An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Along the secluded walkway beside the flower hall, Netherfire led the way while Luo Chen followed a few steps behind. With every step he took, charred footprints formed on the pathway before fading away moments later. Though the marks vanished as though they had never existed, Luo Chen knew well they were real.

Could a middle-stage Sage truly lose control of his own true fire so completely that it leaked from his body?

As someone well-versed in the arts of fire, Luo Chen could naturally tell that those burned footprints had been caused by the leakage of some dreadful true fire. Moreover, the man’s Dao title made it even clearer that he was proficient in fire arts and had refined a Sourceless Flame into his primordial true fire. That was exactly why the situation felt so wrong, because just how could a cultivator lose control of their own primordial true fire?

Netherfire’s hoarse voice cut through his thoughts. ”Wilderness Hermit, have you noticed something?”

Luo Chen kept his expression calm and gave a slight nod. Netherfire had clearly allowed the flame to leak so that he would understand why he had been brought here. To be honest, it was precisely because he was expected to recognize such a hint that Netherfire had chosen to speak with him alone.

A bitter smile spread across Netherfire’s face. ”You may think I’m letting the fire leak out on purpose, but the truth is, my condition is really that unstable.”

Luo Chen hesitated before asking, ”Did the primordial true fire you refined turn against you?”

”Yes.”

The single word carried more emotion than he could put into words. He let out a long sigh and began recounting the past. ”Mulan Gaoxiong may have lost hope in advancing toward the Great Dao, but he leveraged my injuries and Frostwillow’s death to rebuild his reputation. Everyone thinks we lost because we weren’t strong enough, but they don’t know the full story.”

Luo Chen listened without interrupting. He knew Frostwillow was that early-stage Sage whose death had become one of Mulan Gaoxiong’s most celebrated victories. Netherfire’s defeat, on the other hand, was far harder to understand. Even after suffering such grievous injuries, the man’s restrained aura was still as strong as ever. It was difficult to believe that Mulan Gaoxiong had enough strength to leave him in such a state. And as he expected, there was more to that battle than anyone knew.

”I might not have been able to kill Mulan Gaoxiong outright, even at my peak, but I should have been able to overpower him,” Netherfire said. ”When I heard Frostwillow had been killed, I went to face him myself. But during the battle, the true fire inside me suddenly went out of control. Mulan Gaoxiong wasn’t the one who defeated me. I defeated myself. The flames have been raging through my body ever since, burning through my organs and meridians. They’ve even forced their way into my Purple Mansion, and now they’re trying to take it from me.”

Luo Chen’s eyelids twitched as a chill ran through him. The truth was almost exactly what he had suspected. ”Has your primordial true fire developed sentience?”

Netherfire smiled bitterly. ”So you noticed... Yes, that’s exactly what happened.”

Luo Chen frowned. ”But even if it gained sentience, it should still obey you. How could it turn against you? Unless its spirituality...”

A glazed bottle appeared in Netherfire’s hand. It was the same bottle that contained the soul essence. ”Before the devil sect was destroyed, its Soul Refinement Lineage shared the technique of producing soul essence with the unorthodox powers of the Northern Sea. But they never told us how it was meant to be used.

”After the sect fell, all of us began experimenting with it. I don’t know what the others tried, but I made the wrong choice. I fed large amounts of soul essence to nourish the spirituality of my true fire. As a result, its spirituality grew far too quickly. Eventually, even my divine soul could no longer control it, and it turned against me during the battle.”

The final piece fell into place, though Luo Chen was not particularly surprised. Years ago, he had nearly fallen into the same predicament himself. After all, the greater a true fire’s spirituality, the more assistance it could provide, whether in alchemy, artifact refinement, or battle.

Fortunately, he had resisted that temptation. Rather than force his true fire to mature, he kept its spirituality restrained until he formed his Nascent Soul. Only after his breakthrough did he allow it to develop naturally. Put in human terms, the Withering-Flourishing Fire Sprite had the mind of a seven-or eight-year-old child, but its power was in no way diminished.

Netherfire, by contrast, had used large amounts of soul essence to force his flame’s spirituality beyond his control. Luo Chen could only imagine how intelligent it had become if it could rebel against its master and attempt to seize his Purple Mansion.

What he still did not understand was why Netherfire had chosen to reveal this to him. The man might certainly have recognized that he practiced a powerful fire art, but he could not possibly know that Luo Chen’s true fire could devour other Sourceless Flames.

