An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Summerfeel Grass!

Luo Chen recognized the tender green sprout. Its two leaves grew to either side, carrying a warming property that made the plant useful in refining certain first-tier healing pills, particularly those used to treat yin-cold toxins. It was hardly rare or valuable, but finding one here was indeed strange.

Summerfeel Grass normally sprouted only with the arrival of early summer, which was how it had earned its name. Once autumn passed, it would wither away and remain dormant until warmth returned the following year. Yet this stalk had somehow pushed through the frozen soil in the middle of winter.

He reached down and brushed one of its leaves with his fingertip. Suddenly, the little plant wilted and collapsed into the snow.

”Is it really that fragile?”

Luo Chen smiled and assumed that this particular stalk had simply mistaken the season and sprouted at the wrong time. But just as he withdrew his hand, a thought flashed through his mind, and his fingers stopped in midair.

Spirit light flickered in his eyes as he looked across the snow-covered mountains. At some point, random patches of green had appeared throughout the surrounding landscape.

The Mirage Dragon Pocket World was a separate world with its own laws of nature, but its seasons followed those of the outside world almost exactly. It was now winter, and there was no reason for so much greenery to be appearing at once.

Could it be...

Luo Chen’s heart jolted, and he instinctively looked toward a nearby hill.

There was nothing unusual about it at first glance, but the entire area was actually covered by formations he had laid down. They could not compare to the Mountain-Balancing Formation Gu Daosu had used during his enlightenment in terms of raw power, but when it came to concealment, they were first-rate. And behind those formations was the cave where Fu Qinglan was cultivating in seclusion!

Luo Chen formed a hand seal and slowly opened the formations. His expression changed the moment he saw what lay beyond them.

Everywhere he looked was green! And the closer it was to her cave residence, the more vigorous the plants became. Even from far away, he could feel the surging vitality permeating the area.

He unconsciously pursed his lips as astonishment filled his eyes. Could this be the Root of Wood?

It was the only explanation that made sense. Sages were powerful, but they were still far from being able to overturn the natural order of the world. Even manipulating ambient spirit energy on a large scale required using the Nascent Soul. Plants, meanwhile, grew according to the seasons and the cycles of the sun and moon, and by drawing upon the natural primal qi to sustain their growth. For so much vegetation to sprout out of season, a large amount of the primal qi must have gathered here. Yet the Heavenly Dao followed fixed laws. By all rights, primal qi would never appear without reason.

In other words, Fu Qinglan must have succeeded in comprehending a root power and drawn the corresponding primal qi to herself. And because her control was still lacking, some of it had leaked out and affected the vegetation that should only grow during other seasons!

Once Luo Chen fully sank into the implications, he broke into a smile. So she finally got the hang of it. Good! Then all these years I spent running around and keeping watch here weren’t for nothing.

Then, he slowly closed his eyes. There was nothing more he needed to do except guard Fu Qinglan through the final stretch of her seclusion. Whether she would come out in a few days or several more years no longer mattered. Now that she had comprehended the Root of Wood, the outcome he had been waiting for was already clear.

Yet the moment he settled his mind, something stirred within his Purple Mansion.

The Withering-Flourishing True Fire, which had remained pale and withered for years, was suddenly turning azure again. Its flames swelled higher and higher as powerful vitality poured from them. Before long, that azure flame billowed into the space above the Purple Mansion, forming what seemed like an azure cloud that enveloped Luo Chen’s Nascent Soul.

He immediately sent his divine soul into it. The tiny infant opened its eyes and hurried toward the surging azure flames. Because Luo Chen had previously placed a restriction upon his Nascent Soul, it had long since lost its usual fair and healthy appearance. Its tiny body had become shriveled and wrinkled, with every trace of life force locked within.

But the moment it saw the azure flames, the rich vitality pouring from the true fire began nourishing it, and its withered little face took on a healthy flush.

It finally succeeded! It’s awake!

Luo Chen could hardly suppress his joy.

He had originally expected the Withering-Flourishing True Fire to recover within a few years. Yet after entering the pocket world, its restoration had slowed to a crawl. He had assumed the Laws here were somehow interfering with the process and had already resigned himself to waiting until he returned outside. He never imagined it would awaken now, of all times.

As his Nascent Soul basked comfortably in the overflowing vitality, another possibility occurred to him. Could I have absorbed some of the primal qi leaking from Fu Qinglan without realizing it? Is that why my true fire is awakening now?

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

The Withering-Flourishing True Fire followed a cycle: flourishing to the peak and then withering, withering into dust and then flourishing once more. The second half of its transformation required a large amount of life force. That was exactly why he had been so cautious before, as he had been afraid his true fire would draw what it needed directly from his Nascent Soul. That was why he had placed a restriction on it to seal its life force away.

Now, however, Fu Qinglan had comprehended the Root of Wood, and she had unexpectedly filled that missing gap for him. All he needed to do next was wait for the true fire to complete its transformation naturally.

