An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

”If only I could obtain the Nascent Soul chapter...”

Luo Chen pressed his dry lips together as a trace of restlessness stirred within him. At that moment, he suddenly frowned.

With a shift of thought, the Primordial Unity Cauldron appeared before him. It stood quietly and auspiciously; the dull gray made it seemingly unremarkable. Yet when he infused it with a newly refined strand of mana, he finally sensed that something was amiss.

Wind! There was the sound of the wind. Within the central formation core of the life-bound enchanted treasure, faint gusts seemed to howl.

Luo Chen’s expression shifted slightly. His life-bound enchanted treasure had already been completely refined, so why would it still exhibit such a strange sign? He had only just broken through, his mind sharpened, and was just sending out divine consciousness to examine his body; otherwise, he would have missed it entirely.

Suddenly, Luo Chen sprang to his feet as he held the shrunken cauldron in his palm and concealed it within his sleeve. He shut the cave residence door and headed straight for the Transcendence Palace.

Upon reaching the Transcendence Palace, a demonic beast barred his path. ”Nether Spring is in seclusion recently and is not receiving visitors.”

Luo Chen’s expression remained calm. ”If I cannot see Deputy Palace Leader Nether Spring, then I want to go to the dungeon and the treasury. It is time to collect another batch of materials to refine Transformation Pills.”

The demonic beast let out a sound of acknowledgement and stepped aside. Luo Chen flicked his sleeve and strode inside. Behind him, misty rain blurred the view, and the chill of early spring lingered. Through the haze, a demoness in azure robes emerged from the empty grand palace. She stood alone in the spring rain with a puzzled expression on her face.

***

Upon entering the dungeon again, Luo Chen did not head for the treasury. Instead, he walked directly toward the depths of the dungeon. When he reached the fourth underground level, a massive figure blocked his way.

Upon seeing Luo Chen, the stern expression on the man’s face softened slightly. He pulled Luo Chen aside and chatted with him for a while before finally allowing him to pass. Luo Chen understood perfectly well what was going on—the Lightning Prison Roc had his eyes on the Millennial Lightning Essence he possessed. Such a rare material was of immense benefit to any cultivator, especially those who practiced lightning techniques. If the Lightning Prison Roc were to obtain it, his strength would increase dramatically. It was only because Nether Spring valued Luo Chen that he dared not seize it by force.

Even so, Luo Chen had no intention of giving up something as precious as Millennial Lightning Essence. He planned to add some to the Moonbreak Wings and also more to the Primordial Unity Cauldron, once its impurities were fully refined away. The more of this material, the better. It would bring tremendous benefits for his eventual breakthrough to the Nascent Soul Realm.

With these thoughts in mind, Luo Chen continued onward. Under Han Zhan’s gaze, he arrived outside Heaven Smelter’s cell.

After being drained of blood essence eighty-one times, the man was now extremely weak. Though he still sat cross-legged, the aura he emitted was like a dying candle in the wind, with none of the presence he’d once had.

As if sensing Luo Chen’s gaze, Heaven Smelter slowly opened his eyes. ”There should still be half a month before the next blood extraction, right?”

A faint curl formed at the corner of Luo Chen’s mouth. ”I’m not here for that. I need an explanation.”

Heaven Smelter’s expression stiffened. He then struggled to raise his head and meet Luo Chen’s gaze, a bitter smile forming on his lips. ”Ohhh... I did not expect you to discover it so quickly.”

Luo Chen frowned. ”Is that the strand of Azure Eerie Wind?”

”Yes.”

”I knew it. How could you possibly be that kind-hearted? You spoke of leaving behind a perfect work before you die, then casually handed over your treasured Azure Eerie Wind as if you were doing me a favor. Yet what you created is a life-bound treasure its owner can barely even control... So tell me. What are you really after? And how can I remove the Azure Eerie Wind’s restriction so I can properly wield the cauldron?”

Heaven Smelter appeared troubled. For a time, the silence pressed down on the atmosphere within the dungeon.

After a long while, he finally spoke with difficulty. ”The cauldron being hard to control isn’t actually because of what I did. I was not lying at all. It’s inherently flawed, with too many impurities...”

”Alright, alright, enough skirting the problem. I’m asking you—what are you after?”

Heaven Smelter let out a long sigh. ”Why push it so far? It’s nothing more than a final safeguard I left myself. A sliver of hope for survival, that’s all.”

