An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

This spell was responsible for the changes in Luo Chen’s appearance. On a normal basis, it restricted the majority of his mana and kept him in a state of semi-cultivation even when he was not actively operating his techniques.

In battle, the restriction would be deactivated; this would not only return him to his peak state but also temporarily grant him even more mana. The longer the Withering-Flourishing Divine Restriction remained active, the stronger his power burst would be upon release.

This spell had obvious advantages, but it also had a huge and obvious drawback. After all, no Sage would willingly maintain a semi-weakened state. The consequences would be unimaginable if one didn’t have enough time to deactivate the seal in a surprise encounter with an enemy.

However, this drawback had a negligible effect on Luo Chen, who not only had a monstrous amount of mana but also stood at an even higher physique refinement realm! No other kind of counterattacks could possibly be faster than his body’s instinctive reactions.

Even better, the benefits from that half-year of enlightenment seemed to extend beyond all this.

Huh? How did my cultivation rise so fast?

The status panel showed that his advancement through the first stage had reached 90, and he was very close to the second stage of the Nascent Soul Realm. Luo Chen stared at it in astonishment. He did not recall dividing his attention to practicing cultivation during the enlightenment at all. Most of that time had been spent on creating a new cultivation technique for himself.

Luo Chen was then reminded of the time when he grasped the method for forming the Nascent Soul while in the Golden Core Realm and attracted an influx of ambient spirit energy. ”Don’t tell me that state happened again?”

Since both times were sudden enlightenments, maybe...

”No, that shouldn’t be it. I didn’t draw in a big surge of ambient spirit energy this time. The spirit energy entered my body, but it did that in a slow and steady way.”

Luo Chen couldn’t quite figure out how external spirit energy could actively enter his body when he had not been using any cultivation technique. After he pondered for what seemed like half a day and still had no answer, there was no choice but to let it go. Or rather, he had already grown accustomed to the experience.

Such was the path of cultivation. Limited by their cultivation realm, people oftentimes only knew what happened but not why it happened. It was only after reaching a higher realm and looking back that they had an epiphany regarding the reason behind it.

At that point, their insights would inspire them to write books from a higher point of view, to establish a heritage, and create cultivation techniques for future practitioners. If future practitioners followed these techniques step by step even without fully understanding them, they would still reach the heights of their predecessors eventually. On a broader scale, this was the concept of legacy!

Once Luo Chen accepted his situation, he quickly decided on his next plan, which was... not to cultivate!

His cultivation had risen too quickly. Even though his foundation looked solid, he still felt uneasy. Besides, he reckoned that his new cultivation technique could use some fine-tuning. Therefore, it was best to focus first on stabilization rather than progress.

***

With no urgency to cultivate, Luo Chen’s days became much more leisurely.

During this time, he had a meeting with Fu Chaosheng and Fu Qinglan and explained that his strength hadn’t been affected. They didn’t believe him at first, so Luo Chen gave a brief demonstration using his signature spell, Azure Yang Great Handprint. It was just as powerful as before and barely managed to put their minds at ease.

Luo Chen wasn’t in a hurry to prove himself. No matter what, he was confident in his own abilities.

He spent part of his newfound free time on adjusting his cultivation technique and devoted the rest to alchemy. Whether it was in the Grand Origin Pill or the Great Soul Pill, his proficiency had stagnated at the Perfection level. The reason had nothing to do with Luo Chen’s alchemical skills; it was purely due to a shortage of medicinal ingredients.

Thankfully, Fu Chaosheng actually provided him with a large quantity of ingredients, so Luo Chen was able to fire up his cauldron once more and continue to improve.

He had set up a perfect schedule. By the time he raised his proficiency in these pills to the Grandmaster level, his cultivation base would have been more or less solidified. He would then resume cultivating with the support of top-grade Grand Origin Pills and Great Soul Pills, and his cultivation would soar again. Everything would be proceeding in an orderly fashion, the very definition of a pleasant and easy life!

Fu Qinglan, perhaps concerned about Luo Chen’s well-being, began visiting Cave Residence Jia Seventy-Eight more frequently while he refined pills in seclusion. Her visits also lasted longer each time, and their interactions gradually went from awkward to familiar.

Luo Chen didn’t resist this dynamic. He knew that the Heaven Origin Dao Sect’s grand competition, particularly this one that was only held once every five hundred years, was by no means a walk through the park. While no cultivators had ever fallen into the Mirage Dragon Pocket World according to historical records, the trust between a contestant and their Dao Protector was crucial to a bountiful harvest.

Thus, Luo Chen was using this opportunity to improve rapport with Fu Qinglan, and the medium of choice was... the game of Go!

***

Inside a cave residence, a man struggled to make a move on a Go board, while the woman opposite him looked calm and composed.

”I’ll bump!”

”I’ll push! Hold on, you need to stand your ground here. How else will you kill your way in?”

”You’ve pushed me against the wall. I’m surrounded on all sides, it’s an ambush everywhere I look.”

”Then use the bridging tactic I taught you. The Spring Mountain Hall Go Collection also details seven solutions for this exact situation.”

”I remember it all perfectly well, but you’ve already prepared a follow-up move here, am I right?”

”Okay, you’ve seen right through me.” The woman smiled faintly. As she made her move, As she made her move, her seemingly scattered pieces on the board instantly turned into a dragon-slaying army.[2]

Luo Chen resigned to his fate. He set down the Go stone between his fingers and conceded defeat with grace.

