An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

”So this is the Purple Spirit Sea Region?”

A massive flood dragon slowly emerged from beneath the turbulent sea currents. Upon its back sat four figures cross-legged. The four watched the purple mist drifting over the sea. Luo Chen, in particular, frowned.

Beneath them, Black King said in a deep voice, ”It wasn’t like this the first time I came here. Back then, the purple miasma only covered the island itself.”

Duan Li added from the side, ”Some of the nearby low-tier demonic fish seem to have been affected as well. They’ve become unusually aggressive toward outsiders.”

Luo Chen was puzzled. His understanding of the Purple Monkey Flower came solely from ancient records, yet nowhere had he seen any mention of it possessing such high sentience. Sang Jiugong, however, soon offered an explanation. ”This island is very large, and there must be countless Purple Monkey Flowers growing there. When spirit plants gather in numbers like that, it’s common for an especially powerful leader to emerge. The flower itself isn’t particularly dangerous aside from the poison in its fragrance. As long as you get out of the area covered by the miasma, there’s usually nothing to worry about. Also, Black King’s escape last time probably triggered those flowers’ instinctive sense of danger, which is why they deliberately expanded the range of their miasma.”

Instinct? The three exchanged glances. If the plants had taken such preventive measures, then their spirit intelligence was far past the realm of instinct and could be indeed considered true sentience. Luo Chen, however, could not help comparing it to the Vine King of Withered Wood Ridge. Compared to that being, the flower was still lacking by a fair margin. It still needed to manipulate other creatures into fighting on its behalf, while it possessed little strength of its own. But then, one was fourth-tier while the other was fifth-tier. Such a gap was only natural.

”Master, what do we do next? Charge straight onto the island?” Black King asked.

Luo Chen waved a hand. ”No need to rush. Let’s sneak in and see what’s going on.”

Both approaches involved landing on the island, but charging in openly and slipping in were two entirely different things. The most obvious advantage was avoiding conflict with the island’s inhabitants right away. Luo Chen tapped his chest with a finger and fully activated the Concealment Veil Formation until his aura almost completely disappeared. The other three also used their own concealment techniques.

After attaching a talisman to herself, Sovereign Thatched Mountain looked at Luo Chen with mild surprise. ”Your concealment technique is truly impressive. Not only is it incredibly fast to activate, but its ability to hide your aura is remarkable as well.”

Luo Chen was right in front of the three of them, but unless they looked directly at him, it was impossible to feel his presence. Of course, others wouldn’t know why his concealment was so exceptional. He had literally carved an entire third-tier concealment formation into his own skin! It made perfect sense that it would be very difficult to spot him unless someone prepared for it specifically beforehand.

This was precisely what Liang Baizao had paid so dearly for not long before. While constantly unleashing the Azure Yang Great Handprint, Luo Chen had surreptitiously thrown in the Treasurefall Coin, and the man didn’t even notice it. By the time he reacted, the coin had already struck his shield. That one move broke the stalemate and allowed Luo Chen to seize the initiative. This tactic also revealed just how experienced he was in battle and how sharp his combat instincts had become. The Treasurefall Coin was only a low-grade enchanted treasure, and its offensive power was quite average. The cultivator who wielded it against Luo Chen back on Coldlight Island had achieved nothing with it. Yet in his hands, he managed to use it to expose a flaw in a top-grade shield! From this alone, it was clear that the power of an enchanted treasure depended not only on its grade but also on how the wielder used it.

”Let’s go!” Luo Chen beckoned and flew toward the island shrouded in purple miasma. The other three followed closely.

Behind them, Black King slowly sank into the sea.

***

The island stretched more than seventy li in length and roughly forty li across. Its overall terrain dipped inward like a caldera, while towering mountains along the edges blocked the sea winds, allowing the miasma to gather and linger deep within the island without dispersing. Purple Spirit Island’s ability to nurture such a huge number of Purple Monkey Flowers was likely tied to this unique geography.

If I were to set up a formation here, the Inverted Jade Bowl Formation would definitely be the best fit. Well... It’s more or less what I expected.

Even as that thought crossed his mind, he continued to scan the island for hidden traps or arrangements. Since learning that the information had been deliberately leaked by Liang Baizao to lure him out, he had remained wary of the island. Thus, it was not until he personally surveyed the place that the lingering concern finally faded. To preserve the credibility of the information, the man truly had not tampered with the island.

Of course, it was also possible that he simply lacked the ability to do so. In just half a day, Luo Chen realized how threatening the purple miasma truly was. Fortunately, he had long since prepared the improved version of the fourth-tier Poison-Repelling Pills. It was the only thing that allowed him to move freely across the island.

