An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Chapter 1127: Primordial Slaughter’s Might; The Transformation of the Withering-Flourishing True Fire; The Ice Pole Sect (II)

One of the Sages stared at the sky in awe. ”Just what kind of True Artifact can draw in so much spirit energy the moment it’s activated?”

”The blood aura rose straight into the sky and formed a sea of blood clouds. They may have turned into fire clouds afterward, but that was clearly a Blood Path enchanted treasure.”

Zhou Yunshen was also among the crowd, and his expression shifted slightly. He drew a deep breath and said, ”I’ve seen something like this before. When Blood Hermit revealed the True Artifact he had spent centuries refining, it caused a very similar phenomenon.”

Everyone turned toward him in shock.

”Fellow Daoist Zhou, are you talking about the Divine Fortified Blood Blade?”

Zhou Yunshen nodded.

That acknowledgement only deepened their shock. The amount of ambient spirit energy a True Artifact could mobilize depended not only on its inherent quality but also on its wielder’s cultivation and the time spent refining it. Blood Hermit’s Divine Fortified Blood Blade had earned its terrifying reputation over several centuries, and no one knew how many souls had perished beneath its edge. Luo Chen, by contrast, had only recently entered the Nascent Soul Realm. Yet the True Artifact he was refining already displayed power comparable to such a legendary treasure.

Fu Chaosheng had joined the gathering that day. As the others discussed the phenomenon, he stroked his beard with satisfaction. The sword’s nature did not trouble him. A weapon’s origin did not define its wielder, and as long as Luo Chen did not indulge in indiscriminate slaughter like Blood Hermit, there was nothing improper about its use. What mattered was how much more powerful this blade made Luo Chen. The stronger he was, the better his ability to protect Fu Qinglan during the upcoming grand competition.

Fu Chaosheng’s satisfaction soon turned into pride. He never stops surprising me. It seems age hasn’t dulled my judgment after all. I knew at a glance that there was something special about him!

***

Inside the cultivation chamber on the fifth floor of Giant Dawn Palace, a sword three chi and seven cun long circled around the white-robed Daoist like a fish swimming in water. It swept above his head, darted past either shoulder, and shifted direction as though it were alive. When Luo Chen beckoned, Primordial Slaughter immediately returned to hover before him.

After months of refinement, the soul imprint had settled deep within it, while Luo Chen’s mana and divine consciousness had gradually established a connection with the sword and, through it, with the surrounding spirit energy. Only now was the sword beginning to reveal its true might. It was, without question, the sharpest treasure Luo Chen had ever wielded. Even with the final seal intact, its power already rivaled the Divine Fortified Blood Blade he had encountered at Withered Wood Ridge.

That explained how Blood Nightmare had shattered both the Sevenfold Skyblaze Ring and the Profound Dust Armor with a single strike, even injuring Luo Chen’s fourth-tier Archaic Beast True Form. At the time, the man had drawn out only a fraction of the sword’s power.

Luo Chen licked his lips as desire stirred within him. If he broke the final seal and claimed complete control of the sword, his combat strength would undoubtedly rise to an entirely different level.

In the end, however, he suppressed his greed. Grand Elder Blood Sea had been extremely powerful, yet this very sword had still brought about his death. Although that dark world had also played a part, that did not make the blade itself any less dangerous.

He was fortunate enough to command as much of its power as he did. If he recklessly broke the final seal and whatever emerged proved too powerful for either him or the cauldron to handle, the consequences could be disastrous.

This is enough for now. There is no need to risk everything.

He drew a deep breath and closed his hand around the hilt. Flesh flowed from his palm and slowly enveloped the blade until the entire sword sank into his right hand.

He had no intention of storing the sword within his Purple Mansion. Unlike the Primordial Unity Cauldron and the Profound Dust Armor, which he had personally crafted and understood completely, the sword’s origins remained a mystery. If it ran out of control inside his Purple Mansion, the damage could threaten his Nascent Soul directly. Keeping it within his arm was safer, and more than that, he could summon it at the first sign of danger.

With that out of the way, Luo Chen had some time to kill. He gestured for the several voice transmission talismans to come into the chamber. As soon as his mana touched them, they flared up and released invitations from the other Sages aboard the ship.

Luo Chen dismissed them outright. Those cultivators were already advanced in years, and sacrificing a few months of cultivation meant little to them. He, however, had no such luxury to waste. Every day mattered, and he would rather devote it to pursuits that could genuinely increase his strength.

His attention soon returned to his cultivation.

Since forming his Nascent Soul, he had taken very few pills aside from the Great Soul Pill. He had already reached Beginner proficiency in the Grand Origin Pill and could make it whenever he wished, yet he had rarely used it to assist his cultivation. Pill toxins were not the reason for his restraint; his Purple Mansion had evolved from five spirit roots and was so big it looked like a small world when seen by divine consciousness. Its barrier was far too thick and stable for mere pill toxins to eat through.

What troubled him was medicinal tolerance. If he kept taking pills of the same quality, the effect would slowly become weaker, and he had no wish to waste time on inferior pills. Now that he possessed sufficient wealth and resources, he could afford to wait for better ones. Therefore, he planned to first raise his proficiency with the Grand Origin Pill, then refine large quantities of middle-grade and even top-grade pills.

