An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Luo Chen studied the message in silence. The fact that the art was incomplete was obvious; he had recovered only fragments from Han Zhan’s memories, and much of what he had reconstructed depended on his own deductions. What truly unsettled him was the tier displayed by the panel. Since the tiers of techniques corresponded to cultivation realms, a seventh-tier art belonged to a level beyond Void Refinement—the Dao Integration Realm, or even the Transcendence Realm.

Yet the more he thought about it, the less it made sense. The Falling Cloud Sect had once been nothing more than a major sect, and even at its height under Han Zhan, it had only just reached the level of an upper sect. It was hard to believe that such a background could produce a cultivation art of this level.

”Wait, no... That can’t be right...”

According to some old rumors in the Jade Cauldron Domain, the Falling Cloud Sect had not been founded by an outcast from a Holy Land or by a powerful cultivator sent from an upper sect. Its founder had been a rogue cultivator who stumbled upon the inheritance of an ancient cultivator and used it to establish the sect. The three arts and two techniques had all come from that ancient inheritance rather than being created by the sect itself. Thus, Soul Split in particular must have originated from a far more powerful source. In truth, Han Zhan had once mentioned during a conversation that he could only practice with the Soul Split to minor mastery because he lacked a certain crucial auxiliary treasure. That detail fit neatly with everything Luo Chen had just realized.

With that, his doubts gradually settled, and he accepted that completing the Soul Split was simply beyond his reach. Even if he used every achievement point he had, restoring a seventh-tier cultivation art was not what he could achieve with his cultivation level.

Still, that did not mean the fragment he possessed was useless. Han Zhan had begun practicing this art when he was an Adept, or perhaps even earlier, when he was an Initiate. Even as a fragment of an already incomplete inheritance, the portion Luo Chen had pieced together still held real value. More importantly, given his current condition, he was in an unusually suitable position to begin practicing it.

Even after absorbing the soul energy Han Zhan had left behind, Luo Chen’s main soul remained far from whole and was filled with cracks. Those injuries had been inflicted by a soul technique Han Zhan used called the Spirit-Seizing Needle. It transformed one’s divine consciousness into invisible divine needles that attacked an enemy’s divine soul.

In most situations, the body and the natural defenses of the sea of consciousness would blunt its effects or at least limit it to little more than a brief loss of focus. However, they had clashed directly, without any protection. Therefore, without anything to dampen it, Luo Chen had taken the full force of that technique, which had left his divine soul severely wounded. Yet now, those very wounds had given him an unexpected foundation to practice Soul Split.

”Fixing these cracks one by one would take too long. Better use them to split my main soul and practice Soul Split instead. I’ll be weaker for a while... but once those split souls grow, it’ll be worth it.”

Luo Chen had never been the type to waver once he made up his mind. He might take time to weigh his options, but once he decided, he would never look back or second-guess himself.

Back when he was still a Qi Refinement cultivator, he had once tried to maintain a good relationship with the Duan family of Xiaohuan Mountain. When their grand elder turned against him, Luo Chen responded without mercy and wiped out the entire clan. Later, as an Adept, he had hesitated over whether to enter the Land of Fallen Devils. Yet once he committed, he prepared thoroughly and carried out his plans with resolve. Even in that perilous land, he never faltered or retreated. Now, with an art that could strengthen his divine soul foundation, incomplete though it was, there was no reason to let the opportunity slip away.

After confirming that the partially restored Soul Split could be practiced, Luo Chen rested for three days before starting. The first step was to divide his main soul and create subsidiary souls. He carefully combined the Beaded Curtain Lock with the Open Thatch Art, using the two together in a way that felt unfamiliar even to him. Rather than split his soul outright, he worked along the cracks already running through it and slowly separated them.

Each movement dragged until it felt less like cutting his soul and more like tearing it apart by force. The pain was unlike anything he had ever experienced. Even the most brutal physique refinement practices he had endured in the past, including the Nirvana of Flesh, could not come close to this. The pain was all the more unbearable because every fresh tear in his soul came from his own hand. Even his formidable will could not keep the screams from tearing out of him during his attempts. Without any soundproofing formation to muffle the sound, his voice echoed out of the cave and sounded horrifying to anyone who heard it.

For more than half a year, those cries continued to ring out from the depths. Heavenjade and Black King tried several times to enter the abyss and check on him, but they were cut short by Luo Chen’s furious shout. ”GET LOST!”