After surveying the island’s overall terrain, he did not stop there. Instead, he made a full course through the four cardinal regions. At each point, he took out the Divine Seal Compass to examine the flow of earth energy and the distribution of the spirit veins. If he wanted to establish a formation here, relying solely on his own resources would be far too wasteful. That was why he intended to borrow the island’s natural geography so that he could achieve twice the result with half the effort. Also, he had to carefully control the formation’s power so it would not recklessly drain the island’s spirit energy and ruin the environment for the flowers. Thus, he went on with his survey till the glow of the setting sun spread over the horizon. Then he left the Purple Spirit Island and reunited with the other three.

Duan Li was the first to report his sightings. ”There are seventeen Demon Kings in total, all at the early stage, and they’re scattered across the island; they shouldn’t pose too much of a threat. The Purple Poison Monkeys make up the largest group, eleven in total. As for the first- and second-tier beasts, most of them are monkey-type creatures. The only one we really need to watch out for is the Abyss Crocodile. Its scales are incredibly tough, enough to withstand attacks from late-stage Adepts. If we end up fighting it, we’ll have to be careful about the scale of the damage.”

The others listened quietly before Sovereign Thatched Mountain also reported her discoveries one by one. However, the information on her side was not especially important. The main reason Luo Chen had invited her along was for the talismans she crafted. The truly important one here was Sang Jiugong.

”Old Sang, what about you?”

Under Luo Chen’s gaze, Sang Jiugong gave a dry cough and only began speaking after clearing his throat. ”I’ve roughly figured out the distribution of the flowers. There are only three growing at the center, but they’re also the highest tier on the entire island. From what I can tell, they’re all at least a thousand years old and they’ve reached the fourth tier. Besides those, I also found another fourth-tier one growing along a cliff face, and its quality is quite good as well.”

Luo Chen frowned. ”Only four?”

He had studied the Nascent Soul Pill formula for years and long since memorized the exact amounts of every ingredient. While the Five Elements Lotus Pod could be used multiple times, both the Purple Monkey Flower and Divine Iris were single-use ingredients. Four flowers meant he only had four chances to refine the pill. Compared to the reserves Green Pill Valley once possessed, that amount was far too little. Though comparing a single cultivator to the foundation of an entire sect was hardly fair, he naturally wanted as many as possible.

Seeing Luo Chen’s displeased expression, Sang Jiugong smiled. ”There may not be many fourth-tier flowers, but there are a lot of third-tier ones! I didn’t count them one by one, but I’d say there are over a hundred. Add in all the first- and second-tier ones, and you really can call this island a kingdom of Purple Monkey Flowers.”

Sovereign Thatched Mountain asked curiously from the side, ”But Azure Yang needs fourth-tier ones, right? Are those low-tier ones useful?”

”Useful? Of course they are!” Sang Jiugong said with absolute confidence. ”With my maturation secret art, and by working with the flower’s natural growth habits, give me fifty years and I can raise those hundred or so third-tier flowers to the fourth tier.”

Sovereign Thatched Mountain was stunned, disbelief appearing across her elegant face. ”That fast?”

Sang Jiugong chuckled but quickly turned serious as he looked at Luo Chen. ”But if I force them to mature this way, it’ll deal a devastating blow to the ecosystem here. Azure Yang, you’d better think this through.”

Luo Chen shrugged and said calmly, ”I only want fourth-tier flowers, and I need at least ten of them. Anything beyond that, you can keep as payment.”

Sang Jiugong’s eyes lit up, and he subconsciously rubbed his hands together. Ordinary cultivators might not recognize the value of an ancient poisonous flower like the Purple Monkey Flower, but as a spirit botanist, he knew exactly how precious it was, especially third- and fourth-tier ones. Once matured, they could be sold to high-tier cultivators who raised venomous beasts in exchange for enormous amounts of spirit stones. If Luo Chen truly honored his promise, then this trip would hardly be a wasted effort. He would repay a favor, gain considerable benefits, and even grow closer to Azure Yang in the process. What could be better than that?

”Since that’s settled, let me go over the areas we’ll need to pay attention to later.” Sang Jiugong took out the rough map he had sketched earlier and began pointing at different locations. ”This area absolutely must be avoided during the fighting. The fourth-tier flowers are growing there... This spot also needs special attention. The terrain’s too fragile and could easily collapse from the aftershocks of battle. And this hill over here... It doesn’t have any high-tier flowers, the sheer number of low-tier ones is extremely important for my future maturation plans, so try not to destroy too many of them. And here... and here...”

He coughed lightly. ”That should be about it. As for the other scattered low-tier flowers, losing some of them won’t really affect the bigger picture.”

Luo Chen nodded. ”Thanks for the hard work.”

Then he turned toward Sovereign Thatched Mountain. Realizing what he meant, she nodded back. ”I’ve already prepared ten third-tier Spirit Suppression Talismans. As for the other locations, I’ll protect them with talismans as well and make sure nothing disrupts the overall plan.”

