An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

As soon as these words left his mouth, his fingers jerked back, and the red threads quivered in unison.

Then, the sound of something breaking echoed crystal-clear throughout the field. It reverberated especially loudly in the Wrathful Vajra’s ears. He looked down to see a hand fall to the ground for no apparent reason. What followed was like a chain reaction: The flesh of his thighs split, his four arms snapped off, and red cuts appeared all over his Golden Body. Even on his thick neck, cracks large enough to fit a hand in them appeared and started expanding.

An overwhelming amount of fortified qi erupted from inside him. He could not stop it; the domineering qi escaped his body like floodwater rushing over a collapsed dam.

”How...”

The Wrathful Vajra struggled to speak, but his face resembled a broken porcelain piece. Covered in fissures, it refused to let him utter a complete sentence.

A thousand thoughts raced through his mind as he replayed the battle over and over. Every move Luo Chen had made, whether for defense or offense... All the palm, fist, and finger attacks; all the flicks, slaps, hooks, and smashes; all the elbow strikes, knee strikes, and kicks... Every single one of them had left a faint, lingering force that seeped into his Golden Body.

They were so miniscule that he hadn’t paid them any mind, but enough drops of water would eventually form an ocean. These irrelevant bits gathered until they did start to matter, but he only connected the dots now.

In the end, it’s the flaw in my physique that gave him the chance!

Just as this thought crossed his mind, his towering Golden Body crumbled apart with the explosive sound of a mountain collapsing. From it, a white Go stone flew out and enveloped him.

This scene was enough of an explanation: The Wrathful Vajra had lost, and he had lost so thoroughly that his very life had been in danger! Had it not been for the ability of the Heaven Origin Dao Sect’s master, he would have perished right then and there, and even though his life had been saved, given the severity of his injuries, he was in for a rough time once he was back to the outside world. It would likely take him dozens, if not hundreds, of years to recover.

Before the Wrathful Vajra’s figure dissipated, he formed a finger seal and pointed at the rosary that he had worn around his neck his entire life. At the same time, a voice message was delivered via his white Go stone.

”Wilderness Hermit, I’ll be waiting for you outside!”

Luo Chen snorted derisively.

Please, you lost. What’s the point of dropping threats? A last-ditch psychological attack?

Suddenly, the rosary flew out. The eighteen large beads started vibrating, and its golden string snapped. The beads flew toward Luo Chen, gathering around him in a circle formation.

Luo Chen was unfazed. He had been able to destroy that huge Golden Body with his bare hands, so there was no reason why he would fear a mere enchanted treasure. He didn’t even need to use any special technique; his trustworthy Solar Flare burst out, and its force pushed back the ring of prayer beads.

Just then, out of nowhere, something that looked like a fish darted into Luo Chen’s line of sight.

Isn’t that Heavengazer’s flying sword?

This small sword had vanished into thin air earlier, so he’d assumed it had fled alongside Heavengazer. Yet at some point, it had quietly circled back here. While Luo Chen was taken aback, the flying sword slowed down for a moment, allowing him to see what it really was—a creature resembling a fish.

Wait, is that a Gu insect?

The next instant, the fish-like creature radiated a boundless sword light that engulfed him!

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

The whole region was filled with a whirlpool of blinding sword light. It was a sight that a normal cultivator wouldn’t even dare to look at, one that would send chills through every fiber of their being!

Seeing what was happening to Luo Chen, Fu Qinglan’s eyes went so wide that their corners seemed ready to tear, and she started trembling.

He had the upper hand! He was about to win! How could this happen?! If...

But there was no ”if.” Things had happened already, and amid the endless storm of sword energy, who could possibly survive?

As it turned out, the answer was Luo Chen. He walked out of the sword light just a moment later, with his clothes casually fluttering in the wind. Not even the hem of his robe had been cut.

He closed his hand into a fist, and the vortex of sword energy suddenly contracted until it revealed a fish swimming in the eye of the storm. The fish seemed to be sentient; it glanced at Luo Chen before vanishing into the air.

”Wanna run?”

Luo Chen grinned savagely. His divine consciousness expanded like crazy and eventually locked onto a target a thousand li away. The moment he spotted the pale-faced man sitting cross-legged on the ground, he formed a hand seal and channeled his energy.

***

A thousand li away, Heavengazer sat down with his eyes closed, while Yu Xu looked nervously at him.

When he opened his eyes, she hurriedly asked, ”Did you succeed?”

Heavengazer shook his head regretfully. ”His power is far beyond what we’ve imagined. You’ve seen it yourself; he forced me away with a single spell, and his mastery of Physique Refinement let him tear apart the Wrathful Vajra’s Golden Body with his bare hands. My fourth-tier Swordfish Gu couldn’t pose any threat to him even though it went into its berserk state.”

Yu Xu looked deeply disappointed. ”Even that didn’t do anything to him?”

”Nothing.” As Heavengazer leisurely rose to his feet, a fish emerged from thin air, looking weak and weary. He swallowed it back into his body and said, ”Let’s go. Although we didn’t injure Wilderness Hermit, we’ve certainly angered him. Far as I see, he’s casting some sort of spell. I suppose he’s trying to get revenge on me. But don’t worry, there’s nothing he can do at this distance.”

