An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

High above Heaven-Earth Peak, a blurry phantom stretched across the sky like a canopy draped over the heavens. Even low-tier cultivators could recognize it at a glance—a Primal Soul!

For qi cultivators, the pursuit of immortality was, in essence, the pursuit of an immortal spirit. The path began by refining vital essence into qi, followed by refining qi into spirit. Through this process, the cultivator gradually strengthened the divine soul within the otherwise scattered sea of consciousness. Yet no matter how powerful that soul became, it remained yin and insubstantial by nature and could not directly withstand the might of the world outside the body. At most, a cultivator could only extend part of it outward as spirit consciousness, or, at higher realms, divine consciousness.

However, that changed upon reaching the Nascent Soul Realm. In that realm, a cultivator would unite the Three Treasures of vital essence, qi, and spirit to form the unique existence known as the Nascent Soul. For the first time, the divine soul possessed a vessel that could exist outside the sea of consciousness. Even then, however, the Nascent Soul remained vulnerable without the protection of the Purple Mansion and could not be exposed to the outside world for long.

That was why cultivators continued pursuing an even greater transformation. They sought to turn the yin soul into yang, transforming what had once been insubstantial into something capable of truly existing in the world. Once that transformation was complete, the divine soul would fully merge with the Nascent Soul, and its infant form would mature into a form fully resembling the cultivator, becoming what was known as the Primal Soul!

With that, the outward manifestation of a cultivator’s divine soul was also no longer called divine consciousness but divine thoughts, and the cultivator would enter the realm known as Divine Transformation. From this point onward, a cultivator would no longer need to fear the sky, sun, or the scrutiny of the Heavenly Dao, and they could freely perceive the Great Dao and the countless Power of Laws.

And now, Chu Yan had allowed her Primal Soul to manifest before everyone present. It was clear to all who witnessed it that she had reached the pinnacle of the Divine Transformation Realm. She had fully comprehended her personal Laws to the required extent, and, in doing so, had secured the qualifications needed to ascend to the upper realm. In fact, what unfolded before them was not merely a display of her Primal Soul but the beginning of her Ascension!

Throughout the plaza, cultivators held their breath and focused every shred of attention on what was happening so that they could engrave the coming phenomena into their memories. Of course, Luo Chen was no exception. Not only did he focus his mind completely, but he also poured mana into his eyes and pushed his Spirit Eyes further than ever before, to the point where spirit light began to shine within his dark pupils. Had everyone else not been equally absorbed in Chu Yan’s Ascension, his unusual appearance would almost certainly have drawn attention.

Under his unwavering gaze, Chu Yan’s Primal Soul slowly closed its eyes, and the spirit energy of the world immediately began to stir. Currents poured in from thousands, even tens of thousands, of li away, all surging toward Heaven-Earth Peak. Typically, cultivators drew in only the spirit energy aligned with their own attributes, but the energy now converging upon Chu Yan encompassed all attributes at once. As the torrent swelled, the different energies blended together until her enormous Primal Soul almost drowned within the tide.

Watching this, Luo Chen began to understand the true gulf between Ascendants and every cultivator below them. If Sages could control the ambient spirit energy corresponding to their own attributes, then upon reaching the Divine Transformation Realm, they could mobilize and absorb the aggregate form of all spirit energy between heaven and earth, the fundamental qi of heaven and earth—primal qi!

If the world itself was compared to a living being, then primal qi was what it breathed, while the various forms of attribute spirit energy were merely the different components contained within that breath. When the cultivator became an Ascendant, their Nascent Soul became a Primal Soul, and their comprehension of the Power of Laws granted them a measure of authority over the Great Dao. In terms of the fundamental nature of their existence, they had begun to stand on the same level as heaven and earth itself.

The difference, of course, was one of scale. Compared to the magnitude of the world, an individual cultivator was still insignificant, but they were no longer merely a single lifeform that existed within it. In a very real sense, they had become part of heaven and earth itself. It was only natural, then, that they could draw upon the primal qi breathed by the world. Once refined into mana, that power belonged to an entirely different order from anything available to lower-tier cultivators. To ordinary beings, Ascendants truly possessed the power spoken of in legends, the power to burn the heavens and boil the seas, to chase the stars and seize the moon!

That was also why their honorific no longer reflected cultivation philosophy or status in the way titles like Initiate or Adept did. It was not a label of tier either, but a recognition of what they had become: beings who had reached the threshold of this world and gained the qualifications to ascend beyond it. For that reason, the world called them Ascendants!

