An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Amid the gentle breeze and white clouds, two figures flew by.

As they traveled, Fu Qinglan explained to Luo Chen about the structure of Heaven-Earth Peak.

As a treasure land blessed with a fifth-tier spirit vein, Heaven-Earth Peak was exceptionally rich in spirit energy. However, waste prevention was still necessary, so the cave residences here were reserved for Sages and Ascendants. Adepts occasionally came and went but solely with the purpose of serving the residents. In the cases of cultivators from other continents who joined the Star Gate with people in tow, their followers were assigned to other locations.

If one stayed at Heaven-Earth Peak for long enough, Initiates would be absent from their life, and every conversation one had would be with a Sage!

The backgrounds of the Sages on the mountain were rather mixed. While outlanders certainly made up the majority, there were also Sages from major families who would leave their families and move to Heaven-Earth Peak in their later years. The fourteen Heaven-Earth Peak Elders sent here by the Twelve Great Houses and the Thirty-Six Noble Houses were prime examples of this.

After telling Luo Chen all this, Fu Qinglan concluded with a sigh, ”This mountain alone holds nearly half the quintessence of the Central Continent!”

Luo Chen did not dispute this. Perhaps the mountain seemed dismal and lifeless to outsiders, but the inhabitants here were indeed all great experts.

Yet as he carefully pondered this, alongside what Fu Chaosheng had told him, he was struck by an unsettling thought. Does this spirit mountain sustain those Sages, or are the Sages giving back to the mountain as they near the end of their days?

He had no desire to delve deeper into the matter, however. His footsteps came to a halt before Cave Residence Jia Seventy-Eight. Taking out the guest elder jade token he had received earlier, he activated it with his mana. Instantly, the white clouds parted, revealing a glimpse of a mountain peak within the mist.

Luo Chen chuckled softly. ”Quite a nice secluded spot.”

Fu Qinglan, however, furrowed her brow slightly. ”The concentration of spirit energy here seems a bit low?”

Luo Chen strode inside with a smile on his face, seemingly quite satisfied. He knew that she might deem him a bumpkin if he just settled for this kind of ordinary fourth-tier spirit vein, but he was well aware of his situation. He was merely a passing traveler in the Central Continent; even the title of Star Gate Guest Elder was nothing more than a veneer of prestige, another bullet point in his resume.

As long as it didn’t affect the important part, what difference did it make whether this veneer came from being a genuine guest elder or a temporary one? As for the concentration of spirit energy, it made little difference when he was only going to stay here a year or two.

***

Cave Residence Jia Seventy-Eight had been uninhabited for many years, but it wasn’t covered in dust and cobwebs. The formation running all year round kept the residence clean and fresh.

As Luo Chen walked around, he felt quite content. There was just one shortcoming: He had no one at his side to assist him because Heavenjade, Jinghe, and the others had remained at the Fu family’s estate. It seemed he would have to handle many matters in person.

Seeing that Luo Chen showed no dissatisfaction, Fu Qinglan also made no further comments. Once he was done checking the place, she retrieved several jade scrolls from her storage pouch and handed them to him.

Luo Chen took the slips. As he flipped through them, he casually asked, ”These are?”

”My grandfather said they’re things you need and asked me to bring them to you since he can’t do it in person. He rarely has a chance to make a trip to Woodrot Mountain, so he’s paying his old fellow disciples a visit.”

These jade scrolls were indeed what Luo Chen needed. Five of them were fire-element techniques: two fourth-tier and three third-tier. Another scroll contained intelligence on the Eastern Wilderness that he had specifically requested in private.

Finally, Fu Qinglan hesitated briefly before pulling a small booklet from her bosom. ”This is everything we’ve gathered so far on the newly advanced Sages who will take part in the Mirage Dragon Grand Competition, along with information on their Dao Protectors. It’s not complete yet, but I think it will be a great help to us.”

Luo Chen glanced at the booklet and casually stowed it in his storage pouch. Seeing this, Fu Qinglan pursed her rosy lips. So nonchalant? Is he so confident that he doesn’t care about the competitors, or does he simply not care about this competition at all?

