An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

In this manner, time slowly passed until the afternoon.

At last, as Qu Lingjun stood drenched in sweat, Luo Chen rose to his feet and concluded the examination.

”President, did I pass?”

”Hmm, not bad. You’re not quite proficient yet, but you’ve memorized nearly everything.”

Qu Lingjun wiped the sweat from his forehead, looked up excitedly, and asked, ”So, what’s my reward?”

Luo Chen smiled and shook his head before pulling out a book from his storage pouch.

The boy looked down. Another Illustrated Compendium of Hundred Herbs?”

But upon opening it, his mouth gaped in surprise. ”Is this personally annotated by you, President?”

”Yes!”

Luo Chen spoke seriously, ”Memorizing it is just the first step. Every herb has numerous applications—how they are combined, their dosages, and their contraindications. These are things you won’t find in books. So next, you need to truly understand the properties of each herb.

”But books are just words on a page! Hence, I’ll allow you to take a certain amount of herbs from the medicine pavilion to conduct experiments.”

Upon hearing that he could experiment, Qu Lingjun immediately grew excited.

This was amazing!

”Additionally, I’ll give you a talisman for self-protection.”

”But I haven’t started cultivating yet—I don’t have any spirit energy!”

”No worries, I have my methods.” Luo Chen smiled faintly, and with a flick of his finger, Qu Lingjun winced in pain, realizing that his fingertip had been cut.

”Drip your blood onto this talisman.”

The young boy bit his lip, pretending to be brave as he squeezed out a drop of blood, letting it fall onto the pale yellow talisman.

Luo Chen formed a hand seal, channeling strands of spirit energy.

As the spirit light flickered, the drop of blood fully merged into the talisman.

”Alright. If you ever face danger, this talisman will save your life.

”Go play. You don’t need to study today.” Luo Chen waved his hand.

The young boy bit his finger and happily ran off.

Seeing this, Luo Chen couldn’t help but reveal a gentle smile.

At some point, Wang Yuan had appeared beside him.

”You think highly of that child?”

”He’s alright.”

”But he has four spirit roots. His path to the Great Dao is hopeless.”

”Was my spirit root any better?”

”But—”

Luo Chen lazily replied, ”Poor talent isn’t entirely useless. At the very least, when he realizes that the Great Dao is out of reach, he can settle down and devote his cultivation time to something else.”

Wang Yuan was momentarily stunned. His gaze fell on the Illustrated Compendium of Hundred Herbs in Luo Chen’s hands, the same book the boy had been studying earlier. He seemed lost in thought.

”What did you come to see me about?”

”Nothing major. It’s just that since you’ve mostly recovered, I figured I’d return the affairs of Luo Tian Society to you.” Wang Yuan let out a bitter laugh. ”You have no idea how many things have piled up over just these few days.”

”Oh?” Luo Chen asked curiously. ”What else is there? I’ve already dealt with everything regarding the Merit Hall. The aftermath and rewards are being handled by Murong Qinglian.”

Wang Yuan replied, ”Among the resources we seized from the Fu Family, there were books on talisman crafting. Lately, people have been discussing whether we should establish a department dedicated to making and selling talismans.”

Luo Chen immediately understood.

A few days ago, after Luo Chen slew Fu Zhang, the rogue cultivators of Dahe Market had been temporarily cowed. Seizing the opportunity, Luo Tian Society, led by Wang Yuan, launched a full-scale raid on the Fu Clan, amassing a substantial haul of resources.

But setting up a talisman department?

Luo Chen barely gave it a second thought before outright rejecting the idea.

Wang Yuan didn’t argue—he wasn’t optimistic about it either.

”However, you could send me all the books related to talisman crafting.”

Wang Yuan agreed casually, but as soon as he spoke, his brows furrowed.

”You’re not thinking of dual-cultivation in talisman crafting, are you?”

”Why not?” Luo Chen replied confidently. ”I might not have a foundation in it, but I’m quite proficient in spellcasting.”

”Knowing how to cast spells doesn’t mean you can craft talismans.” Wang Yuan sighed and cautioned, ”Besides, alchemy is already taking up too much of your time. If you split your focus even further, it’ll slow your cultivation.”

”Don’t worry. I’ll weigh the pros and cons accordingly.”

Seeing that Luo Chen wouldn’t be dissuaded, Wang Yuan dropped the matter.

After all, these resources were technically Luo Chen’s to distribute as he saw fit.

Wang Yuan was efficient—before long, he had men deliver everything to Luo Chen.

Alone, Luo Chen quietly unsealed the storage pouch.

Whoa! It was quite the fortune!

There were seven talisman brushes, the finest of which was a first-tier top-grade brush named Golden Bamboo. There were also ten jars of premium talisman ink and over a hundred high-quality talisman skins. This was only part of the haul, most of the resources had been stored in the Merit Hall.

Skipping past the materials, Luo Chen focused on the books and bamboo scrolls.

Introduction to Talisman Crafting

Compendium of First-Tier Talismans

Fundamentals of the Dao of Talismans

Key Points in Fireball Talisman Creation

How to Condense Large-Scale Spells for Talisman Crafting

After reading the titles of these books, Luo Chen couldn’t help but shake his head.

”Achieving even minor success in talisman crafting would probably take up most of my life. Even with the system’s assistance, this process would still take years.”

He was well aware of his own limits—the system was not omnipotent.

In terms of alchemy, he had first inherited ten years of foundational knowledge from his original body and then spent over a year refining fasting pills.

Then came the Myriad Wonders pill, which he had refined intermittently for another year. Later, he mastered the Jade Essence pill and persistently honed his craft, refining it with unwavering dedication.

It was only with such a deep foundation that he had barely managed to derive the Blood-Burning pill formula.

