An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Fu Qinglan frowned slightly as the force of the impact traveled back through her treasure, but she quickly suppressed the discomfort. Then she stepped forward and placed herself right between Luo Chen and everyone approaching the mountain.

”Everyone, let’s end this here. Consider it a favor to me.”

Wang Yifu was the first to reject the idea. He raised his bamboo staff, already gathering power for another attack, only for Shi Ju to step in front of him. The man did not attack immediately. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and gave Fu Qinglan a careful look.

She was no longer the woman who had only just forced her way into the Nascent Soul Realm. Her cultivation had stabilized at the first stage, her aura was full and steady, and her entire body seemed to brim with vitality. More telling still, she had just effortlessly blocked the attacks of two Sages...

His expression sharpened. ”You succeeded?”

Fu Qinglan glanced at him. ”Yes, I did.”

That simple confirmation caused the expressions of everyone watching to change.

Lin Bufan, who was watching from a distance, could only smile bitterly. Between himself, Yu Xu, and Fu Qinglan, he had never imagined the latter would be the first to comprehend the Power of Laws. His own spirit sense was the sharpest of the three, while Yu Xu had the foundation and resources of a powerful family behind her. Fu Qinglan, by contrast, had rushed her breakthrough just to qualify for the grand competition, and her foundation was far from stable. Yet she had succeeded before either of them!

Beside him, Lin Jingtang clenched his fists, unable to say anything. He knew where the difference truly lay. It was not between Lin Bufan and Fu Qinglan, but between the Dao Protectors who had accompanied them. He had failed in his duty!

Elsewhere, Gu Yuan and Gu Chen exchanged a glance, then nodded at each other.

”The Fu family will rise because of her,” Gu Yuan murmured. ”If she becomes an Ascendant in the future, the Dao Sect may gain another Great House. Once we’re back, we should start building a closer relationship with them.”

Across from Fu Qinglan, Shi Ju was silent for a moment before letting out a laugh. ”So what if you’ve comprehended the Power of Laws? You’ve only taken the first step. At most, your mana is stronger, and you have a few more tricks to work with. You’re still only at the first stage. You can’t protect him!”

As he spoke, he snapped his folding fan open and sent a voice transmission to Qi Xiongcheng and Wang Yifu. ”She hasn’t been a Sage for long. She still doesn’t know how to use everything she has, and her mana isn’t deep enough to keep this up. She won’t be able to hold both of you off for long. Don’t hold back. Attack with everything you’ve got.”

His words quickly steadied them. Indeed, comprehending the Power of Laws undoubtedly made Fu Qinglan far more dangerous than her cultivation would otherwise allow, but that alone did not decide a battle. Cultivation, experience, and the ability to actually wield one’s newfound power mattered just as much. Fu Qinglan had only recently become a Sage and lacked the combat experience of either man. No matter how much the Root of Wood strengthened her, she could not sustain the energy expenditure indefinitely.

With the newfound confidence, Qi Xiongcheng and Wang Yifu attacked together. A hundred-zhang arc of black saber light ripped across the sky, while countless bamboo shadows erupted from Wang Yifu’s staff and crashed on Fu Qinglan.

The green leaf appeared before her again. This was the Heaven-Covering Leaf, a treasure the Fu family had refined from a leaf of a ten-thousand-year-old Sun Mulberry Tree. When Fu Qinglan broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm, the treasure endured heavenly lightning alongside her and advanced to become a True Artifact. Of all the powers now at her disposal, this was the one she was most familiar with.

Fine veins spread across the leaf like blood vessels of a human body. As they lit up, ambient spirit energy rushed toward it, and the leaf expanded into a green barrier before her and blocked the duo’s full-powered attacks just as it had before.

But in the next instant, blazing flames suddenly surged up from below. Shi Ju shot around the edge of the Heaven-Covering Leaf with his folding fan held across his chest. ”I TOLD YOU. YOU CAN’T PROTECT HIM!”

Fu Qinglan gritted her teeth and recalled the leaf. But instead of bringing it back to defend herself, she flicked her wrist and sent it sweeping down over the mountain. The enormous leaf spread across the peak and folded around it, completely enclosing Luo Chen within its protection.

Shiiiiiiing!

A clear metallic ring sounded as a longsword appeared in her hand, its blade flashing with light. She stepped in front of Luo Chen and raised her sword. ”He protected me for fifty years. It’s only right that I protect him now.”

Shi Ju raised an eyebrow. ”You’re really going to draw your sword on me? Have you thought about what that means? You’ve only just comprehended the Power of Laws. You haven’t formed a primal soul, let alone become an Ascendant. And the Fu family is still just a Noble House. My family is one of the Twelve Great Houses! Do you truly dare?!”

This time, Fu Qinglan faltered.

Seeing that, Shi Ju’s lips curved into a smile. ”You’ve already comprehended the Laws, so the first place in this competition is as good as yours. There’s no reason for you to stay here anymore. Leave now, and whatever happens afterward will have nothing to do with you.”

For a moment, Fu Qinglan truly wavered and unconsciously took a step back. Yet it was precisely that step that shifted her line of sight just enough for her to catch two figures closing in on Luo Chen’s mountaintop. When she saw this, whatever hesitation had entered Fu Qinglan’s heart vanished instantly. She drew her sword and swung it down, sending out two streaks of sword light.