All the while, primal qi continued flooding toward Heaven-Earth Peak until the mountain itself seemed almost submerged in it. Luo Chen struggled to keep up with what he was seeing, and his thoughts were chaotic. He kept using the Fine Dust Primordial Art to keep his emotions under control, but the spectacle before him triggered more than he could keep in check.

What’s wrong with me? That thing is incredible, but how is it getting me this worked up?

Then, out of nowhere, something occurred to him. A passage from one of the countless records he had read suddenly surfaced in his memory, and with it came the answer. Chu Yan was not attempting to ascend through her own strength alone. She was borrowing the power of the world itself!

There were two ways an Ascendant could leave for the upper realm. The first was passive Ascension. Once they reached the late stage and became powerful enough to threaten the balance of the world, heaven and earth would start to reject them until they were eventually forced to leave. The second was active Ascension. Such cultivators had not yet reached that level to leave, so they needed assistance from heaven and earth to give them a helping hand. But how did heaven and earth provide that assistance? The amount of primal qi drawn over by the Primal Soul was one part of that power, while the other part...

Luo Chen took a deep breath and directed the origin energy toward his eyes. Normally, he would never have attempted such a thing. Origin energy and mana belonged to entirely different cultivation systems, and using one to power techniques meant for the other could easily cause problems. But if he wanted to see what was truly happening, there was nothing more suitable than origin energy. That was because only archaic beasts could produce origin energy, and they were the original favored children of the Mountains and Seas Realm. Their innate affinity with this world was something ordinary cultivators, no matter how refined their mana, could not easily replicate.

The moment the origin energy entered his eyes, his eyes reddened, and his vision became drenched in red. Within that crimson world, he finally caught sight of something strange streaming toward Chu Yan’s Primal Soul from all across the Central Continent.

Is that spiritual vitality?

Luo Chen had once read the term in an ancient text. It described spiritual vitality as something hidden deep within the world, covered by a mysterious veil that rarely ever parted. Only when heaven chose to favor a living being would that veil briefly lift, granting them a fleeting glimpse of the true Great Dao before everything closed again. It was not energy, at least not in any ordinary sense. Rather, it was something closer to the consciousness of the world itself, like a spirit that guided the growth of all things and gave rise to the Power of Laws of the Great Dao. And when cultivators spoke of heaven and earth possessing a spirit, they were not referring to spirit energy but to this far more mysterious existence.

With that realization, the true purpose of Chu Yan manifesting her Primal Soul became clear. The tremendous influx of primal qi mattered, but it was never her real objective. What she truly sought was the spiritual vitality concealed within the world. By drawing that spiritual vitality toward herself, she was borrowing the power of heaven and earth to complete her Ascension!

Yet as Luo Chen watched those mysterious traces converge from every direction, a question gradually formed in his mind. Why is it coming from so far away?

Within his field of vision, spiritual vitality was flowing toward Chu Yan from thousands of li in every direction. Even beyond the limits of his vision, he could faintly sense still more currents approaching from farther away.

But what he was perceiving was only a fraction of the phenomenon’s true scale. Had his cultivation been high enough for him to observe the entire Mountains and Seas Realm, he would have discovered that even the other four territories were sending faint currents of spiritual vitality toward the Central Continent. At his level, however, he had no way of knowing that. He simply assumed that it was a natural part of Ascension and thought no more of it.

More than half a day passed, and the pressure hanging over Heaven-Earth Peak continued to intensify. Eventually, the low-tier cultivators could no longer remain standing and were forced to the ground. Even the Sages seated above the clouds were starting to struggle under the oppressive force.

Luo Chen had kept his Spirit Eyes active throughout that entire time, and the strain was finally becoming too much. His eyes were now blood-red and throbbing with pain. He could no longer safely sustain it with origin energy, so he finally withdrew it and lowered his gaze.

It still isn’t over? Where are the auspicious phenomena?

According to the ancient records he had studied, an Ascendant leaving for the upper realm was much like a child leaving home. Heaven and earth would see them off like parents sending away one of their own, manifesting auspicious phenomena to mark their departure. Most commonly, a radiant light would descend from the heavens to carry the Ascendant away. At other times, golden lotuses might pop up from the earth, colorful clouds might fill the sky, or all living things might seem to rejoice together.

Just as Luo Chen began to wonder whether the ancient records had been exaggerated, the heavens finally responded.