An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

After returning to Tianlan Peak, Luo Chen’s days once again settled into a calm, steady rhythm. He spent his days in secluded cultivation, seldom interacting with others. Occasionally, Wang Yuan would visit to discuss matters concerning the Myriad Path Convergence.

Yet Luo Chen’s silence didn’t mean he was ignorant of the world outside. With the Luo Network running at full throttle, a constant stream of intelligence was submitted to him.

Following the Luo Tian Society’s shift from expansion to internal consolidation, many forces that had previously competed with them or struck from the shadows began revealing themselves, trying to take advantage of the sudden change in strategy. Backed by their alliances and emboldened by numbers, they became increasingly unrestrained in their actions. Incidents targeting the Luo Tian Society became a common occurrence.

In response, Sima Huiniang changed her usual approach. Aside from deploying elite cultivators to guard key merchant convoys, she chose tolerance and restraint in nearly all other cases. To the outside world, it seemed as if the Luo Tian Society had bowed its head under the Flame Alliance’s pressure. Even within the Luo Tian Society, voices of dissatisfaction began to rise.

Only Sima Huiniang knew that they had to wait for the right opportunity.

Though the enemy forces were scattered, their combined strength could not be ignored. If the Luo Tian Society counterattacked, they risked becoming entangled in endless conflict and exhausting their own momentum. It was far better to wait until those enemies gathered together, then strike them all down in one clean sweep.

Until that opportunity presented itself, the Luo Tian Society’s priority was to strengthen its own cultivators as much as possible.

At Sima Huiniang’s instruction, Murong Qinglian led the Merit Palace in conducting a large-scale merit assessment of the Luo Tian Society’s late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators. From among them, they selected promising Foundation Establishment candidates and prepared to distribute the Foundation Establishment pills.

Before long, a list was placed before Luo Chen.

Zhou Yuanli, the Law Enforcement Elder of the Battle Palace, stood among the selected, joined by combat cultivators Liu Qiang and Gui Jiang from the same palace. From the Medicine Palace came Bian Zhen and Feng Xia, while the Merit Palace contributed Steward Sima Wenjie. Rounding out the list was Xu Xiaoliu, an elder of the Outer Hall.

Each name came with a detailed record of their outstanding contributions to the Luo Tian Society over the years. The amount of merit listed determined the Foundation Establishment resources for which they qualified, but in any case, making it onto the list alone was enough to guarantee at least one Foundation Establishment pill.

Luo Chen skimmed through the list and found no issues. The only thing he did was leave a special remark beside Zhou Yuanli’s name.

”Allocate him the highest tier of resources. Provide two Foundation Establishment pills. Grant him unrestricted access to all of the Luo Tian Society’s collected Foundation Establishment insights.”

Sima Huiniang had no objections to this special treatment.

Zhou Yuanli was different from the others. He had once served as Luo Chen’s guard, back when Luo Chen was still weak and obscure. While he’d never saved Luo Chen’s life outright, he had stood beside him through crisis after crisis, steadfast and loyal, winning Luo Chen’s enduring trust.

More importantly, he was a man of unwavering integrity and sharp decisiveness. When it came to life-or-death decisions, Zhou Yuanli didn’t hesitate. For years, the entire Law Enforcement Hall had remained under his control, a clear reflection of how much Luo Chen valued him.

”These cultivators have all reached Perfected Mastery of Qi Refinement. They’re ready to try for Foundation Establishment at any time,” Sima Huiniang said. ”In addition, this list here includes cultivators who have earned enough merit, but only recently advanced to the ninth stage of Qi Refinement. I plan to nurture a select few of them as Initiate Scions.”

Just like the major sects, which selected exceptional disciples from among their Foundation Establishment elites and designated them as Adept Scions, the Luo Tian Society had begun taking a similar approach. The only difference was that their benchmark was Foundation Establishment, and their chosen candidates were all cultivators in the late stages of Qi Refinement.

As she explained, Sima Huiniang handed another list to Luo Chen.

Luo Chen glanced down, and the very first name he saw belonged to his own disciple. He was at the helm of the Alchemy Palace, which now boasted five first-tier alchemists, thirty fire handlers, and numerous apprentices.

Name: Qu Lingjun

Position: Leader of the Alchemy Palace

Cultivation: Recently entered the ninth stage of Qi Refinement.

Merits: Has refined pills for the Luo Tian Society and contributed to the Alchemy Palace’s profits. Instrumental in the growth of the Alchemy Hall and then Alchemy Palace.

Assessment: Grade A+

Seeing his disciple’s name, Luo Chen couldn’t help but feel a touch of emotion.

The once-naive boy had stepped into his thirties. Despite having a poor four-spirit-root constitution, he had steadily advanced to the ninth stage of Qi Refinement under Luo Chen’s generous support. Though he lagged far behind peers like Qin Yuanjiang, it was still a remarkable achievement for someone who started as a rogue cultivator.

”Still, it seems Palace Leader Qu isn’t in a rush to attempt Foundation Establishment.”

”Oh?” Luo Chen looked up, slightly surprised.

Sima Huiniang smiled in amusement. ”Ever since Elder Li returned from the battlefield, he’s taken a particular interest in Qu Lingjun. He’s even been personally guiding his cultivation from time to time. According to him, Qu Lingjun may have weak spirit roots, but his temperament is steady, and he’s still young. So there’s no need to rush.

”More than that, Elder Li even reworked his family’s secret technique, the Ninefold Reversion Sutra, and developed a new technique called Three Origins Unification, which he’s now passing on directly to Qu Lingjun. In his words, even those with weak aptitude can touch upon the Great Dao, so long as their foundation is solid and resources are sufficient...”

