An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

When it came to restructuring the Luo Tian Society, Luo Chen entrusted the entire task to Sima Huiniang. He withdrew from the tedious web of administration and turned all his focus to cultivation.

No matter how impressive his victories had been, one brutal truth remained: The Ice Fortress did not truly care about the Luo Tian Society. What they cared about was Luo Chen himself. Whether the society he led flourished or perished made no difference to them.

In truth, the only reason the Luo Tian Society had survived the battles and achieved great success was that Luo Chen was powerful enough. Had he failed at Qinhua River, Tantai Jin would have stepped in to protect him, but who would have stepped in to protect his followers?

Thankfully, due to everyone’s efforts, things had been kept stable, and any future attempt to destroy the Luo Tian Society would never again go so smoothly. Even the late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators who had shown up in person had merely watched as Luo Chen put on a show of strength; knowing his backing, who would attack him now?

The extent to which I can leverage the Ice Fortress banner depends entirely on how strong I am. The stronger I am, the more power I can borrow and the greater my deterrence against others!

After realizing this, Luo Chen threw himself into cultivation with greater diligence. The fruits of that effort, accumulated over time, soon began to reveal themselves.

A month after the fall of the Divine Craftsman Sect, Luo Chen was sitting in the secluded chamber of his cave residence when his entire body suddenly trembled.

A misty green glow spread from his dantian, expanding outward until it wrapped his whole body in its radiance. A profound, indescribable sensation surged through his heart.

A wave of enlightenment surged through Luo Chen’s chest. His eyes widened in awe, the revelation striking him like thunder.

”So this... this is how it truly is! I was wrong,” he murmured. ”All of it, everything about the way I cultivated before, it was wrong.”

There was only one reason behind this revelation.

The Yi Wood Medicine King Codex, which he had cultivated for years, had finally reached Perfected Mastery! Just like when he had achieved Perfected Mastery with the Long Spring Art during the Qi Refinement Realm, the Yi Wood Medicine King Codex also underwent a transformation upon reaching its peak.

Or rather, it wasn’t a transformation per se; it was simply... completion!

In truth, both the Long Spring Art and the Yi Wood Medicine King Codex were simplified and slightly modified derivatives of a much greater scripture: theEternal Youth Evergreen Sutra, the core divine art of the Medicine King Sect.

The techniques he had cultivated were pieced together from scattered portions of the Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment sections of that lost masterpiece. Many unique methods, such as those for purifying spirit power, had been cut away. Only the basic techniques for absorbing spirit energy had remained.

Now, after years of persistence and with the system’s guidance, Luo Chen had accomplished what perhaps no one else could ever hope to achieve: He had pieced it back together.

At this point, the technique he cultivated could no longer be called the Yi Wood Medicine King Codex. What he used now was the true Foundation Establishment section of the Eternal Youth Evergreen Sutra, fully restored.

What is eternal youth? It is when the flesh does not decay.

What does it mean to be evergreen? It is when spirit power endures long and vibrantly.

To be eternally young and evergreen means that your divine soul does not wither or perish but endures and grows with great vitality.

Among the Six Great Upper Sects of the Far East, the Medicine King Sect stood as the wealthiest. Its foundation was built upon many cultivators who had reached the Nascent Soul Realm. Their legacy was filled with profound secrets, and now Luo Chen was beginning to understand why.

When the techniques had been incomplete, they had seemed ordinary, nothing remarkable. But once they were restored, Luo Chen finally glimpsed the brilliance they possessed, even if this was only the Foundation Establishment section.

Now, in Luo Chen’s mind was the nearly complete Foundation Establishment section of the Eternal Youth Evergreen Sutra unfolded. It was as though divine clarity had been poured into his soul. In that instant, he understood how the Medicine King Sect’s Foundation Establishment True Inheritors cultivated at this stage.

They did not merely absorb spirit energy from the world; they refined their bodies and strengthened their divine souls while circulating their spirit power.

Vital essence, qi, and spirit—all cultivated in tandem!

Physique, spirit power, and divine soul!

No wonder the Medicine King Sect nurtured so many Golden Core Adepts and Nascent Soul Sages!

Luo Chen suppressed his excitement and began using the new technique for the first time. The new energy pathway felt somewhat familiar, but even the slightest differences yielded results that were worlds apart. Even the first step brought results!

Previously, he had to cycle his own spirit power to generate attraction and passively draw in external spirit energy. Now, for the first time, he projected his spirit consciousness outward. The moment he did, the surrounding energy stirred as if responding to his call.

For years, Luo Chen had doubted the value of one of the three so-called major transformations after Foundation Establishment.

The dantian becoming a sea made sense; it expanded capacity and allowed more energy storage. The liquefaction of spirit energy also had its obvious use: denser energy in the same space, and more powerful spellcasting. But manifestation of the divine soul and the projection of spirit consciousness?

