An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

The Flying Swallow Archipelago had always been remote, but only after crossing nearly half the Northern Sea did Luo Chen fully understand just how isolated it was. There were virtually no prosperous sea regions nearby, and the surrounding waters held few spirit veins capable of supporting powerful cultivators. Humans and demons alike rarely had reason to venture so far.

For years, the merchant caravan established under Luo Chen’s name had been the archipelago’s only reliable connection to the more prosperous parts of the Northern Sea. Without it, the islands might have remained almost entirely cut off from the cultivation world. That very isolation had allowed Yan Nantian to hide there for so long without being discovered by Devil’s Snare.

The barren waters were not the only reason few people came this way. Beyond the archipelago stretched the Southern Ocean, a huge expanse perpetually shrouded in black mist. Its water touched the Northern Sea, the Southern Frontier, and the Eastern Wilderness, yet almost no one dared cross it. Some suspected the mist was the poisonous miasma of the Gu worms drifting from the Southern Frontier side. Others believed it came from the Nether Abyss in the Eastern Wilderness and carried the chill of the dead. No one knew the truth, and among those who entered, few returned to provide an answer.

One day, a lone figure slowly appeared upon the horizon where the Southern Ocean met the Northern Sea. The figure was clad in white robes bound with a crimson sash, and his long hair was tied neatly behind him. His eyes remained calm as he studied the black mist ahead, though a fierce light smoldered beneath that stillness.

Beyond the fog lay the road back to the Eastern Wilderness. The mist drifted across the sea like a curtain separating two worlds, and as Luo Chen stood before it, he felt as though he had reached the boundary between life and death.

He drew a slow breath, then swept his sleeve, forcing open a path through the black mist. He stepped inside, and the sea breeze stirred in his wake. Fresh wisps of black mist soon gathered from everywhere to fill the space he had cleared.

***

In less than the time it takes an incense stick to burn, the mist over the Southern Ocean began to churn. A streak of firelight soon tore through the haze as Luo Chen emerged from it and returned to the clear sky beyond.

He did not stop until he had put some distance between himself and the fog. By the time he turned back, the Southern Ocean was hidden once more beneath its endless layers of mist and cloud.

Luo Chen remained outwardly calm, but something he had sensed during his escape prompted him to examine his body more closely. He sent his divine consciousness through his meridians and blood vessels, where he discovered countless tiny eggs lying within him. They were utterly microscopical, far too small for the naked eye to see, and emitted no aura that might have betrayed their presence.

So these are Gu eggs...

At his command, the Withering-Flourishing True Fire flowed through his body, effortlessly incinerating the eggs and transforming them into pure energy that his flesh absorbed.

Luo Chen looked back toward the mist. They say cultivators from the Southern Frontier are masters at raising Gu, and that most of those come from the mysterious Southern Ocean. Looks like the rumors were true.

He had barely crossed the edge of the Southern Ocean, yet simply breathing within the fog had allowed countless eggs of unknown species to enter his body. Farther inside, the mist would surely conceal even more dangerous species, including high-tier Gu powerful enough to threaten equally high-tier cultivators.

What troubled him most was not their tier or their numbers, but how easily they had bypassed his defenses. Luo Chen could sustain himself for months through internal circulation, without breathing at all, while the true fire within him constantly protected his body. Yet despite all this, the eggs had somehow entered without him noticing. Had he continued deeper, he might not have realized he was in danger until it was too late.

At this point, he could only marvel at heaven and earth for giving birth to such a bizarre place. The Mountains and Seas Realm contained no shortage of dangerous regions, but the Southern Ocean seemed strange even by those standards.

Still, Luo Chen felt no disappointment as he turned back toward the Flying Swallow Archipelago. The journey had only been an experiment, and its failure confirmed why no one used the Southern Ocean as a direct route to the Southern Frontier. Although the Northern Sea’s abundant resources were traded throughout the Five Territories, they were never transported directly across the Southern Ocean. Instead, everything passed through the Central Continent as an intermediary. Since there was already an established route, there was little point in trying to sneak across the Southern Ocean.

Even so, the brief journey left him with a renewed sense of how little cultivators truly understood about the world. After becoming a Sage, he had gained the ability to briefly merge his divine consciousness with the surrounding world, and those moments of connection had glimpsed a truth hidden from most living beings.