When Luo Chen next met Fu Chaosheng, the elder delivered the second shipment of materials he had gathered for him. It was three times larger than the first and cost ninety million low-grade spirit stones, with more than half of the shipment consisting of ingredients for the Grand Origin Pill. Heavenjade, Sang Jinghe, and Zhang Jingqing began processing them as soon as they arrived, while Fu Hongzhang assigned several additional hands to help.

Thus, by the time Luo Chen completed his refinement of the sword, most of the preliminary work was already finished. With no other pressing matters demanding his attention, Luo Chen could finally devote himself to improving his proficiency with the Grand Origin Pill.

Hooooo...

He exhaled slowly and summoned the Primordial Unity Cauldron. It spun through the air before settling in front of him, then expanded to the proper size at his command.

Once the cauldron was ready, he raised a finger and summoned a strand of azure-golden flame. As he studied it, he noticed that the golden radiance had grown far more pronounced than before.

The Withering-Flourishing True Fire had shown signs of evolving ever since it absorbed Netherfire’s true fire at Duskmist Court. Unlike the transformation it underwent in Blazing Purgatory, this change had progressed so subtly that Luo Chen barely noticed it. After several months, however, the difference in its color had become unmistakable.

The flame had originally been a pure bluish green in color. Flecks of gold appeared only after it absorbed the Nirvana Sacred Fire, but the two colors had remained clearly separate. Now the golden hue was steadily expanding through the azure flame.

Is it evolving into the Nirvana Sacred Fire?

Even though Luo Chen had nurtured the flame within his body for many decades, he could not determine the extent of its transformation through observation alone. Unfortunately, he had not fought anyone recently, so he’d had no way of testing its current power in battle.

I’ll use alchemy to explore the changes little by little!

With that in mind, he fed one medicinal ingredient after another into the cauldron.

***

As the ship approached Sun-Moon Island, the passengers began to grow more excited. Like Divine Origin City, the island belonged entirely to the Heaven Origin Trade Alliance. Once they reached it, some of them would be only a single teleportation away from the Central Continent.

Of course, the landscape along the way was becoming more and more desolate. Human settlements became increasingly rare, while demonic beasts roamed openly through waters that had once belonged to human cultivators. Clearly, the war between humans and demons in the Northern Sea was spreading ever farther. Even clans that had remained neutral were being swept up in the rising tide and joining the campaign against humanity.

In their eyes, they were merely reclaiming what had always belonged to them. After all, the Mountains and Seas Realm had belonged to the archaic beasts since ancient times. As their descendants, they believed every island in the Northern Sea, regardless of size, was theirs to reclaim.

During another gathering of Sages aboard the ship, Fu Chaosheng explained the final stretch of their journey. ”Once we cross the Blue Ice Sea, which belongs to the Ice Pole Sect, there won’t be anything else blocking our route. From there, we can sail straight to Sun-Moon Island.”

The Blue Ice Sea was unlike any other region in the Northern Sea. Beneath an unbroken sheet of ice lay a fourth-tier spirit vein. The Ice Pole Sect had established itself upon that spirit land and gradually risen to become one of the foremost upper sects in the region.

The moment Fu Chaosheng mentioned the sect, the other Sages became interested.

”The Ice Pole Sect is one of the strongest upper sects in the Northern Sea. Somehow, they even managed to stay out of the war between the righteous and devilish factions.”

”Yeah. After all, they have the strength to do it. All five of their Sages are famous in their own right. I once met Blue Jade, and his presence alone was enough to set him apart from most cultivators of this age.”

”Come to think of it, aside from their power, the fact that they could stay uninvolved also has to do with their relationship with the Blue Sea Alliance. I heard their supreme elder, Frostpole, once traveled with Ascendant Li before he reached the Divine Transformation Realm.”

”That isn’t just a rumor. The Ice Pole Sect was the first power outside the Blue Sea Alliance to openly use its island-linking formation.”

”Since we’ll be passing nearby, should we stop and pay them a visit?”

”Forget it. The Ice Pole Sect has never welcomed outsiders. They even turned down the devil sect when it tried to recruit them.”

”They rejected a Holy Land? How could they afford to do that?”

”Well, there is a reason. When the Mountains and Seas Realm was first established, many sects helped with the effort. The Holy Lands took part, but so did a number of upper sects, including the Ice Pole Sect. The covenant made at the time forbids the Holy Lands from using force against any sect that contributed. The Ice Pole Sect isn’t the only one protected by that agreement, either. There are several others scattered across the Five Territories.”

Fu Chaosheng was the one who had provided the last clarification. His explanation also revealed why the Ice Pole Sect held such a transcendent position among the various upper powers.

Before the conversation could continue, every Sage in the hall sensed a disturbance ahead. Their expressions changed almost simultaneously, and they rushed from the hall and extended their divine consciousness toward the frozen blue sea in the distance. And what they discovered left them horrified.

”The demon army is attacking even the Ice Pole Sect?!”

”Look at the size of that army! There are demonic beasts everywhere!”

”That... That’s the Ghost Immortal Tower!”