An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

The tempering Luo Chen spoke of was not as simple as sitting in meditation and continuing to cultivate. Before anything else, he needed to resolve the problem of his mana’s purity.

His Nascent Core had been destroyed, yet he had long since grown used to possessing far more mana than ordinary cultivators. With his five spirit roots, his natural reserves were already several times greater than those of his peers, and that advantage had been even wider during the time he still had the Nascent Core. It was the foundation that allowed him to cast large-scale spells freely, defeat opponents above his realm, and even challenge Sages. Now that he had lost it, the sudden emptiness left him deeply unaccustomed.

Still, one eventually had to adapt to what they had lost. Since he could no longer rely on overwhelming quantity to make up the difference, he would have to seek a breakthrough in quality instead. In the past, his mana had seemed purer than that of ordinary Adepts; in truth, however, it had never been refined to the absolute limit. Now, he intended to temper it little by little until every single trace became as pure as he could make it.

Within his sea of qi, the crimson Golden Core hung quietly above the Withering-Flourishing Fire Tree. The tree’s branches stretched upward and wrapped around the core, burning with a slow flame that enveloped the core without harming it. As the fire moved, it drew out the faint impurities hidden within his mana and consumed them without leaving a trace. Most of these were remnants of mana of other attributes that had lingered because of his five-element spirit roots. Now, under the continuous refinement of the true fire, they gradually vanished. As they did, the Golden Core’s color deepened, and the faint five-colored sheen on its surface slowly receded.

The core slowly took on a richer crimson glow, like a forbidden fruit ripening in the heart of the flames.

***

Half a year later, a powerful aura flashed through the abyss and disappeared before it could spread. Luo Chen slowly opened his eyes, but instead of joy, his gaze carried a trace of surprise and helplessness. ”The ninth stage...”

He had intended to slow down and temper his foundation, yet the conditions around him and within his own body were simply too good. Even without deliberately seeking a breakthrough, he had still advanced. This was not the result he had wanted, but since the breakthrough had already happened, he could only accept it. After all, no matter how inconvenient the timing, advancement was still advancement, not something he could reasonably treat as a misfortune.

With a soft sigh, he summoned his status panel.

[Status Panel]

Name: Luo Chen

Lifespan: 186/900

Spirit Roots: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth

Constitution: Fire Spirit Dao Body (Hidden Five-Spirit Dao Body)

Realm: Ninth Stage Golden Core Realm (1/100); Archaic Beast Tier Four (35/100)

[Techniques]

Luo Chen skimmed past most of the details and focused on the major changes. The increase in his lifespan did not surprise him. He had advanced three stages in one stroke, and after completing his Nirvana of the Flesh, he had even touched the middle stage of physique cultivation. Given all that, gaining another hundred years was to be expected. He even felt that once he fully refined the remaining power of the Flesh Ganoderma within him, his lifespan might increase even further.

After a brief glance, Luo Chen let the matter pass without much thought. Lifespan was not something he needed to concern himself with right now. 900 years was already more than sufficient; even many Sages who had suffered injuries and whatnot could not even rely on that much time. He was still only an Adept, so there was little point in dwelling on it.

Hence, he shifted his attention to the new entry that had appeared: Constitution: Fire Spirit Dao Body (Hidden Five-Spirit Dao Body)

He could understand the Fire Spirit Dao Body part; this was the constitution one was supposed to acquire to better align with the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture, and things had gone exactly as described. But what was the so-called Hidden Five-Spirit Dao Body?

”Could it be that the Five-Spirit Dao Body is still there? Is it just being hidden by the Fire Spirit Dao Body?”

Luo Chen frowned and tried circulating his qi according to the Yi Wood Medicine King Codex he had practiced in his early years. But after only one minor cycle, his mana turned sluggish, and his meridians began to sting faintly. This was inconsistent with the expected characteristics of the Five-Spirit Dao Body. According to ancient records, such a constitution should be capable of accommodating the cultivation of multiple arts without conflict, so it could not possibly produce such an immediate and obvious resistance.

Still, the panel would not display something without reason. Luo Chen pondered the matter for a long while and spent half a day testing it in various ways, but every attempt led to the same result. In the end, he set the matter aside and continued looking through the panel. His cultivation had already changed, so there was no need to dwell on it. What mattered more was the progress of his techniques.

