An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Once the banquet began, dish after dish was carried into Luo Tian Hall. Women invited from Skypiercing Pass performed graceful songs and dances while zithers and reed pipes filled the hall with music.

Amid the steady flow of attendants, two women entered and made their way to Luo Chen’s side. Noticing the curious looks directed at them, Luo Chen gave a brief introduction. ”These are my two Dao companions, Sima Huiniang and Gu Caiyi.”

At once, the Sages present looked over to the two women and nodded in acknowledgement, quietly committing their faces and auras to memory. If they happened to cross paths with either woman in the future, they would have to show them some consideration for Luo Chen’s sake. Even if they did not go out of their way to offer special treatment, they certainly would not make things hard for them without reason.

Sensing the goodwill behind those stares, Sima Huiniang and Gu Caiyi gradually relaxed. They settled beside Luo Chen and watched him drink and converse freely with the Sages gathered throughout the hall. Whenever their eyes happened to meet, they saw the same joy reflected in each other.

There had once been a time when even reaching Foundation Establishment seemed like a distant dream. Now they had not only established their foundations and formed their cores but were sitting calmly in a hall full of Sages, acknowledged by every one of them. It was a day they had never dared imagine! And all of it had been made possible for them by the man before them!

While the two were still caught up in their emotions, the dancing gradually came to an end. Before long, only the soft notes of the zithers remained, blending into the conversation around the hall.

”The Northern Sea?”

”That’s right. Things are very different over there compared to the Eastern Wilderness. The customs are different, the way people cultivate is different, and the place is incredibly rich in resources. There are even rogue cultivators who’ve managed to reach the Nascent Soul Realm on their own.”

”I’ve read that the Northern Sea is rich, but I didn’t realize it was to that extent. There are rogue Sages there?”

”And not just any Sages! The Three Great Hermits are all strong enough to fight late-stage Sages. There are far more experts beyond the seas than most people here realize.”

”The Three Great Hermits... Is one of them called Blood Hermit?”

”Fellow Daoist Nine Spirits, you know him?”

”I met him once when I was traveling through the Western Deserts in my younger days. Back then, the Buddhist sect was hunting him down, and he was in pretty bad shape. Still, he managed to get away at the end. I exchanged a few moves with him along the way, and neither of us could get the better of the other. He’s definitely strong. Compared to cultivators like us, from large sects, he’s not lacking at all.”

”Sage Luo, you reached the Nascent Soul Realm in barely a hundred years. You must’ve made quite a name for yourself in the Northern Sea too, haven’t you?”

Luo Chen smiled. ”A little, yeah. But with the war going on over there now, whatever reputation I have isn’t worth much.”

”The war in the Northern Sea...”

Luo Chen had deliberately steered the conversation toward the Northern Sea, and from there, he began recounting some of what he had experienced during his century abroad.

Tales of foreign lands were naturally fascinating, especially when told by someone who had experienced them firsthand. With Luo Chen’s vivid narration, the atmosphere inside the hall soon grew lively. In particular, when everyone heard the details of the devil sect’s destruction and the rise of the Northern Sea’s new rulers, several of the Sages could not help entertaining thoughts of their own. However, when Ye Lingtian swept his smiling gaze across the hall, those thoughts quickly faded.

In his opinion, the devil sect had been destroyed because it lacked sufficient strength and deserved the fate that befell it. The Nether Origin Sect was nowhere near that weak. As the Holy Land of the Eastern Wilderness, if it were ever driven to destruction by mere demonic beasts, the humiliation would be unimaginable.

Just then, a voice cut into the conversation. ”Fellow Daoist Luo, you said that you went to the Northern Sea after escaping from Green Parasol Mountain, right?”

The speaker was Lin Qingxuan. Though the two had once been friends, there was now a clear edge to his question.

Luo Chen merely smiled. Since he had been the one who brought the Northern Sea up, he had naturally expected someone to ask about what happened back then. In fact, this was exactly what he wanted. Rather than let everyone continue speculating, it was better to offer them a half-truth, half-falsehood explanation to put the matter to rest.

”That’s right.”

Lin Qingxuan immediately shook his head. ”No way. So many Sages and Adepts couldn’t make it out. How did you?”

Luo Chen remained calm. ”Maybe they couldn’t. That doesn’t mean I couldn’t. You weren’t there, were you? So how would you know what really happened?”

Lin Qingxuan froze, then looked toward the two representatives of the Divine Sect who had come today.

Seeing that the subject had already been raised, Divine Fire took over. ”Back then, the Nether Origin Sect sent three late-stage Sages to rescue everyone trapped there. In the final battle, one of their top experts stepped in and forced Green Parasol Mountain to retreat into the Azure Darkness. Heavenly Apex Huiping and the grand elder of the Silktree Sect both died there, and even our own grand elder was badly wounded. And you were only an Adept back then. In a situation like that, how did you make it out alive?”

