An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

”Sorry, I failed to protect that enchanted treasure subsidiary cauldron.”

”There is no need to blame yourself. Under circumstances like that, and since you are not a disciple of our sect, protecting yourself is only natural. Besides, with the main cauldron intact, forging another subsidiary cauldron is only a matter of time.”

”The main cauldron... Then... may I ask about your Supreme Elder’s condition?”

Refining a fourth-tier pill across realms, and not just any pill but the most violent breakthrough pill of its level, and even attempting seven batches at once.... A furnace explosion under such conditions was far beyond what ordinary Adepts could withstand. Even with the grand formation dispersing the backlash through thirty-six alchemists and thirty-six cauldrons, the injuries Qing Danzi had suffered while forcibly preserving the main cauldron were unimaginable.

He was already extremely old, long past his natural lifespan, and had only survived to this point through life-extending pills. After this ordeal, Qing Danzi likely would not live for much longer. That was why Luo Chen had asked.

Walking at his side, Tao Wan brushed back the strands of hair that had fallen against her cheek. A pained look settled over her features, and she shook her head without offering a word.

Luo Chen took the hint and refrained from pressing her further. A glance over his shoulder showed that the scenery behind them had already slipped far from Green Pill Valley.

He cupped his fists and said, ”I will take my leave here.”

Tao Wan gave a soft hum in acknowledgement. Even those who walked a thousand li together eventually had to part ways. The sect faced a mountain of urgent matters, and there was no way that she could personally escort Luo Chen back to Tianlan Immortal City.

As she studied his calm and carefree expression, she hesitated briefly before speaking, ”I heard you intend to join the Frontier War?”

”Yes, I’ve already sent word to the front.”

”Green Pill Valley suffered grievously in this disaster. Our strength has been crippled. I fear we can no longer take part in the Frontier War... You must be careful.”

With a casual wave, Luo Chen summoned a flying boat beneath his feet. Once he stepped onto it, he turned back and dipped his head lightly. ”Take care!”

Tao Wan forced a faint smile. ”You too.”

Luo Chen infused some mana, and the flying boat rose into the air. It circled once in the sky, then sped toward the direction of Tianlan Immortal City. Before long, it vanished into the clouds until only a black speck remained.

Tao Wan watched the fading speck and let out a weary sigh. She walked back toward Green Pill Valley alone. Before she even entered the valley, she heard waves of sorrowful wailing. ”Supreme Elder... this time, you truly lost your gamble!”

***

Aboard the flying boat, Luo Chen was now dressed in a robe of crimson cloud trimmed with a gold edge. He sat in silence, lost in thought.

He was reflecting. The reflection was not on himself, but on Qing Danzi’s failure. The elder had staked the entire fortune and destiny of Green Pill Valley, attempting to force the refinement of a Nascent Soul Pill with the sect’s accumulated foundation. Yet he had failed. The reason was simple: the alchemy still fell short. With twenty whole sets of materials, not even a single semi-finished product had appeared.

”If I were the one refining it, would the outcome have been better?”

With the system in his possession, once he mastered the formula to the Beginner level, he could have a guaranteed success rate of ten percent. As he imagined the situation, he wondered whether he could have succeeded with twenty sets of materials.

After careful thought, he reached an answer. ”No! Refining a fourth-tier pill demands far too many conditions. It’s not only alchemy skill, but also mana, divine consciousness, and the right tools.”

Qing Danzi’s personal ability was undeniable. As the heir to the founding ancestor’s title, he could refine most third-tier pills with ease and apparently he had even refined a fourth-tier one before. With a cultivation near Perfected Mastery of the Golden Core Realm, his mana and divine consciousness were practically impeccable. In addition, he possessed the top-grade enchanted-treasure Azure Sky Glazed Cauldron, and he was supported by five third-tier alchemists, thirty seasoned second-tier alchemists, and a tremendously complex formation. Even under such conditions, he had failed. This showed just how difficult the Nascent Soul Pill truly was.

