slower than you, so they won’t be able to form a full encirclement. You only need to focus on one thing breaking through the Great Crab King ahead, and don’t stay there for more than ten breaths.”

Han Zhan’s voice transmission reached his ears. Luo Chen’s mind tightened. There was still one more blocking the path, and it was no ordinary opponent but Great Crab King at that.

”Which clan?” he asked in a deep voice.

”The Nine-Legged Poison King Crab!”

Luo Chen’s expression changed slightly. This was the clan he least wanted to provoke. In recent years, even Black King and Heavenjade had never captured a Nine-Legged Poison King Crab. The reason was simple: this crab’s carried deadly poison through its whole body that could corrode mana. Once contaminated, the Golden Core could easily be polluted. Even some Sages did not wish to touch such a demon.

When Luo Chen thought of a Great Nine-Legged Poison King Crab King blocking the path ahead, his heart sank.

Detour? No! There were more Crab Kings converging nearby. A detour was impossible and that left him with only one option: charge through!

He clenched his teeth as he beat his Moonbreak Wings violently. Driven by the raging wind, his speed soared. Before long, he saw a pitch-black demonic crab sitting atop a small hill and was looking up at him. No one else stood nearby. When Luo Chen looked closely, he realized that the so-called hill beneath the demon was not a hill at all. It was a mountain formed from piled Ring-Head Turtle corpses!

The demon watched Luo Chen approach and revealed a vicious grin. It opened its mouth and spat out a mouthful of black liquid. The foul stench was nauseating. When the liquid touched the air, it began to transform into black mist that spread in all directions and covered the entire area. This was the classic attack of the Nine-Legged Poison King Crab clan. They condensed poison throughout their lives and used it to form attacks. The demon clearly knew Luo Chen’s speed. Ordinary methods could not stop him, so it had deliberately spread the poison into a fog. And if Luo Chen touched even a trace of it, he would suffer greatly.

That was far from all. After releasing the poison fog, the Great Crab King rose into the air. Its hideous mouth opened as flesh split apart and a black curved hook floated out. It had refined its ninth leg into something similar to the life-bound enchanted treasure of a human cultivator!

A black hook? A poison hook!

With its power gathered and ready to strike, it spoke, ”Human, you should stay here.”

In response, Luo Chen said nothing. His speed did not slow in the slightest. With a beat of his wings, he plunged straight into the poisonous fog that filled the sky. Seeing this, theGreat Crab King let out a mocking laugh.

”Panicking and running the wrong way?”

But the next moment, his laughter stopped abruptly. From within the dense poison fog came a series of sharp hissing sounds. The sound resembled boiling oil exploding in a great cauldron. When it looked closely, a fiery red cloud spread within the fog and pushed the surrounding poisonous mist aside layer by layer.

The cloud resembled miasma and also resembled fiend qi. When it came into contact with the poison mist, the two began to consume each other. The great demon saw the poison he had refined for centuries steadily diminish and revealed a pained expression. It could not watch any longer and immediately struck out the black poison hook into the mist.

At that moment, Luo Chen burst out of the fog while wrapped in Blazing Fire Miasma. Facing the incoming black poison hook, he flicked his fingers and released three streaks of black light in succession.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

In the blink of an eye, the three streaks of black light clashed with the black poison hook in midair. The first clash ended with the hook breaking through and dispersing the spirit light. The second time, the hook paused briefly in a momentary stalemate before continuing forward, though much of its demonic energy had dissipated. The third time, the hook suddenly froze in midair.

At the same time, the great demon controlling the life-bound enchanted treasure suddenly changed expression and froze for an instant.Luo Chen seized the moment and flew past him toward the distance. As he glanced back at the crab behind him, Han Zhan’s voice sounded again. ”I can’t help you with what’s ahead; you’ll have to judge it yourself. Don’t worry about the swamp side. I’ll take Black King and quietly retreat into the deep sea.”

Luo Chen gave a brief acknowledgment and beckoned behind him. At once, one of the three streaks of black light followed him. Of the remaining two, one had already gone silent while the other trembled as it tried to rise and follow. The great demon had already realized and struck it back down with the poison hook and knocked the black light from the sky.

The great demon watched Luo Chen’s departing figure and his expression darkened. Wow... he’s really formidable. Just three nails. One struck my hook, one scattered my demonic energy around it, and one even severed my connection with my very own life-bound enchanted treasure for a moment. Oh! And there was that cloud that looked like miasma. My killing moves were broken just like that. That human’s combat sense was incredible. Even in the middle of battle, he could make such precise judgments. Truly unbelievable! Is this really the capability of human cultivators?

It had heard that Gu Shaoshang had once briefly fought several Crab Kings and revealed impressive methods, earning recognition from the five clans. His strength had even gained the recognition of the five clans. People like this possessed many trump cards, and they had far exceeded those of Demon Kings whose methods were limited. Perhaps only after advancing to the fourth tier and transforming could they rival such figures.

The great demon lowered its gaze to Profound Rock Island beneath it. If they captured this place, it would become the opportunity for it to advance to the fourth tier in the future!

As these thoughts passed through its mind, figures gathered from nearby. Some belonged to the Nine-Legged Poison King Crab clan, while many more came from the other four clans.

They looked at Luo Chen’s departing figure and asked, ”King Nine Disaster, why did you let that Adept escape?”

”That person is very likely the mastermind behind Heavenjade Island and has caused our clan heavy losses. He must be killed!”

”Or is it because your Nine-Legged Poison King Crab clan suffered no losses, so you’re just standing by and letting him escape?”

Faced with the questioning voices, Nine Disaster remained unmoved. It looked down from above and swept its gaze across all the Crab Kings. With a single glance, his cold and cruel eyes made the demons present tremble and instinctively lower their heads.

”Hmph!” With a cold snort, Nine Disaster said, ”It’s not that I let him go. That man simply had too many tricks. He used a secret treasure to briefly sever my connection with my life-bound enchanted treasure. A moment of carelessness was enough for him to break through. As for why I didn’t chase him...”

Nine Disaster smacked his lips and revealed a cruel smile. ”Don’t worry. Fellow Daoist Golden Pincer chased another enemy off the island earlier and fought it out at sea. By now, that battle should already be over. If that man continues running that way, he’ll definitely run into him. Hehe. It won’t be long before you see his corpse!”