A Sage’s divine consciousness could cover a radius of a thousand to several thousand li. This was more or less the radius of their full-power attacks as well, but this really only applied when they attacked a static target. If two same-realm fighters were too far from each other, there was practically no chance that their spells could threaten the enemy.

This was precisely why Heavengazer had no fear now, and also why he had been confident enough to launch a sneak attack on Luo Chen after having retreated a thousand li. If it succeeded, then that was perfect, and if it failed, there would be no consequences.

What he lamented was the fall of his ally. In this pocket world, high-realm Physique Refiners like the Wrathful Vajra actually had a tremendous advantage in combat, whereas Qi Refiners like him had to deal with quite a few limitations. The scattered state of the spirit energy here resulted in weaker Nascent Soul Domains; for the same reason, wielding treasures here consumed much more mana, so fighting was nowhere near as simple and direct as it was for body cultivators.

While Heavengazer was pondering on the unfairness of life, his heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he abruptly looked up out of instinct. High in the sky, a massive dragon’s head was peeking out from the clouds. It had long, imposing horns and long, gray whiskers. It breathed fiery flames, and its eyes blazed with uncontained rage.

Heavengazer paled with shock and once more shoved aside the oblivious Yu Xu.

”Go back and wait for me there!”

The next instant, the Flame Dragon descended and obliterated everything. Yu Xu was flung several hundred zhang away, this time in a not-so-gentle manner, and staggered as she hit the ground.

”Pfft!”

She spat out a mouthful of blood, then pulled herself together and stared at the massive crater in horror. The residual power filling it indicated that a tremendous amount of mana had been used in the spell. Heavengazer was nowhere to be seen.

Yu Xu swallowed hard. She involuntarily looked at the sky and then back at the path she had come from. Just then, a divine consciousness swept over her, sending a chill through her entire body.

He... shot one spell and he took down a same-realm cultivator from a thousand li away! What kind of spell was that?! Among our sect’s seven heritage techniques, only the Nethervoid Singularity Slash has this kind of power...

Wait, no, that can’t be it; that was clearly a fire-element spell. Besides, he’s only some provisional guest elder of the Star Gate, not even an official one, so there’s no way he’s allowed to learn the Dao Sect’s divine arts. Hell, Fu Qinglan herself isn’t qualified to study the Seven Great Divine Techniques yet, let alone pass them on to him.

One thought after another raced through Yu Xu’s shocked mind. Just as she was at a complete loss of what to do, a faint glow shakily flew up, carrying a storage ring as it floated into her hand.

Looking at the firefly-like glow, she let out a long sigh of relief.

Heavengazer may not be the strongest fighter, but he sure is good at escaping danger. Substitution... Well, he’ll need some time to recover, but at least he’s not out of the game. I still have a chance!

Yu Xu immediately turned to leave, but before that, she couldn’t help but take one quick glance in the direction of Luo Chen. Her eyes were filled with dread.

***

”He survived that?”

Luo Chen relaxed his hand seal with a somewhat weary expression on his face. Flame Dragon’s Descent was an even more difficult spell than Fire Phoenix’s Prairie Blaze; he had only managed to raise it to the Proficient level earlier today. He had thought that he could kill Heavengazer if the man was off guard, but unexpectedly, the latter had survived using some sort of substitution art.

Is this what a typical Gu cultivator from the Southern Frontier is like? What a devious and cunning fighting style.... Any other Sage would have suffered a big loss at his hand. If I ever encounter a Gu cultivator like that again, I need to be twice as vigilant.

With that conclusion drawn, Luo Chen looked around and felt a wave of ennui wash over him.

What a pointless fight, though. No real spoils except for some prayer beads. I wasted all that mana for nothing. I can only pray for fewer battles like this in the future...

At this moment, Fu Qinglan cautiously approached Luo Chen and said, ”Xiang Qi fled.”

He nodded. ”Yeah, I know.”

Xiang Qi was the prodigy of the Xiang family, and the Xiang family was at the top of the Thirty-Six Noble Houses, so the guy had to be well-equipped. While Luo Chen and the two experts were battling, he had certainly used his treasures to retreat and watch from a safe distance, and when the Wrathful Vajra was defeated, he undoubtedly vacated the premises without waiting for even a moment.

On his part, Luo Chen didn’t care that he had escaped. Without his Dao Protector, everything from hunting illusory beasts to comprehending the Laws would become infinitely harder. It was safe to say Xiang Qi could no longer pose any threat to Luo Chen and Fu Qinglan in the Mirage Dragon Pocket World.

”Let’s go!” Luo Chen leapt into the air.

Fu Qinglan had a thousand things she wanted to say, but she couldn’t find the words, so she just followed him. But after they flew for a while, she noticed something was off.

”Aren’t we going back?”

”No, let’s find a different place.”

”Are you worried that others might find us?”

”That’s part of it; we made quite the commotion. But the main reason is that there are hardly any illusory beasts left in this area. Hunting is taking longer and longer here. Things should be better if we change location.”

”Alright, I’ll follow your lead.”

As the two figures receded into the horizon, their voices faded away in the sweltering wind. All that remained was the ravaged land and broken mountains, the only witnesses to the one-sided battle that had taken place here.