While the woman before him lacked the bearing of a Sage in her social interactions, he had come to realize that it was merely due to her lack of experience. In the art of Go, she exuded pure confidence; she was ruthless and decisive in dictating the fate of her opponents. If she could channel that attitude into her real-life conduct, she would evolve from an armchair strategist to a true-blue warrior.

Fu Qinglan counted the Go stones as she tried to ask as casually as possible, ”So, Senior Brother, have you looked into our twelve opponents?”

Luo Chen revealed a slight smile and said confidently, ”I’ve read and analyzed the report on them.

”Lin Bufan’s Dao Protector is a servant of the Lin family named Lin Jingtang. He spends his years traveling outside the Central Continent, and he has not yet been initiated into the Heaven Origin Dao Sect. He formed his Nascent Soul at the age of 478. His cultivation talent is average, but his combat prowess is outstanding. He has a True Artifact called the Bell of Terror...

”Yu Xu’s Dao Protector is the leader of the Heavengazer Sect, which used to be a great sect in the Southern Frontier but has since declined. He goes by the title Heavengazer. He has only been a Sage for a short time, so theoretically, he shouldn’t be a threat. But since he was able to reach the Nascent Soul Realm in a place like the Southern Frontier, he must possess unique abilities; in particular, we must take into account the possibility that he has expertise in Gu insects.

”Gu Yuan, descendant of a Great House...” Luo Chen paused in reminiscence as the name reminded him of a certain place.[1]

Fu Qinglan waited in anticipation.

With a chuckle, Luo Chen leisurely continued, ”His Dao Protector is Mou Jianxiong, and the Mou family is one of the Thirty-Six Noble Houses. This man should not be underestimated. Although he comes from a Noble House, he has been raised under the tutelage of the Gu family since childhood. Still, he specializes in water-element techniques, so I’m pretty sure I can exploit the antagonism between water and fire to gain the upper hand over him.

”As for the Dao Protector of the contestant from the Shi family, the intelligence is a bit vague...”

Luo Chen spoke methodically, with extraordinary confidence in his words.

As Fu Qinglan listened, her heart relaxed. He isn’t like what I’ve thought. As indifferent as he appears, he has actually memorized everyone’s information very thoroughly.

Finally, Luo Chen concluded, ”Of course, this is all just on paper. I need to be able to observe them directly if I want to have a more detailed analysis of their specific abilities. If I could see these people in person or recordings of them in action, I’d have more certainty.”

Fu Qinglan nodded in approval. ”You’re absolutely right. After all, they could have deliberately leaked false intelligence to mislead others.”

Unexpectedly, she then said, ”As it happens, there’s an opportunity to check them out right now.”

”Oh?” Luo Chen raised a brow with interest.

Since arriving in the Central Continent, he hadn’t had much interaction with the Sages here. Even when it came to the other outlander elders on Heaven-Earth Peak, he hadn’t connected with anyone else aside from that late-stage Nascent Soul elder. He wouldn’t mind the chance to get to know more Sages.

”Go Master Daoyin has challenged Go Saint Ke Lianshan to a match and it’s going to be held at the Peach Garden tomorrow. The event is open to all and will certainly draw crowds from everywhere and gather the most talented cultivators. Why don’t you come with me? It can be our chance to take a proper look at our opponents.”

Peach Garden was the personal cultivation ground of Go Saint Ke Lianshan. If someone was crowned as Saint, they had definitely reached the very pinnacle of a field—Saint Alchemist Chu Yan was the perfect example. Moreover, the Go Saint was also a late-stage Sage! Luo Chen was much more interested in this reputed figure than in those opponents.

If he were to be honest... he had found it rather difficult to adjust after arriving at the Central Continent. Sages were a rare sight in the Eastern Wilderness and the Northern Sea, but here, they seemed to be everywhere. Just by being outside, one might spot a Sage when they look up or down. This reality had obliterated the feeling of pride Luo Chen had for reaching the Nascent Soul Realm with painstaking efforts.

Of course, he knew that wasn’t the norm. In the end, the Central Continent was a place where the elites of the Mountains and Seas Realm gathered. It was also the only territory untouched by the threat of demonic beasts since ancient times. With thousands of years of peace behind it, it was only natural for this land to have accumulated such profound depths.

Luo Chen stood up and stretched his body. ”Let me take you up on your offer. I’ve been cooped up here too long anyway!”

”Alright then. I’ll go make the arrangements today and secure an invitation for you, Senior Brother!” Fu Qinglan left Luo Chen’s cave residence in high spirits.

Seeing her cheery manner, Luo Chen shook his head. It was hard to tell if she was happy that he was taking her concerns seriously or if she was simply excited to witness a grand event in the world of Go.

1. Gu Yuan 古原, is the same name as the Ancient Plains/Ancient Plain Mountain Range 古原山脉. ☜

2. The phrase 屠龙之势(tú lóng zhī shì, literally ”dragon-slaying momentum”) seems to be inspired by 屠龙之技 (tú lóng zhī jì, literally ”dragon-slaying technique”), which refers to a technically impressive and usually flashy skill or tactic that has no practical application. In Go, the phrase refers to a large-scale formation that surrounds a large and compact group of the opponent’s stones (the dragon). ☜