An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

”Why did you take them in?”

”Azure Iron Mountain was taken by the Myriad Phenomena Sect. With these disciples present, our takeover will appear rightful and justified,” Luo Chen replied.

”Why go through such trouble? The three of us together could simply...”

”Get rid of them?”

”Yes. There are only a few hundred, and only ten Initiates among them. Killing them would take no effort.”

”And you are not afraid of survivors slipping away?”

”With Jiang Yu’s Rain Summoning Banner and Sea Stabilizing Pearl, none of them would get out alive.”

”Have you considered the rogue cultivators watching nearby? If word spreads even slightly, it would be a grave offense under the Frontier Expansion Pact. It would count as striking at our own side. Can you bear that crime, Diwu Qi? Can the Luo Tian Alliance bear it?”

”But I’ve already killed Yang Wenchang!”

”And nobody saw you doing it! Aside from Jiang Yu and me, no one knows!”

”Fine, we will do it your way. Then what do you intend to do with this group of Myriad Phenomena Sect disciples?”

”They will not merge into either Stormwind Manor or my sect. They will join the alliance on their own terms. Once our base is established, we will grant them a portion of territory so they can continue their sect’s legacy. This way, we can take Azure Iron Mountain with full legitimacy and our alliance gains a reputation for righteousness. We hit two birds with one stone.”

”Dan Chenzi, you are raising a tiger cub that will become a threat. You will regret this!”

”I am the leader here, and my decision is final!”

On the mountain peak, the discussion ended in displeasure. Diwu Qi left with a face full of anger. Luo Chen watched his departing back, his eyes narrowing as a faint smile rose on his lips. So that’s how you want to play it... Trying to kill a chicken to warn the monkeys? Please. I haven’t even begun playing those games, yet you’ve already taken the lead. Oh well, let’s do it your way. These couple hundred Myriad Phenomena Sect people will be a constant thorn in your side. Let’s see how you deal with this, Fellow Daoist Diwu. With this matter weighing on your mind, will you have time to scheme against me?

”Hmph!” Luo Chen snorted and sat down cross-legged on the spot. As he meditated to recover, he extended his divine consciousness to examine the spirit veins beneath Azure Iron Mountain.

***

Five days later, outside Azure Iron Mountain, streaks of light radiating powerful mana crisscrossed the sky as they arrived. Up on the mountain, the Myriad Phenomena Sect disciples looked up at the sky as they saw one figure after another descend straight toward the summit.

Zong Jiulang’s expression grew increasingly astonished, and he exclaimed, ”Adept Song Mi of Heavenly Blade Sect! Elder Fei Ming of Ailao Mountain! Fairy Ruthless of Ice Fortress! Elder Jin Buque of the Five Elements Divine Sect! Adept Chen Xiuli, the newly advanced Adept from Tianyi Market! The Alliance Leader holds such prestige... He invited so many Adepts at once! To think there are ten Adepts gathered in this small place!”

He recognized them all, and even the less knowledgeable disciples recognized one or two names. Cries of shock rang out again and again.

Suddenly, a gentle voice descended from above. ”All cultivators, please leave Azure Iron Mountain and board the Crimson Flame Dragon Boat. Follow Elder Fu Jiusheng’s commands.”

Zong Jiulang shook himself out of his stupor and quickly led his people toward the massive flying boat hovering next to the mountain. Before they could even steady themselves, Fu Jiusheng stepped out from the boat.

”Everyone, form groups of nine and move to the designated formation nodes. Begin channeling spirit power,” Fu Jiusheng instructed.

Zong Jiulang nodded. Luo Chen had already informed him of the plan. The Luo Tian Alliance was about to execute the mountain-moving project, and they needed low-tier disciples to provide spirit power.

Once everyone was in position, Fu Jiusheng took a deep breath and looked excitedly toward the mist-shrouded summit of the grand mountain.

”Supreme Elder, the preparations are complete. We can begin at any moment!”

