An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Shen Wandou’s visit did not remain a secret for long. Soon enough, every high-tier cultivator in the city knew that a rogue Sage had taken up residence on Little Jade Mountain. Many attempted to pay him a visit, but nearly all were turned away with the same explanation that Wilderness Hermit had only recently formed his Nascent Soul and needed time in seclusion to stabilize his cultivation.

No one found the excuse unreasonable. After all, rogue cultivators faced far greater difficulties reaching the Nascent Soul Realm than someone backed by a major force. Now that Luo Chen had gained temporary access to a fourth-tier spirit vein, it was only natural for him to seize the opportunity to consolidate his cultivation.

Yet the truth was nothing like that at all.

Over the next three months, Luo Chen consumed one Great Soul Pill each month. The divine consciousness that had once spread beyond his control slowly settled, and by the end of the third month, he could release or withdraw it with ease. This newfound control also marked a major advance in his proficiency in Soul Split, and he was now at Skilled (1/100).

Luo Chen studied the new entry on his status panel and let out a sigh of relief. Within his sea of consciousness, two souls now rested side by side: the main soul and the subsidiary soul. In terms of size, the latter remained much smaller, but the strength of its foundation already rivaled the main soul at the first stage of the Nascent Soul Realm.

”It’s only been three months, and I’ve already come this far. As the name implies, the Great Soul Pill truly is pretty great.”

Even someone as composed as Luo Chen could not keep his emotions from surging at that moment, and he became rather excited. Although he did not have the complete Soul Split, nor any technique for accelerating the cultivation of his subsidiary soul, he had ultimately compensated for that flaw through alchemy. A single successful refinement produced twelve Great Soul Pills, and that was enough to sustain his cultivation for an entire year. Better still, one bottle of soul essence extracted from the souls of ten million beings could support a thousand refinement attempts. For once, every part of his plan seemed to be falling into place.

The only thing that he was concerned about was that although the subsidiary soul was powerful, it was also somewhat weak. This sounded contradictory, but there was a simple way to explain the paradox—it had accumulated the quantity of soul power expected of a Sage, yet lacked the corresponding quality. Unlike the main soul, this subsidiary soul had not been tempered through centuries of cultivation or strengthened by the trials that accompanied each breakthrough. Most importantly, it had never undergone the transformation from a yin soul into a yang spirit through a lightning tribulation. Thus, though it appeared to possess Sage-level strength, it would still fall short if he actually used it to attack an enemy.

Luo Chen muttered to himself, ”No wonder Han Zhan lost to me.”

Even with the complete Soul Split, Han Zhan had never overcome this weakness. His nine subsidiary souls appeared formidable, but their foundations were uneven. That was why Luo Chen had been able to shatter them one after another with the Dragon-Slaying Art. Now, the same flaw had appeared in Luo Chen’s own subsidiary soul. Continuing to increase its power without tempering its foundation would only deepen the imbalance. So, before powering it up any further, he needed a way to refine the power it already possessed.

Fortunately, he already had an idea for solving it: his life-bound enchanted treasure!

The Primordial Unity Cauldron appeared above his head, slowly rotating. Threads of lightning occasionally flickered across its dull gray surface, which filled Luo Chen with both fear and anticipation.

Can its lightning purge the impurities from my subsidiary soul and temper its foundation? His gaze sharpened as the possibilities unfolded. If it succeeds, perhaps I could eventually use it to strengthen my main soul as well....

The idea was dangerous, but not entirely unreasonable. Yin souls were especially vulnerable to yang forces, and few powers in the world were as pure yang or as violent as lightning. If his subsidiary soul could withstand it, the strength it gained would be astonishing.

With that, Luo Chen released the subsidiary soul from his sea of consciousness, then focused part of his attention on the cauldron and carefully drew out a single strand of lightning.

Pzzzzztt!

The moment the lightning struck, agony ripped through the subsidiary soul and surged along its connection to his main soul. Luo Chen’s vision went blank; his eyes rolled back, and he fell unconscious on the spot.

More than half a day passed before he slowly regained consciousness. His face was deathly pale, and the memory of that single strike still made his body tremble. Even those who dared temper their bodies with lightning were already exceedingly rare in the world. As for someone like him, who used lightning to temper the soul itself... no, what ”someone”? There had likely never been anyone to attempt such madness.

