An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

At the edge of the great lake, a giant python flicked its tongue as it prowled restlessly along the shore. In normal circumstances, there would have been nothing unusual about its behavior, yet now, nearly every illusory beast in the region was charging toward Three-Rainbow Falls. The fact that this python alone lingered behind made it stand out.

Suddenly, its enormous body shuddered, and confusion clouded its eyes. A moment later, it slowly slithered away from the lakeside. Only after putting several li between itself and the shore did the confusion gradually clear from its eyes. The python turned back toward the water, seemingly puzzled by what had just happened, but its attention was soon drawn to the countless beasts charging past. Whatever hesitation it had felt vanished, and the python joined the raging tide.

The vibrations shaking the surrounding land sent waves rolling across the lake. Hidden in it, Luo Chen finally let out the breath he had been holding. Something still bothered him, however. That’s odd. I dismantled the formation yesterday; why are more coming this way? The numbers don’t seem to be dropping at all. Just how many of these things are there?

No matter how he considered it, he could not find an answer. The trap had been arranged in haste, but he had still taken every precaution he could think of. To keep Lady Xu from discovering him, Luo Chen had dismantled the formation as soon as it drew seven or eight high-level illusory beasts and pushed his concealment art to its absolute limit. Yet even after the bait disappeared, the beasts continued to arrive.

The situation had clearly slipped beyond what he had intended, though that did not mean he could not profit from it.

Luo Chen looked upward, but the murky lake water reduced everything above him to a blur. ”I can’t see a thing.”

He drew out a stream of mana and slowly transformed it before touching a finger to the rippling surface.

”Cloud-Go Water Mirror! Reflect the heavens and earth!”

High above the lake, the cloud in the sky seemed to part; strands of light pierced through the mist and fell across the lake. In an instant, the great lake was transformed into a mirror. This spell was not particularly powerful, but in terms of ingenuity, few in the world could compare. Luo Chen had created it by combining the low-tier Water Mirror with the cloud patterns used in basic formations, then further combining that with some concepts he had drawn from the Go formation in the Peach Garden.

At that moment, the clouds overhead resembled Go stones scattered across the sky, and each one captured a portion of the battlefield below and reflected it onto the lake’s surface. Before long, scenes of the outside world appeared before Luo Chen.

Lady Xu was seething with fury as she controlled the jade hairpin suspended high above the battlefield. Nearby, the other Sages held their positions and watched with anticipation, while more than a dozen fourth-tier illusory beasts charged toward Three-Rainbow Falls under the lead of the enormous white eagle.

Farther away, clouds of dust continued to billow across the horizon, as though even more powerful illusory beasts were still on their way.

Luo Chen stared at the images reflected across the water and felt his expression tighten. This has gotten a little out of hand.

He pursed his lips, but there was no trace of worry in his eyes. If anything, they shone with excitement. The greater the risk, the greater the potential reward. More importantly, he still held the most important advantage of all: No one knew he was here. While everyone else fought over the prize, he could remain hidden and wait for the right moment to strike.

PIAK!

He slapped the gray cauldron next to him with his palm. The Primordial Unity Cauldron immediately swelled from a large cauldron barely a zhang across into a colossal vessel a hundred zhang wide, then settled heavily onto the lakebed. Its enormous mouth faced outward like the maw of some monstrous beast.

Luo Chen closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, a soul identical to his own flew out from his sea of consciousness.

Whoosh!

Unlike a Nascent Soul, the subsidiary soul had no vessel to shelter it once it left the protection of his sea of consciousness, and the surrounding water clearly made it uncomfortable. Even so, it flew straight into the cauldron and took control.

With my sub-soul controlling the cauldron, it should be powerful enough. But if they discover me, I’ll need more than this.

With that in mind, he sent his right hand forward.

CLANG!

The crimson sword appeared in his grasp, and he drove it into the thick mud beside him.

Now, all that’s left is to wait for the show to begin!

Luo Chen raised his chin slightly and focused on the many scenes reflected across the lake’s surface.

***

High above Three-Rainbow Falls, the jade hairpin split into countless streaks of light before abruptly merging together above a giant ape that was scaling the waterfall’s cliff as easily as if it were walking across level ground.

BBBBOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!

The barrage struck as one, blasting the ape apart and reducing its enormous body to a cloud of white mist.