She had originally wanted to have a proper discussion with him about the other contestants, but instead, she found herself saying, ”Senior Brother Luo, I heard that you only advanced to the Nascent Soul Realm recently, yet your mana is beyond incredible. I’d like to see it for myself. Can I?”

Luo Chen looked up at her in surprise. ”Didn’t you all say no fighting until after we enter the Mirage Dragon Pocket World?”

Fu Qinglan persisted, ”Just a quick demonstration. Surely it won’t cause any harm.”

Luo Chen smiled. ”In that case, I have no problem.”

As soon as the answer left his mouth, the air began to stir. A surge of unparalleled, domineering mana radiated from him and linked itself to the ambient spirit energy. His Nascent Soul Domain instantly took shape. It was as if a volcano had erupted!

Fu Qinglan’s face was deathly pale. She wanted to launch her own Nascent Soul Domain, but under his suppression, even the basic step of connecting with the ambient spirit energy was a struggle.

Is the gap between us really this big? She was unable to believe it, from the bottom of her heart.

***

In the year 3505 of the Mountains and Seas Realm Calendar, a tide of beasts poured out from the Great Million Mountains and charged toward the human territory. The thirty-six powers of the Eastern Wilderness took a heavy hit...

In the year 3531 of the Mountains and Seas Realm Calendar, the Neither Origin Sect, the Holy Land of the Eastern Wilderness, rallied elite cultivators from major sects and launched a counterattack on the demons, reclaiming a large area of lost territory.

Ancient Demon Sky Monarch made frequent appearances throughout the war. Though he did not fight personally, he exerted such immense pressure on the human Sages that the front lines repeatedly fell.

The back-and-forth raged for a hundred years on end. Forty percent of the Eastern Wilderness’s cultivation world was reduced to scorched land.

In the year 3566 of the Mountains and Seas Realm Calendar, the three grand palaces of Green Parasol Mountain, the long-vanished Holy Land of the avian races, resurfaced. Demon Emperor Azure Frost single-handedly charged into the heart of human territory, seeking to settle past scores by annihilating the Heaven Apex Chan Sect and razing the Silktree Sect. Since the Supreme Elders of both sects had perished in the Great Million Mountains decades earlier, no one could stop her. The two upper sects were quickly destroyed.

The Neither Origin Sect was enraged. They took matters into their own hands and dispatched a large number of disciples with the goal to slaughter demon beasts and launch a counterattack on the Great Million Mountains. The army was led by Lightning Dao Scion Zhang Che, who displayed exquisite prowess in the dao of lightning. He is rumored to have inherited the legacy of Ascendant Bai Ye and has great chances of reaching the Divine Transformation Realm...

Inside his cave residence, Luo Chen slowly withdrew his divine consciousness from the jade scroll with a complicated look on his face. In just a mere hundred years, the Eastern Wilderness had been reduced to a wasteland. Despite having prepared himself mentally, seeing the actual report still shook him to the core.

Under such circumstances, could the humble Luo Tian Sect still exist? He didn’t know, but deep down, he already could not wait to go back there and see for himself.

Taking a deep breath, he used the Fine Dust Primordial Art, and his turbulent emotions calmed considerably.

As he carefully reviewed the report, something stood out. The return of Green Parasol Mountain was roughly forty years ago. At the time, he had just arrived at the Dragon Abyss Island in the Demon Sea and reached the ninth stage of the Golden Core Realm, while in the outside world, the seal on the Heaven of Northern Yama had been broken and allowed many demons to escape. These events seemed completely unrelated, but if placed alongside the timing of the restoration of that teleportation formation in the Heaventrust Sea Region, which connected the Eastern Wilderness and the Northern Sea... the coincidence was starting to look strange.

Since Green Parasol Mountain dared to reemerge before the world, it definitely had something to rely on. Azure Frost must have dared to storm into the heartland of the human race for the same reason. Their biggest backing could only be a certain Ancient Demon: Sovereign Lord Rosycloud!

Where was Rosycloud before this? Could she have been at the Primordial Devil Sect, right in the Heaven of Northern Yama? As this wild speculation occurred to him, Luo Chen swallowed hard.

”Forget it. These things are still too far removed from me. Let’s deal with the matters at hand first!”

