An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Somewhere in a secluded chamber, Fu Qinglan slowly opened her eyes just as Fu Chaosheng stepped inside. ”He’s leaving?”

Fu Chaosheng nodded.

Fu Qinglan pursed her lips. After a brief silence, she asked softly, ”Is he going to find his Dao companions?”

”He is.” Fu Chaosheng sighed. ”All this time, I thought he was a rogue cultivator from the Northern Sea. The spirit pets and attendants around him all came from there, so I never had any reason to think otherwise. Who would’ve guessed he was actually from the Eastern Wilderness? If he hadn’t told us himself, nobody would’ve ever known.”

”Eastern Wilderness... Wilderness Hermit...”

Fu Qinglan repeated Luo Chen’s Dao title under her breath, then gave a quiet laugh. Looking back, the clue had been there all along. By calling himself Wilderness Hermit, he had practically told everyone where he came from. She simply had never thought to make the connection.

When she thought of how he had told her grandfather that he already had Dao companions, she could only feel that the decision she had made earlier was the right one. Whether or not Luo Chen would ever agree to marry into the Fu family was beside the point. He already had wives and maybe even concubines, and she was very much not a fan of sharing a husband with other women.

”When is he leaving?”

Fu Chaosheng replied, ”He’s already reported the matter to Seven Lamps and he’s left Heaven-Earth Peak. Before he leaves the Central Continent, though, he still has to make a trip to Kinghouse Mountain. His spirit pets and attendants are waiting there, and he’ll also need to collect the cultivation resources we prepared for him.”

Fu Qinglan sighed softly. ”He’s thought of everything, as always...”

After that, she fell silent. Fu Chaosheng did not say much either, but whenever he glanced at his granddaughter, he found himself struck once again by how unfamiliar she sometimes seemed. The fifty years inside the Mirage Dragon Pocket World had changed her in far more aspects than just cultivation. She had become much more mature, and that change had become even more pronounced after she joined Seated Oblivion Peak.

For him, this was, of course, a good thing. His own lifespan was nearing its end, and he could not stand behind her forever. The sooner she learned to shoulder responsibility for herself and the family, the more at ease he could be.

After a long while, Fu Qinglan took out a yellowed booklet made from beast hide and held it toward him. ”Will you please give this to him for me?”

Fu Chaosheng frowned. ”Another gift? We’ve already given him plenty. I even gave him the formation treatise and the sword scripture, just because you asked me to.”

Then his gaze fell on the booklet, and he paused. ”Profound Reach Compendium? Isn’t that your favorite Go manual?”

Fu Qinglan ran her fingers lightly across the worn pages. The beast hide had been handled so often that it was now soft and smooth, and a trace of reluctance flickered through her eyes. But when she remembered Luo Chen’s absolutely miserable performance in Go, a corner of her lips lifted slightly. ”It’s just a Go textbook. You can find things like this anywhere in the Central Continent, and it doesn’t mean much to me anymore. Give it to him as a farewell gift. Maybe by the time we meet again, his Go skills won’t be quite so terrible.”

With a light wave of her hand, she sent the manual floating across the chamber toward Fu Chaosheng.

This time, he did not object. It was only a Go manual, after all, and such books were hardly rare in the Central Continent. Though the Profound Reach Compendium was slightly special because it had been passed down from the upper realm, in the end, it was still only a miscellaneous text; interesting, sure, but ultimately unrelated to cultivation or the pursuit of the Great Dao.

”I’ll send someone and make sure Luo Chen gets it.” Fu Chaosheng put the manual away, then turned the conversation back to Fu Qinglan. ”And what about you? Have the sect master and the grand elders finished making arrangements?”

Fu Qinglan smiled brightly. ”Grandpa, you really don’t need to worry about me. I’ve already joined Seated Oblivion Peak, so from here on, I just need to keep moving forward. Once the last few people leave the pocket world, the competition will officially be over, and the sect can distribute the rewards according to the final rankings.”

Fu Chaosheng nodded. ”Hm, yeah. In that case, it shouldn’t be much longer.”

And he was right. About half a year later, Dragon Abyss and Tea Mist finally returned to Heaven-Earth Peak together, but the outcome was the exact opposite of what most people had expected. Dragon Abyss, whom many had held in high regard, failed to comprehend root power, while Tea Mist came back having gained far more than anyone had anticipated. According to her, Dragon Abyss had never fully recovered from the sword strike Luo Chen dealt him at Three-Rainbow Falls, and the lingering injuries had plagued him ever since, making it difficult for him to settle into the state of enlightenment he needed.

