An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Somewhere in Moonbreak, three Daoists sat cross-legged in a circle. A trace of gloom weighed upon each of their faces.

”That demoness’s cultivation is on par with mine,” said the Silktree Sect’s Grand Elder. He stroked his long beard and sighed. ”The spirit energy drawn by her demonic power is in no way inferior to the Six Qi I command.”

The Six Sovereigns Yin Yang Transformation was the Silktree Sect’s most guarded technique and was never passed down to outsiders. Once cultivated to major mastery, it could mobilize wind, rain, darkness, radiance, as well as yin and yang qi. Even among Nascent Soul techniques, it stood at the pinnacle of both offense and defense.

Monk Huiping of the Heavenly Apex Chan Sect wore an ashen expression. He said in a low voice, ”My greatest pride, the Chan Physique Refinement path, ended up being inferior to her Azure Luan True Form. Even my three zhang Glazed Golden Body was shattered. It will take at least a hundred years to repair it.”

Sage Divine Origin of the Five Elements Divine Sect was in no better mood. ”She doesn’t seem to know many techniques, yet she’s somehow grasped the basics of the laws of void. And then there’s her own Physique Refinement... The killing moves she has are utterly impossible to guard against. Although she has not reached the level of transcending the Three Realms, she is already outside the Five Elements. With the Five Elements Divine Arts I command, I am simply no match for her.”

After this round of analysis, an inexplicable sense of despair arose among the three. How could such a person exist in this world? Clearly, her years of cultivation were far fewer than theirs, yet in every aspect, she surpassed them.

”A being like this is not something we can deal with.” The Grand Elder of the Silktree Sect glanced at the other two, his expression calm and detached. ”In any case, we have done all that we could. What comes next can only be left to the Nether Origin Sect.”

The other two exchanged glances and then nodded in tacit agreement, accepting the proposal. Only Sage Divine Origin showed a trace of unwillingness as he lowered his head.

His long slumber to extend his lifespan had been forcibly interrupted; not only that, but he had failed to get the five-spirit-root cultivator who had a chance of advancing to the Nascent Soul Realm. If he could not refine a Primordial Embryo Dao Body, he would have no hope of stepping into Divine Transformation.

Is this truly the only outcome?

***

A full year had passed since the three human grand cultivators descended upon Green Parasol Mountain only to be stopped by Azure Frost alone. Over that year, the outside world churned with storms and upheaval, and the situation shifted without pause. Whether across the thirty-six domains of the Eastern Wilderness or within the Great Million Mountains, changes both subtle and violent unfolded one after another.

Only Green Parasol Mountain remained peaceful, as if nothing had happened at all. Floating clouds still circled the skies, and a hundred birds sang in chorus. If anything, the mountain was livelier than before. By contrast, Nether Spring had been in a foul temper lately, letting out piercing shrieks from time to time.

In the Transcendence Palace, Nether Spring stared at Pure Crane with an unfriendly expression. ”What did the Demon Court say?”

Pure Crane lowered her head, not daring to meet her gaze. ”Sky Monarch has been occupied lately with consolidating the various demonic beast races of the Eastern Wilderness. He is tied up with affairs and cannot spare the attention to deal with this group of human cultivators. He only conveyed one request: that we release Defiant Howl.”

”Defiant Howl? Hmph!” Nether Spring snorted coldly.

In the battle at the Heavenly Drum Plains, Defiant Howl had been defeated, and even his Nascent Soul had been captured by the Demon Locking Pagoda. Yet he had not died; moreover, Han Zhan of the Falling Cloud Sect had even kept his body for the sake of crafting another Nascent Soul puppet.

As long as his Nascent Soul was released and reunited with that body, a century of recuperation would allow him to recover seventy or eighty percent of his former strength. Moreover, Defiant Howl was one of the demon race experts who most admired and followed Ancient Demon Sky Monarch the earliest. It was only natural that the latter wished to reclaim such an expert as soon as possible.

”That doesn’t add up. If they truly wanted Defiant Howl, they should have sent someone to speak with us long ago. Why wait for two whole years without making a move? What exactly is that Sky Monarch trying to pull?”

Nether Spring fell into deep thought. For a mere Demon Emperor like her to show such disrespect toward an Ancient Demon was truly shocking, and it left Pure Crane too frightened to say another word.

After pondering for some time, Nether Spring still found no answer. She shelved the unease in her heart for the time being and asked about another matter, ”Where is Luo Chen?”

