An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Luo Chen had gained a great deal from his journey to the Land of Fallen Devils. Any one of these treasures, if taken out, could spark a massive fight. The piece of Nine-Sun Geng Metal in his hand, for example—its quality was so fine that even calling it the pinnacle among supreme-grade materials did not seem like an exaggeration. If used as the core material for a flying sword or divine saber, or if added to another enchanted treasure, it would greatly enhance its destructive power. It was particularly well-suited for treasures aligned with metal and fire. And this absolutely remarkable piece of metal was only one among many. Along the way, Luo Chen had also gathered a large number of other useful materials, including a considerable amount of middle- and high-tier ores from the Thousand Blade Mountain Range.

As he looked over them, he began to consider how best to use such a collection. Although he owned many enchanted treasures, he had never truly had a truly fitting offensive artifact. With this batch of materials in hand, he could wait until he formed his Nascent Soul, choose one of the artifact blueprints he had gathered over the years, and craft such a treasure himself.

Yet the longer he thought about it, the more another possibility pressed into his mind. Powerful offensive enchanted treasures were rare, but they were not beyond reach. Given enough time and opportunity, one would eventually appear somewhere in the cultivation world. What truly set him apart was not an external treasure, but the origin energy he had still not brought fully into use.

Origin energy differed greatly from ordinary mana, and most enchanted treasures were designed to accept mana alone. Because of that, it was difficult for them to carry or channel his origin energy properly. Because of this, whenever he used origin energy, he had to rely on his own body as the conduit. This limitation had driven him to study different techniques, take their strengths, and eventually combine them into the combat art he’d aptly named the Devil Lord’s Seven Strikes. Following that line of thought, he could not help wondering whether a conventional offensive treasure was truly what he needed. Perhaps the treasure most suited to him would be one that could be activated through origin energy, and preferably one capable of amplifying it further.

Luo Chen pondered the idea for some time before finally shaking his head. His theoretical knowledge in this area was still too shallow, and acting on impulse would likely do nothing but waste these valuable materials. For now, he could only put the idea aside and turn his attention to the matters that he could deal with right now.

He raised a hand, and two streaks of light drifted out in front of him. One transformed into a white banner, while the other unfolded into an octagonal pavilion. Though both remained sealed, the pressure they emitted was still unmistakable. They were the Soul-Summoning Banner he had taken from Wu Qi and the others of Devil’s Snare, and the Penglai Eightspire Pavilion he had seized from the disciples of the Penglai Immortal Sect.

They were both True Artifacts, and the pavilion was particularly precious. Luo Chen was only able to use it because Han Zhan had helped him take control of it, but this control was quite limited. The most he could do was throw in some spirit plants and draw out a small portion of the spirit plants stored inside.

The traces of Dragonspit Grass he had seen back in Wood Heaven Plains were simply remnants left behind after the grass had been harvested and stored within this pavilion. It was a rare spirit herb known for its ability to greatly stimulate the growth of worm- and serpent-type demonic beasts. Beyond it, the pavilion also housed a variety of other precious spirit plants, including Divine Iris, Iron Calamus, and Turtle Spirit Flower. It lacked any of the Penglai Sect’s own unique spirit plants, which left Luo Chen a little disappointed, but even so, the value of the Penglai Eightspire Pavilion alone was enough to make this journey a tremendous harvest.

Luo Chen summoned two faint phantoms that hovered above the pavilion. One was the Five Elements Lotus, which was close to reaching the fifth tier, while the other was the Infernal Heartbound Tree, whose true properties he had no idea about. The lotus pod was essential for his Nascent Soul formation, so there was nothing more to it. The tree, however, was a far more thorny problem.

According to the Flesh Ganoderma, the Monarch had nurtured it by taking the hearts of a fifth-tier ancient demon and a fifth-tier ancient devil, burying them together, and grafting them onto a True Scale Tree to create a unique hybrid of both species. By the time the graft stabilized, the Infernal Heartbound Tree had reached the fourth tier. Once it matured, it would advance to the fifth tier, though even the Monarch had not known how far it might ultimately grow. The Flesh Ganoderma had only mentioned that its fruit would likely have remarkable effects on physique cultivation.

”Hah... what a coincidence. I just hit a bottleneck in physique cultivation, and I still don’t know where to go from here. But if this tree really does bear such immortal fruit, then maybe it can show me a way forward.”

After murmuring those words, Luo Chen carefully put away the two precious spirit plants. The Infernal Heartbound Tree was not something he could make use of for now. It was far from bearing fruit, and he did not even know how to continue tending it. He had once let Sang Jinghe study it, but Sang Jinghe’s skills were limited and could not compare to Sang Jiugong’s. Until Luo Chen found a proper way to cultivate it, he could only set the spirit tree aside.

The Penglai Eightspire Pavilion itself was of great use to him as an alchemist. He could carry it with him at all times, and whenever he settled somewhere, he could place it atop the spirit vein of a cave residence and let it absorb ambient spirit energy so the plants within could continue to grow. Aside from alchemy tools, this sort of treasure was probably what every alchemist dreamed of.

The Soul-Summoning Banner was not bad either; it had likely been granted by Blood Nightmare specifically to contain that dragon soul Quicksand Sea. These treasures had a straightforward naming system—the Soul-Nurturing Banner nourished souls, the Soul-Refining Banner tempered them, and the Soul-Summoning Banner also did exactly as its name implied: It called souls back. Even if someone had died many years before, as long as there was a suitable guide, the remnants of their broken soul could still be summoned.