As though sensing his confusion, Netherfire stopped and turned to face him. A powerful pressure spread through the garden as his Nascent Soul Domain unfolded. Luo Chen raised an eyebrow before releasing the Infinite Blaze Prison in response. Both Domains reached for the ambient fire-attribute spirit energy and began testing each other within the confined garden.

In general, Netherfire’s cultivation allowed his Domain to command more of the ambient spirit energy, which gave him the advantage across the garden as a whole. Yet wherever the two Domains met directly, the Infinite Blaze Prison steadily melted through his Domain.

Seeing this, Netherfire let out a relieved breath and withdrew his Domain. ”So I was right. You have very good control over your primordial true fire, and your connection with it is strong enough to transform your Domain. If it can already do that to your Domain, its ability to melt through things must be even more terrifying.”

Luo Chen also withdrew his Domain and frowned. ”What exactly do you want me to do?”

”It’s simple. I want you to use your primordial true fire to destroy the Netherfire inside me. If you succeed, this bottle of soul essence is yours. It’s refined from tens of millions of souls, so whatever you need it for, it should be plentiful.”

Luo Chen’s expression changed slightly. ”You can’t be serious. If our true fires clash, the fight will happen inside your body. Aren’t you afraid it’ll kill you?”

”They won’t clash.” Netherfire shook his head. ”When the time comes, I’ll restrain my true fire with everything I have. While I’m holding it back, you can grind it away little by little. I may suffer some injuries, but nothing I can’t handle.”

Luo Chen considered Netherfire’s proposal and realized that it was not unreasonable. He had once endured the Ninefold Beaconfire and the Nirvana Sacred Fire battling inside his body, so he knew how destructive a collision between two true fires could be. At the time, he had nearly collapsed because he lacked the strength to restrain either flame.

However, Netherfire’s situation was different. If the man could restrain the rebellious Netherfire long enough and cooperate with him throughout the process, Luo Chen should be able to remove it completely.

Still, that raised another concern that could not be ignored. Under those circumstances, Netherfire would be almost entirely defenseless. He would have to expose everything, even his Purple Mansion, to Luo Chen. Essentially, he was placing his life in the hands of someone he had just met.

Luo Chen could not help asking, ”We have never even met before today. Do you really trust me enough to take a risk like this?”

Netherfire laughed. ”Of course not. I’m not foolish enough to trust a complete stranger with my life. You’re not the one I’m relying on. He is.”

As he spoke, the doors to the rear hall slowly opened on their own.

Netherfire gestured toward the entrance. ”Go inside.”

Luo Chen drew a breath and stepped through the doorway. The moment he entered, he saw a plump man holding a yellowed bronze mirror. The familiar sight brought a smile to Luo Chen’s face.

Fu Chaosheng smiled in return. ”Greetings, fellow Daoist Luo Chen.”

He placed particular emphasis on the name, which made Luo Chen’s heart skip a beat. However, he returned the greeting with composure. ”It has been a while, fellow Daoist Fu.”

Netherfire joined them inside. ”Elder Fu is mediating the peace conference on behalf of the Heaven Origin Dao Sect, and the Heaven Origin Trade Alliance stands behind him as well. With him here as a witness, neither of us has to worry about the other trying anything. If either of us breaks our word, we’d be making enemies of both powers. I doubt either of us wants that. So, what do you say?”

Fu Chaosheng gave Luo Chen a reassuring nod.

Luo Chen considered it for a moment, then said, ”Very well. I’ll do what I can.”

Netherfire’s face brightened. ”Good.”

He opened his hand, and the bottle storing the soul essence flew into Fu Chaosheng’s grasp. The arrangement was clear. Fu Chaosheng would hold Luo Chen’s payment until the treatment was complete. Given the reputation the Heaven Origin Trade Alliance had built through centuries of trade across the Five Territories, neither party needed to worry that he would take advantage of something so trivial.

When Luo Chen asked when they should begin, Netherfire chose to start immediately. Luo Chen agreed without hesitation, since the treatment ending sooner meant he could obtain the soul essence sooner. As for the gathering still underway in the Origin Convergence Palace, neither of them had any further interest in it.

Once the arrangements were settled, Fu Chaosheng said little else. Even so, he continued to scrutinize Luo Chen with curiosity.