Pure Crane pulled herself together and replied promptly, ”He’s still much the same, lacking spirit and drive. But over the past year, his cultivation has improved. The third stage of the Golden Core Realm should only be a matter of time.”

”I am asking about the Transformation Pill! How is his progress with it?”

Pure Crane was startled. ”It should be soon. I’ve seen him going in and out of the treasury lately, picking out medicinal ingredients of the right age. He looks ready to start the furnace and refine it at any moment.”

As if remembering something, she added, ”That said... He can be a bit sticky-fingered. Aside from the herbs, he also took some rather precious minerals.”

Nether Spring frowned slightly, then waved her wings. ”Let him be. It’s just a couple of rocks. What matters is that he’s finally come to terms with things.”

Had Luo Chen truly come to terms with everything? Well... some matters he had thought through, and others had nothing to do with whether he understood them or not. One example was Sage Divine Origin, the Supreme Elder of the Five Elements Divine Sect. He definitely knew full well that Jin Buque had already fallen, so why had he still personally come to Green Parasol Mountain? What he wanted was likely not to avenge his disciple or whatever, but to get his hands on Luo Chen—or rather, the Golden Core body that carried five-element spirit roots. From that perspective, even if Luo Chen returned now, his situation would hardly be any better.

Luo Chen strolled through the brightly lit treasury that reminded him of a dragon’s hoard. His gaze kept falling upon the innermost room. A profound fluctuation of formation energy slowly emanated from within. He knew that this was the formation core of Green Parasol Mountain.

Below, it was connected to fifth tier earth veins. Above, it was linked to the three palaces. While forming a complete cycle on its own, it also stretched its reach in every direction of the Mountains and Seas Realm. The reason Azure Frost could appear out of thin air in the Whitebone Dao Palace of the Great Snow Mountains was precisely the teleportation formation in that room.

”Too bad I don’t understand formations well enough. Otherwise, I could charge in right now, activate the teleportation formation, and make a clean escape.”

Luo Chen muttered under his breath. Almost immediately, he let out a self-mocking laugh. Even if he managed to escape, so what? The teleportation formation connecting Green Parasol Mountain to the rest of the world had been constructed by Primal Sovereign Rosycloud with the aid of Azure Frost’s attainments in the law of void. Wherever he went, they would know. More importantly, with his meager formation skills, he simply could not activate a teleportation formation that only Sages were capable of controlling. All he could do was watch helplessly.

He continued wandering through the treasury with little interest, selecting suitable medicinal ingredients according to the alchemical formula. Just as Pure Crane had said, after a year of focused study, he now possessed a sufficiently deep understanding of the Transformation Pill.

Alchemical formulas created by the demon races were far simpler than those of the human race. Their approach was straightforward and brutal. The older the medicinal ingredients, the better. As for the main material, the selection was crude to the extreme. They wanted to transform into human form? Then they simply used the essence of a human being—in this case, a Sage’s blood essence and Nascent Soul.

As for auxiliary ingredients, there were not many requirements. The key lay in the main material. Moreover, although it was a fourth-tier pill, the Transformation Pill was meant for demonic beasts that had just reached the third tier. Its energy was not as violent and its refinement was not as difficult as its tier suggested.

Luo Chen did not intend to waste achievement points to get started. Green Parasol Mountain was wealthy anyway, so he would take the chance and learn things the traditional way. In other words, he would act like a prodigal child for once and grind it out through however many failures it took until he succeeded. If the main ingredients were used up in the process, that would be even better. At that point, no one could blame Luo Chen.

With such thoughts in mind, he finished selecting medicinal ingredients for the day. Just as he was about to leave the treasury, his steps suddenly halted before a particular chest. He sent his mana forward and casually brushed aside a few items. Beneath a layer of gemstones, a large cluster of red crystals gleamed like diamonds.

”Fire Spirit Diamonds... tsk. I didn’t expect to find this many, and every one of them is top quality...”

Luo Chen crouched down and began carefully selecting the Fire Spirit Diamonds. Nether Spring did not care in the slightest about third-tier ores like these, and even if he took them, she would not pursue the matter. It so happened that his life-bound treasure project was still lacking some Fire Spirit Diamonds. Not taking them now would simply be a waste. Considering how absurdly difficult it had been in the past to find even one piece, being able to pick and choose among them like this now felt almost absurd.

Then he suddenly stopped. He picked up an exceptionally deep-crimson Fire Spirit Diamond and raised it before his eyes. Spirit light bloomed in his pupils as he examined it with confusion.

What’s this crimson stain? Is it some creature’s blood?