An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

”Investigate! Search thoroughly and leave no stone unturned! I want to know exactly what compelled the Falling Cloud Sect to dispatch ten Golden Core Adepts at once!”

Inside the newly rebuilt Grand Hall on Danxia Peak, Luo Chen’s face was dark as he roared in a low voice.

Not long ago, when ten Golden Core divine consciousnesses swept across him, he felt what it truly meant to be insignificant for the first time in his life. The sensation was probably what an ant felt standing before a towering giant. If but a flicker of malice crossed those Adepts’ minds, their combined divine consciousness could have shattered his soul, erased his consciousness, and left him as a mindless corpse. Even with the defense of the Forsaken Black Chess Piece guarding his soul and a physique comparable to that of a third-tier archaic demonic beast, he had been utterly helpless. Against such power, he was nothing but a speck of dust.

The only reason he remained unharmed was that the Golden Core Adepts bore him no ill intent. They had glanced his way out of curiosity, nothing more. It was like a passerby admiring a flower in bloom.

Was the flower spared because it was beautiful?

No! It was spared only because no one had thought to pluck it.

Luo Chen despised that kind of luck. He hated the knowledge that his life and death rested in the hands of others. And he needed to know why the Falling Cloud Sect had gathered ten Adepts onto a single flying boat.

Their course made the matter stranger still. They had not come from the Jilei Mountain battlefield nor from the sect’s mountain gate. Instead, the direction they flew toward looked very much like they were returning home. Which meant that before that, they must have traveled together to another place and accomplished something of great significance.

Inside the hall, Xing Zhonghan bent low with cold sweat running down his face. Never before had he seen Luo Chen so unsettled. The harsh words that rang out were not measured commands but the desperate fury of a cornered beast.

With all his years of experience, Luo Chen should never have lost his composure. Yet the pressure had come from ten Adepts, and among them even late-stage Golden Core grand cultivators!

Xing Zhonghan swallowed hard and said quickly, ”President, please grant me some time. I will ensure that Luo Network uncovers the truth.”

Luo Chen closed his eyes and waved a hand weakly. Once Xing Zhonghan left the hall, a crisp and capable female voice rose at the right moment.

”Elder Xing is not to blame,” Sima Huiniang said. ”He has only just replaced Su Xiaolin as the one overseeing Luo Network. He is still adapting to intelligence work and may have missed certain stirrings in the cultivation world.”

With eyes still shut, Luo Chen spoke in a muffled tone. ”I know it is not his fault. But Huiniang, you cannot imagine the terror of a sheep being surrounded by a pack of wolves and tigers.”

Sima Huiniang froze. She recalled his earlier loss of composure. Even when facing Qin Tairan’s frontal onslaught, Luo Chen had not lost his composure. Yet this time, he had stumbled back seven full steps and was drenched in cold sweat.

She could not help but ask, ”Are you certain it was truly the divine consciousness of ten Adepts?”

”How could I not be?” Luo Chen shut his eyes as if resting his spirit, and gradually calmed down. ”Those ten divine consciousnesses were probing, but they did not bother to hide themselves from me. But they were aimed solely at me, which is why the rest of you could not feel them.”

Sima Huiniang shook her head. ”If the Falling Cloud Sect dispatched ten Adepts at once, it was either for something deeply secretive or something utterly blatant. In the first case, Xing Zhonghan will never uncover it. In the second, there is no need for searching at all. In a short while, news will spread throughout the Jade Cauldron Domain on its own.”

Shua!

Luo Chen’s eyes snapped open, a flash like lightning streaking across the dim hall.

”It was absolutely not something done in secret! For them to return so brazenly by flying boat may deceive Qi Refinement or even Foundation Establishment cultivators but every Adept along their route would surely notice. What I need is not just the first-hand information, but every detail connected to it.”

Sima Huiniang nodded thoughtfully. Then she said, ”If that is the case, the Luo Network alone will not suffice. I will mobilize the Luo Tian Society’s full strength to investigate.”

