An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Chapter 890: Post-Battle Inventory; Astonishing Gains (I)

Inside the cabin room, a variety of items lay spread out before Luo Chen, each emitting a notable glow. An ordinary Adept would likely be dazzled by the sight. These enchanted treasures had all survived the battle of Coldlight Island and were all of excellent quality. Even the Qian family’s flying swords surpassed the Mystic Flame Sword Luo Chen had once used.

Luo Chen sat on a chair and began to examine them one by one. He checked their grade, attributes, and materials without missing a single detail. ”This Flowing Fire Hammer is metal and fire... It seems to have been a life-bound treasure, but not really meant for combat... more of a tool for refining minerals and crafting artifacts. The attributes suit me well, and it might come in handy later when I refine the remains of that Demon Emperor.”

Luo Chen looked at the two ancient characters engraved on the hammer’s handle and showed a satisfied expression.

”I’ll keep it. The Snow-Blowing Fan is a low-grade wind-element enchanted treasure. It can enhance flames, so it should also be somewhat useful.”

Luo Chen remembered the burly man who wielded the Flowing Fire Hammer and the old woman who used the Snow-Blowing Fan. Both came from Hundred Craft Mountain. That force was well known on Coldlight Island for artifact creation and ranked even above the Tempered Edge Workshop. Relative to the Jade Cauldron Domain’s forces, it was no weaker than the defunct Flame Alliance. This explained why their items were tied to artifact creation. Most cultivators in this world followed a similar pattern: When someone mastered a craft, their life-bound treasure usually reflected it. Luo Chen himself was a good example. His alchemy skills were outstanding, so while his life-bound treasure was fairly versatile, it was fundamentally an alchemy tool.

In contrast, cultivators who focused solely on cultivation without secondary pursuits often possessed strange and unpredictable enchanted treasures. For example, the copper coin in his hand now.

”Interesting treasure. I wonder how it was refined. There’s no trace of foul or fiend qi, yet it can still erode and disrupt the connection between an enemy and their life-bound enchanted treasure.”

Normally, treasures meant for damaging other treasures tended to be somewhat sinister. Luo Chen’s Blazing Fire Miasma had a similar effect. It was formed from filthy and corrupt Withering-Flourishing Fiend Qi, which allowed it to erode a cultivator’s spiritual connection. Yet after careful examination, this Treasurefall Coin felt balanced and upright. It carried no trace of any sinister influence. It was clearly a righteous-path enchanted treasure.

While he was puzzled, Han Zhan spoke hesitantly. ”It should have been infused with Weak Water.”

”Weak Water?” Luo Chen was puzzled for a second. Then he quickly connected the dots. ”You mean the legendary Weak Water from the river that connects yin and yang, linking life and death?”

”I am not sure either. It just feels like that’s what it should be. There are stories that when heaven and earth first formed and chaos took shape, all kinds of treasures came into being. The truly powerful ones carry laws and Dao intent, becoming Dao Artifacts. The lesser ones still possess unique properties. Add even a trace of them when refining an enchanted treasure, and the effects can be extraordinary.”

Luo Chen smacked his lips. ”Isn’t that a bit too mystical? That’s getting into creation myths.”

”Mystical? Not really. It’s not like you’ve never come across such treasures before.”

This time, Luo Chen was truly stunned. Had he really encountered such treasures before? With Han Zhan’s reminder, he recalled some special treasures he had come across. For instance, the Profound Link Celestial Crystal. It belonged to the category of heavenly materials with limitless applications. An Adept seeking to craft a life-bound treasure absolutely had to use it. It was said that the Profound Link Celestial Crystal came from fragments formed when the world barrier took shape at the dawn of heaven and earth. There was also Tracing Mud... No, not Tracing Mud, but the legendary Living Soil. Tracing Mud was only a third-tier material. Its reputation came from the faint trace of Living Soil’s aura within it. According to legend, Living Soil was the first mass of earth formed when chaos first opened. It could grow endlessly and without limit. A single mass could block a flood. Weak Water stood on the same level as Living Soil. It was a legendary treasure and also counted among the highest tier of heavenly materials and earthly treasures.

When Luo Chen refined the Primordial Unity Cauldron, the blueprint had mentioned these things. Beyond the listed third-tier materials, the artisan had envisioned superior replacements, and all five elements were covered. For water and earth, the ideal materials were the legendary Weak Water and Living Soil. Unfortunately, Luo Chen had never heard of either treasure appearing in the world. Even gathering the relatively ordinary third-tier materials had required tremendous effort on his part.

Luo Chen could not help but ask, ”Do such treasures truly exist in the Mountains and Seas Realm?”

Han Zhan gave a bitter smile. ”I’ve never seen one myself. But it is said that they existed in ancient times. As the ages passed, they grew rarer, to the point that almost no one has seen them anymore. If they do still exist, they’d likely only be found in a Holy Land. That is far beyond our reach.”