Lady Xu did not spare it a second glance. She shot skyward like an arrow and fixed entirely on the white eagle. Her flowing sleeves stiffened until they were as hard as steel, then lashed out together like a pair of long spears. The white eagle twisted nimbly aside and slipped between them, but before it could pull away, the sleeves softened again and coiled around it.

She unleashed the full force of her middle-stage cultivation and flung the eagle away from her. ”GET OUT OF HERE!”

Before she could gain the upper hand, however, the eagle spread its wings with a burst of strength and tore her sleeves apart. It then charged straight at her. She reacted at once; a brocade kerchief appeared and shrouded her in its light.

BBBOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!

The collision sent the white eagle hurtling backward several hundred zhang, but Lady Xu fared even worse. She crashed into Three-Rainbow Falls like a meteor, producing a dust storm. At the same moment, rings of golden light spread outward from within the mountain and enveloped the area.

Gu Yuan’s eyes widened. ”Is that the Mountain-Balancing Formation?”

Gu Chen nodded. ”Sharp eyes, Young Master. That’s one of our sect’s best fourth-tier foundational formations.”

The formation’s appearance immediately drew exclamations from the cultivators watching nearby. A grand formation of this scale was extremely difficult to set up, and the material requirements were equally demanding.

Gu Yuan clicked his tongue. ”The Gu family really went all out for this competition. They called Lady Xu back, had Senior Brother Daoyin get Gu Daosu a Woodrot Black Go Stone, and even set up the sect’s foundational formation for him. No wonder he’s pulled ahead of the rest of us.”

For one of the Twelve Great Houses, however, such extravagance was hardly incomprehensible. If Gu Daosu truly had the potential to become an Ascendant one day, the family would willingly spend ten or twenty times as much to nurture him.

Gu Chen’s expression didn’t change. ”The formation is powerful, but without anyone there to control it, it won’t hold for long. The spirit veins in this world are too unstable, and there isn’t enough earth energy to properly support them in the first place. Add that white eagle to the mix, and I don’t think Lady Xu can keep Gu Daosu safe for much longer.”

Gu Yuan chuckled. ”Good. I hope she can’t.”

At this point, it hardly mattered whether Lady Xu gave out first or the formation collapsed under the assault. Either way, Gu Daosu would lose his protection, and his state of enlightenment would be broken.

Not far away, Tea Mist watched the scene with envy, though worry soon crept into her expression. ”Senior Brother, if even a formation like that can’t keep Gu Daosu safe, then what are we supposed to do when it’s our—”

Dragon Abyss raised a hand before she could finish. ”I’m here, aren’t I? I’ll keep you safe. Besides, once you grasp the root power, you won’t have much to fear, whether you’re in this pocket world or back outside. Maybe by then, you’ll be the one protecting me.”

Tea Mist nodded, but as she watched the giant beasts charging forward, eagerness crept into her eyes. ”Senior Brother, with so many illusory beasts gathered in one place, shouldn’t we...”

”Not yet. Let’s see what the others do first.”

Dragon Abyss calmly surveyed the surrounding area. In the forest, an old-looking man and a younger-looking one were hidden there; they were most likely from the Wang family of Erudite River. Several li away, an unremarkably small mountain had leaked a trace of aura earlier. If he was not mistaken, Yu Xu of the Yu family was hiding there, which meant her protector was almost certainly nearby as well.

The Gu cultivator of the Southern Frontier was no easy opponent, but Dragon Abyss could still have handled the situation if he was the only ones present. The real problem was that Gu Yuan and Shi Ju, both from Great Houses, were also waiting on the sidelines. With so many powerful cultivators watching for an opening, making a move now would be far too risky.

He glanced toward the clouds, where Shi Ju stood beside Qi Xiongcheng, who still carried the gourd on his back. The moment Dragon Abyss looked their way, both men glanced back at him as well. Yet for some reason, he felt as though a third person was watching him too.

Is someone else hiding above the clouds?

Before he could investigate further, Lady Xu was lifted by the golden formation light into the air. Her hair hung in disarray, and anger filled her expression.

The white eagle circled overhead and let out a piercing cry that sounded almost like a taunt, but Lady Xu ignored it. Instead, she sent her divine consciousness across the area and sent her voice directly into the ears of every cultivator nearby.

”Is no one willing to help?”

No one answered.