He shook his head. He refused—and dared not—to think about those colossal figures standing at the pinnacle of the world. Instead, he poured his attention on his own cultivation. He firmly believed that many of the issues that troubled him now would be easily resolved once he grew strong enough.

The concentration of spirit energy in Cave Residence Jia Seventy-Eight was average. It was far thinner than in the Fu family’s Kinghouse Mountain and the abyss on Dragon Abyss Island, and barely on par with that of Little Jade Mountain in Divine Origin City. Given this unfortunate reality, there was no need to rush into intensive secluded cultivation.

His collection of techniques had just expanded with the five new fire-element techniques from Fu Qinglan. This was the perfect opportunity to study them and tailor a cultivation technique for his own use at the Nascent Soul Realm!

Without hesitation, Luo Chen took out the first scroll: The Eastern Stem Firebreak Scripture.

***

The way of cultivation was nothing more than refining qi and regulating breath. Based on the structure of the human body and the changes of nature, the discussion further expanded into concepts such as Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, the Twelve Heavenly Stems, the Four Symbols, the Eight Trigrams, and so on. Most cultivators did not fully grasp their intricacies, but Luo Chen also practiced formation arts, so it was not that difficult for him.

From what he could see, the Eastern Stem Firebreak Scripture was a relatively sophisticated fourth-tier technique. Unlike ordinary fire-element techniques that harvested all spirit energy, this one focused on selecting only the most refined essence of fire-attribute spirit energy.

Of course, this selective method was of little value to Luo Chen. The Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture was the root of all fire arts and the embodiment of a majestic, broad path—commanding all flames under heaven. An overbearing art like this had no need to be limited to such a narrow approach. However, certain details regarding meridian adjustment in the Eastern Stem Firebreak Scripture were worth studying and adopting. Luo Chen hadn’t done much to develop the Fire Spirit Body since he acquired it, and this scripture gave him some unconventional ideas on how to go about that.

Next, he moved on to another fourth-tier fire-element technique: The Purple Yang Divine Art.

This one had strict requirements regarding both time and location. Luo Chen had a habit of practicing cultivation late at night, whereas the Purple Yang Divine Art was best practiced at dawn. The purpose was to absorb the very first wisp of Solar True Fire from the sun when the first rays of light broke across the horizon. This was when the essence of Solar True Fire was at its purest yet weakest state, making it ideal for a Sage to refine. Mastering this technique would greatly enhance the power of the Nascent Soul True Fire and give it a restraining effect on impure and evil entities....

Not long after, Luo Chen sat upright atop an old parasol tree. A pitch-black abyss stretched beneath him, and a ghostly wind blew. His eyes shone brightly as he gazed into the dark night sky.

When dawn finally broke and a faint streak of pale white peeked through the horizon, his mana began to circulate naturally. Its rhythm rose and fell with each breath he took, as if in harmony with heaven and earth.

Then, a sphere resembling an egg yolk appeared in his vision—the morning sun had appeared on the horizon. That very moment, Luo Chen synchronized his breathing with it. As the sun continued to rise, great amounts of faint yet pure fire-attribute spirit energy began to converge on him.

”So that’s how it is...”

When Luo Chen concluded this cultivation session of the Purple Yang Divine Art, a new realization dawned upon him. The Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture focused on increasing the quantity of mana; the Eastern Stem Firebreak Scripture was about internal adjustments that made the flow of mana smoother; meanwhile, the Purple Yang Divine Art emphasized the quality of mana. Through long-term cultivation, his mana had become extremely pure; thus, as he practiced this technique, his Nascent Soul True Fire was acquiring some characteristics of the Solar True Fire.

Finally, the Blazing Radiance True Scripture he had previously studied offered a unique approach to the acupoints and the Purple Mansion.

”If I use the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture as the base and build upon it with the strong points of these three techniques, maybe I will be able to continue my all-around cultivation along the path of fire arts?”

Luo Chen’s eyes sparkled, and his heart brimmed with ambition. He had every reason to be confident. The Fire Spirit Body provided him with the foundation to practice multiple fire-element techniques simultaneously. The proficiency function of the status panel allowed him to research, fuse, and even create techniques, thereby raising his limits. The only condition was that he got the balance right.

