An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

A roar erupted within Luo Chen’s sea of consciousness, sending golden waves crashing through his divine soul. The shock hit so suddenly that he felt as though he had been struck by lightning. He even lost control of his own body and plummeted toward the ground. Then, almost as quickly, he shuddered and forcibly stopped himself.

”Hoooooooo...”

He exhaled a blast of scorching air, threaded with faint streaks of vivid red. It was not blood but origin energy! The origin energy rapidly spread across him like a thin crimson veil and wrapped around his frame.

Luo Chen slowly turned back and looked at the Flesh Ganoderma behind him. The look in his eyes contained such overwhelming killing intent that the Flesh Ganoderma’s lingering will immediately began to tremble. ”Fellow Daoist... let me explain! I didn’t expect there still to be remnants of the demons and devils here either. I was careless, that’s all. Fellow Daoist, I truly didn’t mean any harm. The echo isn’t that dangerous. You only need to endure it for a short while, and it’ll pass!”

Devil’s Cloud, who had been blocked outside the formation, had no idea what had happened and merely watched the scene in a daze. Still, he could faintly sense the overwhelming killing intent directed at the Flesh Ganoderma. He asked tentatively, ”Is there some kind of misunderstanding?”

The Flesh Ganoderma immediately seized the chance and hurriedly said, ”Yes, it’s a misunderstanding. We have an oath between us, so why would I deliberately harm you? Besides, I still need your help dealing with the formation restrictions on my true body....”

Throughout the exchange, Luo Chen remained silent. After staring at the Flesh Ganoderma for a long moment, he finally narrowed his eyes and said, ”I hope nothing like this happens again.”

As soon as those words came out, the Flesh Ganoderma visibly sighed in relief. ”It won’t. This was entirely my oversight.”

”Hmph!” Luo Chen gave a light snort and pointed at the one-zhang-tall tree below. ”You know more about this thing, so you deal with it.”

The Flesh Ganoderma wiped away nonexistent cold sweat and flew downward. After landing beside the Infernal Heartbound Tree, it began casting spells to loosen the roots while explaining how the tree should be transplanted and how its fruit could be used in the future.

Outwardly, it appeared calm, but inwardly it was filled with doubt. There isn’t another person? I mean... I’ve never sensed another aura this whole time. But Old Ghost and the others couldn’t have been mistaken. And under the Echoes of Demons and Devils, even a Sage’s aura shouldn’t be able to remain completely hidden. Then how did he break free from it and recover so quickly? His divine soul foundation shouldn’t be strong enough for that... Or was it because of his physique?

Meanwhile, Luo Chen hovered high in the air, silently watching the Flesh Ganoderma getting busy below. Although his expression had returned to its usual calm, traces of killing intent still lingered in his eyes. The Great Dao Oaths were not as reliable as people believed. Whatever echo the Infernal Heartbound Tree caused had never posed a genuine threat to his life, which meant it did not violate the terms of the oath, but it had come dangerously close to exposing Han Zhan’s existence.

Had he not cultivated a physique comparable to a fourth-tier ancient beast’s, and had he not secretly practiced the Open Thatch Art before coming here with the help of his Nascent Core and utilizing his achievement points, he might have remained trapped under that echo for a very long time. But his proficiency had reached the Beginner level by now, and he had even engraved the spell structure directly onto his Nascent Core.

Truthfully, reaching that point had not been easy. Even with his talent, mastering a fourth-tier spell to the Beginner level in such a short time would normally have been impossible, especially since the Land of Fallen Devils offered few opportunities for proper cultivation. He firmly believed that this spell would turn out to be an essential hidden advantage; thus, he had simply drawn upon the achievement points he had accumulated over the years and brought his proficiency up the short way. Thanks to that, when he was stunned by the echo, the Nascent Core engraved with the passive spell structure immediately reacted and awakened him.

That echo didn’t actually harm me much. So why would it risk offending me over something like this?

As the question surfaced in his mind, Luo Chen began retracing everything that had happened along the way. His thoughts eventually stopped at a seemingly insignificant moment in the Hundred-Crow Ghost Forest when the Flesh Ganoderma had glanced at his chest.

In an instant, everything clicked into place. It was probing for Han Zhan!