Shi Ju’s expression darkened. ”Fine. If that’s how you want to do this, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”

Then, his body began to blur within the flames as specks of golden radiance spread through the air. When the firelight flared again, he had already appeared just ten zhang away from Fu Qinglan. With a sweep of his folding fan, the flame surged forward.

Fu Qinglan met them head-on, swinging her sword to cut through the fire. She offered no further answer to Shi Ju’s threats and answered through her actions alone. Despite her slender appearance, every strike carried surprising force. Even more strangely, the mana that should have quickly run dry continued flowing without showing any sign of weakening.

In the distance, Gu Yuan watched the scene and nodded slightly. ”It seems she’s already figured out how to make some use of root power.”

According to the records, root power was the most fundamental form of the Power of Laws, but its simplicity was deceptive. In battle, it could strengthen a cultivator’s mana while also drawing in ambient spirit energy and converting it into more of the same. In an environment rich in the corresponding attribute, that recovery became even faster, allowing a cultivator’s reserves to seem almost inexhaustible. And once they reached the Divine Transformation Realm, they could even use root power to forcibly alter the environment and create a battlefield that favored them.

Fu Qinglan was only beginning to discover how to make use of that advantage. Her problem had never been a lack of intelligence; she simply had too little experience in genuine life-and-death combat. At first, she fought Shi Ju cautiously, keeping most of her attention on defense while still maintaining the Heaven-Covering Leaf around Luo Chen. But with every exchange, she grew more accustomed to her new strength. She learned how quickly the ambient spirit energy could replenish her mana, how much power she could safely put behind each strike, and how far she could divide her attention without losing control of the treasure behind her.

Before long, she had found a rhythm, trading blows with Shi Ju while continuing to feed mana into the Heaven-Covering Leaf and keeping Luo Chen protected from Qi Xiongcheng and Wang Yifu.

That only made Shi Ju more impatient. ”Let’s deal with this bitch first!”

At his call, Qi Xiongcheng and Wang Yifu immediately abandoned their attacks on the mountain and flew over to join him.

The balance shifted at once. Against Shi Ju alone, she had finally begun to settle into the fight. Against all three, that hard-won rhythm quickly broke apart. Qi Xiongcheng and Wang Yifu were both seasoned Sages who had spent far longer fighting at this level, and once they joined Shi Ju, Fu Qinglan was forced onto the defensive again. Under their combined assault, she had less and less room to draw in and convert the ambient spirit energy. After only a few dozen exchanges, fresh wounds had already opened across her body.

Watching the battle from a distance, Lin Bufan was happy to see her strength improve so dramatically that she could go against three of her peers at once, but worry also showed on his face. She had comprehended the Dao too recently and had yet to fully adapt her new abilities to combat. Against three experienced opponents, that gap was obvious.

Lin Jingtang seemed to know what he was thinking and said quietly, ”You said that illusory core was the last gift you would ever give her. From the moment Wilderness Hermit stepped in and took her away, Fu Qinglan was no longer your friend.”

Lin Bufan opened his mouth as though to say something, but no words came. In the end, he only lowered his head and sighed.

Seeing him like this, Lin Jingtang licked his lips and flicked his wrist. The Bell of Terror appeared in his hand, and without another word, he flew straight toward the battlefield.

”Jingtang, don’t hurt her!”

Lin Jingtang glanced back. Their eyes met, and that was enough. He gave a slight nod before turning toward the mountaintop where Luo Chen remained seated. Fu Qinglan was already too hard-pressed to spare any attention elsewhere.

Lin Jingtang’s gaze settled on the enormous green leaf protecting Luo Chen, and his expression hardened. ”I still remember that palm strike perfectly.”

He raised one hand and brought the Bell of Terror crashing down! The Heaven-Covering Leaf erupted with green light and stopped the blow, but Lin Jingtang did not let up. With a low shout, he swung the bell three more times.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

”NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”

Far away, Fu Qinglan was blasted backward, blood spilling from her mouth as despair flashed across her face.

Atop the mountain, the Heaven-Covering Leaf flickered a few times before it could no longer maintain its enormous form. It shrank back into an ordinary mulberry leaf and flew toward Fu Qinglan, leaving Luo Chen completely exposed.

Lin Jingtang’s face lit up with delight, and he immediately sent the great bell crashing down. At that very moment, however, a streak of crimson light entered his vision.

SSSSSSSSHHHHKKKK!!!

By the time the light faded, a crimson sword was circling above Luo Chen’s head, humming in a low tone.

Lin Jingtang froze. He lowered his head and looked at his chest, where a massive hole had been punched straight through. His top-grade defensive robe had offered no protection whatsoever against that sudden strike. The sword had also pierced his Purple Mansion along with his body, and even his Nascent Soul had been torn open, where his mana was pouring uncontrollably out of his body.

His lips trembled. ”H-how could this be...”

From a distance, Lin Bufan’s frantic voice rang out, desperately urging him to activate the Illusory Go Stone.

At the same time, Luo Chen’s cold sneer reached his ears. ”You’re already lost once, so why are you still asking for death?”