An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

The unmistakably familiar voice shattered Luo Chen’s uplifted mood. Until that moment, he had believed the voice that guided him through the five trials of the Alchemy Realm was merely something left behind by the creator of this place Hearing it again now, however, he realized that it did not belong to a lingering soul fragment, an automatic message, or anything like that. There was a real, living being in this hall.

He looked around warily. ”Who’s there?”

No one answered, and nothing stirred in the silence. After a brief pause, he narrowed his eyes at the black cauldron. ”Is it you?”

”It is.”

The reply came from inside the cauldron. The voice was so weak that it seemed to have gathered every scrap of its remaining strength simply to utter those two words.

Then, it spoke again. ”Successor, tell me your name.”

Luo Chen hesitated only briefly before answering honestly, ”Luo Chen.”

Now that the voice had clearly come from the cauldron, its identity became obvious—it was the artifact spirit!

According to legend, only spirit treasures could give rise to artifact spirits like that. Ordinary enchanted treasures might possess something resembling a spirit, but those were little more than false consciousnesses bound to the artifact itself. A genuine artifact spirit, however, was a living existence with power of its own. At its peak, such a being could command terrifying strength and overturn heaven and earth. Naturally, since this cauldron housed one, it could only be a genuine spirit treasure.

After learning his name, the artifact spirit fell silent for a moment before asking, ”Are you prepared to receive my master’s inheritance?”

Luo Chen was taken aback. Had he not already accepted it after passing the trials? He had obtained seventy-two alchemy texts, thirty-six alchemical formulas, and even the three high-tier formulas for the Spirit Stabilizing Pill, Void Discernment Pill, and Dao Integration Pill, all of which pointed directly toward the Great Dao. What else could possibly remain? Unless...

He looked toward the black cauldron again. ”There’s more to the inheritance?”

The artifact spirit replied slowly, ”The true treasure of this inheritance is me, the Heaven Refiner Cauldron, along with everything inside me. If you are willing, I can use the last of my strength to help you receive it.”

The Heaven Refiner Cauldron, along with everything inside it?

Luo Chen’s heart lurched, and he quickly asked, ”What do I need to do?”

”You’ll have to agree to two conditions.”

”What conditions?”

”Once you are strong enough, look after my master’s descendants. Then fulfill the promise they could not keep by refining a pill for someone on their behalf.”

The first condition did not surprise Luo Chen. Heaven Refiner had fallen long ago, and it was only natural that they might have left descendants behind. The second, however, made little sense. Heaven Refiner had been a Monarch whose alchemy had reached an unimaginable level. What pill could they have been unable to refine? If they had promised someone a pill, why had they failed to fulfill that promise before their death? And if the matter had been so important, why entrust it to an unknown successor who might not appear until countless years later? More importantly...

”What do you mean by ’strong enough’?”

”That’s for you to decide.”

For a moment, Luo Chen was at a loss for words. The answer sounded straightforward, yet it was anything but that. Was he expected to act even if the task lay beyond his abilities? Or was he only required to act once he was certain he could succeed? Perhaps the artifact spirit meant that he should lend aid only when doing so would not jeopardize his own path? Each interpretation led to a different choice, yet the artifact spirit had placed that choice entirely in his hands.

After thinking it over, he asked, ”Where are the Monarch’s descendants now? What has become of them? Are they caught up in internal conflict, or are they facing enemies from outside?”

Faced with this string of questions, the artifact spirit weakly replied, ”I don’t know.”

Luo Chen’s frown deepened. ”Then what about the other promise? Is it negotiable? Who am I supposed to refine this pill for, and how am I meant to find them? Even if I do find them, why would they believe that I’m the Monarch’s successor?”

This time, the artifact spirit had an answer. ”My master made that promise while they were alive. They intended to fulfill it after reaching the Dao Integration Realm, but they ran out of time. The promise was made to Merchant Lady Jade Pool. When you meet her one day, she will know.”

Merchant Lady Jade Pool... Luo Chen silently committed the name to memory before asking, ”If I refuse these two conditions, can I still receive the true inheritance and the spirit treasure?”

”No.”

”Then what about the alchemy books, the alchemical formulas, and the pills I refined in the Alchemy Realm?”

The artifact spirit replied, ”You may take those. They are rewards for passing the trials, as they have always been.”

Luo Chen nodded slightly, but another question soon followed. ”Do those who pass the trials in the other inheritance grounds have to accept conditions like these as well?”

”I don’t know.”