”A sliver of hope?” Luo Chen frowned.

The Primordial Unity Cauldron is Heaven Smelter’s chance of survival?

In an instant, countless thoughts surged through his mind like rolling waves. The Primordial Unity Cauldron, the refinement of Transformation Pills, the materials consisting of Heaven Smelter’s blood essence imbued with Nascent Soul power, dozens of failures, dozens of contaminations by Nascent Soul mana, and the Azure Eerie Wind serving as the catalyst... All of it flashed through his thoughts in a single moment.

Gradually, everything connected into a single thread. Luo Chen also recalled certain strange tales of artifact creation that Duan Feng had once mentioned while discussing insights with him. According to legend, beyond enchanted artifacts, enchanted treasures, and true artifacts, there existed another class of treasures known as spirit treasures. So what were spirit treasures? As the name implied, they were treasures that gave birth to a spirit.

Such spirits could not be artificially created by simply stuffing a demonic beast’s or cultivator’s spirit soul inside. They were sentient entities that naturally emerged after repeated activation and use, at the most suitable moment. Enchanted treasures capable of giving birth to an artifact spirit were invariably of extremely high quality and even had to undergo the refinement of heaven and earth’s laws. Ordinary artisans were utterly incapable of refining spirit treasures. Even Skysail City, famed for artifact creation, had never produced a single spirit treasure.

But now it was obvious that what Heaven Smelter coveted was rebirth through the Primordial Unity Cauldron after being drained dry as a living medicine ingredient. Upon realizing this, Luo Chen could not help but blurt it out, ”So this is it... A desperate gamble after being pushed to death. You want to become an artifact spirit! Heaven Smelter... You’re a dignified grandmaster artisan; you couldn’t possibly not know that a mere Adept cannot control a spirit treasure. In other words, you were not helping me create a life-bound treasure for myself. You always intended to take it from me, didn’t you?”

Facing Luo Chen’s mockery, Heaven Smelter closed his eyes, as though silently admitting to the accusations. But after just a moment, his eyes snapped open.

BBOOOOMMMMM!!!

A heaven-shaking roar thundered inward from outside, the sound rolling through the depths like a collapsing mountain. Luo Chen was utterly stunned.

”What happened?”

At that moment, Heaven Smelter let out a low shout and curled a finger toward Luo Chen, tracing a circular motion in the air. Luo Chen’s heart lurched in alarm. The Primordial Unity Cauldron, which he had deliberately kept outside his body as a precaution, instantly lost its connection to his consciousness.

A gale burst forth from within the Primordial Unity Cauldron. The three-cun small cauldron began to rumble as it rapidly expanded, its mouth tilting to face directly toward Heaven Smelter.

In that instant, Heaven Smelter’s hair and beard whipped wildly; his dull eyes flared to life, and his presence once more turned imposing. He strode toward the exit, and with every step he took, bursts of blood mist exploded from his body. In the blink of an eye, he had become drenched in blood! But in just a moment, he reached the gate and formed seals with both hands.

”Bind!”

In the next moment, strands of azure chains suddenly manifested within the Primordial Unity Cauldron. They pierced through the prison and wrapped tightly around him before yanking outward. In an instant, Heaven Smelter appeared outside the cell! He grabbed the Primordial Unity Cauldron in one hand and cast a glance at the horrified Luo Chen, then raised his voice and called out, ”Fellow Daoist Han Zhan, the time has come. Why are you still holding back? Break free and come out.”

From ahead came a deep voice. ”I am weak. Please lend me a hand.”

Heaven Smelter chuckled softly. ”Sure thing!”

A withered, claw-like hand struck the Primordial Unity Cauldron.

Clang!

A thick azure chain shot out at once, plunging into the cell where Han Zhan was confined. In the next instant, it dragged out a three-cun figure. The restrictions seemed to offer no resistance at all. Or rather, the restrictions had long since been deciphered and unlocked by Heaven Smelter!

The two human Sages stood side by side. They did not spare Luo Chen a single glance and just lifted their heads toward the sky. Their gazes seemed to pierce through layer upon layer of barriers, reaching beyond Green Parasol Mountain. Through the boundless curtain of rain, a black-robed old man strolled forward at an unhurried pace.

”So the Nether Origin Sect finally can’t hold back anymore!”