He smiled faintly and left a subsidiary soul permanently within his Nascent Soul while his main consciousness returned to his sea of consciousness. He really wanted to see just how powerful his true fire would become once it fully awakened.

***

Luo Chen remained seated cross-legged atop the snowy mountain, keeping watch over the surroundings in case anyone came to interrupt Fu Qinglan’s cultivation. Yet part of his attention remained focused on the transformation of the Withering-Flourishing True Fire.

Days passed, then months and years.

The mountains cycled through one season after another, but unlike before, winter no longer brought complete desolation. Spring and summer remained blossoming as expected, while even autumn and winter were now filled with vigorous greenery. And all of this was due to Fu Qinglan’s influence.

That same power also greatly accelerated the Withering-Flourishing True Fire’s transformation.

When Luo Chen first refined the flame, it had reached the early stage of the fourth tier. Over the years, however, he had poured an incredible amount of nourishment into it. Whenever he hunted demonic beasts, most of the life force he extracted went into the fire, with only a small portion returning to his own body. That accumulated foundation later allowed it to devour numerous second-tier and third-tier sourceless flames in Blazing Purgatory, followed by a fourth-tier Sky Burning Fire Sprite.

And that was not all.

The Withering-Flourishing True Fire later absorbed a wisp of Nirvana Sacred Fire as well as all of Netherfire’s sentient Netherfire and even Liu Jun’s fourth-tier blue flame that had clung to Black King’s body when he returned from the Coral Sea. After consuming so many powerful flames, it had long since accumulated enough strength to reach at least the late stage of the fourth tier.

Yet that very abundance had created a problem. By absorbing so many different flames, its nature had become muddled and overly mixed. That was why it had eventually entered the cycle of withering and flourishing on its own. Rather than continuing to accumulate blindly, it had begun to digest everything it had absorbed and refine those countless disparate powers back into a single, pure flame. Now, it seemed that this had indeed been the right choice.

In only a year or two, the Withering-Flourishing True Fire had reached the late stage of the fourth tier and begun inching toward the fifth! And crossing that final threshold would change everything.

Ordinary sentient existences at the fifth tier were not necessarily comparable to Ascendants. With the right measures, even a Sage might be able to subdue one. Blood Hermit’s conquest of the fifth-tier Withered Blood Vine at Withered Wood Ridge was proof enough.

Fire sprites, however, were markedly different. They were born with terrifying destructive power, and once they reached the fifth tier, that advantage became even more pronounced. Even an Ascendant who had not yet fully comprehended the Power of Laws might not be their match. That was precisely why Liu Jun had never dared provoke the Vermilion Bird Fire Sprite in Blazing Purgatory.

If the Withering-Flourishing True Fire could cross that final threshold, Luo Chen would gain a true trump card, one powerful enough to let him roam the Mountains and Seas Realm with far less fear!

For a time, everything seemed to be progressing exactly as he hoped. Then, in the third year, something changed.

Luo Chen’s expression tightened as he sensed the disturbance inside his Purple Mansion. How could this be...

Inside, his Nascent Soul stared at the surging green flames with a deep frown. Again and again, the Withering-Flourishing True Fire swelled toward the fifth-tier threshold, only to die back before it could break through. Luo Chen could feel how desperately the fire wanted to cross that final barrier, yet something unseen seemed to be holding it down. Even the faint consciousness of the fire sprite conveyed a confused mixture of frustration and anger, as though it knew it was being restrained but had no idea how to break free.

Luo Chen began searching for the cause. Is it because it still hasn’t built up enough? No...that can’t be right. If it didn’t have a strong enough foundation, it wouldn’t have started transforming on its own in the first place.

Sentient beings like this had exceptional proprioception. Unless something interfered from the outside, they would normally see it through without any trouble.

Then did it absorb too many Sourceless Flames? No... after going through a full cycle of withering and flourishing, those flames should have been completely refined by now.

Suddenly, his Nascent Soul caught a tiny flash of gold buried deep within the flames. Even with azure clouds swirling around it and firelight roaring on every side, that touch of gold had not faded in the slightest and remained firmly rooted within.

Luo Chen’s expression shifted slightly. ”Nirvana Sacred Fire!”

He had never expected this tiny remnant to be the very thing preventing the Withering-Flourishing True Fire from completing its transformation.

The wisp of Nirvana Sacred Fire had come from the Heaven Refiner Cauldron, and it had once been far more powerful than it was now. After contending against the Ninefold Beaconfire for a thousand years, however, it had been worn down little by little until even its spirit intelligence completely collapsed. Only after it was reduced to such a weakened state had the Withering-Flourishing True Fire been able to absorb it. In fact, the Nirvana Sacred Fire was likely one of the reasons the Withering-Flourishing True Fire had been able to begin this transformation on its own.

Yet now, the very fire that had helped set the process in motion had become the final obstacle in its path! After all, its tier was simply too high. Even stripped of consciousness and reduced to nothing more than a tiny remnant, the Nirvana Sacred Fire was still far beyond what a fourth-tier fire sprite could completely absorb and refine. Instead, its presence had become a shackle, restraining it from advancing any further.