An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

In her haze, she heard Feng Xia’s voice, clear and crisp as a bell, murmuring beside her. ”Luo Chen treats me well, treats Duan Feng well, and treats everyone well. But even so, he should never have strung you along. It cost you your breakthrough.”

”He never strung me along. I just... never had the right to begin with,” replied Caiyi.

”What right? There’s no such thing. Love is love. If he doesn’t love you, then that’s the end of it. As for him and the Director, there isn’t much of a romance there either. If we’re being honest, in mortal terms, he’s just—”

”Sister Xia, mind your words!”

Feng Xia’s voice rose slightly with emotion. ”Why should I? I’d say the same to his face. If you had clarified matters earlier, none of this would have happened. Look at Duan Feng and me. We are clear and direct with each other. The two of you are my dearest friends. Dragging it out like this only hurts each other.”

Gu Caiyi sighed. You’re talking things in mortal terms... How could cultivators compare?

Seeing that Feng Xia still wanted to speak, she gave a couple of soft coughs, finally silencing her. ”Forget it. You should get some rest.”

”Alright, I’ll go prepare the medicinal herbs for tomorrow’s decoction. Fortunately, our Luo Tian Society isn’t short on herbs. They’re the best quality too. I think you’ll be healed in less than three or four years.”

Watching the nagging woman walk away, Gu Caiyi couldn’t help but smile. Feng Xia had never been this talkative before. It was like getting married had made her more matronly, less like the quiet woman she used to be.

Maybe... it also had to do with Luo Chen healing her throat. Now that she can talk again, it feels as if she’s trying to make up for all the words she hasn’t spoken in the first half of her life.

At the thought of Luo Chen, the smile on Gu Caiyi’s lips faded, replaced by a flicker of inner conflict. He’s probably going to be busy now that he’s back... The matters of the Luo Tian Society are plenty anyway, and the name Dan Chenzi has now spread through Tianlan Immortal City. He will surely be flooded with social obligations. Still... will he come see me? He probably will. He has always been careful with formalities. At the very least, I am still his friend. But how can I face him like this? I look horrible, and I’m bedridden. In front of him, I should be the radiant, elegant Lady Gu, not a broken woman wasting away on a soft couch. Maybe tomorrow I should ask Sister Xia to apply a light touch of makeup for me. Something subtle, something that leaves no trace.

Just as her thoughts were spiraling, a voice outside made her heart clench suddenly. ”President!”

***

The wind and snow had stopped at some point. A full moon now hung high in the sky, casting a silver glow across the land so bright that it resembled daylight.

When Feng Xia stepped into the courtyard, her eyes immediately fell upon a figure in crimson, standing like a flame against the night. The man remained motionless, weariness lingering faintly on his face from a long journey. Yet his eyes shone with startling clarity, so piercing they almost made her flinch.

When did he get here? Did he... hear everything we just said? Feng Xia swallowed hard. ”President, I...”

”Sister Xia, it has been a while. I trust you’ve been well?” Luo Chen greeted her with a gentle smile.

Feng Xia forced a small smile in return. ”I’m alright, everything’s fine. Did you just arrive?”

”Yeah.” Luo Chen nodded, then gestured toward the room. ”Is Caiyi inside?”

”She is!”

”Has she gone to sleep?”

”Not yet.”

”Good.” Luo Chen inclined his head. ”Carry on with your duties. I’ll go greet her.”

Without waiting for a reply, he lifted the curtain and stepped quietly into the room.

Feng Xia watched his figure disappear inside, his movements steady and graceful, his presence like warm jade. Only then did she realize she had been holding her breath. Although she had claimed earlier that she would not hesitate to speak her mind in front of him, the moment she stood face-to-face with Luo Chen, she found that his presence carried a weight she could not shake off.

They were both Foundation Establishment Initiates, yet her husband Duan Feng had never exuded such pressure. Was it his cultivation, his status, his reputation? No matter how much she pondered, she could not find the answer.

***

”You’re back?”

”Yes, I’m back,” Luo Chen answered calmly.

When he saw her struggling to sit up, he shook his head. ”Just lie down. There’s no need to be so formal with me.”

”Sorry. I haven’t been feeling well lately,” Gu Caiyi replied in an equally calm voice.

Luo Chen glanced around the room. It was in a remote corner of Danxia Peak, where spirit energy was nearly nonexistent. A furnace burned steadily in the corner, filling the room with warmth like midsummer. To ordinary eyes, it might have seemed cozy, but to a cultivator, it felt disturbingly unnatural. No cultivator at the Perfected Mastery of Qi Refinement would choose to live in a place so devoid of spirit energy, nor would one light a furnace simply out of fear of the cold.

