An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

The fourth trial was finally different from the first three, and this time, it was precisely because the problem to solve was rather ordinary. Of course, that did not mean it was easy. The real challenge this time lay in how demanding the formulas were.

The earlier trials had tested an alchemist’s foundation, from knowledge of medicinal ingredients and alchemical theory to the countless details involved in pill refinement. Yet beneath those differences, each had required the same thing: the creation of a new alchemical formula. This was a task reserved for grandmasters and those blessed with remarkable talent. For an ordinary alchemist, the first three trials alone could stall them for countless years.

Luo Chen knew this well. Even with the foundations he had built over the years, he would have needed far more than six or seven years to complete the earlier trials if he had relied only on his own deductions and repeated experimentation. Whether it was the Spirit Root Pill or the pair of pills meant to resolve the demons’ weaknesses, both were creations that ordinary alchemists might pursue for decades, centuries, or even an entire lifetime without success. He had effectively taken a shortcut, allowing him to reach the fourth trial ahead of the Seagon Matriarch.

Yet he had never expected this trial to be so... easy.

”Testing my alchemy skills? Heh.” Luo Chen chuckled, his mood easing considerably.

For someone with a cheat sheet like his, the road ahead was beginning to look far smoother. The earlier trials had been genuinely difficult because they required him to create formulas from nothing. This fourth trial appeared more demanding on the surface, but the complete formulas had already been provided. Even though they were fourth-tier pills, all he needed to do was spend achievement points to achieve Beginner proficiency.

Moreover, since he was already a fourth-tier alchemist, it wouldn’t even be expensive. For alchemical formulas of the same tier, the cost for reaching Beginner level was fixed at 10 points, regardless of how difficult the technique was. He still had more than enough points to spend.

”Still, I can’t afford to spend them recklessly.”

Luo Chen closed his eyes and carefully reviewed the three formulas that had just been transmitted to him: Devil Transformation Pill, Demon Transformation Pill, and Human Transformation Pill. According to the descriptions, anyone who consumed one of the pills could perfectly assume another race’s form. Devils could become demons, demons could become humans, and humans could become devils. Their effects were nothing short of miraculous.

Yet the Human Transformation Pill was what truly caught Luo Chen’s attention. ”Oh? Transformation Pill?”

He considered the formula for a moment before nodding slowly. It was remarkably similar to the Transformation Pill that Nether Spring of Green Parasol Mountain had once given him. The vast majority of auxiliary ingredients were the same; the only real difference lay in the main ingredient. The Green Parasol Transformation Pill required a Sage’s essence blood, while the Human Transformation Pill used a fourth-tier spirit fruit known as the Curled Fetus Fruit.

”The Curled Fetus Fruit can replace a Sage’s essence blood? Why have I never seen anything like that in texts?”[1]

Luo Chen was actually no stranger to the Curled Fetus Fruit. It existed in the Mountains and Seas Realm, but none of its known properties had any connection to Nascent Soul. If it could truly replace a Sage’s essence blood, then either it possessed an undiscovered property or could produce a unique effect only when combined with the other ingredients in the formula.

For a moment, he suppressed the urge to use the system to gain Beginner mastery, and instead began studying the formula himself. Since he had successfully refined a batch of Transformation Pills before, he might be able to understand this new formula on his own. If he succeeded, he would save 10 achievement points.

”The only points I wasted are the 30 I spent on those three formulas earlier...”

As he considered the trials that might still await him, he began calculating how carefully he would need to use what remained.

When he remembered the pressure the Seagon Matriarch had been under after he passed the third trial ahead of her, he decided that the 30 points had not been wasted at all. But from this point onward, he would save wherever he reasonably could. He had no way of knowing whether the fourth trial would be the last or whether a fifth, sixth, or even more trials awaited him.

***

The Alchemy Realm contained countless herbs, most of which appeared to have been prepared specifically for the alchemical formulas required by the assessment. Luo Chen had tested that assumption during the earlier trials by harvesting several herbs and placing them in his storage ring, hoping to take them with him. Yet whenever he entered the next trial, every herb he had gathered vanished from the ring as though it had never existed. Only the pills he had successfully refined during the assessments remained.

By now, his storage ring contained eight additional types of pills: the first-tier Five Organs Essence Nurturing Pill and Snowspirit Meridian Unblocking Pill; the second-tier Spirit Root Pill; the third-tier Power-Cleansing Pill, Soul-Cleansing Pill, Stonehide Pill, Lightningbone Pill, and Quicksilver Blood Pill. None were especially high grade, and he did not possess many of each, but together they covered a broad range of uses.