The Mountains and Seas Realm was not a boundless flat land beneath a rounded sky as most people imagined. Its true form more closely resembled the spherical planet he remembered from his previous life.

Cultivators had spent barely ten thousand years exploring and settling this world. Compared with its unimaginable age and scale, that was hardly enough time to uncover more than a fraction of its secrets. Even the Five Territories represented only the lands humanity had managed to reach and develop. Beyond the Eastern Wilderness, Southern Frontier, Western Deserts, Northern Sea, and Central Continent stretched vast regions that remained absent from every known map.

The Nether Origin Sect stood at the edge of the seemingly endless Nether Abyss, while the Great Million Mountains extended far beyond the settled lands of the Eastern Wilderness. The Northern Sea opened into the boundless Demon Sea, just as the Southern Frontier stretched along the shores of the mysterious Southern Ocean. These were not mere wastelands surrounding civilization but immense worlds in and of themselves that cultivators had barely begun to understand.

From what little was known, much of the world was occupied by places like endless abysses, Gu-infested oceans, untamed seas, and mountain ranges that had never known human settlement. These regions were often shrouded in ghostly mist and dense yin qi, and it was entirely possible that archaic beasts from forgotten eras still roamed their depths.

Against the true history of such a world, the ages humans called ”ancient” and ”primordial” were perhaps no more than fleeting moments.

The thought stirred a longing in Luo Chen that had nothing to do with returning home. He wanted to see what lay beyond the boundaries of the map.

”Being a Sage still isn’t enough. Maybe only when I become an Ascendant I’ll finally be strong enough to go wherever I want in this world.”

With that thought lingering in his mind, he descended upon a towering cliff overlooking the sea—Sea-Gazing Cliff.

Cheng Haixin was there, waiting for him. The passing century had not diminished her beauty. Instead, the youthful charm he remembered had deepened into a mature grace. Her tall figure remained elegant as she bowed, and the calm steadiness of her aura made it clear that she had not wasted the years since their last meeting.

Luo Chen scrutinized her with a faint smile. ”Haixin, you’ve made quite the progress.”

Only after hearing his familiar voice did Cheng Haixin let out the breath she had been holding. She raised her head, but the moment she saw him clearly, astonishment stilled her expression.

Luo Chen’s features had scarcely changed, though his complexion appeared even fairer than before. What truly overwhelmed her was his presence. He stood calmly with his hands clasped behind his back and made no effort to reveal his power, yet he resembled a living flame whose brilliance could not be concealed. Merely looking at him for too long left her eyes aching.

Cheng Haixin gathered herself before answering softly, ”You flatter me, Sage. A full century has passed, yet I still haven’t formed my Golden Core. I’m afraid I’ve disappointed you.”

The difference between them was undeniable. Over the same century in which Luo Chen had formed his Nascent Soul, Cheng Haixin had only reached the ninth stage of Foundation Establishment and she was still far from Perfected Mastery.

Even so, her progress was far from poor. At around 140 years old, reaching this stage placed her among the geniuses of her generation. The pills and resources Luo Chen left behind had clearly benefited her, as had the rich spirit vein beneath Moon Inviting Island. Satisfied that she had made good use of what he had given her, he turned the conversation toward the Flying Swallow Archipelago and asked how it had fared during his absence.

Over the past century, the Cheng Family had risen far above every other power in the region. It now controlled seven islands and counted more than ten Initiates among its ranks, making it the undisputed leading family of the archipelago.

Nor had the region remained entirely without an Adept. The third elder of the Xu family, whose clan maintained close ties with the Cheng family, had successfully formed his Golden Core after studying the Azure Yang Pill Codex Luo Chen engraved on the stone monument at Moon Inviting Island.

Luo Chen raised an eyebrow. ”Where is he now?”

”He left the archipelago.”

Seeing Luo Chen’s questioning look, Cheng Haixin explained what had happened.

After forming his Golden Core, the Xu family’s third elder realized how little the Flying Swallow Archipelago could offer someone at his level. The merchant caravans could not bring back enough resources to sustain an Adept’s cultivation, while the region’s only third-tier spirit vein already belonged to Cheng Haixin and bore the mark of Devil Lord Azure Yang. Competing with her for Moon-Inviting Island would have damaged the friendship between their families, and Luo Chen’s fearsome reputation gave him even less reason to risk such a dispute.

