An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

The seawater that had flooded Dragon Abyss Island withdrew almost as swiftly as it had come. It drained through the island’s web of ravines, dragging shattered trees and rocks back toward the now-calm sea. From time to time, gentle waves continued rolling onto the beach, and when they receded, they left behind a thin layer of fine sand spreading across the smooth mudflats.

From the coast, it almost seemed as though peace had returned. Farther inland, however, the devastation was impossible to overlook. Dragon Abyss Island, once a paradise secluded from the world, had been reduced to ruins. Its already modest mountain ranges had crumbled altogether, and ancient trees that had stood for centuries, or even millennia, still burned under the raging flames. The seawater had done nothing to put out the flames, and arcs of lightning continued to flicker across their charred trunks. The spirit fields Sang Jinghe had painstakingly developed were in an even worse state. The land had split apart, and all the plants were crushed and scattered across the ruined ground.

The true scale of the destruction could only be seen from above. The land on a thousand-li radius from Rosy Hill lay torn apart, littered with jagged rocks and scarred by intersecting ravines. Massive fissures twisted across the earth in uneven patterns, releasing surges of ambient spirit energy from the depths through the fractured terrain.

The lightning tribulation alone could not have caused such destruction. Much of it had come from the clash between the two colossal beings that faced each other beneath the cloudy sky.

Amid the wreckage, a White Tiger stood motionless, with its bladed wings angled upward and its four limbs planted firmly against the ground. There was no trace of life or aura lingering around its body, leaving it looking less like a living beast and more like a statue caught in the instant before death.

Not far away, a black flood dragon nearly a hundred zhang long lay sprawled across the shattered ground, panting heavily. Deep gashes split his scales and tore open his flesh, yet even those injuries paled beside the fact that he had been cleaved cleanly in two at the waist. Even the spiral markings around his single horn had dimmed until only a faint glimmer remained.

Black King’s bloodshot eyes could barely focus, and everything around him had blurred together. ”Did it... stop moving?”

Then, a teasing voice sounded from above. ”Black King, what happened to you? How did you end up like this?”

There was far more mockery than concern in those words, but to Black King, they were sweeter than any heavenly melody. Gathering what little strength he had left, he raised his head and peered upward, though his vision was blurry. The colossal giant that had towered over the battlefield was nowhere to be seen. In its place, a tiny black speck was descending from the sky.

”Master...”

The word came out in a husky whisper that was filled with everything he had gone through, along with his relief at seeing Luo Chen alive. Beneath that, there was a hint of guilt; still, the faint resonance in his blood assured him that the person before him was truly Luo Chen, not Han Zhan in a new body.

Luo Chen landed beside him and calmly looked over his injuries. As miserable as Black King looked, he had managed to keep the White Tiger puppet occupied throughout Luo Chen’s battle with Han Zhan. Considering that he had only recently entered the fourth tier, surviving against such an opponent for so long was an impressive feat.

He gave an approving nod before asking, ”Need any help?”

Black King quickly shook his head. ”No, no. These injuries are nothing. I can handle them.”

As absurd as those words sounded from someone who had been cleaved in two, Black King was entirely serious. He gritted his teeth, and the two halves of his severed body began to rejoin on their own. At the same time, the wounds covering him began to close at a visible rate.

Luo Chen’s eyes narrowed. The hell? How can he regenerate like that... An Undying Body?!

He had followed the entire battle with his divine consciousness and knew for certain that Black King had not drawn on any origin energy. The recovery unfolding before him was simply normal regeneration, driven purely by Black King’s own vitality.

The Undying Body was a rare constitution found only among certain legendary Titan Beasts lineages. Of course, Luo Chen could also regrow severed limbs and repair grievous wounds, but such recovery required a supply of origin energy. Black King, on the other hand, needed none of that. Even after being cut in half, he could quite literally pull himself back together. As for how such a physique had come about, Luo Chen could make an educated guess. It could be the result of the foundation Black King had built in the Spirit-Shaping Sacred Spring, or it could be the drop of blood essence Luo Chen had given him, since it contained both origin energy and the life force of the Flesh Ganoderma. But it was most likely the combined effect of these factors rather than any single cause. That also explained how Black King had managed to hold off the White Tiger puppet despite having only recently advanced to the fourth tier.

As Black King slowly recovered, he carefully asked, ”Master... what about you? Are you hurt?”

The guilt in his voice was unmistakable. He had fallen into Han Zhan’s trap and failed to protect Luo Chen during his Nascent Soul breakthrough. Worse still, he had nearly trapped his master’s Nascent Soul.

Luo Chen shot him an irritated look. ”I’m fine. I’ve got enough problems already. Focus on your own business.”

Despite being scolded, Black King showed no fear or alarm. Instead, he let out a relieved breath and chuckled.

While the two were speaking, Heavenjade approached with the pale and dispirited Sang Jinghe beside her. Upon seeing Luo Chen, she hesitated slightly. ”Master?”

”Mm.” Luo Chen gave her a slight nod. ”Black King will focus on recovering. You can take care of the aftermath here.”

He glanced at Sang Jinghe at the side. ”What’s wrong with him?”

Heavenjade faltered. ”He...”

Sang Jinghe could no longer contain himself. ”It’s all ruined! Everything’s gone! The spirit fields, the spirit plants, and even the blood pool I used to study and cultivate the Infernal Heartbound Tree... It’s all gone!”

Luo Chen frowned at Sang Jinghe’s loss of control and flicked his sleeve. A gentle wave of mana swept over him, smoothing out the chaos in his mind and bringing him back to his senses.

Sang Jinghe shuddered and looked at Luo Chen in confusion. Luo Chen, however, had no intention of dwelling on the matter. ”Decide how to handle the island’s affairs among yourselves. I will be entering seclusion for a while, and no one is to disturb me.”

With that, he turned and left. When he passed the enormous puppet, he paused briefly before speaking without looking back. ”Leave this puppet exactly where it is, and don’t even touch it. I’ll deal with it when I come out of seclusion.”

With that, Luo Chen’s figure quickly disappeared from sight. Sang Jinghe and the two demons could only watch him go as they tried to make sense of what had just happened.

Heavenjade was the first to break the silence. ”That really was Master... wasn’t it?”

Black King snorted. ”Of course! What, you can’t recognize him without the slave seal?”

The slave seal that had once bound them to Luo Chen was more than a simple restraint. It had been created through Spirit Enslavement and reinforced with pills, and their long years together had brought their divine souls so close that Heavenjade had grown used to that connection without even noticing it.

The seals, however, had dissolved when Luo Chen underwent the Nirvana of Flesh a long time ago. She had learned to recognize his presence without the seal, but after his Nascent Soul breakthrough, something about him had changed. His aura and bearing felt different, enough to make him seem both familiar and distant at first glance, and that was why she had hesitated.

Even so, the way he spoke and carried himself quickly dispelled her doubts. Senior Han, or rather that treacherous bastard Han, would never have acted like this.

Sang Jinghe remained silent as they spoke. Although Luo Chen had restored his clarity, the destruction of everything he had painstakingly built over the years still weighed heavily on him. Only after the two demons fell quiet did he cautiously ask, ”Did he... successfully form his Nascent Soul?”

Black King and Heavenjade exchanged a glance before nodding. ”You’ll have to address him as Sage from now on!”