Hearing this, Luo Chen felt some regret. He had thought that if they truly existed, he would not mind spending time collecting them to strengthen his life-bound treasure. But things belonging to a Holy Land were far beyond what he dared to covet. He shook his head and cast aside those thoughts, then stored the Treasurefall Coin away. It was a fine treasure. After some refinement, it might prove useful at a critical moment.

After that, he focused all his attention on the brass basin with two yin-yang fish swimming within. This was the treasure that had made him offer words of praise even in the midst of a life-and-death battle. To obtain it, he had even expended a great amount of mana to suppress Qian Ting with the Primordial Unity Cauldron and burn him alive. He had done all of it to prevent him from self-destructing and destroying this item.

He waved his hand, and the two yin-yang fish flew out and transformed into a pair of black and white flying sabers. They were mid-grade enchanted treasures with the rare yin-yang attribute! Yin and yang existed throughout heaven and earth and within all beings, so Luo Chen could wield them as well. But that was not the point; some mere mid-grade enchanted treasures meant little to him compared to his cauldron. What truly drew his attention was the brass basin that housed them.

”This basin...” Luo Chen murmured as he poured his focus into it and carefully examined it.

Time passed little by little. Resonant Jade bypassed the Firebreak Island battlefield. After making contact with Deep Water Palace, she took a detour along another route. During this time, others handled the negotiations ashore. Luo Chen remained focused on examining the treasure. After three days, he finally reached a conclusion.

A faint gasp broke the silence in the quiet room. Han Zhan heard it and stirred awake. He looked over and asked, ”What is it?”

Luo Chen’s eyes shone with brilliance. ”Just as I thought! This treasure is exactly what I expected—it contains all five elements, like my cauldron!”

All five elements? Han Zhan was taken aback. Treasures of this kind were either utterly ordinary or utterly extraordinary, nothing in between. Luo Chen’s Primordial Unity Cauldron was a clear example of the latter, and this basin was also obviously not the ordinary kind.

”What does it do?” Han Zhan asked eagerly. He remembered clearly that this basin had strong defensive capabilities. During the battle, it had blocked several attacks from the Oceanseal Eight Trigram Formation he controlled and kept Qian Ting from being affected by those ghostly entities. At the time, he had thought Luo Chen wanted it for its defensive power. But now...

Luo Chen swallowed hard. ”Offense and defense are not important. The best function of this thing is something else: nurturing!”

”Nurturing?”

Luo Chen nodded as he stroked along the edge of the brass basin as his emotions stirred. Nurturing meant slow refinement that accumulated over time. Many enchanted treasures, and even artifacts, carried similar effects. Makers of high-quality alchemy tools often claimed they could raise the grade of finished pills. In truth, they only stopped the dissipation of medicinal power and kept it concentrated, which produced that improvement. But such functions were fairly ordinary; they could not improve anything beyond its original potential. Among all the tools Luo Chen had seen, only the Primordial Unity Cauldron stood out—it had once allowed him to produce a supreme-grade True Flame Pill despite only having Grandmaster-level proficiency. The rest were nothing remarkable. But this basin was different. It could truly nurture an item over time and slowly elevate its tier. The stronger the item’s original foundation, the greater the improvement it could achieve.

Luo Chen’s gaze fell on the black and white twin sabers again. ”No wonder a water-element cultivator chose a yin-yang life-bound treasure. It looked versatile but also a bit too ordinary. Now I see why. This thing has limitless potential. If he had used this basin to nurture the sabers to top grade, he could’ve dominated the Golden Core Realm.”

After hearing this explanation, Han Zhan could not help but marvel. He did not know who had created such an ingenious treasure. It disregarded the offensive and defensive power cultivators cared most about and focused entirely on nurturing. ”Qian Ting really wasted it. This isn’t something meant for combat, and it should’ve been the foundational treasure of a force. With it, you could produce high-quality enchanted treasures endlessly. A sect’s arsenal would never run dry.”

After sighing, Han Zhan asked, ”Luo Chen, how do you plan to use this?”

Luo Chen smiled freely. ”Do you even need to ask?”

He opened his mouth and spat out a gray cauldron that spun in the air before settling into the basin. Han Zhan nodded in approval. Few treasures could compare to the Primordial Unity Cauldron. From the moment it was completed, the treasure was already at the top grade. After years of Luo Chen’s refinement, its power had already begun to show. During the battle on Coldlight Island, it had displayed formidable might. It had seized the Treasurefall Coin, smashed the Adept from Hundred Craft Mountain, and even restrained the late-stage Adept Qian Ting. Even so, this was only a fraction of its true power, more or less at the middle grade. Under normal circumstances, Luo Chen would need decades of continuous refinement to fully unlock its potential. With the help of this basin, however, the day it revealed its full brilliance might come much sooner.