Rather than fight over the archipelago’s meager resources, he sought his future elsewhere. At the time, the conflict between the righteous and devilish factions was intensifying. Seizing the opportunity, he joined them in battle and eventually earned considerable fame. At last, he caught the attention of experts from the Blue Sea Alliance, who accepted him into one of their affiliated forces and even granted his family a small island with a third-tier spirit vein so they could settle and prosper.

”He certainly knew when to back down.” Luo Chen chuckled softly before suddenly remembering something. ”What about Xu Muxian?”

It had been many years since he last spoke that name, yet he had never forgotten his nominal disciple. Xu Muxian possessed genuine talent in alchemy, and although Luo Chen had never formally accepted him as his actual disciple, he had always hoped the young man would eventually find a path of his own.

Cheng Haixin hesitated before answering. ”He left the archipelago as well.”

Luo Chen frowned. ”Did he go with the Xu family?”

He remembered that Xu Muxian had never been particularly close to his relatives. After marrying into the Cheng family, what little attachment he retained toward his own family had only weakened further.

”No. He left long before they did.” Cheng Haixin shook her head. ”After his wife passed away, he took the Foundation Establishment Pill you left him and broke through. Once his cultivation stabilized, he left the Flying Swallow Archipelago without a second thought and went off to see the world. That was years before the Xu family’s third elder formed his Golden Core.”

Luo Chen fell silent as memories of this unofficial disciple resurfaced. Xu Muxian had once been uncertain about his future and obsessed with the distant dream of forming a Golden Core before he had even reached Foundation Establishment. Luo Chen had scolded him for looking too far ahead, but their final conversation ended on a gentler note. He told Xu Muxian that even if the Great Dao remained beyond his reach, the world was still vast enough to make the journey worthwhile.

At that time, he had meant to pull him out of his confusion. He never expected Xu Muxian to take those words so completely to heart. Not only had he become an Initiate, but he had also found the courage to leave the small pond of the Flying Swallow Archipelago and seek a life beyond everything familiar.

Maybe I managed to set a decent example for him after all. Luo Chen sighed. ”Did he have any kids?”

Cheng Haixin shook her head. ”No.”

With no descendants to ask after and no way to know where Xu Muxian’s travels had taken him, he allowed the matter to rest.

After a brief silence, he turned his attention back to Cheng Haixin. ”Alright, then. I’m only passing through the archipelago, so I will leave tomorrow morning. Before I go, I want to offer you the same choice as before. Will you come with me?”

Cheng Haixin froze for a bit before a radiant smile slowly spread across her face.

Luo Chen had once invited her to follow him beyond the archipelago, but she had chosen to remain behind. Now he had returned as a Sage and extended his hand to her once more. Following him no longer meant facing the same desperate journey he had once endured alone, and being with him would mean a far safer path than anything she could have imagined before.

Even so, the answer in her heart had never changed. ”I am grateful that you still remember me, Sage, but I can’t go with you.”

Luo Chen frowned. ”I get that you couldn’t leave because your family needed you back then. But things are different now. The Cheng family is already the strongest family in this region, and you guys have more than a dozen Initiates. They don’t need you to stay anymore, so why are you still holding on to this place?”

Cheng Haixin tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and smiled. ”It isn’t because of my family. I’ve simply grown used to this life.”

”Used to it?”

”I’ve grown used to the seas and mountains here, and to the peace and quiet of Moon-Inviting Island. I’ve also heard stories about you from the Flying Swallow Merchant Caravan. Every one is more exciting than the last. Anyone who heard them would want to follow you.”

Her smile softened. ”But I’ve lived a quiet life since I was young. I’ve rarely fought anyone, and I know almost nothing about battle. You’re meant for greater things, and I’m sure there will be many more battles ahead of you. If I went with you, I could rely on your protection, but I could never help you the way Adept Heavenjade or Black King can. In the end, I would only hold you back.”

Luo Chen listened without interrupting. He could not deny the truth in her words. The Northern Sea was consumed by conflict between the righteous and devilish factions, while the Demon Alliance pressed into human territory. Even if he returned safely to the Eastern Wilderness, he would still face hidden schemes, old enemies, and dangers he could not yet foresee.

He could protect Cheng Haixin from most threats, but not from all threats. Those who had traveled beside him survived because each possessed the strength or skill to stand on their own when necessary. Cheng Haixin had chosen a different path long ago, and forcing her onto his would not be an act of kindness.