He had always thought it was less useful than people claimed. Scanning a few li ahead for enemies was pointless when he already had Spirit Eyes that could see farther than that. And imprinting spirit seals on his storage pouch offered no real protection; if he died, anyone could eventually break the seal with enough effort. As for the supposed improvement in controlling enchanted artifacts, that was barely noticeable.

Only now did Luo Chen finally understand: the greatest use of spirit consciousness projection wasn’t in battle, but in cultivation. As he extended his spirit consciousness, the previously invisible ambient spirit energy became faintly visible, like colorful motes of dust, mist, and drifting haze.

Among them, a pale greenish-blue spirit energy stood out—the most familiar and intimately close to him wood-element spirit energy!

Get over here, you little thing!

With a mere flick of his spirit consciousness, Luo Chen’s consciousness transformed like an invisible hand reaching into the ambient spirit energy. It seized a small cluster of wood-element spirit energy and drew it into his body. That single wisp alone equaled an entire minute of passive absorption!

He did not stop. Instead, he frantically projected his consciousness outward, hunting for more of the nearby wood-element energy. This was not blind cultivation; it was precise targeting. Because of its five-element spirit roots, his body absorbed all types of elemental energy indiscriminately; by complete contrast, his consciousness could focus on one element alone.

With such targeted absorption, Luo Chen’s cultivation speed increased noticeably. And as he gathered more energy, he split his focus following the Eternal Youth Evergreen Sutra. He used another strand of spirit consciousness to initiate the second step within his body! The spirit energy he had just absorbed, though briefly refined, was now being guided by his spirit consciousness to rush through both major and minor meridians across his body.

If the human body was likened to a vast network of waterways, then the eight extraordinary meridians were its main channels. Even the most bare bone techniques sought to open the twelve ordinary meridians and the eight extraordinary meridians. But that was usually as far as they went. Meanwhile, the Eternal Youth Evergreen Sutra sought to open every meridian, big and small. If he could clear them all, the body’s internal energy system would face no obstruction whatsoever. That would allow for much greater volumes of spirit energy to flood into his body at once.

Luo Chen had already cleared all his major meridians back during the Qi Refinement Realm. What he needed now was to use spirit energy to unblock the weaker, more delicate minor meridians.

It was a difficult process, but the benefits would be unimaginable if he succeeded. Spirit energy would circulate faster, his storage capacity would increase, his endurance would rise significantly, and his explosive power would also intensify. Not only that, but while executing techniques, spirit energy would pass through more points in the body. Over time, as the body was constantly soaked in spirit energy, it too would become tougher and more refined.

It all sounded quite technical, but if compared with another cultivation system, it became very simple. In the Blood River Realm, there was a stage known as “Meridian Unblocking.” Its principles were nearly identical to this.

In other words, the Eternal Youth Evergreen Sutra did not merely refine spirit energy; it also drew upon Physique Refinement methods, even at the Foundation Establishment level. Within the trinity of vital essence, qi, and spirit, this was the refinement of vital essence, the very foundation of physical power. If he persisted long enough, even a single drop of his essence blood would be vastly more potent than that of any peer in the same realm.

However, unblocking these minor meridians was a tedious and difficult task. Luo Chen already felt exhausted after unblocking just one narrow meridian. Thus, he had no choice but to guide the spirit energy back into his dantian. As it poured in, a single drop of pure liquid condensed from the storm clouds within his sea of qi.

With that, the third step of his cultivation process fell neatly into place.

Capture. Refine. Transfer. Cleanse the meridians.

Step by step, the once turbulent spirit energy became incomparably refined by the time it entered his sea of qi. Only minimal refinement was needed to convert it into a spirit solution.

Time slipped by without notice.

Huuuuu!

A long white dragon of breath slipped from Luo Chen’s mouth as he opened his eyes.

At that moment, a faint exhaustion began to creep into his limbs. Using his spirit consciousness to actively capture ambient energy felt almost like a child chasing butterflies, lighthearted and exhilarating but undeniably draining.

Yet the fatigue carried clear benefits. With time and repetition, his divine soul would only grow stronger and more resilient.

So this is what true Soul Refinement looks like! Luo Chen thought.

His heart surged with newfound understanding. The results were leagues beyond the Divine Breaker of Malevolence, and without the searing pain.

After that flash of awe and clarity, Luo Chen let his gaze fall on the Divine Fiery Incense burning quietly at his side. The sight made him pause in surprise. The stick had burned halfway down. And that was certainly not the usual time-measuring incense stick. Divine Fiery Incense burned at an incredibly slow rate; a single stick could sustain him for five full hours of cultivation.

“So... it takes me two and a half hours just to practice this new core technique once?”