The sheer hostility in his voice was enough to send a chill through their entire bodies and make them leave.

***

Time slipped by unnoticed, and in the blink of an eye, ten years had passed since Luo Chen entered seclusion to stabilize his cultivation.

Dragon Abyss Island had long since shed the devastation left behind by his tribulation. Every trace of damage had been replaced by a richer flow of spirit energy than before. Spirit energy of third-tier concentration now permeated the island, and in several particular spots, it had even reached the fourth tier.

Growth spread across the island until the landscape that had been scorched bare was hidden under a canopy of rare flowers and exotic plants. The change had come in just ten short years, yet nothing about it felt forced. Even Black King, who once preferred the freedom of the open sea, had chosen to remain on the island to cultivate.

One day, Heavenjade stood beside a dark blue pond and watched Sang Jinghe at work. The man was tossing pieces of freshly cut demonic beast flesh into the water and periodically adding a few drops of green liquid. As the mixture dissolved and blended together, the clear water turned to an azure color.

”Will this really work?” Heavenjade could not help asking.

Sang Jinghe kept tossing spirit stones into the pond as he answered, ”It should. I only came up with this idea after studying how the Sage used the blood pool. That Infernal Heartbound Tree is far too strange. Spirit soil doesn’t work on it, and even my sect’s growth-boosting liquid has no effect on it. So I figured... why not try a different approach?

”Senior Azure Yang was so nice to me that he even gave me a Liquid Condensation Pill to help me form my Golden Core. I have to repay him somehow. He doesn’t need Purple Monkey Flowers anymore, the Divine Irises were destroyed by the lightning tribulation, and as for the Dragonspit Grass, it grows fine on its own and doesn’t need much care. But if I can find a way to nurture the Infernal Heartbound Tree, he will definitely be pleased when he comes out of seclusion.”

Heavenjade nodded to herself. Her master had always valued that small tree and had brought it out several times for Sang Jinghe to study even before forming his Nascent Soul. If it could truly be made to flower and bear fruit, he would certainly be delighted.

Their conversation was cut short when a roar echoed across the island. Heavenjade’s expression changed at once as she recognized Black King’s voice. ”What happened to him?”

Heavenjade turned toward the ravine that had formed ten years ago. A moment later, Black King rose from its depths and twisted through the air as he stretched his body. He circled overhead as though waiting for something to happen.

She continued to look on curiously until a vigorous aura began spreading from the depths of the abyss. The moment it reached her, she covered her mouth in disbelief. So soon?!

As she stood there in shock, the powerful aura continued to swell. The wind shifted with it, clouds gathering overhead, while even the sunlight seemed to draw inward toward Dragon Abyss Island. Ambient spirit energy surged through the air, and within the golden rays, a huge phantom slowly took shape across the sky. It solidified bit by bit until it took the form of a delicate infant playing happily atop the head of a white-robed Daoist. Once it had played its fill, the infant sank into the crown of the Daoist’s head and disappeared.

At the sight of this, Black King, who had already landed, cried out in delight, ”Congratulations, Master, on consolidating your cultivation.”

Sang Jinghe had already dropped to his knees and shouted, ”Congratulations, Sage!”

Heavenjade offered a graceful bow and knelt on one knee. ”Congratulations, Master. From today onward, you are truly a Sage, and immortality is within reach!”

High above them, Luo Chen slowly opened his eyes and observed himself. He lifted a hand and drew in a strand of ambient spirit energy. The next moment, the power of his Nascent Soul flowed outward from his Purple Mansion and reflected upon the world.

A pressure rolled out across Dragon Abyss Island and settled over everything in its path. Humans and demons alike shuddered under its weight, plants bent low, and even the drifting wind and clouds seemed to slow and still. At that moment, Luo Chen felt his mind grow clear. He lifted his head and let out a long howl that seemed to carry all the frustration he had pent up all these years.

Thus, it was said that he first learned to refine qi and later swallowed the golden elixir, enduring countless hardships as he pressed onward along the Dao of Immortality. He seized the lotus pod and secured the foundation of life, bringing the opposing forces within him into harmony like the sun rising in the east and the moon shining in the west. After decades of seclusion in Dragon Abyss, where he seemed to drink endlessly from the sea of clouds, he finally refined the medicine of immortality. Once he consumed it, he rose to stand alongside heaven and earth.