An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Idle Crane eventually took his leave, and when he left, the Transformation Pill went with him.

Before leaving, he had given Luo Chen two firm assurances. ”From this day forward, my sect will advance and retreat together with the Luo Tian Sect. Within one year, fifty spirit cranes will be delivered to Verdant Mountain.”

In the end, all that earlier talk about the spirit cranes being the foundation of White Crane Sect and never being traded to outsiders had amounted to little more than words once the Transformation Pill appeared.

Luo Chen was extremely satisfied with the outcome.

During his journey to the Land of Fallen Devils, he had refined five Transformation Pills within the Alchemy Realm. Now, by giving up just one, he had secured the goodwill of two Sages, forged an alliance between his own sect and another upper sect, and even opened a long-term channel for obtaining spirit cranes.

Three benefits from a single pill. No matter how he looked at it, the exchange had been well worth it!

Even so, Luo Chen did not dwell on his satisfaction for long. Idle Crane was hardly the only person waiting to speak with him, and there were still several matters he needed to deal with before the day was over.

***

”The foremost Initiate of Jade Cauldron Domain, Wilderness Hermit of the Northern Sea, and now a great-grandmaster of alchemy... Fellow Daoist Luo, you really are the gift that keeps on giving!”

Ye Lingtian sat with the top-grade Grand Origin Pill resting between his fingers, slowly turning it over with a complicated expression on his face. Some things simply did not feel real when they existed only as words on paper.

He had already known that Luo Chen had considerable attainments in alchemy, but only after personally examining the pill and sensing the dense medicinal energy contained within did he truly understand what the title of great-grandmaster represented. Even within the Nether Origin Sect, pills of such quality were very rare. Yet Luo Chen had produced one so casually that it was obvious his mastery of alchemy had reached an extraordinary level.

Faced with Ye Lingtian, who was now openly exposing his many statuses, Luo Chen merely shrugged and took a seat. ”At the end of the day, I’m just Luo Chen of the Luo Tian Sect.”

Ye Lingtian looked up at him. ”And aren’t you also a guest elder of Star Gate?”

Luo Chen chuckled. ”Does that really make much of a difference?”

”Of course it does.” Ye Lingtian straightened in his seat and put away the Grand Origin Pill. ”The Luo Tian Sect is here in the Eastern Wilderness, while the Star Gate is all the way in the Central Continent.”

Luo Chen’s smile faded slightly, and for a moment, he said nothing.

Ever since he returned to the Eastern Wilderness and openly revealed his status as a guest elder of the Star Gate, certain matters had inevitably been brought to light. That status had served him well, giving him an additional layer of protection and allowing him to act with far greater freedom than before. At the same time, however, there had been guest elders of Star Gate in the past who eventually brought their clansmen and disciples with them to the Central Continent. Naturally, one might wonder whether he intended to do the same with the Luo Tian Sect.

After losing the Saint Alchemist years ago, the Nether Origin Sect had clearly become particularly sensitive to the possibility of talented cultivators leaving the Eastern Wilderness. Now, with only a few words, Ye Lingtian had made that concern unmistakably bare.

Luo Chen thought about it for a moment. ”So I can’t bring them with me?”

Ye Lingtian shook his head. ”You should already understand. They’re not really the ones that matter. Wang Yuan barely caught my attention; I personally think he’s worth keeping an eye on. But even he...”

Luo Chen slowly nodded as he understood what Ye Lingtian was getting at. ”So the one you really care about is me.”

”Exactly. You really are quick. Though, I suppose someone who reached the Nascent Soul Realm on his own would have to be.” Ye Lingtian praised him before abruptly changing the subject. ”Have you ever thought about joining the Nether Origin Sect instead? Whatever the Heaven Origin Dao Sect can offer you, I’m confident we can offer the same.”

Luo Chen looked at him with some interest. ”Is that coming from you or from the people above you?”

Ye Lingtian was momentarily speechless.