”Then I’ll leave it to you when the time comes.” Luo Chen cupped his fists, then finally turned to Duan Li.

Duan Li solemnly took out a flower basket from his storage pouch and presented it to Luo Chen. ”This is a top-grade enchanted treasure passed down through my family. It carries both earth and wood attributes and is especially good at breaking formations and Void restrictions. If you want to reverse its function and use it to support a formation and stabilize the earth veins, it should still work. Just be careful. The treasure’s slightly damaged, and I haven’t had the chance to repair it yet.”

”Damaged?” Luo Chen frowned. ”Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

Duan Li sighed helplessly. ”One of the petals was damaged during my fight with Yan Zhixian. After that, I was busy recovering from my injuries and running missions, so I really don’t have the time to repair it. Besides, you called me over on such short notice. Where am I supposed to find the time? But don’t worry. It’s just some minor damage and won’t affect the treasure’s overall power.”

After hearing the explanation, Luo Chen carefully inspected the treasure before finally nodding in approval. It was truly minor damage. With his current artifact creation attainments, repairing it would not be difficult at all. A few wood-element materials would be enough to mend the damaged portions and nourish them for some time; the treasure would then return to perfect condition.

”Once this is over, I’ll find some time to repair the treasure for you.”

Duan Li froze for a moment before his face lit up with delight. ”Then I’ll have to thank you in advance, Brother Luo!”

Luo Chen gave a grunt of acknowledgment, his gaze drifting toward the heavy night sky and the purple mist hanging above the sea. ”Let’s wait until dawn!”

***

Though both Luo Chen’s group and the Angler’s had banded together to harvest resources, their tactics were entirely different. The latter cared nothing for the destruction inflicted upon the surrounding environment, focusing solely on obtaining the Vine King. They had even deliberately escalated the commotion, forcing the Vine King to reclaim the life force of Withered Wood Ridge so it would become even more spiritually potent immediately. Luo Chen’s side, however, proceeded with extreme caution, doing everything possible to preserve the island’s original state so the Purple Monkey Flowers could continue growing there. The goal was the same, but the difference in timeline made the entire process worlds apart.

When the rising sun climbed high into the sky and its rays finally pierced through the purple miasma to fall upon the entire island, Luo Chen’s group began to move.

Sovereign Thatched Mountain acted alone, heading toward the locations Sang Jiugong had marked out beforehand. At every site she reached, she placed talismans to protect the local Purple Monkey Flowers. Meanwhile, Luo Chen handed over the formation flags and discs he had spent the past several months frantically refining to Duan Li and Sang Jiugong; then, the three of them and Black King sped toward the four cardinal directions. Luo Chen headed straight for the valley at the center of the island. Right before the three fourth-tier flowers, he brought out two objects. One was the Divine Seal Compass, which he drove deep underground. The other was Duan Li’s flower basket, which soared directly into the sky.

Then, as voice transmissions arrived from all four directions, he rose into the air beneath the watchful gazes of the Demon Kings charging toward him. ”Rise!”

His sleeves billowed as pure spirit energy surged in every direction. Deep beneath the earth, the Divine Seal Compass began spinning at tremendous speed, drawing upon the earth vein energy from all sides. Under the support of 160 formation flags, countless streams of light erupted from the four cardinal points, converging high above Luo Chen.

In the sky, the brilliantly colored flower basket slowly unfurled; the flowers opened petal after petal as it turned upside down. It expanded without end, projecting an enormous manifestation that gradually came to resemble an upside-down porcelain bowl covering the entirety of Purple Spirit Island. The Inverted Jade Bowl Formation had fully taken shape!

Throughout the process, the demonic beasts continuously launched attacks at Luo Chen, yet none could harm him thanks to the full protection of the Profound Dust Armor. Even when the physical strikes of Demon Kings generated tremendous blunt force, they dealt no damage to his formidable physique. The moment the formation stabilized, he immediately rushed toward the northeast. Behind him, more and more demonic beasts gathered together, forming a small beast tide that gave chase.

A short while later, Luo Chen descended upon a plain where the Purple Monkey Flowers were sparse. He turned back toward the incoming beast tide and smiled faintly. ”Fellow Daoists, let’s strike together.”

The beast tide that had originally come chasing after Luo Chen suddenly found itself surrounded instead. Though the demonic beasts vastly outnumbered the human side, their aura suddenly appeared to be the weaker side.

There was no hesitation. The moment Luo Chen gave the order, attacks erupted from everyone at once. Saber light and sword shadows flashed wildly and torrents of mana exploded, making it seem as if the entire island would collapse into rubble. Yet with the restraining force of the inverted flower basket hanging high above, everything remained as immovable as a mountain.