The Noble Houses had little sympathy for his misfortune. In their eyes, Dragon Abyss had spent all that effort only to pave the way for Tea Mist’s master-disciple faction. Her success gave the faction another prodigy who had control over root power, bringing its long-awaited resurgence within reach. The Liu House, which Dragon Abyss hailed from, now faced a much less promising future. Even if it eventually rose into the ranks of the Noble Houses, it would most likely remain an ordinary one, and whether it could still hold that status a thousand years from now was another question entirely.

Not long afterward, Gu Yuan also emerged from the pocket world. This time, the surprise was even greater: He had failed. From everything the True Inheritors who had returned before him had said, Gu Yuan’s journey through the pocket world had gone remarkably smoothly. His Dao Protector, Gu Chen, had remained at his side throughout the competition, and unlike many of the others, he had suffered almost no serious setbacks. With nearly everything having gone his way, no one expected him to fall short where Fu Qinglan, Gu Daosu, and Tea Mist all succeeded.

Even weirder was the reaction of the Gu family’s patriarch. The man was notoriously strict, yet instead of showing any anger toward Gu Yuan, he actually praised him for having done well. That response left everyone puzzled, but before anyone could make sense of what had happened, something else drew their attention.

The Mirage Dragon Pocket World was closing!

Below Heaven-Earth Peak, the clouds and mist filling the Passing River surged backward in great waves, pouring into the enormous mouth that formed the entrance to the pocket world. Everyone poured out of the grand hall to watch as the swirling torrent vanished into its depths. By then, all but one of the participants had returned.

Just as the entrance was about to close completely, a burst of golden light shot out from within, and Shi Ju emerged at last. Congratulations immediately rose around him, but he did not care at all. He immediately swept across the crowd in search of someone. Yet after a moment, he failed to find that person, and his expression darkened. Did he go into hiding?

Before he could give it more thought, an aged voice rang across Heaven-Earth Peak. ”The pocket world is closed. Everyone, go to Woodrot!”

That declaration made the gathering dispersed. Cultivators rose into the air one after another, and within moments, Heaven-Earth Peak, which had been bustling with activity for the better part of a year, was rapidly emptying. The competition was done; whatever had happened was already done. Everyone’s attention now turned to the rankings and the distribution of rewards, which would take place at Auspicious Cloud Plaza in the Woodrot Mountains.

Thus, everyone followed the arrangements and gathered there. By the time they arrived, brilliant light was already rippling across the golden jade steps. The participants took their appointed places, and once everyone had settled, Sect Master Mo Shouzhuo appeared above the plaza.

At his appearance, the murmurs across the plaza gradually died away. An attendant standing behind him stepped forward, unfurled a scroll, and began announcing the results.

”Ge Ling, tenth place in the Adept category. You will receive 10,000 top-grade spirit stones, a middle-grade Daoist robe, five bottles of Jade Blossom Pills, and fifteen days in the Scripture Pavilion.

”Li Zizhuang, ninth place in the Adept category. You will receive 20,000 top-grade spirit stones, a middle-grade Daoist robe, ten bottles of Jade Blossom Pills, and fifteen days in the Scripture Pavilion.

”Liu Changfeng...”

With every name that was called, excitement spread through the disciples and the families gathered behind them. Liu Changfeng, better known as Longwind, attracted particular scrutiny. For a junior of the Lesser House to place among the top ten was already enough to bring honor to his elders. Yet his real gain lay beyond the spirit stones, pills, and robe. Far more valuable was the chance to spend half a month in the Scripture Pavilion, where he could search for a cultivation technique suited to him and study powerful spells, some of which could even be passed down within his family!

The result could scarcely have come at a better time for the Liu House. Standing beyond the jade steps, Dragon Abyss visibly relaxed when Liu Changfeng’s name was announced. His own failure had cast a shadow over the family prospect, and Liu Changfeng’s success had thankfully lifted some of that gloom.

The rankings beyond that point, however, once again revealed the gulf between the Noble Houses and everyone else. From sixth place upward, nearly every position was claimed by a disciple of one of the Great Houses. The only exception was second place, which went to a cultivator from the Wang family of Erudite River.

He came from the same family as the True Inheritor whom Luo Chen had driven out of the pocket world with a single sword strike, but this man’s performance could hardly have been more different. He had ventured into the outer region of the pocket world alone and fought his way through with nothing but his sword, cutting down large numbers of third-tier illusory beasts along the way. Finishing second was proof enough that, in strength at least, he stood on equal footing with the disciples of the Great Houses.

By then, however, Dragon Abyss had long since stopped listening. His gaze had drifted to the two highest rows of jade steps, settling on the three figures standing in the second row: Gu Daosu in the center, Shi Ju on the right, and Tea Mist on the left. He stared at Tea Mist’s back as conflicting emotions churned within him. Did I spend a hundred years tempering myself in the Northern Sea only to become a stepping stone for her?