An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

As he was pondering, Sima Huiniang finally said the thing that had been on her mind. ”Dear... Do you mind introducing them?”

Luo Chen smiled and began making the introductions. ”This is Heavenjade. She is actually a demonic beast, a Heavenjade Battle Gull.”

The moment he said that, both Sima Huiniang’s and Li Yingzhang’s expressions changed. Seeing their reaction, Heavenjade quickly waved her hands. ”No, no, I’m nowhere near that strong. Master just helped me take human form early.”

That explanation eased some of their surprise, but just some. After all, helping a Demon King transform ahead of time was no ordinary feat. Luo Chen did not elaborate and instead continued, ”During my years in the Northern Sea, Heavenjade stayed by my side and handled most of the random affairs I had no time to deal with. She’s experienced and she knows how I like things done.”

Then he turned toward Li Yingzhang. ”Yingzhang...”

”Yes!”

”I’ll leave Heavenjade with you. Show her around and help her get familiar with the Skypiercing Five Domains. Once she’s settled in, have her help you with sect affairs. As for what you want her to handle, I’ll leave that up to you.”

Li Yingzhang nodded and looked toward Heavenjade, who responded with a graceful smile. ”Looks like I’ll be at your service from now on, Sect Leader Li.”

After settling her arrangements, Luo Chen moved on to the others. ”Sang Jinghe and Zhang Jingqing are descendants of some old friends of mine. Jinghe is especially skilled at cultivating spirit plants, so find a suitable place for him as well.”

Li Yingzhang’s eyes lit up. A spirit botanics expert, and he’s a damn Adept!

Finally, Luo Chen looked toward Zhang Jingqing. After thinking for a moment, he asked, ”What about you? Would you like to join the sect?”

Zhang Jingqing did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately knelt. ”If you’ll have me, Senior, I’d be honored to join.”

Standing quietly to the side, Sima Huiniang watched everything unfold with satisfaction. Ever since Luo Chen returned, the Luo Tian Sect had become more prosperous with each passing day. The hearts of its members had stabilized, its connections with outside forces had expanded, and now several capable figures had joined its ranks as well. Even Zhang Jingqing, who did not seem especially remarkable at first glance, carried herself with a calmness that made it clear she was not a sheltered woman.

What Sima Huiniang was most curious about was the black dragon coiled around her husband’s arm like a dragon tattoo. When did he subdue a Demon Emperor? That’s one hell of a spirit pet...

Luo Chen, however, did not notice her stare. Instead, once the introductions were finished, he began asking Li Yingzhang about everything that had happened while he was in seclusion, refining pills.

Li Yingzhang answered each question in turn. ”We’ve managed to tame quite a few of the spirit cranes White Crane Sect sent over. Our beast-control techniques aren’t as good as theirs or the Hundred Beast Sect’s, but even so, they’ve given the disciples a good boost in strength. I’ve also sorted through all the talismans you left us. If fighting breaks out, we’ll distribute them among the disciples. As for our patrol duty at Skypiercing Pass, City Master Ye has pushed it back for now. The three frontline domains are barely holding together anymore. A lot of cultivators have already fled to Skypiercing Pass, but they’ve all been ordered to stay there. No one is allowed to retreat any farther inland.”

Luo Chen listened quietly, and by the time Li Yingzhang finished, he had a much clearer picture of what was happening both inside the sect and beyond it. He specifically asked, ”Has the Nether Origin Sect still not sent out people?”

Li Yingzhang shook his head. ”No one so far. Even the surviving cultivators from Skysail City, the ones they were temporarily managing before, have been split up and sent to sects farther inland, like the Thousand Mechanisms Sect. Honestly, other than City Master Ye, it doesn’t seem like anyone from the Holy Land is particularly concerned about what happens to Skypiercing Pass.”

Luo Chen frowned. According to Nine Spirits, the demonic beast armies were advancing with newfound momentum this time. If the Nether Origin Sect continued to remain on the sidelines, then no matter how formidable Skypiercing Pass might be, it would not be able to hold forever.

Do they really no longer care about this part of the Eastern Wilderness?

Just as Luo Chen was considering the possibility that the Nether Origin Sect would abandon them altogether, Li Yingzhang suddenly remembered something. ”Ah, right! Senior Wind Listener came to visit twice while you were in seclusion. Since he couldn’t meet you, he left this for you.”

Li Yingzhang took out an azure jade token and held it forward. Luo Chen drew it into his hand with a casual gesture and recognized it as a signaling token. It could not carry messages, but once it was crushed, Wind Listener would sense it no matter how far away he was.

Eh, another guy who wants me to refine pills for him.

Luo Chen put the token away without activating it. Having only just finished refining the Nine Separation Pill, he was still somewhat exhausted and had no desire to take on another commission so soon.