At the summit, Luo Chen glanced at the assembled allies and smiled.

”I will have to thank everyone for your assistance,” he said. ”Sorry for the trouble.”

Jin Buque laughed heartily. ”Not trouble at all. I actually used to handle matters like this quite often.”

Fairy Ruthless nodded, her eyes gleaming with eagerness.

Song Mi spoke softly, ”Speaking of which, in the Jade Cauldron Domain, the Sword Sect began shifting mountains just last year, moving Incense Burning Valley directly beneath Jade Emperor Mountain. I did not expect you to be so bold, though.”

Luo Chen shook his head. ”It is nothing more than patchwork. As you well know, we cannot conquer a large third-tier spirit vein by ourselves, so we must resort to clever methods.”

After speaking, he turned solemnly toward Fei Ming.

”Fellow Daoist Fei, I must trouble you to guard the earth veins of Azure Iron Mountain later. Do not let the flow of energy shift or the geomancy change.”

Fei Ming waved his hand. ”No problem at all. That’s right on my turf.”

With that, there were no lingering concerns. Luo Chen swept his gaze across Diwu Qi, Jiang Yu, and Cen Qiusheng. The first two stiffened slightly; neither had expected Luo Chen to summon so many Adepts at once. Even the weakest among them, the newly advanced female adept, wore resplendent palace attire clearly crafted from enchanted materials. Her foundation and status were evident at a glance. Their earlier ”maneuver” looked quite ridiculous in hindsight.

Cen Qiusheng remained calm. He trusted Luo Chen’s reputation. Once Luo Chen established himself here, the Cen family would surely be treated well.

”Let us begin,” Luo Chen said.

Everyone nodded and flew to their designated positions. Apart from Fei Ming, who remained to guard the earth veins, even Luo Chen left Azure Iron Mountain.

Time passed slowly. Suddenly, a sharp shout rang through the heavens.

”Rise!”

Everyone responded at once.

”Rise! Rise! Rise!”

Eight surging beams of mana shot straight down, piercing a thousand zhang into the earth. Fei Ming stood at the center and struck Azure Iron Mountain with his palm. Earth-yellow mana poured wildly from his palm and gradually shrouded the entire mountain.

On the Crimson Flame Dragon Boat, Fu Jiusheng formed seals with both hands. One after another, enormous chains of spirit energy extended from the boat. There were nine in total, and the spirit energy drove firmly into Azure Iron Mountain.

”Set sail!” he shouted. The Crimson Flame Dragon Boat shuddered once, then began to move forward in a slow flight.

When the Crimson Flame Dragon Boat lurched into motion, the land within ten thousand li of Azure Iron Mountain began to quake. It felt as though earth dragons rolled beneath the earth and a raging sea roared overhead.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

The mountain had taken flight.

***

The Frontier War raged in full force.

With the major sects as the main strength and many first- and second-rate forces as support, the war drew in countless forces. Among them, rogue cultivators were far from rare. In fact, in this war to open up the Howling Moon Mountain Range, the individual strength of rogue cultivators was naturally lacking, but their numbers rivaled those of the major sects.

They did not fix their sights on any particular target. Instead, they gathered in small groups and rushed to whichever fronts cultivators and demonic beasts were locked in battle. They would never dare plunder a sect in the midst of combat, but if they joined forces to kill a few beasts along the outskirts, it would be enough for a generous harvest. If fortune favored them and they managed to pick off one or two stronger beasts, the resources gained would sustain them for quite some time. Because of this, rogue cultivators streamed out of Moonbreak every day and flew toward battlefields in an endless flow.

On this particular day, several hundred rogue cultivators on their way to Seven Kings Mountain suddenly halted midflight. Everyone lifted their heads and stared at the sky in horrified awe.

A colossal shadow glided above them, as if a giant whale were swimming across the heavens. But how could any whale be compared to this titan of the sky? It blotted out the sun, plunging the world into darkness! As that gigantic mass slowly passed overhead, it was as if night had fallen in the middle of the day!

