An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

The Golden Core cultivator battle at Dahe Market had turned what was once the most prosperous inner city into a ghost town. More than several thousand cultivators perished, marking it as one of the greatest disasters in recent times.

Yet, for the surviving rogue cultivators, it was nothing short of a golden opportunity! Those who had resided in the inner city were often high-realm elites with vast wealth. Besides mastering their own skills, many of them had also established businesses in the outer districts or deep within the Ancient Plains.

Now that they were dead, all those resources lay unclaimed. Naturally, countless people rushed in to seize whatever they could.

But the greatest opportunity wasn’t just material wealth, it was spirit energy!

As time passed, rogue cultivators began to notice an unusual phenomenon. The spirit energy around Dahe Market was steadily growing denser.

This bizarre change filled cultivators with excitement.

According to certain family cultivators, their elders speculated that the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect’s spirit energy-sealing formation had been destroyed in the battle. As a result, the first-tier spirit vein beneath Fallen Phoenix Mountain was now unleashed without restriction, flooding the surrounding area with spirit energy.

This explanation was highly credible.

It was widely known that in most sect strongholds, the spirit energy was as dense as this.

The Hidden Practices of Sects

Powerful sects isolated high-tier spirit veins, creating exclusive training grounds for elite disciples. However, first-tier spirit veins were rarely sealed off. Instead, they were released, allowing low-tier disciples to cultivate freely.

The Dahe Market spirit vein was broad and rich, making it an ideal resource for cultivators. Had it been inside a sect, it would have been openly accessible.

But Dahe Market was not a sect, it was a gathering place for rogue cultivators.

In the past, the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect had sealed the spirit vein using a formation, keeping its energy locked within the inner city. Now that the formation was destroyed, the dense spirit energy had finally been released.

For the first time, countless rogue cultivators were able to freely absorb its benefits! Because of this unexpected windfall, many late stage Qi-Refining cultivators who had planned to leave Dahe Market decided to stay instead.

Where else can you find a land of free cultivation resources? The Eastern Wilderness? The Great Million Mountains?

No cultivator was foolish enough to walk away from such an opportunity. Aside from daily necessities, everyone was fully focused on cultivation, because they all knew once the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect returned, they would seal off the spirit vein again.

At that point, if they wanted to enjoy this level of spirit energy, they would have to pay for it in spirit stones.

Meanwhile, Luo Chen was also racing against time to cultivate.

After several days of negotiations, he had finally struck a deal with Elder Zhou from the Lianyun Trade Alliance to secure medicinal supplies. With this, Luo Tian Society could resume mass-producing Jade Essence pills.

Once these logistics were settled, Luo Chen’s cultivation became far more structured and efficient.

Inside his cavern, Luo Chen emerged bare-chested from a bronze furnace, steam rising from his skin. As he replaced the spirit stones within his spirit-gathering array, he let out a sigh of deep contemplation...

Fortunately, I had stocked up on a large amount of resources earlier. For the short term, I don’t need to worry about my cultivation supply.

He had made two large-scale purchases of resources in the past.

The first time was when Pang Renxiong arrived, throwing Dahe Market into chaos. Fearing price hikes, he spent five thousand spirit stones to buy a massive stockpile of supplies.

The second time was when he planned his escape. If he had to flee through the underground mine shafts into the deep wilderness of Changyin Mountain, survival and cultivation would become his top priorities.

Thus, he spent another few thousand spirit stones on Dust Transformation pills, calming incense, essence nurturing liquid, and other essentials. Not only, after forming an alliance with Miao Wen, he ended up using very little of these stockpiled resources.

Now that sect-affiliated businesses like the Spirit Herb Pavilion had left, many others might struggle with cultivation resources—but he had no such worries.

These supplies should sustain my cultivation for at least half a year. The Jade Cauldron Sword Sect Won’t Abandon Dahe Market!

In six months, order will likely be restored, and the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect should return. Dahe Market is crucial!

This was a conclusion Luo Chen had drawn after gathering information from many sources. Whether it was the establishment of the Debate Platform, the abundant resources of the Great Million Mountains, or the strategic location as a frontier stronghold. All of these were reasons why the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect highly valued Dahe Market. Especially after learning from Sima Xian that Dahe Market was likely intended to be developed into an immortal city, Luo Chen became even more convinced of his assessment.

The Jade Cauldron Sword Sect would never abandon Dahe Market!

As for the six-month estimate, Luo Chen had based it on the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect’s previous response time to Fei Bowen’s death. Factoring in both the sect’s decision-making process and the time required for travel.

Six months was a reasonable estimate.

But for now, none of this concerns me too much. I need to focuse entirely on cultivation! thought Luo Chen.

With everything prepared, the surging energy in his body was enough to support multiple cycles of Long Spring Art.

