An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

The curtain of rain blurred the lush greenery outside.

”All used up?” Luo Chen asked with his eyes closed. Without waiting for a reply, he continued, ”Then you’ll have to wait. I’ll go out again to hunt illusory beasts in two days.”

At the moment, he was in the middle of cracking a crucial restriction inside the Penglai Eightspire Pavilion.

As a legacy True Artifact of the Penglai Immortal Sect, the pavilion was embedded with an extremely complex network of restrictions. They formed a series of formations that partitioned the interior space, ensuring that the medicinal herbs inside would not affect each other. These formations were so intricate that even Han Zhan had only managed to unlock a tiny portion of them, which had granted Luo Chen a measure of control.

During his years on the Dragon Abyss Island, Luo Chen had tried solving them but fallen short by quite a margin. Now that he had plenty of free time, he decided to lift the rest of the restrictions and make the pavilion truly his own.

***

Half a year later, Luo Chen finished analyzing a fourth-tier formation and more or less figured out its configuration. Given another two or three days, he would be able to fully unlock it and gain eighty percent control of this True Artifact. Not only that, but he would also be able to grasp that fourth-tier spatial formation based on the Void restriction.

For all its tediousness, working on the Penglai Eightspire Pavilion was an immensely beneficial endeavor for Luo Chen. Putting aside the fact that it was a multi-elemental item, something extremely rare, this True Artifact had been made with a wide variety of formations and restrictions. Most importantly, it sported a good number of formations built around the Void restriction, something hard to find elsewhere. In fact, these accounted for most of the pavilion’s formations. Luo Chen believed that if he could fully comprehend them all, he might even grasp the method for constructing teleportation formations. In fact, he had already mastered a small-scale teleportation formation!

As he was engrossed in lifting the restrictions and solving the formations, a soft ”Uhm..” reached his ears, followed by a timid question.

”May I come along with you this time?”

Luo Chen opened his eyes and looked at the delicate woman standing at the cave entrance. After three consecutive sessions of intensive cultivation, she had become noticeably thinner, to the point that even her cheeks looked a bit gaunt. At the moment, she was timidly looking at him with her lips pressed together.

”If you want to,” Luo Chen said calmly. He then closed his eyes again and redirected his attention to refining the small pavilion.

In the end, it wasn’t Fu Qinglan who had tricked him, but Fu Chaosheng. The passage of time had allowed Luo Chen to find his composure. He wouldn’t take his anger out on someone innocent, even if she was the root cause of it.

***

Three days later, Luo Chen set out once more to the plain where he usually set up traps for illusory beasts.

Fu Qinglan followed him around, watching as he once more placed the Heaven Mystery Pill as bait and set up the formations with his own hands. She noticed that he had become even more skilled in this regard. In particular, the small teleportation formation beneath the pill box was so subtle that she would have entirely missed it if she hadn’t been paying attention.

Once all preparations had been made, Luo Chen sat down cross-legged and closed his eyes. He was neither resting, nor cultivating, however; what he was doing was pondering on the Withering-Flourishing Dao Sutra.

As far as he was concerned, this self-created cultivation technique still had plenty of room for improvement. The more he practiced it, the more sure he was about this. Of course, this applied to all complex techniques like cultivation techniques, and even more so to newly created ones. They all required plenty of adjustment and improvement before they were truly optimized.

Luo Chen didn’t know yet where the limit of the Withering-Flourishing Dao Sutra was, but he was certain that he was far from reaching it. All he could do was take things one step at a time and keep perfecting it.

Fu Qinglan sat down next to the man and stared at him blankly. Last time, the two of them had enjoyed a great chat in the breeze, with hazelnuts and wine on the side. This time, they were as distant as strangers. She wanted to strike up a conversation, but his aloof manner made it difficult. The stiff atmosphere made her feel as though she was sitting on a pin cushion, and the wait for the illusory beasts felt infinitely longer.

One day passed, then two days... Over half a month went by before an illusory beast finally appeared. It was a massive white ox with a pair of spiral horns on its head. Charging out from the overlapping mountains, it rammed straight into the big formation.