Thinking back, Han Zhan had mentioned that the Flesh Ganoderma was likely reminiscing with those two fifth-tier sprites in the Hundred-Crow Ghost Forest during the illusion. If so, that was probably when they told it about having another presence accompanying them. After all, even Han Zhan had been dragged into their illusion; there was no way those two fifth-tier sprites were unaware of him. Given the Flesh Ganoderma’s cautious nature, it would naturally want to eliminate every uncertainty before moving forward.

By the time the thought reached this point, Luo Chen had already pieced together the entire matter. There was probably more to the story, but the overall conclusion could not be far off.

Not long afterward, the Flesh Ganoderma flew back carrying the strange little tree wrapped in green light. Luo Chen immediately reached out and took it without the slightest courtesy.

The Flesh Ganoderma looked reluctant and muttered, ”The fruit it bears is infused with the heart blood of devil and demonic beasts. Eat enough of it, and it’ll greatly strengthen the five organs. The troublesome part is raising the tree. It needs the flesh of both devil beasts and demonic beasts, preferably their hearts... An ancient beast might work as well, but the Monarch never got the chance to test that. It was only a theory.”

Whoosh!

With a flash of spirit light, the Infernal Heartbound Tree disappeared. Luo Chen turned and left at once.

The Flesh Ganoderma watched him go. For a brief moment, a trace of gloom lingered deep within its eyes, but by the time it followed him outside, that gloom had already been replaced by eager anticipation. ”Azure Yang, I know several other places in the Wood Heaven Plains where rare spirit herbs grow. Those were all treasures the Monarch personally collected!”

Seeing that Luo Chen completely ignored it, it gritted its teeth and said, ”Do you know what kind of spirit herbs a Monarch would go out of his way to nurture? At the very least, they’d be sixth-tier. Some might even...”

Luo Chen paused briefly. Seeing that, delight immediately appeared in the Flesh Ganoderma’s eyes. He’s tempted?

To his surprise, Luo Chen resumed walking. ”The spirit herbs may be valuable, but the formations protecting them won’t be easy to deal with. Those treasures aren’t meant for people like us. There’s no need to waste your time, Flesh Ganoderma. Let’s go straight to the place where your body is trapped.”

The Flesh Ganoderma stared at him in disbelief. Those were treasures that might reach the sixth or even seventh tier, yet Luo Chen remained completely unmoved.

Behind them, Devil’s Cloud followed in silence, not even daring to breathe too loudly. Although he did not understand what had happened in the cave, he was no fool. Just moments ago, an invisible clash had taken place between the two in a manner he could not comprehend, and judging from the outcome, Azure Yang had once again come out on top. The problem was that, from the look of things, they truly intended to head straight for their destination without stopping anywhere along the way. If that happened, what would become of the Nascent Soul resources he had hoped to obtain in the Wood Heaven Plains?

Several times, he opened his mouth as if to speak, only to force the words back down. The overwhelming killing intent Luo Chen had revealed earlier, along with that inhuman aura, had left him with no desire whatsoever to oppose the man.

Two days later, Luo Chen, who had been leading the way the entire time, suddenly descended onto a mountain. Devil’s Cloud and the Flesh Ganoderma exchanged puzzled glances before following after him. Yet the moment they arrived and looked down into the mountain range below, they immediately understood why he had stopped.

A fierce battle was unfolding within a valley deep among the mountains. Each side had three people, but one of the groups was overwhelmingly stronger than the other. In fact, there were no fewer than four dead bodies on the ground whose attire showed that they had been the comrades of the group being pushed back. The winning trio had subtly spread out and taken control of the terrain, gradually sealing off every route of escape from the valley.

”It’s the Angler and the others!” Devil’s Cloud exclaimed in a low voice.

Beside the Angler stood a purple-robed young woman and a childlike figure with an oversized head. Anyone familiar with the Myriad Immortal Society would have recognized them immediately; they were none other than Purple Empress and Ghost Spirit Child. Together with the Angler, they accounted for all of the Society’s eight-star demon hunters, now that Saberstorm was no more.

”As expected, the reason they vanished is that they entered the Land of Fallen Devils....” Devil’s Cloud’s expression grew solemn.

These three were not merely the strongest Adepts within the Society. Across the entire Northern Sea, they stood at the peak of the Golden Core Realm. Their strength was comparable to the core disciples of the major sects and the True Inheritors of the major clans. For opponents of that caliber to join forces against a common enemy, the people trapped inside that valley could not possibly be ordinary cultivators.