Over the years, the Luo Tian Society’s ventures had expanded greatly. The web of connections it had built was considerable. Although it could not claim influence over the entire Jade Cauldron Domain, in the surrounding markets and even several great immortal cities, its channels ran deep. If mobilized fully, minor matters were easily within reach. If it was an affair worthy of ten Adepts moving together, the truth would inevitably surface.

Beyond that, Luo Chen had plans of his own. He intended to seek out Elder Fei Ming of Ailao Mountain. As a Golden Core Adept, Fei Ming surely had faster and broader access to information.

However, when Luo Chen returned to Tianlan Immortal City and went to Cave Residence Jia One, he was told by the disciple there that the elder was not receiving visitors. Only after he slipped a finely crafted top-grade enchanted artifact did the disciple whisper that Elder Fei Ming had left in a great hurry the day before and had yet to return.

Yet an immortal city always required at least one Golden Core Adept in residence. When Fairy Ruthless had gone abroad, it was only because Hao Ranzi remained secluded on Tianlan Peak that she dared leave. For Fei Ming to abandon the city’s safety in such haste spoke volumes of the urgency of the matter.

Luo Chen stood outside the cave residence as he muttered, ”It seems something truly dire has happened.”

***

Just as Sima Huiniang had guessed, a matter that compelled ten Adepts to act together was either a secret hidden from all eyes or a great upheaval that was bound to shake the entire domain. Within half a day, news of such an upheaval reached Luo Chen.

The Flame Alliance had been massacred, and Green Pill Valley was destroyed!

It was not one disaster, but two!

At the moment the message arrived, Luo Chen gasped in disbelief, Sima Huiniang’s face drained to snow-white, and Xing Zhonghan, who delivered the report, trembled uncontrollably. The hall sank into suffocating silence, broken only by the harsh, thunderous rhythm of their breathing.

For a long moment, Luo Chen couldn’t restrain himself and spoke, ”Are we certain this news is true?”

Xing Zhonghan’s answer came through trembling lips. ”It would be hard for it to be false. The news has already spread through Great Radiance Immortal City and Glazed Immortal City. We received it later because the Flame Alliance’s vassals around Tianlan Immortal City have been practically wiped out. But the movements of Green Pill Valley’s vassals can serve as confirmation.”

Sima Huiniang exclaimed in horror, ”Has the Falling Cloud Sect gone mad? Even as a newly risen Nascent Soul sect, they could not possibly confront two major sects in a single day. Could it be that Sage Han Zhan struck personally?”

”No!” Xing Zhonghan shook his head sharply. ”The news I have is that the Falling Cloud Sect massacred the Flame Alliance, and the Sword Sect destroyed Green Pill Valley.”

”How could this be possible? Have the two great sects cast aside all pretense of honor?” Sima Huiniang murmured.

”President, what do you think...” Xing Zhonghan asked.

Luo Chen drew a deep breath. ”I need the specific details of this war. Even if it’s just hearsay, gather as many details as possible.”

”Understood!”

Without hesitation, Xing Zhonghan turned and left the Grand Hall. Sima Huiniang did not linger either. After exchanging a few words with Luo Chen, she departed in haste.

If the reports were true, the entire Jade Cauldron Domain was on the verge of upheaval. Two Golden Core sects had been struck down by Nascent Soul powers, and the accounts used words such as ”massacred” and ”destroyed.” The choice of words alone revealed the ferocity of the conflict.

The Luo Tian Society was nothing more than a small Foundation Establishment force. Amid such shifts in the greater order, it was a fragile leaf tossed upon stormy seas, vulnerable to being swept away or crushed without warning. Only by gathering enough intel could they prepare themselves with purpose.

***

The Flame Alliance had been massacred, and Green Pill Valley destroyed. Two great calamities erupted on the same day. In the Jade Cauldron Domain, which had only just begun to settle, the news struck like lightning from a clear sky.