More importantly, even if he could not reproduce them exactly outside the Alchemy Realm, each formula offered him a new direction to explore. If he could adapt them to the ingredients available in the Mountains and Seas Realm, they might still help him advance his cultivation. For instance, the Soul-Cleansing Pill had been designed to address the weaknesses of demon races, but if he could modify it for his own use, it would be of great benefit to the foundation of his divine soul.

For now, however, he had no time to improve any of the formulas. He had already spent a full eight years within the Land of Fallen Devils. According to the Flesh Ganoderma, the pocket world typically remained open for forty to fifty years. This time, however, it had opened early because Liu Jun had altered the grand formation at Three Pillar Gorge, causing it to open ahead of schedule. As a result, nobody knew when it would close. Luo Chen needed to complete the Alchemy Realm assessment as quickly as possible. Otherwise, if the pocket world closed while he was still inside, he had no idea what consequences might follow.

With that, he soon began traveling throughout the place to gather the materials needed for the three fourth-tier transformation pills. The ingredients included not only spirit herbs but also some kinds of jade and some liquids. He even found skeletons of various devils inside a stone house located at the center of the realm. These bones were the primary ingredient needed for refining the Devil Transformation Pill. Clearly, for the sake of this fourth trial, Heaven Refiner had already prepared every material needed for those attempting to acquire his inheritance.

Whenever he paused to rest, he occasionally found himself wondering why Heaven Refiner had gone to such lengths. What purpose had driven them to establish an inheritance assessment of this scale? Were the trials in the other dozen inheritance grounds equally peaceful and safe?

From what he had seen, these trials did not seem like something a cultivator could have arranged hastily before death. They were too detailed and complex. Perhaps this place had once been a palace that Heaven Refiner had spent a lifetime preparing for those who might inherit their legacy.

There were too many questions and no way to get any answers. Luo Chen allowed himself only brief moments of speculation before returning his attention to the task at hand. Most of his time was spent processing the materials for the three transformation pills.

This time, the preliminary processing of the ingredients alone took him a full four years, far longer than he had expected. Several ingredients could not be prepared through ordinary techniques alone; they needed a long time to ”marinate,” so to say, before they could meet even the minimum standard for refinement. Since he could not afford to repeat that delay after every failed attempt, he prepared enough materials for at least a dozen attempts at each pill.

The Seagon Matriarch arrived at the fourth trial half a year after him. When they met again, neither spoke. She had presumably received the three formulas upon entering the trial, and even a grandmaster alchemist would have recognized their complexity at once. She naturally had no such cheat like Luo Chen’s system, so she had to rely on repeated experimentation before she could refine any of them successfully.

Thus, the moment she arrived, she began harvesting materials, just as Luo Chen had done. In fact, she moved on an even larger scale than he did, preparing dozens of sets for every ingredient. After all, for experts at their level, processing one or a dozen at once made little difference, and thorough preparation could only improve the chance of success.

Luo Chen paid no attention to her actions and remained entirely focused on his own work.

One day, a strange fragrance drifted from his alchemy room. When he opened his palm, five golden pills the size of pearls rested upon it, and from within the pills, faint infant cries could be heard echoing. He studied the pills for a moment before putting them away with a satisfied expression.

The Human Transformation Pill had finally been refined. This was entirely within expectations, and he was not surprised in the slightest. He had even decided that after resting for the night, he would simply use achievement points the next day to gain Beginner mastery of the Devil Transformation Pill and Demon Transformation Pill. With the formulas understood and the materials ready, there was no reason to delay.

When Luo Chen pushed open the door of the alchemy room, he found the Seagon Matriarch standing outside. Their eyes met, but neither spoke. The sharp exchanges of their earlier encounters had long since disappeared. Luo Chen merely nodded to her before leaving to rest.

The fourth trial was making the gap between them widen even further. The Seagon Matriarch had not even begun refining pills yet, and who knew how many failed attempts she would have to go through before she succeeded. Luo Chen, meanwhile, could already see the path before him.

The Seagon Matriarch simply remained in the stone house and watched him leave. Her expression gradually darkened. Several times, she seemed on the verge of calling out to him, but each time, she held herself back. His progress had exceeded everything she had expected. In such a short time, he had processed the ingredients, studied the formulas, and refined a successful pill with seemingly little effort and no failed attempts. Such attainments were difficult to imagine. For a moment, she even suspected that he might be one of the foremost alchemy grandmasters among humans.