A mountain is moving! Someone is moving a mountain!

All the rogue cultivators erupted into an uproar.

”So this is the legendary immortal art of moving mountains and filling seas... I always thought that was an exaggeration. I never expected to see someone actually do it in front of me.”

”What is the big deal? Have you never seen an Adept casually destroy a mountain?”

”I’m sure you can destroy a hill. Can you pick one up and move it a couple li? If you don’t know anything, shut up, and nobody will know you’re stupid.”

”Er...”

”Oh, I think those are cultivators from the Luo Tian Alliance!”

”What are they trying to do?”

”Whoa, can you feel the spirit energy on that mountain? It’s incredibly dense.”

”Wait... Are they trying to create a spirit land somewhere?”

”Most likely. When Moonbreak was being built, didn’t Sage Heaven Craft of Skysail City personally move a mountain peak into the city?”

”I heard spirit lands are formed from a lot of spirit stone ore. If a sect wants to build a blessed land, shouldn’t they just dig up some ore and bury it elsewhere? Why bother with something as troublesome as moving an entire mountain?”

”I see, so you really are ignorant. If it were that simple, the great sects would just bury tens of millions of spirit stones beneath their bases. Do you think their spirit veins would just climb in grade like that?”

”Er... Fellow Daoist, what insight do you have then?” the man asked meekly.

”I have heard that all things born under heaven possess spirit. Even seemingly dead things like mountains and rivers have spirituality. The directions in which they run, the patterns of their energy flow, and even the trees and rocks upon them are all part of a single body. If you chop apart that body and take bits of it to increase spirit energy density elsewhere, it might have a slight effect, but you’ll never be able to preserve the original spirit vein’s grade, much less improve anything. The only way to ensure the vein’s grade does not fall is to move the entire body as it is, intact.”

”That is far too profound. Could you explain it more simply?” someone asked.

”Think of a spirit land as a person, and the raw spirit stone ore as the heart. If you dig out only the heart and transplant it elsewhere, can you raise a living person from that? Of course not! The only way for that person to keep breathing is to take the entire person and move them to the new place. If you want to form a proper blessed land, you need to move the entire spirit vein with everything around it; that’s the only way it can keep absorbing the spirit energy of heaven and earth.”

”So that is how it works!”

”I have learned something today as well,” another said.

”No wonder they needed so many Adepts to act together. Each one has the strength to shatter mountains, so why are they moving this mountain so carefully? Clearly, their goal is to preserve the spirit veins!”

***

The rolling discussions below were loud and clear to Luo Chen and the others. None of them found it surprising. Before moving the mountain, Luo Chen had already explained the key principles in full; that was the payment for their help.

Whether it was the Ice Fortress, the Heavenly Blade Sect, or the Chen Family of Tianyi Market, they would all need such knowledge in the future. Only Jin Buque and Fei Ming had little interest—their sects already possessed similar secret techniques. Thus, Luo Chen had simply offered each of them a million spirit stones. Who would refuse such a massive reward for just a couple days of casual labor? As for letting Luo Chen borrow their reputations to deter petty schemers, neither of them minded in the slightest.

Time passed slowly, and the distance to their destination drew closer.

Finally, ten days later, the massive Azure Iron Mountain rumbled as it settled onto the eastern side of Snow Wolf Flats under countless watching eyes. When the mountain landed, thunderous cheers erupted at once.

Yet the high-tier cultivators all knew that it was far from over. The Crimson Flame Dragon Boat rose again. The ten Adepts boarded, and the dragon boat sped toward Dream Return Ridge.

Once they reached Dream Return Ridge, the same process began anew. However, unlike Azure Iron Mountain’s unified structure, Dream Return Ridge proved troublesome. Its spirit vein was third-tier as well, but it was smaller and more scattered. As a result, the preparations alone took three full days.