Is her injury really that serious? Luo Chen’s gaze lingered on her. Gu Caiyi subtly turned away, her pale face half-hidden beneath dry, dark strands of hair. He exhaled softly, though even he was unsure of the reason.

Luo Chen sat down on the edge of the couch. ”Let me see your hand.”

”Hm?”

”I just want to take a look.”

”You can treat illnesses too?” Gu Caiyi asked with a faint laugh.

”I’m an alchemist, have you forgotten?” Luo Chen said calmly. ”I healed Sister Xia’s throat, and I helped sister-in-law recover after her Foundation Establishment failure.”

Realization dawned on her, and after a moment’s hesitation, she extended her hand. Her slender wrist rested in his grasp like a fragile twig. Luo Chen furrowed his brows. Gu Caiyi, who had been watching his face, instinctively tried to withdraw, but his calm voice stopped her. ”Lie still.”

Luo Chen took a deep breath and gently grasped her wrist, adopting a physician’s grip. A soft stream of spirit energy slowly entered her body through the meridians in her arm. However, it only traveled a short distance before being blocked.

Hm? Luo Chen’s brows arched. He extended his spirit consciousness to investigate further. Unlike his own cultivation, where everything flowed freely and openly, his spirit consciousness and energy now moved with painstaking slowness. As he patiently examined her, her internal condition became clear to him.

Her body was... damaged. In every possible way. Her meridians lay mangled, like flowers and trees broken by a violent storm. They were fractured, ruined, withered, and swollen, with hardly a single one intact. Only a few near her stomach appeared in somewhat better condition, as though they had been treated with meridian-repairing liquid. Yet that was where the medicine’s effects ended. Most meridians were tangled and overlapped, chaotic and torn, in utter disorder.

Even worse, a massive and aggressive flood of spirit power rampaged within her body. It surged like rivers bursting through dams, sweeping across ponds, fields, and cities. With no outlet, the energy remained trapped. It festered within her, gnawing away at her fragile body every second. The root cause of it all was none other than her nearly shattered dantian.

How could it become like this? Sima Xian suffered the worst injuries, but even he didn’t end up anywhere this badly! Besides, Caiyi had already overcome the Root of Tongue Tribulation[1]. Her primal yin is intact, and the dantian barrier was broken, so why would she still fail? Did she fail at the stage when spirit energy washed through the twelve main meridians and eight extraordinary vessels? No, that can’t be it. Caiyi took the Spirit Passage Pill; her divine soul foundation isn’t weak, and she should’ve been able to contain the torrent. That step shouldn’t have been that difficult.

A flood of questions surged through Luo Chen’s mind after he thoroughly examined Gu Caiyi’s injuries. He frowned deeply and fell into thought.

A soft voice, fragile and trembling, reached his ears. ”Healer Luo, how... how am I?”

”It should not be too serious,” Luo Chen replied calmly. ”Let me examine you a bit more.”

With that, he refocused his mind and once again guided his spirit consciousness into Gu Caiyi’s body. This time, he also cast his Perfected Mastery Heal, weaving in his pure and vibrant wood-element spirit power that brushed over the blocked meridians like spring rain soaking through parched soil.

Gu Caiyi let out a muffled groan at the sudden stimulation. Yet soon, a gentle warmth spread through her body. It was warm and comforting, as if someone was gently massaging her sore and swollen meridians.

Time slipped by unnoticed. This round of observation lasted a long time.

When Luo Chen finally withdrew, he found her eyes fixed on him. He met her gaze and said evenly, ”It’s a bit tricky, but not serious. You can be fully healed. Give it a year at most.”

He spoke without hurry, carrying immense confidence. To Gu Caiyi, however, the tone sounded painfully familiar. Instead of joy, quiet desolation crossed her face. She had heard such reassurance many times over the past year. Everyone had said the same words, and now he did as well. To her ears, they were no more than attempts to comfort.

”Rest well. I’ll come see you again tomorrow.” Luo Chen gently tucked her frail arm back beneath the blanket and began to rise.

The moment he turned, a hand seized his. He looked back to see Gu Caiyi, who until now had remained calm and composed, with two streaks of tears glistening as they slid down her cheeks.

She said nothing, only looked at him with silent eyes while tears fell one after another. Though her face remained calm, an overwhelming tide of emotion surged beneath the surface. Feelings long suppressed had finally found release, condensed into that single grip on Luo Chen’s hand.

The strength of her grip could hardly be weaker. He could have easily pulled free. Yet to Luo Chen, it felt as though her hand had closed tightly around his heart. In the end, he didn’t pull away.

1. 舌根之祸 (shé gēn zhī huò) often refers to a spiritual or physiological tribulation involving the tongue root, a concept drawn from Daoist and Buddhist traditions where the tongue is considered one of the six sense bases. ☜