That answer only gave him more to consider. The promise to refine a pill for the lady clearly could not be imposed on every successor. As for protecting the Monarch’s descendants, that might have been a separate obligation altogether. Why, then, had both conditions been attached specifically to the alchemy inheritance? Did this inheritance road come with something the others did not?

The artifact spirit did not urge him. It simply waited in silence, giving Luo Chen all the time he needed to weigh what was being asked against what he stood to gain. Only after a long silence did Luo Chen raise his head. ”What exactly is inside you?”

”You may only know when you accept the inheritance.”

The answer made the artifact spirit’s standing perfectly clear. Either he accepted the inheritance and everything that came with it, or he would get nothing at all.

Luo Chen lowered his gaze and considered the matter once more. Whatever Heaven Refiner had left within the cauldron had to be extraordinarily valuable, but even if it contained nothing else, the cauldron alone was worth taking this risk for. It was a genuine spirit treasure that had nurtured a true artifact spirit. Such an opportunity was not something he could simply abandon. Besides, after struggling through all five trials of the Alchemy Realm, these things rightfully belonged to him!

Once he reached that conclusion, he no longer hesitated. ”I agree to both conditions!”

The moment the words left his mouth, the hall responded. A curtain of golden light slowly rose from the Heaven Refiner Cauldron; its surface was covered in tadpole-like characters that drifted and twisted as though they possessed lives of their own.

Luo Chen stared blankly at the unfamiliar characters, but before he could examine them more closely, the artifact spirit spoke again. ”My master refined thirteen spirit treasures during their lifetime. One was given to Merchant Lady Jade Pool, another fell into the hands of Overlord Heaven Origin, and a third was left to my master’s sect. Of the remaining ten, Sovereign Lord Rosycloud destroyed five. The other five remain within the Heaven of Bright Illumination. I am one; the others are the Black Devil Jar, the True Yang Crown, the Divine Marking Brush, and the Myriad Beast Scroll.

”Of those five, the Black Devil Jar, the True Yang Crown, and I are the most powerful. We are also called the Transcendent Spirit Treasures, as we are far beyond the ordinary, and we represent the culmination of my master’s lifelong cultivation. A cultivator of your stage cannot wield treasure like me without first practicing the Treasure Attunement Art. Ordinarily, it would take decades, perhaps centuries, before you could truly master it. But with my help, you can at least claim ownership much sooner. Beyond that, I can do no more. The rest will depend on you.”

As it spoke, the golden tadpole-like characters within the curtain of light swam toward Luo Chen. One after another, they entered his mind. Though he could not recognize the script itself, the meaning of every character became perfectly clear the instant it entered his consciousness.

The sudden turmoil in his thoughts did not escape the artifact spirit. ”Clear your mind and stay focused!”

It had sensed the unrest in his thoughts and assumed that he had been merely shaken by the scale of its master’s achievements or by the revelation that several Transcendent Spirit Treasures remained hidden within the Heaven of Bright Illumination. But it was mistaken. He had been thrown into turmoil by a single name: Sovereign Lord Rosycloud.

Luo Chen knew that title well. The leadership of Green Parasol Mountain, the avian clan’s Holy Land in the Eastern Wilderness, was divided among three great palaces: Transcendence Palace, Daylight Palace, and Profound Comprehension Palace. The Transcendence Palace had no master, so Nether Spring acted as deputy master, while Azure Frost ran the Daylight Palace. The master of Profound Comprehension Palace, however, was elusive. Even when an Ascendant of the Nether Origin Sect attacked Green Parasol Mountain, this palace master had not appeared.

He had never learned the master’s true name, only her Dao title: Sovereign Lord Rosycloud.

Could it be a coincidence? Could there be another person in the world with the same Dao title? Or was Sovereign Lord Rosycloud, who ruled Profound Comprehension Palace, truly the same person who had destroyed five of Heaven Refiner’s spirit treasures? As far as he knew, Sovereign Lord Rosycloud should have been no more than an Ascendant. How could someone at that level have fought a Monarch?

The more he thought about it, the less it made sense. The Flesh Ganoderma had once said that Heaven Refiner had been hailed as the greatest Monarch in history. During his nearly twenty years in the Land of Fallen Devils, Luo Chen had pieced together countless fragments of information about the Monarch and had only begun to glimpse the true extent of their strength. Yet Sovereign Lord Rosycloud had not only fought such an existence but had also destroyed five of their spirit treasures? Luo Chen found it difficult to accept. If it was true, then the image he had formed of Heaven Refiner’s overwhelming might would have to change completely. At the same time, Sovereign Lord Rosycloud’s presence loomed even larger in his mind.