Truthfully, the Nether Origin Sect had not yet reached any firm decision regarding Luo Chen. It was merely that after witnessing Luo Chen’s bearing for himself, along with the strength and alchemical skills he had displayed, Ye Lingtian had grown increasingly appreciative of his talent. In the end, he had been unable to resist trying to recruit him on the spot.

After a moment, he let out a helpless sigh. ”Fine. Then let me ask you this. If the choice were entirely yours, which side would you choose?”

Luo Chen only smiled and said nothing. Being valued by even one Holy Land was already an extraordinary stroke of fortune, let alone two. It sounded like something beyond even the level of a dream. In reality, how could he possibly have the luxury of choosing freely between two of them? If anything, openly declaring a preference would only risk offending the other side! That remained true even if Ye Lingtian seemed easy enough to speak with.

Seeing that Luo Chen had no intention of answering, Ye Lingtian thought for a moment and decided to approach the matter from another angle. ”The demonic beasts of the Great Million Mountains are pouring into the Eastern Wilderness, while the Demon Alliance is causing chaos in the Northern Sea. Which do you think will happen first? Will the Nether Origin Sect put down the demonic beasts here, or will the Heaven Origin Dao Sect conquer the Northern Sea?”

Luo Chen hesitated for a moment before finally giving his answer. ”I think the Dao Sect will finish first.”

Ye Lingtian raised an eyebrow. ”You have that much faith in them? The Nether Origin Sect is fighting on its own territory. We have the advantage of the land, and the people of the Eastern Wilderness are behind us.”

Luo Chen shook his head. ”The Heaven Origin Dao Sect has controlled the richest lands of the Central Continent for years. They’ve spent all that time building up their strength, and from the way they’re acting now, it’s obvious they want more than just the Central Continent. In the Northern Sea, they’re throwing nearly everything they have into the war. They’re using the strength of an entire continent to push forward.

”Meanwhile, the Nether Origin Sect hasn’t done the same here. So far, most of the fighting has been left to the sects and forces of the Eastern Wilderness, while territory is being abandoned little by little just to buy more time. I certainly don’t know everything that’s happening behind the scenes, but even I can see that the two sides aren’t treating their wars with the same level of determination. Both are Holy Lands that rule over an entire continent, so I’m not questioning the Nether Origin Sect’s foundation. But the more seriously you take something, the more strength you’re willing to commit to it.”

Ye Lingtian burst out laughing. ”You really do have a lot of confidence in the Heaven Origin Dao Sect. But you’re underestimating the Nether Origin Sect.”

He clearly disagreed, yet he had no intention of explaining further. Instead, he shifted the conversation elsewhere. ”The jade scroll I gave you contains the technique for producing spirit stones. Before you learn it, though, you’ll have to swear an oath not to pass it on. This is the rule for every major sect that becomes an upper sect; don’t worry!

”Raw spirit stone ore contains a large amount of spirit energy, but ordinary techniques can’t cut and process it precisely enough for large-scale mining. If the technique becomes common knowledge, sooner or later some naive rogue cultivators will start tearing apart spirit veins just to get to the ore inside. So the technique is kept under strict control. In a way, it’s one of the privileges that comes with becoming an upper sect. And once you can produce spirit stones yourself, you gain a great deal of control over the resources and economics in the surrounding region.

”More than that, it also contains a technique for nurturing and restoring spirit veins while mining raw spirit stone ores, so you don’t simply drain it dry. Of course, you don’t have a base so far, much less a fourth-tier spirit vein, so you won’t have much use for it yet. But if you get your hands on a suitable base in the future, it’ll give you a reliable way to build up spirit stones for your own cultivation.”

Even after saying all that, Ye Lingtian still seemed to have more to say and brought up their earlier discussion once again. ”And one more thing. Don’t think too highly of the Heaven Origin Dao Sect. Even if you eventually take your people to the Central Continent, do you really think they’ll all be allowed to stay together? They will eventually be broken up and absorbed into the families there. And once that happens, there may not be much you can do about it. Their lives there might not end up any better than what they are now.”