After chatting with everyone for a while longer, he finally returned to his cave residence. Black King was the only one who followed, still coiled around Luo Chen’s arm like a dark pattern.

Once they were alone, Luo Chen glanced down at him. ”Come out.”

Clouds and mist immediately spread from his arm as the black markings seemed to come alive. They rippled a few times before sliding down from his skin and gathering on the ground.

Luo Chen pointed at the ground beneath them. ”So? What do you think?”

Black King looked around and curled his lips. ”There’s a large third-tier spirit vein here, but it hasn’t reached the fourth tier. It’s nothing impressive.”

Luo Chen snapped irritably, ”If there was a fourth-tier spirit vein here, what would I need you for?”

Black King chuckled sheepishly.

Luo Chen fell into thought. It had already been three years since he left the Mirage Dragon Pocket World and began consolidating his cultivation. By now, most of the instability in his mana had been smoothed out, which meant it was finally time to start thinking seriously about finding a fourth-tier spirit vein suitable for long-term cultivation.

Unfortunately, with the Eastern Wilderness in the state it was in, finding an unclaimed fourth-tier spirit land was easier said than done. That was precisely why Black King’s return was so timely. Luo Chen had never forgotten his favorite snake’s ability to draw natural spirit energy. If that ability could be used here, perhaps Hundred-Li Green River could be improved enough to serve as a temporary cultivation space.

After considering the possibilities, Luo Chen asked, ”How long would it take you to nurture this place into a fourth-tier spirit land?”

Black King glanced around for a few moments, then gave him a helpless look. ”This place is too small. It’s only about a hundred li across, so there isn’t enough earth energy for me to draw on.”

Luo Chen ignored the complaint. ”How long?”

Black King shrank his neck slightly. ”Ten years!”

”What if I add a formation specifically designed to nurture spirit lands?”

”That should cut the time by about a third.”

Luo Chen continued, ”And what if I embed supreme-grade spirit stones into the earth veins?”

”Then you can cut the remaining time in half!”

That would bring the total down to a little over three years, which was not too bad. Even so, Luo Chen was not satisfied. The real problem was not the time involved but the limits of the Hundred-Li Green River itself. As Black King had said, this place was simply too small to gather enough earth energy. Even if the spirit vein eventually reached the fourth tier, its grade would still be too low to properly support Luo Chen’s cultivation. In the end, the investment was simply not worth it.

Luo Chen sighed. ”Forget it. I’ll figure something else out later.”

Black King leaned his head forward. ”Then what am I supposed to do, Master?”

Luo Chen glanced at him. ”Go settle into the spirit vein and sleep. I may not need you right now, but the sect’s Adepts certainly do.”

At present, the Luo Tian Sect only had five third-tier cave residences, yet there were already nine... no, eleven Adepts in the sect now. They badly needed more places suitable for their cultivation. In that sense, Black King had really arrived at exactly the right time.

”Oh.”

Black King turned to leave but then seemed to remember something. ”Master, what about the dragonworms I’m carrying? Should I let them out too?”

Luo Chen rejected the idea without hesitation, and Black King did not ask why. Instead, right in front of Luo Chen, he plunged into the ground, heading toward the earth veins deep below.

Once he was gone, Luo Chen could not help letting out a long sigh. In the end, Hundred-Li Green River was simply too small. Not only was it unable to support his own cultivation, but many of the plans he had accumulated over the years could not be put into practice here either. He had a lot of spirit soil stored inside the Penglai Eightspire Pavilion, a lot of dragonworms carried by Black King, and several techniques for nurturing and strengthening spirit veins. Taken together, those resources were more than enough to cultivate an entire blessed land. Unfortunately, what he lacked was not the means but the land to put them to use!

”No wonder Skyscraper Cliff and the Divine Sect keep pressuring Windflower Palace even with the Holy Land’s rules hanging over them,” Luo Chen muttered. ”Living under someone else’s roof really is uncomfortable.”

He let the thought linger for a moment before setting it aside. With a flick of his wrist, a pill whose medicinal energy had completely withdrawn into itself appeared in his palm. It was none other than the Nine Separation Pill that he had recently refined!

The pill was meant to help Nine Spirits separate the fleshy tumors attached to his Nascent Soul and turn them into so-called Spirit Nascent Souls. Luo Chen did not know the exact cultivation technique behind the process, and in any case, the pill itself was useless to him. It had been refined using Nine Spirits’ Nascent Soul blood essence and was effectively bound to its owner from the moment it took shape.

Even so, staring at it gave him another idea. My puppet avatar already has a soul. What it’s missing is power. If I use the pill to split off part of my Nascent Soul and fuse it with one of my subsidiary souls... could that become a second Nascent Soul? And if it can... If I can get better at Soul Split and create more subsidiary souls, then why stop at two? A third Nascent Soul... a fourth... even a fifth...