Luo Chen steadied his thoughts and extended his divine consciousness into the banner. Inside, he found the massive earth-yellow dragon soul drifting aimlessly. The dragon looked ancient and plain. What seemed at first to be scales were actually dense patterns like the lines of compacted earth, and cracks ran through the vital points of its body, revealing how incomplete it had become. It could no longer be said to possess true consciousness.

It appeared that his earth-yellow dragon soul was the lingering soul of a legendary ancient beast, the Stone Dragon.

Long ago, the Stone Dragon’s soul had been subdued by the devil sect’s grand elder and used as part of the foundation for the Holy Land. Later, Grand Elder Blood Sea brought it into the Land of Fallen Devils. In the end, Grand Elder Blood Sea perished, and the Stone Dragon’s soul dispersed into the land. Over time, it settled there and gradually formed a stretch of wasteland within the Quicksand Sea.

Luo Chen looked at the drifting soul with a faint frown. He had taken a great risk to snatch it from Skyloam, but at the time, his only thought had been to ruin Blood Nightmare’s plans. Now that it was in his hands, a more practical question surfaced. What can I do with this?

Driven by curiosity, Luo Chen proceeded to cast Soul Intimidation, and with some effort, he managed to extract a single wisp of the Stone Dragon’s soul. He kept it to just that one wisp, not daring to take more. Even without true consciousness, the Stone Dragon’s soul was not something he could handle carelessly. The moment the soul wisp emerged, a subtle shift spread through the abyss. Before he could study it closely, the already abundant spirit energy around him stirred and began to gather toward the soul wisp on its own.

Luo Chen’s expression shifted, and he quickly drew the soul wisp back into the Soul-Summoning Banner. Once it was sealed away, the surging spirit energy lost its focus and slowly settled back into stillness.

He watched the fading currents with a trace of shock lingering in his eyes. ”It can draw in spirit energy on its own....”

According to legend, this Titan Beast had been born from a fifth-tier spirit vein that gained sentience and took over the body of an earthen dragon that had died of old age within it. What he had just witnessed now seemed to fit that story perfectly.

Luo Chen’s thoughts raced as he connected the legend to this scene. So in other words, this lingering soul is actually the consciousness of a fifth-tier spirit vein sprite. No wonder that happened just now. Even a single wisp of its soul can draw in spirit energy by itself.

The realization also brought to mind the strange events in the Quicksand Sea. Skyloam clearly hated the Stone Dragon’s lingering soul, yet it had still chased after the soul desperately. At first, the reason seemed straightforward: After the Stone Dragon’s soul had fallen into the Quicksand Sea, it had drawn away the spirit energy of an entire region, which greatly hindered Skyloam’s cultivation. Now, however, Luo Chen saw another possibility. If Skyloam had managed to devour that soul, it might have gained the same ability to attract and control spirit energy.

Luo Chen’s breathing grew heavier. ”If I use a special formation to trap this soul inside a third-tier... no, a fourth-tier spirit vein, then over time, could I use its natural ability to absorb the spirit energy and raise that spirit vein to the fifth tier?”

This idea was not mere fantasy. The scene just now was sufficient evidence that the Stone Dragon’s lingering soul could attract spirit energy by instinct. If that ability could be guided and contained, then it might truly be possible to nurture a spirit vein with it. For a moment, Luo Chen could almost see a future in which he no longer needed to wander from place to place in search of suitable spirit veins and cave residences.

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed. Blood Nightmare had gone to great lengths to send people into the Land of Fallen Devils for the sole purpose of summoning and capturing the Stone Dragon’s lingering soul. As a Sage and the nominal master of Devil’s Snare, he could not possibly lack a fourth-tier spirit vein. If he had coveted the soul so fiercely, then there was a good chance he had intended to use it in a similar way. In fact, since the Stone Dragon’s lingering soul had once been controlled by the devil sect, Blood Nightmare might already possess a suitable way to make use of it.

In the end, though, Luo Chen was the one who had obtained the treasure!

He laughed aloud and carefully put away the Soul-Summoning Banner. It was still too early for him to use it. With his cultivation and knowledge, forcing the matter would only invite disaster, so he could only keep it safe for the future.

Most people in his position would have felt frustrated. He had a True Artifact he could not use yet, a rare spirit plant that still needed time to mature, and even newly discovered possibilities held back by the limits of cultivation. Luo Chen, however, felt no dissatisfaction. He knew very well that an ordinary Adept would never have emerged from the Land of Fallen Devils with so much, if they ever came out at all. He had only managed it because several advantages had aligned at once: his fourth-tier physique, Han Zhan’s protection, the Flesh Ganoderma’s guidance and eventually its main body, and his own judgement at the right moments.

The things he had acquired were not things someone at his level was meant to have, so it only made sense that he could not use them yet. But he could see their worth, and he would eventually be able to use them. All he needed was a little patience.

Of course, not everything he had gained needed to be saved for later. The people he had killed—Crimson Corpse’s group, the cultivator he had encountered in Blazing Purgatory, and Ghost Spirit Child—had all left behind a substantial amount of belongings.