Luo Chen’s alchemy level was nowhere near comparable. Even with the system, what difference would it make? With his shallow foundation, attempting such a high-tier alchemical formula would cost an enormous number of achievement points. The sixty-six points he had painstakingly saved probably would not even scratch the surface.

Another reason for Qing Danzi’s failure was insufficient time. He had delayed for far too long. It had been long enough for the outside world to react, and even three Sages had descended. At that moment, the pressure crushing down on Qing Danzi and the disturbance of his mental state had certainly contributed to his failure.

”Even if he had refined Nascent Soul Pills, then what? Could he have just... not given the pills to those guys? As if...”

Luo Chen let out a quiet laugh. It was unclear whether he mocked Qing Danzi or himself. In circumstances like that, one was nothing more than a fish on the chopping block. Even if he had been the one standing there, the outcome would hardly have been better.

After this calamity, Green Pill Valley is practically withdrawn from the Frontier War. Wait... Now that I think of it, this might even count as a blessing for Green Pill Valley....

Luo Chen’s thoughts suddenly shifted into an entirely different direction. Setting aside Qing Danzi and considering the sect as a whole, it appeared that there was a lot of damage, but this damage had been suffered by the sect’s alchemists. The sect’s actual combat strength had not declined by much.

Who was Green Pill Valley’s greatest enemy? Naturally, it was the Medicine King Sect!

Now that Green Pill Valley’s alchemist corps had collapsed, its pill business would inevitably shrink. Medicine King Sect would no longer regard them as a threat, much less waste effort targeting them now that they were fully focused on the Frontier War. So, taking everything into account rather than just the recent disaster itself, things were quite different from what they appeared to be.

Green Pill Valley had lost the Five Peaks formation earlier, and now, its Supreme Elder had lost the chance to advance. Therefore, within the Jade Cauldron domain, it no longer posed a threat to the Sword Sect. The Grand Alchemy Institute had lost more than half its alchemists and its pill production would consequently drop. Therefore, it also posed no threat to the Medicine King Sect of other domains. At the same time, their remaining combat strength was still enough to intimidate petty opportunists. Therefore, Green Pill Valley was now away from the center of the storm while still being strong enough to deal with stray waves.

”Hiss...”

A sharp breath escaped Luo Chen’s lips as the realization struck him. He did not know whether this situation had been deliberately orchestrated by Qing Danzi. Even so, for a sect that had reached its pinnacle and could advance no further. This was undoubtedly the best possible result.

The contrast with the Flame Alliance, which had once matched Green Pill Valley in momentum, was stark. That sect was entirely destroyed, with its people slaughtered and its legacy cut off.

So Qing Danzi pushed for the refinement of the Nascent Soul Pill with the intent to break the deadlock, whatever that meant. If he succeeded, he was going to charge into the Nascent Soul Realm, overturn his dwindling lifespan, and resolve the sect’s crisis. If he failed, the sect would still be freed from the dilemma of threats within and enemies without. What a brilliant strategy!

Luo Chen pressed his dry lips together and allowed the faint smile to fade. Being part of the situation, he had seen things from far too narrow an angle. He was in no position to mock that elderly man with the youthful face.

Qing Danzi saw much farther than he did. Perhaps he had even drawn lessons from the Flame Alliance’s demise. That decision was far more well-rounded than the plan Luo Chen himself had once offered when he proposed attacking the Flame Alliance. If their roles were reversed...

”Hehe, my Luo Tian Sect is still far from reaching Green Pill Valley’s level. There is no need to think about so many things.” Luo Chen tugged at the corner of his lips again while mana flowed beneath his feet, urging the flying boat ahead as an even stronger intent to return surged within him.

***

He had departed with an air of ease, yet returned filled with firm resolve. Although the trip had not yielded a Nascent Soul Pill, it had still brought gains to both sides. Green Pill Valley had resolved its internal and external predicaments amid storm and hardship. As for Luo Chen, he had also received many benefits.