Yet she knew the renowned grandmasters of the Northern Sea. She had even exchanged insights with one or two of them in private, but she had never heard of anyone called Devil Lord Azure Yang. Could he have come from another territory? Yet even if that was the case, the difference between the two alchemy grandmasters should not have been so great. As she watched Luo Chen’s confidence and ease, she began to doubt not only him but herself as well. Could it be that her status as an alchemy grandmaster was undeserved?

That doubt continued to grow over the following days.

Three months later, Luo Chen successfully refined another batch of pills, and this time they were the Demon Transformation Pills!

By then, the Seagon Matriarch had only just begun attempting what she believed to be the simplest of the three formulas, the Demon Transformation Pill. When she compared their progress, the last shreds of her composure nearly collapsed. There was no harsher blow than being completely outclassed in the field one had always considered one’s greatest strength.

In the fifth year of the fourth trial, Luo Chen finally refined the Devil Transformation Pill, after eleven failed attempts. Soon afterward, the increasingly faint and peculiar voice descended once more.

This time, the Seagon Matriarch’s heart sank completely. There was no way she could catch up anymore. She had not yet succeeded in refining even one Demon Transformation Pill, and by her own estimate, she would need at least another year or two before she had any chance of doing so. Luo Chen, however, had already completed all three pills.

She tried to find reasons for the difference between them. Perhaps it was because demons, devils, and humans possessed fundamentally different physical structures, or because she had spent too much time processing the ingredients... Or maybe it was because she had no assistants to share the burden? There were countless explanations she could offer herself. But in the end, the truth remained unchanged. Her alchemy skills were inferior to his.

She did not know whether more trials lay ahead or what kind of trials they were. She only knew that within this alchemy inheritance, she had stumbled upon someone she could never hope to surpass.

”Am I... really going to lose here?”

As Luo Chen’s figure disappeared once again, she stood alone in the stone house, in a state of confusion she had not experienced for centuries.

***

Inside the quiet stone house, Luo Chen sat cross-legged on the floor as the devilish voice spoke directly into his ears. By the time it fell silent, a new alchemical formula had already been imprinted firmly in his mind.

He had passed the fourth trial with little difficulty, obtained more than a dozen special transformation pills, and left the Seagon Matriarch far behind. Under normal circumstances, he should have been in a great mood. Instead, the fifth trial had left his heart in turmoil.

The fifth trial appeared to be the last. If he passed it, the alchemy inheritance would be his, and everything he had sought in the Alchemy Realm would finally be within reach. But the assessment of the fifth trial was to refine a fifth-tier pill.

A fifth-tier pill!

The requirement was not unreasonable considering the progression of trials, but it had still caught him completely off guard. Generally speaking, an alchemist’s rank corresponded directly to their cultivation realm. There were certainly cases where people could refine pills one tier above their cultivation realm, but those people were truly exceptional. Luo Chen was a prime example himself. The problem was being asked to leap across another major realm and refine a fifth-tier pill intended specifically for Ascendants! How could he not be shaken and anxious?

Yet at the same time, he was overjoyed that he had obtained a fifth-tier alchemical formula out of nowhere. More importantly, the effects described by this fifth-tier formula were nothing short of miraculous. Even though he had never seen or heard of any other fifth-tier pill before, merely reading the description of its effects was enough for him to crown it the greatest among its tier.

Law Scrutiny Pill: A fifth-tier pill that allows an Ascendant to merge divine consciousness with heaven and earth, scrutinize the fundamental workings of Laws, and deepen their comprehension of them. A Sage who consumes it will gain an opportunity to comprehend Laws beyond their realm.

The moment Luo Chen understood its effects, he finally saw why the Flesh Ganoderma had called Heaven Refiner the greatest Monarch in history. Nor did he doubt in the slightest that this Monarch had truly comprehended and mastered more than a dozen Laws simultaneously. If the Law Scrutiny Pill truly existed, and if Heaven Refiner had refined and consumed it at will, then it was only natural that their understanding of Laws would reach an unimaginable level. As for whether the formula was genuine...

Luo Chen had a simple way to find out. With a thought, his status panel cascaded down before him, and a line of words slowly formed across it.

Complete Fifth-Tier Law Scrutiny Pill Formula detected. Achieve Beginner proficiency?

Crack!

Luo Chen’s fists tightened beneath his sleeves until veins stood out along the backs of his hands, and his eyes shone with unconcealed ecstasy. For a long moment, he said nothing. The formula was real!

1. The fruit and a Sage actually have a common character. 婴 (yīng) is rendered as ”fetus” in the name of the fruit and the ”nascent” part of Nascent Soul. So the connection is a bit more obvious in Chinese. ☜