The realization left Luo Chen stunned. A full cycle of the Yi Wood Medicine King Codex had taken only thirty minutes, yet now, judging by how drained he felt, he could manage the Eternal Youth Evergreen Sutra’s Foundation Establishment section only twice a day.

The total time is the same as ten rounds of the old method. Only the number of repetitions has changed. I wonder... has my cultivation speed truly improved?

He pushed aside his cluttered thoughts and rested briefly, then began cultivating once more.

***

After a full night of cultivation, Luo Chen returned to his familiar daily rhythm—reading, practicing spells, and refining pills.

Lately, Luo Chen had been reading far more than before. The great battle had allowed the Luo Tian Society to collect a vast trove of alchemical texts. Even though most were only related to first-tier and second-tier alchemy, he had still acquired a wealth of useful knowledge from them. Previously, his foundation in alchemy had been unstructured, but now it was becoming remarkably solid.

He had also learned two specialized alchemy techniques from those manuals.

One of them was a second-tier water-element alchemical method, Essence Restoration. The technique came from the Danyuan Sect. During the alchemy process, it extracted the essence of ingredients and enriched it using the cultivator’s own spirit energy, thereby enhancing potency. This was the core technique used to produce the Danyuan Sect’s signature first-tier pill, the essence nourishing pills.

The other technique was called Scaled Shift. It was an exceedingly niche method, specifically designed for processing alchemical ingredients from scaled demonic beasts.

Handling beast scales had always been a difficult task in alchemy. Alchemists typically used mineral-processing techniques like Jade Fracture or Star-Plucking instead, but the results were often subpar.

Beast scales had extremely complex properties; they weren’t just keratin or bone. They could harbor essence blood, divine soul imprints, and even traces of inherited memory! Trying to refine them with vague substitutes like Jade Fracture could easily result in critical errors.

Scaled Shift had been created to address this very problem and was meant to be paired with a rare third-tier pill known as the Treasure Body pill. It was the only high-tier alchemical formula Luo Chen had gained from the last harvest.

The pill’s main ingredients required specific kinds of beast scales. According to the ancient formula, long-term use of this pill would cause a cultivator’s body to grow protective scales, much like the armored hide of powerful beasts. They would even be able to withstand direct blows from enchanted treasures.

The effects sounded formidable, but Luo Chen had no plans to refine them. For one, the formula called for specific beast scales he’d never even heard of. Second, it was a high-tier formula; it would demand huge achievement points just to learn it. And third, his alchemy skills weren’t yet sufficient to handle it properly, so he could only shelve the Scaled Shift for now.

As for the second-tier water spell he had obtained, Luo Chen had already studied it and begun practice. Unlike the Falling Clouds Mist of the Luoyun Sect, which relied on specific environmental conditions, this new spell was far more adaptable. He planned to test it casually during pill refinement. Once he mastered it, he intended to pass it on to his disciple, Qu Lingjun.

At that, things from the alchemy side have lightened up lately. He was no longer mass-producing Jade Essence pills. His main focus had shifted to Jade Dew pills and supreme-grade Spirit Passage pills. The former was key to maintaining good relations with Ice Fortress, while the latter directly impacted his divine soul.

Time passed steadily, and before he knew it, more than half a month had gone by. Luo Chen once again entered his meditation chamber.

After a session of cultivation, he stared at the slight uptick in his progress bar and fell into thought.

The Yi Wood Medicine King Codex had reached Perfected Mastery and even evolved into a more complete version of the Eternal Youth Evergreen Sutra. However, when it came to the actual speed of cultivation, it didn’t seem as significant as he had hoped.

On his realm progression bar, it showed Foundation Establishment Stage Four (2/100).

Luo Chen muttered, “Nearly twenty days, and I’ve only gained one point. At this rate, I’ll need two thousand days, so about five years, to reach the fifth stage. Compared to the six-ish years it would’ve taken me before... this is barely any faster.”

With that empirical result in hand, Luo Chen couldn’t help but sigh.

What a pity. He had truly believed that reaching Perfected Mastery would boost his speed significantly, but that hope was clearly misplaced. Yet even in disappointment, his spirits soon lifted.

“My current cultivation technique doesn’t just absorb spirit energy; it tempers the body and strengthens the divine soul. With benefits like these, how can I complain?”

Luo Chen reminded himself that the completed Foundation Establishment section of the Eternal Youth Evergreen Sutra was a privilege reserved for Medicine King Sect disciples and likely only their True Inheritors have access. He, as a mere rogue cultivator, had gained it through sheer effort, without paying any massive price. That alone was a fortune from the heavens.

With his mindset readjusted, Luo Chen no longer felt discouraged.

For the first time in a while, he opened his status panel. Since breaking through to mid-stage Foundation Establishment, he had been too occupied with Luo Tian Society affairs to check it.

While anticipation glowed in his eyes, a shiny panel slowly unfolded before him.