The stable supply of top-grade Ascending Dragon Pills would allow the Luo Tian Sect to cultivate stronger Initiates. He had also acquired the blueprints for creating a life-bound treasure, along with several materials such as Geng Metal, Black Sinkwood, and Tracing Mud. In addition, he had obtained a technique that allowed him to accelerate the refinement of an enchanted treasure using primordial true fire.

Lastly, he had memorized all the medicinal materials required for the Nascent Soul Pill through careful observation. Given time, once he reached Qing Danzi’s level, he might be able to attempt refining that pill himself.

All in all, this trip had yielded an abundant harvest.

After he returned to the Luo Tian Sect, Sima Huiniang arrived at once with Gu Caiyi and Xing Zhonghan.

Inside the Grand Hall, Luo Chen asked slowly, ”How goes the front line?”

”Not much going on. Just some minor skirmishes,” Sima Huiniang replied.

Luo Chen froze for a moment. That answer was unexpected. The campaign to open up the Howling Moon Mountain Range had already been underway for more than half a year. How could it still be in a state of minor skirmishes?

For this war, even a small sect like the Luo Tian Sect had dispatched quite a substantial force. They were led by Fu Jiusheng, assisted by Wang Yuan and Chu Kui. Additionally, Sima Wenjie of the Merit Palace and Lou Ying of the Outer Hall had brought many low-tier cultivators for logistics. In total, ten Initiates and over five hundred late-stage Qi Refinement cultivators had been sent. It put a significant strain on the Luo Tian Sect, and now Sima Huiniang called the situation ”minor skirmishes”? Had he missed important developments during his months in Green Pill Valley?

Seeing his confusion, Sima Huiniang waved lightly.

Xing Zhonghan immediately said, ”According to the information gathered by the Luo Network, the current situation on the battlefield is as follows...”

As Xing Zhonghan went through the report, Luo Chen finally understood why a war fifty years in preparation was progressing so slowly. It was because of the new immortal city!

As the leading sect behind the war, the Falling Cloud Sect proposed a strategy of establishing a firm foothold before advancing outward. The first step had been to seize a third-tier spirit land in the outer region and begin constructing an immortal city. Using that immortal city as the human race’s central stronghold, they would send expedition teams in all directions and ultimately take over the Howling Moon Mountain Range.

In other words, at present, the front line’s main focus was not territorial expansion or slaying beasts. It was infrastructure! Under the command of the Falling Cloud Sect, countless cultivators were vigorously constructing a super immortal city of a scale far exceeding every immortal city in the Jade Cauldron Domain.

”Actually, when this approach was first raised, some people objected. Back then, the upper sects from other domains suggested taking advantage of their numbers and sweeping straight through the Howling Moon Mountain Range with overwhelming force.”

Luo Chen nodded. That was the course of the war he had anticipated. There had been fifty years of preparation, twenty-seven sects involved, and several hundred thousand cultivators with both ambition and strength. A force like that should have been more than enough to flatten the Howling Moon Mountain Range.

Xing Zhonghan continued, ”But at the very start of the war, something felt off. We discovered that the Howling Moon Mountain Range was not a loose collection of powers at all. The demonic beasts inside had already been unified.”

”Oh?” Luo Chen raised his brows, finding it hard to believe.

”It’s the wolves,” Xing Zhonghan said, equally incredulous. ”No one expected a demon wolf emperor to appear in the Howling Moon Mountain Range. Not only did he successfully take human form, but he also unified seventeen wolf clans of all sizes. Under that wolf emperor’s command, the wolves in the range are fighting with unimaginable strength. In the early stages of the war, the coalition advanced only eight thousand li before it was forced to halt.”

Luo Chen’s eyes flickered. The wolf emperor unified all the wolves of the Howling Moon Mountain Range?

