An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Before he knew it, the tenth year had arrived. The spirit energy on Dragon Abyss Island had declined to the point where it was no longer suitable for a Sage to cultivate. Even within the abyss, only the cave residence that Luo Chen had been maintaining with all his power barely retained the quality of a fourth-tier spirit vein. And that too was steadily deteriorating.

This year, Luo Chen was 226 years old.

At dawn, he slowly opened his eyes and surveyed the cave residence one last time. ”It’s time to go.”

When he emerged from the abyss, Black King and the others were already waiting outside, having been told to prepare in advance.

Luo Chen raised his right hand, and the Penglai Eightspire Pavilion appeared above his palm with a shimmer of light. After refining it through Han Zhan’s ritual technique, he could exercise enough control over the treasure to entrust it to someone else for simple tasks.

Thus, he passed it to Sang Jinghe. ”Collect all the spirit soil on the island. Don’t leave so much as a handful behind.”

Sang Jinghe had successfully formed his Golden Core during their years on the island. Although his cultivation was only barely sufficient to operate the pavilion, he would be able gather the island’s spirit soil. Therefore, he took the treasure and immediately set off.

Luo Chen then turned to Heavenjade. ”Heavenjade, go into the abyss and extract every spirit stone ore deposit we have located.”

Heavenjade happily accepted the task. Although years of leaking spirit energy had weakened the deposits, their grade had not changed. With the right arrangements, they could still be used to create a spirit energy-rich land.

”Black King!”

Black King immediately stepped forward. ”Yes, Master!”

”Gather every dragonworm on the island and bring them with us.”

”Leave them to me!”

Black King’s enormous body swayed as he lumbered toward the northern reaches of the island. Transporting an entire colony of dragonworms would have been difficult for almost any other demonic beast, but he shared an unusual connection with them.

Thirty years ago, Luo Chen had ordered Heavenjade to slaughter millions of dragonworms and fill the Blood Pool with their blood so Black King could recover from his injuries. After absorbing it all, Black King acquired a trace of their bloodline and began radiating the aura of an exceptionally powerful dragonworm. Many of the surviving dragonworms had fled the island after the massacre, but they gradually returned as the years passed. The spirit energy leaking from the island first drew them back, while the familiar pull of Black King’s bloodline encouraged them to remain. After all, creatures of the same bloodline were instinctively drawn to one another.

Once everyone had departed on their assigned tasks, Luo Chen traveled alone to the former site of Rosy Hill. The hill itself had long since vanished and was now nothing more than a huge crater. At its center, though, still stood the gigantic white tiger.

Twenty years of wind and rain had covered its body in moss and vines, yet time had done nothing to diminish the killing aura sealed within it. Truthfully, the weathered puppet looked less like an enchanted item than an ancient statue that had stood there for countless ages.

Luo Chen studied it for a moment, then leaped onto its head and sat cross-legged. He began casting restrictions into the puppet one after another.

Truth be told, his knowledge of puppet arts was not particularly profound, but he had spent many years beside Han Zhan and learned a considerable amount through observation alone. Taking perfect control of such a sophisticated puppet would have been beyond him, but merely subduing it was manageable. Especially now that he possessed a subsidiary soul capable of entering it directly!

After placing the final restriction, Luo Chen focused his mind. The subsidiary soul emerged and slipped through the crown of the puppet’s head. As it moved deeper, he detected a faint consciousness lying dormant within.

The White Tiger Puppet had not been fashioned from lifeless materials alone. A tiger spirit had been imprisoned inside and bound to the puppet as its soul. Luo Chen slowly guided his subsidiary soul toward it.

***

Deep within the Demon Sea stood a spirit mountain renowned among demonkind—Cloud Terrace! Its fame came largely from its master, the Seagon Matriarch, who was one of the demon race’s few grandmaster alchemists.

That day, brilliant light flooded the mountain as the Seagon Matriarch emerged in a green enchanted robe patterned with flowers. At the same time, five-pointed star-shaped lights appeared one after another across the sea below. At a glance, there were well over a hundred of them.

”Matriarch!”

”Matriarch!”

The Seagon Matriarch nodded and smiled with satisfaction as she looked over her clansmen. ”Good. None of you has neglected their cultivation over the years. Come with me. We’re going to the Fallen Abyss Sea Region.”

With a sweep of her sleeve, she led over a hundred Seagon Kings toward the distant Fallen Abyss Sea Region. Prime Dragon Fallen Abyss had been trapped within the Heaven of the Five Elements and would not return for a few centuries at the very least. Truthfully, it was even possible it would never escape. Its former territory had therefore been left undefended, along with all the resources it contained.

She had once visited it with Merman Emperor Liu Jun and had seen the vast stretches of spirit soil there, as well as the colony of more than ten million dragonworms that inhabited it. If she could bring that spirit soil back to Cloud Terrace Mountain, it would greatly strengthen the foundation of the Seagon Clan!

The Seagon Clan was renowned not only in alchemy but also in cultivating medicinal herbs. With such fertile soil, both pursuits would only flourish even more. As for the dragonworms, without their leader, they would have no choice but to submit to her.

If I hadn’t run into Blood Nightmare after leaving the Heaven of Bright Illumination, I wouldn’t have been forced to flee or waste thirty years recovering. Still... I should have enough time to reach the Fallen Abyss Sea Region. And even if I’m too late and other demonic beasts have already claimed it, I’ll take it from them myself.

The Seagon Matriarch’s eyes gleamed with determination as she led the clan’s elite eastward at full speed. She had every reason to hurry. The powerful demons that Great Saint Northern Departure and the Sea Emperor Whale had once taken away had already escaped from the Heaven of Northern Yama and begun launching widespread attacks on the human territory. With their attention elsewhere, this was the perfect opportunity to seize the Prime Dragon Fallen Abyss’s abandoned inheritance. Once they returned, however, those riches would never fall into her hands.

As the Seagon Clan swept across the Demon Sea, every demonic beast in their path trembled in fear. No one had expected the seemingly unremarkable clan to possess more than a hundred Demon Kings, much less that this force might represent only part of its true strength. Cloud Terrace Mountain could easily house even more Seagon Kings. Such was the influence of a grandmaster alchemist! Through her own efforts, she had revitalized an entire clan and transformed the once-weak Seagon Clan into one of the Demon Sea’s most formidable powers.

A month later, after traveling day and night without rest, she finally arrived at Dragon Abyss Island with more than a hundred elite clansmen behind her.

Then she stopped abruptly.

The massive island before her was nothing but a wasteland. There was no trace of spirit soil whatsoever, let alone vast stretches of it, and there were no other resources to speak of either.

She stared at it in silence as her mind went blank. ”Did I come to the wrong place?”