In that instant, every place where cultivators gathered was filled with frenzied discussion. At the same time, countless opportunists, driven by the belief that fortune favored the bold, rushed toward the mountains of the two fallen sects.

Meanwhile, reports accumulated on Luo Chen’s desk as Sima Huiniang and Xing Zhonghan sorted and relayed them.

”Shanhai Year 3433, ninth month, seventh day. At night, outside Incense Burning Valley, the Falling Cloud Sect assembled five hundred Initiates and ten Adepts. The ten struck in unison, taking the enemy by surprise and shattering the mountain-guarding formation. It is suspected that Nascent Soul-level assets were deployed...

”Eyewitnesses reported that the Falling Cloud Sect deployed over a thousand powerful puppets, which rained indiscriminate fire upon Incense Burning Valley once the formation fell...

”A massive war puppet, crafted by Sage Han Zhan himself, appeared for the first time, wreaking havoc within the valley...

”The assault was sudden, and the Flame Alliance was caught unprepared. Even when they revealed hidden reserves, bringing forth over a dozen Adepts that were thought long dead by the public, they still could not withstand the Falling Cloud Sect’s army! In that storm, countless Flame Alliance cultivators perished. Even Adepts were blasted to pieces by the relentless puppet barrage...”

As he read the reports, Luo Chen’s hands trembled. What hatred could drive such ferocity, to bring such brutal means of extermination to a sect’s gates? Although brutal wars between cultivation powers were nothing new, these were the Golden Core major sects!

Amid the shock, details that had once been overlooked began to form clearer threads. Rumors spread that the Flame Alliance had obtained True Artifacts from Bai Ye’s pocket world. Could it be a case of an innocent man targeted for the treasure he carried?

Since the outbreak of civil war among the Jade Cauldron upper sects, the Flame Alliance had already suffered grievous losses. Two of their Adepts had fallen, one at the Blackwater Marshes and another on the Jilei battlefield. Their strength had waned, leaving their estate dangerously exposed.

Luo Chen narrowed his eyes as he recalled Han Zheng’s expedition two months earlier. Though it had been described as a customary excursion for Foundation Establishment disciples of an upper sect, there was no reason for so many to go at once. In hindsight, it was clear they had left in batches, encircled the Flame Alliance, and then regrouped to destroy it in one go. More than that, he remembered Han Zheng’s mention of a so-called ”sect mission.”

”In fact, Han Zheng had dropped a hint to me back then. When I spoke of vengeance, he told me that the greater my hope, the greater my disappointment. I thought then it was just his arrogance as a favored disciple, looking down on me. Now I see he already knew the sect had decided to strike the Flame Alliance and no longer regarded its cultivators as living beings. Others might have had no idea, but Han Zheng is Sage Han Zhan’s grandson. He must have known the truth.”

If these subtle clues were pieced together, what the Falling Cloud Sect had done was no different from when Luo Chen himself had led men to attack the Fu family fortress. First came an accusation that the Flame Alliance possessed True Artifacts. Then followed a direct assault on their mountain gate. That alone made the war appear justified.

The Flame Alliance’s reliance on the Sword Sect and their repeated strikes at the Falling Cloud Sect only deepened the enmity between them. No truce had ever been agreed upon. For the Falling Cloud Sect to march on the Flame Alliance’s gate was almost inevitable.

”But then... what of the Sword Sect?” Luo Chen murmured. Why had they chosen not to intervene, only to turn their blades against Green Pill Valley instead?

”Rumor has it that Green Pill Valley’s Supreme Elder, Qing Danzi, acquired a Nascent Soul alchemical formula. For years, the Sword Sect had tried to negotiate for it, but Green Pill Valley refused.”

At that report, Luo Chen gave a derisive laugh. Whether the news was true or false, the tactic mirrored the Falling Cloud Sect’s exactly. The only difference was the excuse: not a True Artifact this time, but an alchemical formula. And then they stormed the gate.

