An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

The Flesh Ganoderma curled its lips again. ”Later, after I attached myself to Ding Yi, I heard about the destruction of the devil sect. Everyone blames the demon clans, but if you ask me, that man was the real culprit.”

”How so?”

”Isn’t it obvious? The sect lost its strongest cultivator. The moment that happened, the demon clans started getting ideas. But that’s not even the actual problem. The problem is that when he came here, he brought with him the sect’s cornerstone, the Stone Dragon’s soul. Once it was gone, that created a terrible flaw within the Heaven of Northern Yama and allowed the demon clans to charge in. So tell me, if that man isn’t to blame, who is?”

Well, there was no arguing with that. The Northern Sea demon races had always been powerful, but their strength was scattered. As long as the devil sect’s three Ascendants were alive, the demons had no opportunity to do anything about it. The death of Grand Elder Blood Sea, however, had handed them precisely that opportunity. Looking back from the present day, the Flesh Ganoderma’s conclusion did not seem unreasonable at all.

Luo Chen let out a sigh and looked across the place filled with flames. Wherever he looked, volcanoes belched black smoke into the sky, erupting from time to time and sending molten rock cascading down their slopes. Rivers of lava flowed across the landscape, leaving almost nowhere to stand. This was a land devoid of life; the only vegetation that existed was of the fire attribute, and it glinted like crystal among the flames.

This was Blazing Purgatory, the fire region of the Heaven of the Five Elements.

”The Thousand Blade Mountain Range, the Quicksand Sea, Blazing Purgatory, and the Wood Heaven Plains... Just those alone make the Heaven of the Five Elements a treasure trove. Forget the inheritance grounds. If a sect could take control of this place, it could prosper for generations. Looking at it that way, no wonder Grand Elder Blood Sea was willing to pay such a huge price to enter the Land of Fallen Devils himself.”

Luo Chen spoke from the perspective of a sect leader. Devil’s Cloud nodded in agreement. As the head of a small force himself, he understood exactly how valuable a realm like this was. The Flesh Ganoderma, of course, felt little about the matter.

Looking around at the sea of fire and billowing smoke, it changed the subject. ”Should we go search for the lotus now?”

Luo Chen shook his head. ”Please wait a bit.”

His spirit eyes swept continuously across the air, which seemed distorted by the intense heat.

The Flesh Ganoderma blinked in confusion. ”Why?”

”Let’s find a place rich in spirit energy first. I need to recover some of my mana.”

Both the Flesh Ganoderma and Devil’s Cloud stared at him in surprise. To them, Luo Chen’s mana seemed steady, and his aura showed no signs of weakness, so why would he need to recover? Naturally, Luo Chen had no intention of explaining. He shifted his gaze to a small mountain that had yet to erupt. ”That one will do.”

With that, he flew straight over. Upon arriving, he slapped the storage pouch at his waist, and Heavenjade immediately emerged.

”Stand guard for me.”

”Yes, Master!”

He did not summon Black King, as he was mostly a water-attribute demon and would be heavily restrained within Blazing Purgatory. Heavenjade was somewhat better suited to the environment. Although she also practiced water arts, her primary affinity lay with wind, making the fiery surroundings far less restrictive toward her. Afterward, Luo Chen infused some mana into the Soul Heaven Sword Case. One of the Seven Fiend Swords shot out and drilled deep into the mountain like a giant auger.

Within moments, a crude cave residence had taken shape. Luo Chen entered the cave, took out a formation disc, and set up several formations before sitting down cross-legged. After taking a supreme-grade True Flame Pill, he used the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture to draw in the abundant fire-element spirit energy filling the region. The ambient spirit energy surged toward him in waves.

In truth, he really had not drawn much from his Golden Core. However, the full-power palm strike earlier, combined with his desperate escape from Skyloam’s pursuit, had consumed most of the mana stored within his Nascent Core. Since his Golden Core served as the foundation of Infinite Blaze Prison and could not be used recklessly, the Nascent Core had become his primary source of power.

Only with his physique, mana, and spirit restored to their peak state could he act with confidence during whatever challenges lay ahead. As his sea of qi filled up and the Nascent Core shone brightly once more, a subtle sense of restlessness arose within his heart.

He immediately used the Fine Dust Primordial Art to detach himself from the sensation.

That’s weird...

After resting for a while more, he turned his awareness inward. Within his sea of qi, the primordial true fire was dancing with unusual vitality.

This place seems to be quite compatible with a Sourceless Flame.

Luo Chen was genuinely surprised. Then he recalled Devil’s Cloud’s sudden burst of anger earlier, along with the white flame that had emerged from his body.

Ahhh, that explains it, he thought to himself before closing his eyes and continuing his meditation.