Yet beneath his lingering fear, excitement burned in his eyes. ”It works. It really works! The lightning was just too powerful this time. If I can weaken it by half or so, my subsidiary soul should be able to withstand it.”

Because the Primordial Unity Cauldron was his life-bound enchanted treasure, he could exercise some control over the power of the lightning it released. All he needed was time to test the limits and gradually refine his control. Even if he made a mistake and destroyed the subsidiary soul, the loss would not be irreparable. Now that he understood Soul Split more clearly and could refine Great Soul Pills, he could create another as long as his main soul remained unharmed.

If he managed to master this way of tempering, his accomplishments in soul refinement would eventually surpass even Han Zhan’s, and what had once been a weakness could become one of his greatest strengths. With a sufficiently powerful divine soul, he could then begin studying techniques for divine soul offense and defense.

The possibilities brought a smile to his face. ”The future is truly bright!”

He sent his cauldron back to his Purple Mansion and forced himself to calm down. No matter how promising the path appeared, he could only advance one step at a time. Since his subsidiary soul had been injured, he would need to consume another Great Soul Pill to replenish it.

***

One day, Luo Chen sat alone in his cave residence with the Go board carved from a Demon King’s leg bone lying on the table before him. A simple game, right down to the very last move, remained unfinished on its surface, but he paid it no attention. His focus rested entirely on the jade scroll in his hands.

He had spent some time studying the Azure Parting Puppet Art Shen Wandou gave him. Despite its ancient origins, its principles differed little from those found in modern puppet arts. After all, puppetry had always been a niche discipline, so its foundations had changed little over the ages. Coupled with the occasional guidance Han Zhan had given him over the past century, Luo Chen had managed to pick it up quickly.

In all fairness, he had little to almost no interest in crafting puppets. In his view, puppet construction was simply a more elaborate form of artifact creation. The only real difference was that instead of making swords, spears, sabers, and other enchanted items, the artisan assembled a far more intricate item. What truly interested him was how such a creation could be controlled.

In that respect, the Azure Parting Puppet Art was remarkably comprehensive. A skilled puppet master required both a powerful divine soul and the ability to divide their attention, particularly when commanding high-tier puppets that possessed souls of their own. The art divided the path of control into four stages. The crudest technique relied on physical strings and was hardly worth considering, while guiding a puppet with spirit power marked only the threshold of the art. And once the puppet master learned to weave divine consciousness into threads, their control would be much more precise, and the puppet would move as naturally as an extension of the body. At last, the final stage involved planting soul seals, through which a puppet master could achieve countless subtle and profound effects.

Luo Chen lowered the jade scroll with admiration shining in his eyes. ”This art covers everything from controlling puppets to creating soul seals. Shen Wandou really has no idea what a remarkable thing he gave me.”

After his brief sigh of admiration, he fell into deep thought once more. Could a soul seal subdue the White Tiger puppet? If it can, then I’ll have a late-stage Sage under my command. Could it penetrate the Godslayer Blood Sword and force the spirit to acknowledge me as its master?

He had no way to answer either question with confidence. His life-bound enchanted treasure was still a little beyond his level, but it obeyed him as naturally as his own limbs. The White Tiger puppet and the blood sword, however, shared no such bond with him. Both contained terrifying power, and the slightest mistake during the refinement process could cause that power to turn against him.

While he was racking his brains over the matter, he sensed Heavenjade waiting outside. ”Come in.”

Heavenjade answered from outside the cave residence, then stepped inside and flicked her sleeve. ”Master, Black King is back.”

A flood dragon tumbled out and struck the floor in a coiled heap. His scales were split, his flesh was torn open in several places, and clusters of blue flame still clung to his wounds.

Luo Chen’s eyebrow arched. ”Black King, what happened to you?”

”I ran into an old enemy,” Black King replied bitterly. ”The injuries aren’t serious, but these flames are troublesome. I’ll need your help with them, Master.”

Looking at the blue flames, Luo Chen felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity. When he considered it alongside Black King’s mention of an old enemy, a particular figure immediately came to mind.

The next moment, his gaze sharpened and pierced straight through the cave residence. ”Seems like you’ve brought a certain someone back with you.”

Black King froze. ”Master, how did you know who... Wait, that bastard followed me here?!”

He whipped around abruptly and flicked out his forked tongue as a vicious glint entered his eyes.

Luo Chen waved him down and stood up. ”Easy now. It’s just an old friend. Stay here and rest. I’ll go meet him.”