”I’ve thought it through. War, fame, authority... None of that is what I want. I just want to cultivate at peace and continue pursuing the Dao. The fact that you still remember me is already more than enough. Someday, when you have a little time... or when you’re tired of everything, come back and visit Moon-Inviting Island. I’ll have a pot of warm wine waiting for you.”

Luo Chen looked at her quietly. Time had not taken anything from her, but it had changed her in ways he could not ignore. The woman he once knew had grown into someone steady and self-assured and was no longer someone who lived according to her elder brother’s wishes. She understood what she wanted and had chosen it for herself. There was nothing left for him to persuade her of.

He stepped forward, wrapped an arm around her waist, and drew her gently into his embrace. ”The wind is picking up. Let’s head back to the island.”

Cheng Haixin’s eyes curved with a soft smile. She still remembered speaking nearly the same words to him on this cliff a century ago. ”The nights are cold and the wind is strong on Sea-Gazing Cliff.”

***

Near midnight, Cheng Haixin slept peacefully beside Luo Chen in a loose silk nightgown. He rested one hand against her back while his divine consciousness moved carefully through her body, tracing the condition of her meridians and the hidden damage left by years of cultivation.

Once he understood her condition, he pressed a fingertip lightly against her skin and sent a gentle stream of mana through her. It flowed along her meridians and swept away the impurities lodged throughout her body. They seeped from her acupoints, and he brushed them aside with a casual sweep of his sleeve.

The movement gradually roused her. Cheng Haixin opened her eyes and murmured sleepily, ”Dear?”

Luo Chen smiled. ”So you finally stopped calling me ’Sage.’”

A faint blush colored her cheeks. She had regarded Luo Chen as her husband ever since the night they’d parted a century back, but the gap in cultivation had always made her hesitate to address him so openly. Now that they had been reunited once more, even though the distance was far greater, it no longer felt as real.

Luo Chen brushed a strand of hair from her face. ”While you were asleep, I cleared your meridians and removed most of the impurities from your body. I left the pill toxins in your sea of qi alone, though. Forcing them out could damage your foundation. Keep using the technique from the Fine Dust Primordial Art, and you should be able to remove them little by little before you form your Golden Core.

”Also, keep these bottles of pills. They’ll help when you’re ready to form your Golden Core, especially the Liquid Condensation Pills. Their medicinal properties are gentle, so they should be well suited to you. This water-attribute cultivation technique should carry you all the way to the Nascent Soul Realm. As for this top-grade water-attribute flying sword, you aren’t strong enough to refine it yet. I’ll seal it for now, and once you form your Golden Core...”

Before Luo Chen could continue, a soft finger pressed gently against his lips. ”Dear, can we forget about the Great Dao tonight and simply enjoy our time together?”

He froze and then burst out laughing. Decades of seclusion and relentless cultivation had trained him to view every quiet moment as another opportunity to prepare for the future. Even now, beside a woman he had not seen in a century, he had instinctively begun arranging the rest of her cultivation path. ”You’re right. Tonight, we’ll speak only of ourselves.”

That night, fierce wind swept across the island as dark clouds slowly covered the moon. A gentle rain fell over the lake, sending soft ripples across its tranquil surface long into the night.

***

Luo Chen departed early the next morning, with Heavenjade guiding the Six Restriction Cloud Carriage. He left as quietly as he had arrived, and throughout the Flying Swallow Archipelago, no one realized that Devil Lord Azure Yang had returned after a century away.

Cheng Haixin did not come to see him off. She remained before the stone monument on Moon Inviting Island, gazing at the Azure Yang Pill Codex he had left behind so many years ago.

Only after a long while did she slowly make her way back to the hall. The palace gates closed behind her, and they would remain shut for decades.

***

Once the Flying Swallow Archipelago had disappeared behind them, Heavenjade looked back from the controls. ”Master, where are we going now?”

The lingering warmth in Luo Chen’s expression gradually faded as his thoughts turned to an old debt that had waited far too long. ”Coldlight Island.”

Heavenjade was briefly taken aback before immediately understanding. Some grievances did not need to be spoken aloud, but silence had never meant they were forgotten.

Under her command, the Six Restriction Cloud Carriage gathered speed and shot across the sky toward Coldlight Island.