An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Chapter 1129: The Chanting Monk; The Supreme Elder of the Ice Pole Sect; The Archaic Beast’s Roar (II)

He could not tell whether the Ghost Immortal Tower had genuinely advanced or whether his own higher cultivation now allowed him to perceive more of its power. Either way, the beast seemed to be approaching a state of unity with the world. The ice melted wherever it passed, the sea churned in answer to its approach, and even the sky dimmed in its presence.

At this moment, a Sage from the Ice Pole Sect flew out to stop it before it reached the spirit mountain. He directed his flying sword straight at the Ghost Immortal Tower, but the beast neither dodged nor defended itself. It simply continued charging forward.

Whoosh!

The sword passed straight through its body and struck nothing. The miss left the spectators stunned, but Luo Chen quickly formed a theory. Are those phantoms interfering with the Sage’s divine consciousness and throwing off his aim?

The Sage appeared to reach the same conclusion. Abandoning precise sword strikes, he unleashed a wide-range attack that engulfed the Ghost Immortal Tower from every direction. Yet just like before, the beast did not even try to defend itself. The violent force crashed into its crimson body, only to vanish without leaving so much as a wound.

Luo Chen’s gaze sharpened. Yes, the Ghost Immortal Tower had in fact grown stronger since their encounter in the Sunken Sea. Its aura was approaching the fifth tier, and every movement drew a faint response from the surrounding world.

If no one stops it, it will reach the sect’s gate.

The thought had barely crossed his mind when a furious roar thundered from the ice mountain.

”FUCKING BEAST, GEEEET BAAACCK!”

A mighty divine consciousness erupted from the peak. In the distance, a tiny black figure rose into the air and extended a single finger.

The gesture appeared almost casual, yet the beam of light that shot from the fingertip was so powerful that Luo Chen’s entire body tensed in alarm. The radiance crossed the battlefield in an instant, pierced the Ghost Immortal Tower’s head, and blasted open a hole as wide as a millstone.

BBOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!

With just a single strike, the Ghost Immortal Tower was slain!

Luo Chen stared at the distant figure. Is that Frostpole, the Ice Pole Sect’s Supreme Elder?

The attack had looked deceptively simple, but he knew he could never withstand it. Even with the physique of a fourth-tier archaic beast, the beam would have pierced through him just as easily. Such was the power of a late-stage Sage!

Yet Frostpole had not unleashed that attack without paying a price. His aura weakened noticeably afterward, which showed just how heavily the technique had taxed him.

Damn... even he cannot use a technique like that lightly. Then Luo Chen’s expression changed as he sensed something off. WAIT! NO—It’s not dead!

The colossal beast remained standing amid the shattered ice below the spirit mountain. The beam had pierced a millstone-sized hole through its head, yet its body, nearly a thousand zhang tall, showed no sign of collapsing.

Without warning, it moved again. It surged into the air, threw back its head, and roared directly at Frostpole. The sound carried a devastating assault upon the divine soul. Even from afar, Luo Chen felt his divine soul tremble.

On the battlefield itself, every cultivator and demonic beast within a thousand li began bleeding from their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth; then, everyone and everything below the Sage level simply died where they stood. Only a few of the Demon Emperors who had prepared in advance escaped the full force of the attack. As for the Sages of the Ice Pole Sect, they fell unconscious and plummeted from the sky.

Frostpole had borne the roar head-on and suffered the worst of it. Though he remained suspended in the air, his expression was vacant and his body was utterly still. His divine soul had clearly sustained a terrible injury, and he did not react even when the Ghost Immortal Tower reached for him with an enormous hand.

Siuu! Siuu!

Several light barriers sprang up around the spirit mountain to block the Ghost Immortal Tower’s attack, but the giant hand smashed through each one without slowing.

”Uuuuugggh......”

A low groan finally escaped Frostpole as his awareness returned, but by then it was already too late. The colossal hand had closed around him and was already trapping him inside its grasp. Right before his eyes, the Ghost Immortal Tower opened its mouth wide.

Terror flashed across Frostpole’s face. Several True Artifacts burst from his body in brilliant streams of spirit light and hacked frantically at the creature’s fingers, yet none left so much as a mark.

The Ghost Immortal Tower simply raised him to its mouth and swallowed him whole. After chewing several times, muffled screams rang out from within.

The horrifying sight left everyone watching in disbelief. Was a mighty late-stage Sage truly going to meet such a miserable end?

BBOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!

A cloud of blood exploded from the Ghost Immortal Tower’s holed head, and Frostpole’s Nascent Soul fled from within.

At the sight, Luo Chen released the breath that even he did not know that he was holding. Though Frostpole had lost his body, his Nascent Soul had at least managed to escape intact. However, his relief quickly gave way to confusion.

Does the Ghost Immortal Tower’s divine soul not lie within its head? How can it remain completely unaffected after suffering that much damage?

The Ghost Immortal Tower immediately reached for Frostpole again. With no hope of outrunning the enormous hand, Frostpole crushed a golden talisman in his palm and screamed with hatred and desperation, ”LIII CAAAANGGHAAAAI, SAAAAAVVEE MEEEEEE!!!!!!”

The moment those words fell, the entire battlefield froze. An enormous vortex opened in the sky, and a figure slowly stepped out from within. The wind and cloud blurred his features, and only an indistinct silhouette was visible. He glanced down at the battlefield and beckoned, drawing Frostpole’s Nascent Soul safely into his hand.

At that moment, the surrounding world seemed to turn against the Ghost Immortal Tower with invisible restraints closing around its enormous body. With a violent surge of power, it broke free and roared madly at the figure in the sky. This time, however, it was no more than a gentle breeze and did not affect the figure whatsoever.

One of the transformed demon cultivators suddenly realized what was happening and called out, ”Senior Li, you made an agreement with our lords. You can’t interfere in battles below the Divine Transformation Realm!”

The indistinct figure remained unmoved. Without so much as glancing at the speaker, he took out a small seal. Though he was far away, Luo Chen could still tell that the seal was engraved with hazy images of mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas.

The next moment, a deafening rumble erupted from the heart of the Blue Ice Sea. Before the stunned gazes of everyone present, Ice Soul Spirit Mountain tore free from the frozen seabed and rose into the sky. The mountain rapidly shrank, then disappeared into the small seal. As the mountain merged into it, the indistinct images engraved upon the seal seemed to become slightly clearer.

Only then did Ascendant Li speak up. ”The Blue Ice Sea is yours.”

It was a simple statement and also the only thing he said. Afterward, he simply turned around and disappeared into the vortex.

From the moment he arrived, only the Ghost Immortal Tower had drawn more than a passing glance from him. He had come to save one person and retrieve one mountain, and nothing else on the battlefield was worthy of his attention.

The vortex closed behind him, and the terrifying pressure that had covered ten thousand li finally receded. Across the devastated Blue Ice Sea, only the Ghost Immortal Tower’s furious roars continued to echo.

Farther out at sea, Void Contemplation lowered his head, shivering uncontrollably. It took him a long time to regain his composure. When he finally looked up, he forced a smile. ”Congratulations, everyone. We’ve taken another territory.”

The other demon cultivators opened their mouths but found nothing to say. With the Ghost Immortal Tower leading the assault, the conquest of the Blue Ice Sea had never been in doubt. Yet Ascendant Li had taken Ice Soul Spirit Mountain with him, along with the core of the region’s fourth-tier spirit vein. What value was there in conquering a territory like this?

Meanwhile, the cultivators aboard the ship were equally uncertain how to interpret the outcome.

In one sense, the Ice Pole Sect’s defeat had become inevitable the moment the Ghost Immortal Tower entered the battlefield. This archaic beast was widely regarded as the being closest to an Ascendant in the current era. Even Frostpole’s full-powered strike, which had blasted a hole through its head, had ultimately accomplished nothing. Ascendant Li’s intervention, however, raised far more questions than it answered. They had hoped that he would suppress the demon army or even destroy the Ghost Immortal Tower. Instead, he had merely rescued Frostpole’s Nascent Soul, removed Ice Soul Spirit Mountain, and surrendered the rest of the Blue Ice Sea without a fight.

Was he bound by the agreement between the Ascendant-level powers? No one knew.

Fu Chaosheng cast a complicated glance toward the devastated battlefield, but whatever thoughts passed through his mind, he kept them to himself.

”Let’s go!”

The ship set sail once more. This time, no demonic beasts followed behind it.

Back inside the cultivation chamber on the fifth floor of Giant Dawn Palace, Luo Chen replayed the moment Ice Soul Spirit Mountain tore free from the frozen sea and vanished into Ascendant Li’s seal. The longer he considered it, the more certain he became.

Is that the island-linking formation?