An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Beside the great river of lava, a Daoist sat cross-legged atop a lotus with a cauldron suspended above his head. Yet despite finally obtaining the treasure he had come for, a trace of hesitation lingered on his face. His gaze remained fixed on the center of the pod, where five fist-sized lotus seeds were embedded.

Those seeds were treasures in their own right. Having grown from a Five Elements Lotus Pod that stood only a single step away from the fifth tier, any one of them could serve as the primary ingredient for a fourth-tier pill. If refined into an artifact instead, it could become a powerful one-time-use enchanted treasure comparable to the Lightning Immortal Pearls once found within Bai Ye’s pocket world.

Yet despite their value, Luo Chen had little interest in them at the moment. The Nascent Soul Pill required only the pod itself. With that, he reached out cautiously and placed his hand upon one of the seeds, the fire-attribute one.

According to Han Zhan, the Five Elements Lotus Pod was a cultivation treasure that only Sages could make full use of. Its greatest function was to draw in the ambient spirit energy, filter away impurities, and provide pure energy for cultivation. In the entire Mountains and Seas Realm, treasures of this caliber were exceedingly rare; in the Eastern Wasteland, for instance, most remained firmly under the control of the Nether Origin Sect, with only the occasional specimen finding its way to other forces. There were even rumors that Sage Divine Origin of the Five Elements Divine Sect had been able to cultivate on all five elemental paths simultaneously and reach the late stage of Nascent Soul because of this lotus.

Whether that story was true or not, the lotus beneath Luo Chen was likely superior to the one mentioned in those rumors. But that was beside the point. Although this treasure saw its best use in the hands of Sages, it was not entirely useless to Adepts. If an Adept replaced one of the lotus seeds with their Golden Core and paired it with Spirit Beguilement, the lotus could be tricked into treating the Golden Core as one of its own seeds. As long as that deception held, the lotus pod would still provide cultivation assistance. More importantly, Luo Chen could use the process to tame the lotus sprite, softening its resistance and making it far easier to take it out of Blazing Purgatory.

”I’ll give it a try.”

After making up his mind, Luo Chen ignored the furious struggles of the Five Elements Lotus Pod and forcibly pried out the Fire Lotus Seed. He then opened his mouth and expelled a white core that rose into the air and hovered before him. It was not his Golden Core but the Nascent Core that had already been drained of mana. Although he trusted Han Zhan, he still did not dare experiment with his actual Golden Core. After all, Han Zhan had never used the lotus himself. The trick he had shared was something he had learned through conversations with other cultivators. If something went wrong, Luo Chen would rather lose the Nascent Core than risk damaging the foundation of his cultivation.

Carefully, he guided the Nascent Core into the space left by the Fire Lotus Seed. Once it settled inside, it looked no different from the remaining lotus seeds nestled within the pod. Only after confirming everything was stable did Luo Chen start cultivating.

Fire-attribute spirit energy surged toward him from every direction, rising from the lava river below and pouring in from the entirety of Blazing Purgatory. The entire region was saturated with violent fire spirit energy that ordinarily required extensive refinement before it could be absorbed. This time, however, he skipped the process entirely.

The overwhelming torrent of spirit energy poured directly into the Five Elements Lotus Pod. As it was continuously nourished, the lotus’s struggles slowly lessened until they disappeared altogether. It was almost like watching a starving beast finally receive food.

Luo Chen held his breath and focused intently on the changes occurring within. A short while later, he sighed in relief. It worked.

He could clearly see the flow of energy inside the lotus. The violent spirit energy that flooded in was first filtered and purified. Then the impurities were discarded, while the refined energy flowed through the pod’s intricate channels toward the five lotus seeds. Since Blazing Purgatory was rich in fire-attribute spirit energy, the largest share naturally converged upon the position formerly occupied by the Fire Lotus Seed. The Nascent Core waiting there accepted everything greedily and devoured every strand of refined spirit energy that reached it. After a while, Luo Chen examined it again and found that a discernible amount of spirit energy had already accumulated within it. The progress was remarkable.

As he paused to assess the situation, Han Zhan offered a reminder. ”Don’t forget to use your divine consciousness afterward to refine the spirit energy and fully convert it into your own mana. You’re still only at the Golden Core Realm. Without a Nascent Soul to directly command the power of heaven and earth, the spirit energy you’ve absorbed isn’t truly yours yet. Until you’ve refined it and left your own imprint upon it, it remains nothing more than borrowed power.”

”Okay.” Luo Chen nodded lightly.

After a brief period of adjustment, he settled his mind once more and resumed cultivating.

***

In the aftermath of the great battle, none of them were in any hurry to continue their venture. Having survived the ordeal, recovery naturally took priority over everything else.

Luo Chen was cultivating quietly beside a lava river dense with fire spirit energy. Devil’s Cloud likewise found a secluded spot of his own and entered cultivation to heal his injuries. The Flesh Ganoderma was the odd one out; although it had initially been in the worst condition of the group, its fight with the Great King Squid seemed to have benefited it immensely. Not only had its stick-like body regained its former bloated appearance, but even its mental state had improved considerably. Rather than cultivating, it spent its days wandering through Blazing Purgatory as though touring a scenic landscape.

Day after day passed in this leisurely fashion.

During that period, Luo Chen sent Heavenjade out to search for fire-attribute resources in the surrounding area, instructing her to focus on safer locations and avoid dangerous places whenever possible.

When another day of cultivation eventually came to an end, he felt a slight fatigue in his divine soul. Continuous cultivation without rest was something cultivators usually only did during seclusion because it placed immense strain upon the divine soul. Even someone like Luo Chen could not sustain that indefinitely and needed to stop from time to time to recover.

He retrieved a fasting pill from his storage ring and swallowed it. As a faint sense of fullness spread through his body, his thoughts gradually relaxed, and his attention drifted toward the surging lava river below.

A red fish happened to be swimming nearby.

SPLASH!

As though sensing his gaze, the fish suddenly leaped from the lava and sent molten droplets through the air. It was the same fourth-tier fire sprite that had joined the attack on Liu Jun. Ever since Luo Chen had saved the silver fire python, the sprite had become noticeably friendlier toward him. Over the past few days, it had frequently swum over during his cultivation sessions, drawn by the pure fire spirit energy that leaked from the Five Elements Lotus Pod.

As he watched the red fish, he suddenly thought of something. Then, he summoned a wisp of azure flame at his fingertip. He had nurtured the Withering-Flourishing True Fire for decades—nearly a century, if he counted the years carefully. Throughout that time, it had consumed the life force of countless demonic beasts and accumulated an exceptionally deep foundation. During this journey through Blazing Purgatory, it had devoured seven Sourceless Flames and even swallowed a fourth-tier Sky-Burning Fire. By all rights, its power should have undergone a tremendous increase.

Yet perhaps because it had consumed them too hastily and had not fully integrated their power, the true fire had performed far below expectations during his battle against Liu Jun.

”It shouldn’t have been like that...”

Muttering to himself, Luo Chen sank into contemplation and began reflecting on his battle with Liu Jun. Despite the latter being wounded and deprived of every possible advantage, Luo Chen had still fallen behind in a direct confrontation and had even been forced to cut off his own hand like a lizard shedding its tail. He simply could not accept such an outcome.

Why was it like that?