For no clear reason, he recalled what he had seen and heard as a youth on Changyin Mountain. That had probably been around eighty years ago. Back then, the Grayleaf Wolf clan and the Frost Wolf clan that had occupied Changyin Mountain had mysteriously disappeared for a time. Could it have been related to this? If it was connected, did that not mean the wolf emperor had been planning this a very long time ago?

Xing Zhonghan went on with his report, ”The coalition’s advance was stopped abruptly. They could still push forward, but casualties were beginning to mount. As a result, Sage Han Zhan proposed that they secure a foothold in one area first, then plan for the whole situation. At that time, he was the coalition’s only Sage and also its leader. The reasoning was sound, so no one went against him. That’s why they began large-scale construction.”

Luo Chen suddenly understood. So that was how things had developed. It was only natural that no one had dared oppose it. In most Frontier Wars, the initiating sect served as the main commander. Other upper sects might offer assistance, but usually only by sending a handful of Adept and Initiates. Sages themselves rarely took the field. This was also how the new sect established its authority in the new domain.

As far as he knew, among the eight upper sects aiding this time, the Divine Talisman Sect had sent only a single Adept named Ye Xiang, along with a few dozen Initiates. Skysail City and the Medicine King Sect had sent the most people—the nine-floor Wind Lightning Pavilion he had seen at Green Pill Valley had carried three Adepts, among whom the renowned Huyan Zhuo and his even more famous master. As for more distant upper sects such as Windflower Palace and Skyscraper Cliff, most cultivators they sent had come primarily for training and hoped to emulate the example of Sage Cloud Crane of the Silktree Sect, to advance in cultivation through war tempering.

In truth, the main driving force behind the expansion still lay with the major sects. Either they could no longer survive in their original territory, or their strength had reached a bottleneck and they needed better spirit veins, or the local upper sect had forced them to leave their homeland. For the sake of a new place to live, those major sects were bound to give their all.

The Luo Tian Alliance was one such force. Now that Green Pill Valley no longer wished to join the Frontier War, the Luo Tian Alliance happened to fill the twenty-seventh slot.

”What is the current progress on the immortal city’s construction?” Luo Chen asked with concern.

Xing Zhonghan replied without hesitation, ”The work is more than halfway done. The most important task now is to draw in the energy of the earth veins and gather the spirit veins.”

Luo Chen did not understand. ”Did they not say it was already a natural third-tier spirit land? Why is there still a need to gather spirit veins?”

”I heard that Sage Han Zhan considered that there were too many Adepts involved, and that there were not enough third-tier spirit lands for them to rest. So he wanted to raise the grade of the land a little, and even invited one of Skysail City’s three Sages, Heaven Smelter, to assist.”

Luo Chen let out a soft sound of realization. In that case, it was only natural that he had seen Sage Cloud Crane making such a grand appearance in Green Pill Valley. After all, under normal circumstances, a supporting sect would not dispatch a Sage at all. But even if that was the case, how was he supposed to explain the appearance of Cloud Crane’s Dao companion?

Since there was no way to get a clear explanation, Luo Chen could not be bothered to think further about it. The important fact was that the expansion into the Howling Moon Mountain Range had stalled, which meant there was no need for him to rush to the front lines. If there was no major fighting, casualties would remain low. The newly minted Luo Tian Alliance would not suffer significant losses for the time being.

In that case, he could make good use of the time before the immortal city was completed to work on himself. With the new method for refining enchanted treasures, he could thoroughly refine the Heavenly Moon Purple Gold Wheel. He could also raise several of his spells to Perfected Mastery while he was at it; now that he was an Adept, his mana was abundant and his divine consciousness sharper than ever. This made it easy for him to grind through low-tier spells.

Thus, Luo Chen discussed the Luo Tian Sect’s business at the front line with Gu Caiyi, then announced he would enter seclusion. It would be a short seclusion, and they could come to him at any time if something urgent happened. They were also to inform him immediately once the immortal city was completed.

None of them had any objections. The axe had to be sharpened before chopping firewood. The better prepared Luo Chen was, the safer he would be when he eventually stepped onto the battlefield.