Although Divine Fire spoke in a calm tone, the secrets contained in his words sent a ripple of shock through the hall.

Everyone knew about the battle at Green Parasol Mountain, but very few knew what had truly happened there. Heavenly Apex Huiping and the grand elder of the Silktree Sect had both been peerless experts whose names had resounded throughout the Eastern Wilderness for centuries, yet neither had even managed to save their Nascent Soul. Just what kind of opponent could have killed cultivators of their caliber outright? And what sort of power could force Green Parasol Mountain, a Holy Land by all rights, to flee all the way into the Azure Darkness?

Now that Divine Fire had casually revealed these details, everyone’s attention shifted back to Luo Chen. He had indeed been only an Adept back then, yet he had somehow survived where Sages hadn’t. What did that signify?

At that moment, the golden-robed man beside Divine Fire narrowed his eyes. ”Could it be that you were actually working with the demonic beasts...”

Luo Chen let out a quiet chuckle. ”It could be, yes. It could also be that none of you know what teleportation is, I suppose.”

There was a hint of mockery in his voice. As everyone looked at him in confusion, Luo Chen took out a cracked, compass-like object and casually tossed it to Ye Lingtian.

”There’s a massive teleportation formation hidden inside Green Parasol Mountain. With it, they can cross huge distances in an instant. They could be in the Northern Sea in the morning and back at Green Parasol Mountain by evening. It can even send them straight through into the Azure Darkness. Of course, something like that isn’t easy to activate. The demonic cultivators there wouldn’t use it unless they had no other choice. Back then, though, the Nether Origin Sect pushed them hard enough that they were forced to use it. That was my chance. While they were shifting through the void, I activated a translocation formation disc I’d made myself and used it to break away.

”My cultivation was too low at the time, so I couldn’t control where I ended up or how far I traveled. Instead of returning to the Eastern Wilderness, I was thrown all the way into the Northern Sea.”

Naturally, Luo Chen could not tell them the whole truth. There was no way he could reveal that he had an Azure Luan feather and used it to activate the teleportation formation. The moment he admitted to possessing such a treasure, the questions would never end. Where had the Azure Luan feather come from? How had he obtained it? Had he been connected to the demonic beasts before Green Parasol Mountain fell?

Rather than invite that kind of suspicion, he chose an explanation that fit far more cleanly with what others already knew about him. His recent advancement in the Dao of Formations, together with his mastery of translocation techniques, gave him the perfect cover.

More importantly, most of what he said was true. He had indeed been teleported away, and Green Parasol Mountain’s retreat into the Azure Darkness really had distorted the direction of that translocation. Otherwise, according to Han Zhan’s original plan, they should have been sent straight back to the Great Snowy Mountains. More than that, a story mixed with truth and falsehood was always the easiest to make believable.

As he spoke, he observed Ye Lingtian’s reaction. The other man examined the formation disc with mild interest, turning it over several times in his hand, but his expression revealed nothing unusual. After studying it for a while, he simply passed it along to the others.

The disc continued around the hall until it reached Old Tal, who examined it closely before frowning. ”This looks pretty new.”

”It is,” Luo Chen admitted. ”The one I used back then was destroyed long ago. I refined this one later, while I was at the Dao Sect. I’ve used it several times since.”

The object being passed around was none other than the Nine Heavens-Ten Earths Formation disc Luo Chen had refined inside the Mirage Dragon Pocket World. As for his claim that he had used it several times, that was something of an exaggeration.

Still, to the Sages examining it, a formation disc capable of enduring repeated long-distance translocations was an exceptional treasure. If Luo Chen had possessed something similar back then and activated it while Green Parasol Mountain’s grand formation was tearing through the void, then escaping alive was certainly possible.

It was not guaranteed, just plausible, but even so, plausible was all his explanation needed to be. As the formation disc passed from hand to hand, much of the suspicion in the hall gradually faded.

Golden Plume, however, did not even bother taking it when it reached him. Instead, he stared coldly at Luo Chen. ”Heaven Smelter was trapped there too, and his attainments in formations were hardly lacking. You can’t seriously be saying you were more capable than him.”

Luo Chen smiled, though there was no warmth in it. ”On the contrary, he was far more capable, and he was also a Sage. Do you really think the demons watched him the same way they watched a mere Adept? His body was destroyed, and his Nascent Soul was sealed away. In that state, he was worse off than even a Qi Refinement cultivator.”

Golden Plume’s expression darkened. ”Then what about Hao Ranzi and Wei Wuya? They were trapped in Green Parasol Mountain too, and both of them knew formations. Were they worse than you as well?”

”Yes, they were.”

”You—”

Luo Chen wore an expression of complete confidence. ”If I weren’t better than them, do you think I’d be standing here today? Do you think I would have reached the Nascent Soul Realm and be sitting here as one of you?”