Luo Chen made his move. The Fire Phoenix once again took the stage, dealing a heavy blow that scattered the beast into mist. This time, however, Luo Chen did not immediately use the Primordial Unity Cauldron to stop the mist from slipping away and capture it; instead, he continued to cast spell after spell.

Fire Phoenix, Flame Dragon, Azure Yang Great Handprint... He even tried the Infinite Blaze Prison twice, even though this Domain spell had proven ineffective against illusory beasts. Under his relentless barrage, the illusory beast was forcefully dispersed into clouds and mist, then condensed again into the shape of a white ox, roaring incessantly all the while.

Fu Qinglan watched with her fists clenched. She didn’t know that Luo Chen was using this living target to improve his proficiency, so all she saw was him pointlessly slaughtering a defenseless fourth-tier illusory beast time and time again. Those spells were dazzling and colorful, and their power was immense, but every cast cost spirit energy. In her eyes, they were nothing but a pointless act that he did to vent his anger.

He’s still angry at me after all!

While she agonized over this, Luo Chen finally had enough and finished off the white ox. He stood quietly on the plain and looked at the damaged mountains around him. His brow furrowed as he pondered something, but before long, he floated into the air and began heading back.

After flying for a few moments, he stopped and turned his head. ”Are you going to stay here?”

Fu Qinglan, who was still standing on the peak of a mountain, snapped out of her trance and hastily caught up.

Seeing her distracted expression, Luo Chen frowned. ”This is the fourth illusory core. Any confidence this time?”

The woman’s lips parted slightly, then she dejectedly lowered her head.

Luo Chen shook his head and sighed. ”If you don’t mind, you can tell me about the issue you’re facing. Two heads are better than one, and maybe I can offer some advice. The sooner you grasp the Laws, the earlier I get to leave this place, so I’d say it’s in our mutual best interest. But of course, you don’t have to say anything if the Heaven Origin Dao Sect forbids it.”

Fu Qinglan hesitated, but after some consideration, she slowly spoke up. ”I can’t seem to find the root power...”

***

Back at their shelter halfway up the mountainside, Luo Chen was standing guard outside as usual. But instead of going about his own business this time, he spread his divine consciousness, carefully observing something.

Fu Qinglan hadn’t revealed the specifics of the cultivation technique for comprehending the Laws, as it belonged to the core heritage of the Dao Sect, but she had given him the outline.

Heaven and earth possessed their own spirit, but primal qi had no consciousness.

When a cultivator found the root power corresponding to a particular law, they could imbue their own consciousness into the primal qi in the air and control it like they had the authority of heaven and earth. This was the secret behind Ascendants’ ability to manipulate primal qi. ℯℯ𝑙.

As for how to find a root power, Fu Qinglan had shared the basic principles with him. The method was to use one’s Nascent Soul to carry their divine soul into nature so the divine soul could search for the most compatible root power.

To make an analogy, the Nascent Soul was a boat, the divine soul was the rider who searched for a specific treasure from the boundless ocean of primal qi, and spiritual vitality was the fishing line that linked the rider to their corresponding root power.

Just as Luo Chen had hypothesized, when Fu Qinglan released her Nascent Soul to breathe in and out spirit energy, it wasn’t for cultivation at all; it was actually the process of searching for her corresponding root power. According to the records of the Heaven Origin Dao Sect, these so-called root powers were the most fundamental and easiest-to-comprehend Laws.

Fu Qinglan specializes in the wood element, so what she needs to find is the Root of Wood. Her Nascent Soul is breathing in and out wood-attribute spirit energy and letting her divine soul sift through the primal qi ocean to search for wood root power.

Usually, this kind of search is completely unpredictable. Either you accumulate progress over a long time or stumble upon the target by a stroke of luck. But here, it’s different. With the guidance of spiritual vitality, and with no risk to the Nascent Soul, things can be done a bit more actively. That said, the amount of spiritual vitality in a single illusory core doesn’t seem to be enough...

Luo Chen observed her practice for several days in a row and gradually developed some ideas of his own.