”The Divine Breaker of Malevolence has been in my repertoire for a long time. Beyond tempering my willpower, it also provides a slight enhancement to my soul. Combined with my physical growth, I can now fully practice Long Spring Art four times a day even without calming incense.

”With the added boost of calming incense, that number rises to nine cycles a day!”

Nine full cycles, each lasting half an hour, meant dedicating at least five hours a day and that didn’t even account for necessary breaks.

In the past, dedicating so much time to his core cultivation technique would have left him feeling overwhelmed—there simply weren’t enough hours in the day. Back then, he still had countless spells to refine, but now, with most of them in Perfected Mastery level, that burden had eased.

The only ones still requiring his attention were optimizing Fireball, as well as Earth Summit and Wave Surge. Fireball remained his strongest trump card, while the latter two were preparation for the second-tier spell, Landslide.

”Looking at it this way, after factoring in alchemy, I should just barely have enough time.”

I should use spirit purification pills to enhance my cultivation!

Luo Chen smiled slightly as he retrieved a jade bottle from his storage pouch and poured out a pill. It had a faint greenish hue and an elegant aroma. This was none other than the spirit purification pill from Miao Wen.

Seeing the pills, Luo Chen couldn’t help but think of Miao Wen.

Luo Chen let out a chuckle. That guy was truly unlucky!

He had stepped in to protect Crescent Moon Valley, gifted him the supreme-grade Minor Five Elements Formation, and even invited Luo Tianhong to treat Qin Liangchen. Yet, in the end, he didn’t even receive a month’s profit from the Luo Tian Society.

If these five bottles of spirit purification pills were added to the calculation, Miao Wen had suffered an enormous loss! If he had lost so much, then Luo Chen had gained just as much!

”But these pills are of the second-tier, so I’ll need to use the Unadorned Heart to break them down.”

Luo Chen calmed his mind and formed a hand seal with his right hand. Threads of pale green spirit energy emerged. The cyan pill in mid-air was activated and began to spin rapidly.

Suddenly, the outer layer of the pill cracked, and a thin stream of medicinal liquid seeped out.

So this is the semi-refined spirit fruit that Pang Renxiong mentioned? I wonder what kind of rare spirit fruit this was made from, to be able to infuse medicinal power into the fruit itself.

As these thoughts surfaced in his mind, Luo Chen tilted his head back and took a light breath. The medicinal liquid, like heavenly nectar, trickled down and entered Luo Chen’s mouth.

”About one-tenth, that should be enough!”

He formed another seal with one hand, and threads of pale green spirit energy enveloped the remaining spirit purification pill in layers, preventing any excess medicinal power from dissipating.

This was the true brilliance of the Unadorned Heart, not only could it break down various herbal medicines, but it could also seal a portion of their medicinal essence, making it invaluable in alchemy.

To his surprise, it proved just as effective on semi-refined spirit fruit pills.

After carefully storing the spirit purification pill separately, Luo Chen settled into deep meditation with the aid of calming incense and Moonlight Herb. He remained as still as an ancient tree.

Roughly an hour later, his eyes slowly opened, a hint of delight flashing across his face.

”Mi Shuhua was right!”

Back then, Mi Shuhua had said that the spirit purification pill, crafted by the Medicine King Sect, had extraordinary benefits for refining spirit power. Its effectiveness was comparable to a complete sect cultivation technique.

Now, it seemed that even Mi Shuhua had underestimated its effects.

In just one cycle of operating the Long Spring Art, Luo Chen felt the spirit energy he absorbed being converted into spirit power, and then further refined to perfection by the pill’s medicinal essence. The speed was so astonishing that even Luo Chen hadn’t expected it.

If an average rogue cultivator’s refining speed was one, and the perfected Long Spring Art’s refining speed was about five. Then with the support of the spirit purification pill, Luo Chen’s refining speed had surged to ten! And this wasn’t just a mere doubling in speed.

The refining effect of the Perfected Mastery Long Spring Art only occurred when the technique was actively in use. Yet, each cycle of the Long Spring Art only lasted about half an hour. That time included capturing external spirit energy, guiding it into the body, absorbing and refining it, and only then proceeding to purification.

In other words, the actual purification time Luo Chen had was only about seven to eight minutes.

That was far too little time to refine all the spirit energy he had gathered. He could only store the excess within his body, passively compressing and converting it. Even after repeated cultivation, a large amount of unrefined spirit power would accumulate in his body, and only upon reaching a threshold would the Long Spring Art work on refining it.

But now, with the speed doubled, he could purify a far greater amount of spirit power in the same limited timeframe.

In just that one short session, I refined all the spirit energy I absorbed, and I still had energy to spare! This was just from regular cultivation, if I consumed pills alongside the Long Spring Art, wouldn’t I be able to purify even more?

No sooner had he thought of it than he took action.

After a brief rest, Luo Chen took out a Dust Transformation pill and swallowed it. Harnessing the remaining medicinal power of the spirit purification pill, Luo Chen resumed his cultivation once more.