Outside, Devil’s Cloud had found a low hill of his own and let out the primordial true fire he had refined. It was called the White Cloud Boundless Flame and shared the same background as the Sky-Burning Fire of Xing Yun from Green Pill Valley.[1] As the white flame danced around him, Devil’s Cloud could clearly sense a faint emotional resonance flowing through it, something akin to excitement and joy. If I could stay here, I’d probably reach Perfected Mastery in less than a century. And with resources like these, I could build an artifact creation sect far greater than what I have now.

He could clearly sense the density of the fire-element spirit energy here. And the closer they went to the larger volcanoes, the richer it would be. Even this modest hill was a third-tier spirit land; it was easy to imagine that the most majestic regions of Blazing Purgatory likely rivaled fourth-tier or even fifth-tier spirit lands.

***

Far beyond the deepest reaches of the Land of Fallen Devils lay a place known as Fallen Devil Abyss. Of the spirit energy drawn in from the outside world, a small portion flowed into the Heaven of Oblivion and the Heaven of the Five Elements. The majority, however, gathered within the Fallen Devil Abyss.

At the bottom of the abyss stood an ancient stone platform. Three figures stood upon it, gazing into the darkness before them. The surrounding space was pitch-black and seemingly endless. Only a dozen or so star-like lights flickered faintly in the distance.

The three studied those lights in silence, and none of them seemed eager to make the first move.

Suddenly, Silent Fate noticed something was off and asked curiously, ”Fellow Daoist Blood Nightmare, what’s wrong?”

Blood Nightmare was frowning. ”The three people I left outside to carry out my orders are dead.”

”Dead?” Silent Fate was surprised. ”Wu Qi and the other two were hardly weak, and I suppose you gave them something to protect themselves. Who could have killed them?”

Before Blood Nightmare could respond, Fairy Jadecold sneered. ”You sent three Adepts after the lingering soul of an ancient dragon. You should’ve been prepared for this.”

Blood Nightmare shook his head. ”The soul’s intelligence has long since dissipated. It only had its instincts left. There’s no way it could pose a threat to them. And yes, I gave them a True Artifact soul-summoning banner, so capturing it should’ve been easy. So... someone else must have interfered. Aiyah, unfortunately, we’re trapped in this Fallen Devil Abyss, and I have no way of finding out who. But whoever did this has ruined something very important. They better pray I don’t find out who they are.”

Silent Fate nodded. ”It truly is a loss. That dragon was a fifth-tier spirit vein that gained sentience after devouring an ancient Earth Dragon that died in its spirit land, so it had both the body of a Titan Beast and the spirit of a sprite... Even after all these years, that lingering soul could have nurtured another fifth-tier spirit vein. Now that it’s gone, your road to Divine Transformation just became a lot steeper.”

Blood Nightmare’s expression darkened further. Jadecold, however, could not be bothered with their concerns. She walked gracefully to one of the glowing star lights. ”I’m going in.”

Blood Nightmare frowned. ”Shouldn’t we wait a bit longer? There are more than a dozen paths here. They all supposedly lead to the Heaven of Bright Illumination, but very few of the devil sect’s disciples ever made it there. Aren’t you worried about choosing the wrong one?”

”No. The Heaven of Bright Illumination isn’t my destination. Oh, and by the way... Grand Elder Blood Sea entered the path with the faintest starlight. If you want his inheritance, that’s where you should go.”

With that, she stepped into the starlight and vanished.

Blood Nightmare turned his gaze in doubt to the dimmest of the starlit ways. He stood there contemplating it for a long while before finally taking a deep breath and stepping inside.

With Blood Nightmare’s departure, only Silent Fate remained on the ancient stone platform.

Suddenly, the platform trembled gently and flared with light. On top of it, a graceful figure was slowly taking shape. Before the glow had fully died away, a pair of beautiful eyes was already fixed on Silent Fate. ”Third Senior Brother, you’ve certainly been difficult to find.”

The voice drifted through the air like an icy wind from the deepest abyss. The moment he heard it, Silent Fate’s expression changed dramatically. Without the slightest hesitation, he stepped upon one of the starlight paths and vanished.

After he left, the radiance atop the platform contracted, revealing a woman. Her skin was smooth as jade, her eyes shone like stars, and her exquisite features carried an air of cold detachment. Yet at the same time, beyond that cold elegance was a figure of captivating allure. Her graceful curves and long, slender legs radiated a charm capable of seducing anyone who laid eyes on her. Such contradictory qualities existed together in only one woman throughout the Northern Sea: Moon Hermit of the Myriad Immortal Society!

Silent Fate’s hasty retreat earned nothing more than a cold snort from her. For a moment, her gaze settled upon the dozen starlit paths, and she fell silent.

1. This is explained in 683. ☜