If I were to incorporate this method into the Withering-Flourishing Dao Sutra, maybe it will fill the gap to the Divine Transformation Realm, and I’ll be able to use it to advance! But how should I do that?

Luo Chen was eager to experiment, but he had too few samples and the risk was simply too great. Moreover, he had no way to craft the fishing line needed to reel in a specific root power hidden within a sea of primal qi. Thus, for the time being, he did not dare to experiment and had to limit himself to working out the theoretical framework.

Fu Qinglan will be my test subject for now. If I keep observing her, maybe I can figure out the method. Luo Chen decided.

***

Half a year later, Luo Chen set out once more, while Fu Qinglan meekly followed him.

Their previous discussion had slightly eased the awkwardness between them. Luo Chen was certainly the type to hold a grudge, but he did not do that indiscriminately. It was Fu Chaosheng who had truly wronged him; his resentment toward Fu Qinglan was merely a case of hating a house and extending that hatred to the crows on its roof. Since Fu Qinglan was willing to share cultivation secrets with him, he naturally wouldn’t give her the cold shoulder.

They arrived at the area surrounded by the three mountains and set up the formation, but nearly a month passed without a harvest.

At the limit of his patience, Luo Chen operated the formation at full power, causing the fragrance of the Heaven Mystery Pill to spread across an area several times wider. The coverage expanded to a few thousand li, and they didn’t have to wait for much longer before signs of disturbance arose from the mountains.

Fu Qinglan exclaimed, ”Here we go. Two fourth-tier illusory beasts!”

One was a giant python, the other an eagle. One slithering across the ground and one soaring through the sky, they charged toward the plain stretching below Luo Chen as if they were having a race.

Luo Chen looked up with a strange expression. ”Yeah, but they’re not the only ones.”

While Fu Qinglan was still trying to understand what he meant, Luo Chen took action. The two illusory beasts lost all scent of the Heaven Mystery Pill the second they entered the plain. They were enraged, but before they could begin searching, a figure descended like a thunderbolt.

Lightning Kick!

The giant python was completely dispersed by the force of the kick, and Luo Chen landed with such power that he was halfway buried into the rocky ground. Looking up, he formed a hand seal while chanting an incantation. The Fire Phoenix soared up, dragging its fiery tail like a comet as it shot toward the eagle. Meanwhile, the Cloud-Seizing Divine Claw swooped down from above. The pincer attack dealt a heavy blow to the eagle, and it instantly disintegrated.

The massive amount of cloud energy spread across the landscape immediately started to reconverge into two figures, but as Luo Chen triggered the formation, the sky-blotting mist surged into his cauldron without putting up any resistance whatsoever!

Fu Qinglan witnessed the whole thing with her own eyes and couldn’t help but marvel at the depth of his prowess.

As weak as illusory beasts were, their strength still compared to the raw power of early-stage Sages. Yet facing Luo Chen, they crumbled from a single strike. Furthermore, the formation and that small cauldron, which was clearly a special True Artifact, prevented the beasts from using their signature escape tactic. All in all, they were no different from lambs awaiting slaughter.

Two illusory cores in one go, what a harvest! And he didn’t vent his anger on the illusory beasts this time. Looks like he doesn’t hate me that badly anymore...

As Fu Qinglan was thinking this, the mist over the plain dissipated and revealed Luo Chen. He had one hand behind his back, while the other was wrapped in twirling spirit energy as he toyed with the two illusory cores.

His gaze, however, was fixed somewhere far in the sky. ”Fellow Daoists, why don’t you show yourselves? Are we playing the mantis, cicada, and oriole game here?”

Fu Qinglan was taken aback and instinctively looked that way. There, she saw two figures standing somewhere in the distance, in the direction from which the two illusory beasts had appeared.

The one on the left was a thin figure shrouded in a black robe that covered them entirely, leaving no clue as to what they looked like. Meanwhile, the one on the right had a glossy bald head, a string of big prayer beads around his neck, and a pair of eyes so bright and intense that normal people dared not meet them.

Fu Qinglan instantly paled the moment she saw the duo, and she blurted out, ”Heavengazer! The Wrathful Vajra!”