In terms of overall first-tier pill refinement, Luo Chen could barely be considered a master alchemist. Yet even so, he still felt that the path of alchemy was vast and profound, like a towering mountain. He had only just set foot at its base.

If he were to divide his efforts into talisman crafting as well, then he might as well forget about pursuing longevity in this lifetime.

The reason he had gathered these materials was not to become a talisman maker but to see if he could use them to refine his spellcasting skills—taking inspiration from one field to enhance another. After all, talisman crafting was essentially the process of inscribing spells into talisman paper.

To do so, a talisman maker had to fully understand a spell before attempting to imbue it onto a talisman. The process also required precise control over spirit energy to determine the spell’s potency and stability. These principles, to some extent, could provide Luo Chen valuable insights in his own spellcasting practice.

In his battle against Fu Zhang, aside from wielding his supreme-grade artifact, Luo Chen had also relied on Carefree Wind-Control and his Perfected Mastery Fireball. Through this, he had not only evaded the brunt of the giant hammer’s devastating strikes but also posed a true threat to his opponent. Thus, what others had perceived as Solar Flare was, in reality, just his perfected Fireball.

Recalling that moment, Luo Chen was far from satisfied.

”Due to time constraints, I couldn’t merge enough fireballs—while it was enough to devastate a ninth stage Qi-Refining cultivator, it was far from the power of a second-tier spell.”

Second-tier spells were comparable to the techniques of Foundation Establishment cultivators. In other words, they were capable of threatening Foundation Establishment cultivators!

”Now that I’ve broken through to the ninth stage of Qi-Refining, my strength has grown significantly. If I can further refine my Fireball, perhaps it could truly pose a threat to Foundation Establishment cultivators.”

This was Luo Chen’s true goal!

He had had enough of being suppressed by Foundation Establishment cultivators like Mi Shuhua and Miao Wen. And he certainly didn’t want to continue being targeted by other Foundation Establishment cultivators in the future.

Thus, he had to master a technique that could pose a threat to them.

Spellcraft was his breakthrough path.

”I can’t rush it, I have to take it slow. Haste makes waste.”

Luo Chen picked out Key Points in Fireball Talisman Creation and stored the remaining books back in his storage pouch.

He would start his research from the area he was most familiar with and was curious to see how the Fireball talisman, one of the most common low-tier talismans, was crafted.

***

In the dead of night, deep within Changyin Mountain. Faint howls of wolf demons echoed in the distance, accompanied by the ceaseless chirping of insects.

Luo Chen activated his Spirit Eyes, gazing at the three-zhang-deep crater left behind by his Fireball. This was the result of his refined small Fireball, and its destructive power had improved significantly compared to before.

As long as he wasn’t facing a ninth stage Qi-Refining cultivator, he was confident he could take on several dozen mid-to-late-stage Qi-Refining cultivators alone.

”My combat techniques are extremely diverse, and my ability to deal with groups of low-tier cultivators is among the best of my peers.”

Luo Chen had a clear understanding of his own strength. Right now, his focus wasn’t on talisman crafting, but on breaking down the mechanics of Fireball—not to refine it into a rune, but to fuse its properties and replicate the effects of Solar Flare.

Go!

With a thought, Luo Chen once again formed the casting seal.

In truth, he had already mastered Fireball to the point of instant casting, yet this time, he deliberately went through the motions step by step. His eyes shimmered with spirit light as he focused intently on the flow of spirit power—its release, condensation, and final formation.

Then, he observed the fireball’s trajectory and the moment of its explosion.

Boom!

Another crater formed, and Luo Chen rubbed his weary eyes.

Spells use hand seals and incantations as catalysts, with spirit power as the power source, ultimately forming the desired effect.

With the system’s aid, constant practice has allowed me to bypass the need for hand seals and incantations, achieving instant casting.

In truth, this is the optimal path. If I could project my spirit sense externally, I could replace hand seals and incantations with a mere thought, seamlessly casting low-tier spells.

The direction was always correct, but before, I only understood that it worked—I never truly grasped why.

Without the ability to extend my spirit sense, the hand seals and incantations actually serve as guides for energy convergence, formation structure, and detonation pathways.” If I withhold the final surge of energy instead of releasing it immediately, does that mean I could delay the explosion of Fireball?

Conversely, if I inject that energy earlier in the process, would it shorten the spell’s formation time?

With each new thought, Luo Chen cast Fireball again and again.

His Spirit Eyes remained active, keenly observing every slight variation.

Instead of jumping straight to merging multiple fireballs to create Solar Flare, he chose to first break down Fireball at its most fundamental level. Luo Chen believed that no high-tier spell could be mastered without first understanding its most basic components.

This realization had actually stemmed from the second-tier spell Landslide.

The spell’s description boasted immense power. It was no weaker than Sword Storm, Divine Frost Soul Needle, or Thunderquake—all formidable second-tier spells. In comparison, it even surpassed the fire-element Solar Flare by a level.

However, mastering this spell required learning three prerequisite techniques first.

Wasn’t this the best example of the importance of mastering the fundamentals?

By the time dawn arrived, Luo Chen finally halted his training. Although he had yet to fully resolve the issue of Solar Flare’s slow fusion speed, he had gained a great deal through the night’s efforts.

This was evident in his improved mastery over both standard Fireball and the Blazing Fireflies —his minor but deadly variation of it.

”Strange... Why do my eyes hurt so much?” Luo Chen instinctively rubbed his eyes again.

”Did I overuse Spirit Eyes last night?

”Spirit Eyes...”

Luo Chen froze for a moment before shutting his eyes tightly.

In the darkness, faint traces of brilliant colors swirled.

Spirit Eyes had finally reached Perfected Mastery!