His gaze soon stopped at the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture. Since he first achieved Grandmaster proficiency in Blazing Purgatory, he had increased by a full 150 points. That kind of improvement clearly could not have come from ordinary cultivation alone.

The Nirvana of the Flesh!

That transformation had not merely remade his body but had also brought him into closer compatibility with the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture. He could clearly feel the difference whenever he cultivated. His efficiency in absorbing the natural spirit energy had far surpassed what it had been before. The circulation of his mana also felt smoother, and even his spellcasting felt more fluid; each movement flowed into the next with a noticeable increase in speed.

That seemingly small improvement was not something to look down on. Luo Chen had already achieved Perfected Mastery in most of his spells, and he had researched and refined some of them until they seemed to have absolutely no room left for improvement. That his casting speed could still increase even with that foundation was truly surprising.

”It looks like this Fire Spirit Dao Body is even more suited for my cultivation. If my progress keeps speeding up like this, I might really be able to achieve Perfected Mastery before becoming a Sage!”

Clearly, this was another piece of good news coming after his increase in lifespan, the rise in cultivation, and the apparent survival of his Five-Spirit Dao Body. He smiled at first, but the smile did not last long. His gaze continued down the panel and eventually stopped on Myriad Path Convergence.

This self-created technique, which had drawn on the strengths of countless arts, had finally reached its limit. He had sensed the problem long ago. Over the years, his progress in physique cultivation had slowed again and again, forcing him to rely more often on external support. He had even traded for numerous ancient physique refinement arts from the Demon Hunter Division and used them as references to patch up and improve Myriad Path Convergence.

Those additions had carried him as far as the fourth tier, but after this breakthrough at Surging Lake, he could clearly feel that the technique had reached its limits. No matter how he pushed it, there was no longer any room to advance. Some of that limitation came from Myriad Path Convergence itself, and some from his own lack of deeper accumulation. But when he followed the thread back to its source, the problem still traced to Sky Roc Transformation, the incomplete physique refinement art that stood at the root of Myriad Path Convergence.

Many decades back, Luo Chen and Wang Yuan had obtained Sky Roc Transformation at an auction in the black market of Dahe Market. It had been written down on a piece of beast hide and had come with the unexpected bonus of the Imperial Nectar formula. However, Sky Roc Transformation itself was only an incomplete third-tier technique, and practicing it required absorbing the blood essence of a roc-type demonic beast into the body. Wang Yuan had not chosen to cultivate with it; instead, he only borrowed some of its strengths to enhance himself. Luo Chen, on the other hand, treated it as a foundation. Later, in Bai Ye’s pocket world, he used the system to complete it in a moment of crisis, shaping Myriad Path Convergence from that base. From then on, he spent years refining and expanding it with his own understanding until he finally pushed it to the fourth tier.

But that was the absolute limit. Sky Roc Transformation had been incomplete from the very beginning, and on top of that, the roc blood essence Luo Chen absorbed back then had come only from a second-tier Blazing Cloud Roc. With those two flaws built into its foundation, it was surprising enough that Myriad Path Convergence had supported him all the way to the fourth tier. In truth, he had reached the limit right after the breakthrough; if not for the main body of the Flesh Ganoderma and that wisp of Nirvana Sacred Fire, he would never have reached the middle stage at all.

Thinking of this, Luo Chen slowly gathered his thoughts. For now, he would leave the matter alone. The path of physique cultivation was too broad, and he still could not see where this one would lead. It could protect him in battle, but if he wanted to pursue immortality, he could not place all his hopes on it. Of course, he would not abandon physique cultivation; he just needed a better technique. Whether he ended up changing paths, borrowing from another art, or creating a new one himself, this matter could wait. For now, the most urgent matter was still his qi cultivation.

Now that he had reached the ninth stage of the Golden Core Realm, thoughts of forming a Nascent Soul naturally followed. But before taking that step, he needed to sort through what he had gained from the Land of Fallen Devils. After all, that journey had pushed him to the brink more than once, and it would be careless to move forward without understanding what he had taken from it and what it had cost him.

With a thought, he raised his hand, and streaks of flowing light appeared one after another. As his gaze swept over those treasures, a knowing smile finally appeared on his face.

”This trip wasn’t for nothing after all.”