After three days, at Luo Chen’s command, the thousand li long Dream Return Ridge rumbled as it rose. Only barren rock remained where it had once been.

***

Boom!

A deafening roar burst forth, and a surging wave of force swept out in all directions. Dream Return Ridge, anchored by Lost Dream Mountain, had settled on the western side of Snow Wolf Flats.

Now, with Snow Wolf Flats at the center, Lost Dream Mountain to the west, and Azure Iron Mountain to the east, it formed a feng shui alignment that faced south. Azure Iron Mountain acted as a natural barrier, shielding them from unknown threats coming from the Great Snowy Mountains. The cleared space between the mountains faintly resembled the valley kept by the Flame Alliance and Green Pill Valley within their own sect grounds. By this point, the overall arrangement had taken shape.

Chen Xiuli walked over with envy in her eyes and said, ”Congratulations, Fellow Daoist. Your foundation is established, and your blessed land is secured. You can now truly be considered a sect founder, the grand elder of a sect.”

It was understandable that she felt envious. The Chen Family had earned a respectable fortune through Tianyi Market and their clothing business, yet after supporting her advancement to the Golden Core Realm, they could no longer afford more. Even now, the Chen Family did not own a single third-tier spirit land. She could only rent a third-tier cave residence in an immortal city through connections and piles of spirit stones. However, those man-made spirit lands could never compare to the naturally formed third-tier spirit vein of the Luo Tian Alliance.

Luo Chen exhaled and said modestly, ”This spirit vein has not yet stabilized. To form a mid-grade or top-grade third-tier spirit land will take at least a century. It is far from being a blessed land.”

Chen Xiuli’s lips pressed together, and her eyes brimmed with envy. Even if the blessed land had yet to fully form, the prospect alone was more than enough. She wished she could imitate Luo Chen’s feat, but... that was nothing more than a wish. Who else had Luo Chen’s influence, enough to raise an alliance rivaling a major sect in such a short span of time? Who else had Luo Chen’s resolve—to literally move mountains and build a blessed land where there was none?

As for bringing the Chen Family into the Frontier War, she did not possess the courage. The He family served as a grim warning. They had nearly perished at Dream Return Ridge. The Myriad Phenomena Sect, formidable as it was, had still lost two Golden Core elders atop Azure Iron Mountain. If the Luo Tian Alliance had not intervened, the sect might have lost its lineage entirely.

Luo Chen chatted casually while watching Fu Jiusheng, Fei Ming, and the others at work. They moved between the three mountains, burying formation discs and spirit stones as they constructed the Dragon Trapping Grand Formation Luo Chen required.

This formation was something he had gotten from Meng Changshou of the Medicine King Sect, in another... exchange. Its main purpose was to lock spirit energy in place and prevent leakage. With this formation, the spirit vein would be contained, and the blessed land would stabilize. Over time, as long as resources were not overharvested, the land could even rise in tier. Cultivators who cultivated within that formation would be like dragons poised to break free from the sea, as if the bright moon of the Great Dao was not just reflected on the surface but actually within reach!

To construct this formation, Luo Chen and Diwu Qi had emptied much of their reserves, investing several million spirit stones. And they were not even done— they would have to continue investing spirit stones into it in the years to come!

After chatting for a while, Luo Chen could no longer restrain himself. His fingers itched, and he said to Jin Buque, Song Mi, and the others, ”Please choose a spot to rest for now. Tonight we will host a banquet.”

They laughed and nodded. After spending the past few days moving mountains, they were truly exhausted. A bit of rest sounded perfectly fine to them.

Yet when they saw Luo Chen step into line with Fu Jiusheng, Fei Ming, and the others to help lay out the formation, their curiosity began to stir.

”Dan Chenzi also knows formations?” someone asked.

The question naturally fell upon Fairy Ruthless, who knew him the best. Under everyone’s attentive gaze, she looked slightly bewildered and answered, ”Perhaps he has dabbled in them.”