Li Yingzhang? Luo Chen’s expression turned thoughtful. As Sima Huiniang described it, this all started after Elder Li had returned from the battlefield. And after Luo Chen had been trapped in the Divine Transformation pocket world, Elder Li’s care for Qu Lingjun had only deepened. It was also around that time that he unveiled theThree Origins Unification.

Was this his way of returning a favor? Luo Chen had once saved his life. Unable to return that kindness directly, Li Yingzhang had instead poured his efforts into Luo Chen’s disciple. Perhaps this was what they meant by ”loving the house and also its crow[1].”

Sima Huiniang continued, ”Also, these past few years, Qu Lingjun has been seeking treatment for Mi Li. He’s taken her to visit Master Healer Sun many times. When Palace Leader Murong awarded him an A+ merit rating, he even tried to exchange his merits for healing pills. A year ago, I bought a Blue Sea Pill at the Tianlan Auction. It can restore a cultivator’s dantian and meridians. I suppose he intended to get it for Mi Li.”

After listening to Sima Huiniang’s explanation, Luo Chen couldn’t help but shake his head.

This disciple of mine... such a hopeless romantic.

Luo Chen recalled the conversation they had back in the Luo Tian Society’s Grand Hall on Xiaohuan Mountain and let out a sigh. He had almost forgotten about it.

Back then, he had expressed doubts about Qu Lingjun and Mi Li’s future together and had made a promise that once Qu Lingjun reached the ninth stage of Qi Refinement, he could decide whether to form a Dao companionship with Mi Li.

And now, before he’d even realized it, Qu Lingjun had already reached the ninth stage of Qi Refinement.

”So be it,” Luo Chen murmured. ”I must keep my word.”

He set the list aside and said, ”Huiniang, send word to Qu Lingjun. Have him bring Mi Li to Tianlan Peak.”

”You want to see him?” Sima Huiniang asked in surprise.

Mm. Luo Chen responded softly, a touch of sentimentality in his tone. ”He is, after all, my only disciple. It’s about time I see him. Oh, and send me that Blue Sea Pill as well.”

Sima Huiniang nodded thoughtfully.

***

Three days later, a man accompanied by a beautiful woman arrived at the foot of Tianlan Peak.

It was broad daylight, and the cultivators guarding the mountain barely gave a glance to those coming and going. So long as they had valid identity tokens, they were allowed to pass without issue. However, when they caught sight of the man, their eyes lit up.

”Young friend Qu, long time no see!” one of the guards called out with a smile.

Qu Lingjun blinked, momentarily taken aback. It took him a second to realize the Foundation Establishment cultivator at the gate was speaking to him. He gently released Mi Li’s hand and bowed respectfully.

”Greetings, Senior!”

The cultivator glanced at Qu Lingjun, then smiled with appreciation. ”It’s been a year or two, hasn’t it? Your cultivation hasn’t slacked at all. You’ve just entered the ninth stage of Qi Refinement, but your foundation is impressively solid.”

Qu Lingjun was surprised, though he didn’t let it show on his face. He didn’t recognize this man. The cultivator surnamed Wang he used to be close with had supposedly died on the battlefield. Over the past few years, he had been preoccupied with alchemy and cultivation, so he had rarely visited Tianlan Peak. Thus, it came as a surprise that this stranger not only recognized him but even praised his cultivation progress.

Not daring to be impolite, he exchanged a few words and then pulled out some fresh fruit from his storage pouch. ”These are spirit fruits from our Danxia Peak. They’re not worth many spirit stones, but they taste great, and they’re crispy and juicy. I think you might enjoy them with a cup of tea, Senior.”

The cultivator’s eyes lit up, and his demeanor toward Qu Lingjun grew even warmer.

After chatting for a while, Qu Lingjun continued up Tianlan Peak with Mi Li.

”Lord Qu, your network is impressive. Even Initiates lower themselves to greet you!” Mi Li teased him with a smile.

However, Qu Lingjun shook his head and replied, ”I don’t even know that person.”

Mi Li was momentarily stunned. ”Maybe he’s one of Master’s friends.”

Qu Lingjun thought for a moment and said softly, ”These past few years, the war has claimed many lives in Tianlan Immortal City. Because of that, quite a number of cave residences on Tianlan Peak have opened up. Even top-grade second-tier cave residences are now available. The Director allocated a significant amount of spirit stones to lease more of these cave residences, and even moved the Luo Tian Society from second-tier mid-grade to second-tier top-grade cave residences. This means more and more of our members will be coming and going from Tianlan Peak. If we get along with the guards, it’ll save us a lot of trouble when moving around. I’ll speak to the Director once we’re back and ask the society to prepare some gifts for this guard, to maintain goodwill.”

Hearing her man calculate things so seriously, Mi Li couldn’t help but smile with her lips pressed together. She sighed. ”Ever since the President went missing, you’ve become steadier than before. You’re even thinking about the whole Luo Tian Society now.”

Qu Lingjun gave a wry smile. ”If Master were still around, I wouldn’t need to worry about these things. But now, I do what I can. I’m just trying to reduce the trouble the Luo Tian Society has to face.”

Mi Li nodded and looked up at the majestic Tianlan Peak, the sound of crashing waterfalls rumbling in her ears. ”I wonder what the Director wants us to do at the President’s cave residence?”

Qu Lingjun hesitated. ”Could it be that Master has returned?”

1. 爱屋及乌 is a Chinese idiom that describes a kind of affectionate bias where one’s love for a person extends to everything related to them, even the trivial or flawed. ☜