Xing Zhonghan quickly reported, ”When the Flame Alliance was attacked, they immediately sent a plea for help to the Sword Sect. Their territories were close, and upon receiving the call, the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect mobilized at once. But instead of marching directly to aid the Flame Alliance, they followed Adept Yaoguang’s decision: attack the east to save the west.”

Luo Chen arched a brow. ”Attack the east... to save the west?”

Xing Zhonghan nodded. ”Yes. Adept Yaoguang personally led eight hundred sword cultivators to strike Green Pill Valley. Apparently, he did so in hopes of forcing the Falling Cloud Sect to withdraw. But unlike the Flame Alliance, Green Pill Valley was prepared. When the Sword Sect army arrived, their grand formation was already active. Eight hundred sword cultivators attacked in unison, but the formation held firm. At last, Adept Yaoguang acted himself. With a single strike of the sword, he split Yuanhua Mountain in two. At that moment, the Falling Cloud Sect abandoned the siege of the Flame Alliance and rushed to aid Green Pill Valley. Unwilling to deal with enemies from both front and back, the Sword Sect retreated, and this whole thing came to an end.”

The result aligned with the usual pattern of attack and defense. When a sect was prepared, a mountain-guarding formation could not be destroyed without the power of someone at a higher realm—in this case, a late-stage Adept.

But Yuanhua Mountain has been destroyed? That’s pretty major. Luo Chen’s eyelids twitched at the thought. He remembered that Yuanhua Mountain was the gateway to Green Pill Valley. Out of the Five Peaks, it seemed the least significant, yet in truth, it was the most critical. With the gateway broken, the valley’s spirit energy would leak outward. In that case, centuries of effort to elevate their spirit veins would be wasted.

Was the Sword Sect’s aim really to distract the Falling Cloud Sect and save the Flame Alliance? Or was it to seize the Nascent Soul alchemical formula? Or was it actually to destroy the valley’s feng shui formation? According to the news, both stopping the Falling Cloud Sect’s attack and the destruction of the feng shui had been accomplished; as for the alchemical formula, they’d likely failed to acquire it.

Beyond that, there was one more crucial point. Had this war been the Falling Cloud Sect’s decision alone, or had it been a coordinated act between the two upper sects? If tacit cooperation had existed between the two powers, then the Sword Sect’s decision to shatter the Five Peaks formation would also have undermined the Falling Cloud Sect’s ambitions to claim a fourth-tier spirit land. Such a turn of events suggested that the Sword Sect may have shifted its intentions midway.

And finally, the most critical question: Would such attacks happen again? Ailao Mountain was weak as well and stood on shaky ground. The Ice Fortress, set in a remote domain and hemmed in by the Great Million Mountains of the Eastern Wilderness, would have no avenue of escape if an enemy struck. Even the Hundred Flowers Palace, which had long held to neutrality, might reconsider its stance and move to realign.

None of these questions had an answer. And considering Elder Fei Ming’s sudden departure from Tianlan Immortal City, it seemed likely that he also had the last one in mind.

”Not enough. The information is still far from sufficient.” Luo Chen muttered to himself.

Xing Zhonghan asked in confusion, ”Even if the battle was fierce and dire, it was still a clash between upper and major sects. President, why are you paying such close attention?”

A sharp glint flashed across Luo Chen’s face. ”The Flame Alliance is our sworn enemy. Do you think I should not care?”

Xing Zhonghan froze. He had only recently joined the Luo Tian Society and had yet to develop a deep attachment. Yet at that moment, he realized why Luo Chen had pressed so insistently for every detail of the battle. If the Flame Alliance had truly been destroyed, would that not mean the Luo Tian Society’s greatest enmity had been avenged?

Xing Zhonghan faintly guessed Luo Chen’s intent. Having just joined, he had yet to make any contribution. If he could seize this opportunity to render great service for merits, the chance to exchange for the society’s Core Formation secret art might one day fall into his grasp.

The idea stirred his heart, and he spoke at once. ”Give me a little more time, and I will gather every scrap of intelligence on the Flame Alliance!”

Luo Chen studied him intently for a moment before nodding slowly.