Suddenly, he was struck by a thought, and he turned his divine consciousness inward, looking at the Withering-Flourishing True Fire in his Purple Mansion. The flame had been slowly dying before, but the rate had accelerated, seemingly due to his days of cultivation.

After absorbing the Withering Origin Fire Essence, the Withering-Flourishing True Fire had nearly died. Luo Chen had not been exaggerating when he had informed Fu Chaosheng about this; it was a fact. Logically, this made no sense, but Luo Chen had deduced the reason behind the phenomenon. The Withering-Flourishing True Fire was not solely defined by its vibrant flourishing aspect; it also possessed a desolate side of decay!

The fire had only grown and flourished steadily under Luo Chen’s spurring, but such growth actually had limits—limits that couldn’t be overcome even after it was fused with a wisp of Nirvana Sacred Fire. Yet it appeared that, after absorbing the seemingly ordinary fourth-tier Netherfire at Duskmist Court, the Withering-Flourishing True Fire had found its direction. Guided by the Withering Origin Fire Essence, it had resolved, with its limited sentience, to follow the path down from the peak into inevitable decline; from withering to flourishing and back!

That was undoubtedly the true nature of the Withering-Flourishing True Fire. Luo Chen believed that, as long as it completed a full cycle of rising to the peak and then declining, like its name implied, the Withering-Flourishing True Fire might undergo a metamorphosis.

From nothingness to existence, all the way to the fourth tier, then withering into stillness and thus returning to nothingness. And when it reignited...

”It’s happening so much faster than I anticipated, though. What’s the reason?” Luo Chen was dubious. He had expected this process to last at least several years, maybe even more than a decade, but it hadn’t even been a year yet.

”Maybe it’s because I’ve been practicing other fire-element techniques?”

Luo Chen had always prided himself on his broad knowledge and experience, yet at this moment, he was at a complete loss. Still, the accelerated withering of the Withering-Flourishing True Fire gave him some inspiration.

”The cycle of withering and flourishing inherently embodies the concept of nirvana. If I were to incorporate this transformation into my technique, wouldn’t it perfectly align with the principles of the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture?”

The moment he thought of this, Luo Chen immediately started itching to put that thought into action. He had previously used fire to temper his body, so the idea of using fire to refine his qi didn’t seem all that unreasonable, did it?

As Luo Chen sank into contemplation, the mana inside him began to circulate on its own. The spirit energy around him was drawn into this cycle, and he breathed it in and out without even being aware. He stood there, surrounded by gentle breezes and white clouds, oblivious to wind and rain, thunder and lightning... and even the visit of Fu Chaosheng and his granddaughter.

In cultivation terms, he was experiencing sudden enlightenment!

In a quiet and isolated cave residence on Heaven-Earth Peak, a delicate woman opened her eyes in confusion. With a single thought, she instantly pinpointed the source of the disturbance. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the young man sitting cross-legged on top of a tree. His aura was constantly shifting.

After scrutinizing him for a long while, she returned to her senses.

”Dongfang Bai’s concerns truly are reasonable. When such a genius enters the Star Gate, it will harm the interests of the prodigies of the Central Continent. And that is happening right now. When my Primal Soul resonates with nature and draws in spirit energy, part of it aids my ascension, while the other part is absorbed by these lands, something the Heaven Origin Dao Sect is happy to see. Who would have expected an outsider to benefit from it? Well, if that’s how things are, then let me give you a hand!”

As she muttered to herself, her Primal Soul spread and took control over the spirit energy that would have assimilated into the Central Continent. She extracted a portion and directed it toward the young man. Simultaneously, a faint stream of mana drifted out from her fingertip toward him and concealed that area. This way, on the massive Heaven-Earth Peak, not a single cultivator except her noticed the unusual phenomenon surrounding the young man.

When she was done, her face was filled with complex emotions. ”As a fellow alchemist, I hope you remain unbound by shackles and walk the immortal path in freedom.”

The whole thing happened in secret. No one else knew; no one else noticed. Even the main character himself never had the slightest inkling.