An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

At the foot of Heaven-Earth Peak, the Passing River surged forward. Just as fast was the passage of time that never stopped flowing in silence. Before anyone knew it, half a year had gone by.

At Cave Residence Jia Seventy-Eight, Fu Qinglan was gazing anxiously at the towering parasol tree. The vibrant, green hue remained undimmed under the blinding snow, but what was holding her attention was the white-clad man sitting atop it.

”Grandpa, is he really alright?”

Her question was for Fu Chaosheng, who was standing next to her and equally anxious. In the past, he had taken excellent care of himself, and so his complexion had been rosy with no visible wrinkles despite his age. Yet now, he seemed to have aged several decades in just half a year, and he was even exhibiting the typical frailty of elderly mortals.

”He’s in a state of sudden enlightenment. It’s a kind of fortune that we cultivators will do everything in our power to prolong, because we can only attain it when all the stars align. But to think this has to be now of all times!”

Indeed, the timing of Luo Chen’s enlightenment could hardly be more critical! The Saint Alchemist’s ascension was imminent, and the Mirage Dragon Pocket World was about to open. If he was unable to awaken before then, it would ruin the big plan.

Fu Qinglan was actually a little envious. ”Sudden enlightenment? Grandpa, is his talent really not at all inferior to those Holy Land prodigies like you said?”

Fu Chaosheng nodded with a wry smile. He had not the slightest doubt about Luo Chen’s talent. While at the middle stage of the Golden Core Realm, the latter hadn’t needed any guidance to grasp the method of condensing a Nascent Soul, and had later on succeeded in using it, even as a rogue cultivator.

At Duskmist Court, Fu Chaosheng had even witnessed with his own eyes when Luo Chen had harmonized his spirit with heaven and earth and entered a state of enlightenment. That enlightenment had been extremely brief, but this one had lasted six months and was still ongoing!

”He used to live a nomadic life, and it was difficult for him to settle down and cultivate in peace. Now that he finally has a nice place, all that accumulation can start bearing fruit. But not all enlightenments are the good kind. I fear he might stray onto the wrong path!”

Fu Chaosheng had a good reason for his worry. From what he and his granddaughter were seeing, Luo Chen’s state was not one of advancement, but instead an endless descent!

His connection with heaven and earth was tenuous. His mana had gone from blazing with vitality to quiet and subdued. Even his incredibly youthful face was beginning to show wrinkles, turning into that of an old man, and his jet-black hair had turned into a river of gray.

Was I too rash? Fu Chaosheng asked himself in self-reproach. If I hadn’t been so eager to make him stronger and given him the old version of the Great Harmony Pill, if I hadn’t given him all those fire-element techniques in one go, if I had chosen to wait and give him that bottle of Firestream Essence after the competition...

Fu Chaosheng was unsure where exactly it had gone wrong, but he did know for a fact that Luo Chen’s current state had something to do with him. This made him doubt himself. Was I too reckless? Was I too shortsighted for trying to get quick results? Or maybe I’ve really gotten old and I can no longer tell what I should and shouldn’t do...

Just as Fu Chaosheng’s heart wavered and he kept questioning himself, a quiet remark reached his ears.

”Grandpa, looks like... he’s about to wake up?”

Fu Chaosheng looked up and saw that Luo Chen indeed seemed about to awaken! In just seconds, an immense amount of ambient spirit energy rushed toward him. The motionless figure on the parasol tree acted like the eye of a massive vortex, madly devouring it all. The process even created a small spirit energy storm.

At the center of the storm, Luo Chen slowly opened his eyes. As his gaze swept over the two people below, his deep, dark eyes revealed a hint of the weariness that only someone who had experienced all the vicissitudes of life could have.

”Whew...”

Luo Chen let out a long breath, and when it ended, the storm of spirit energy also abruptly stopped. He rose to his feet and gracefully floated down to the ground. Behind his fluttering gray hair, the towering green tree mysteriously withered and crumbled into a pile of ashes.

Seeing this, Fu Chaosheng could not help but ask, ”Luo Chen, are you all right?”

”What could possibly be wrong? I was just—” replied Luo Chen with a smile, but when the words left his mouth, his brow furrowed. Given the disbelief obvious on the two faces before him, he could tell that his hoarse voice had not been just an impression.

”Ahem!” He cleared his throat and resumed, ”I was just taking a little break.”

This time, his voice had returned to its usual state—deep and gentle, yet firm and powerful. It should have instilled confidence, but Fu Chaosheng and Fu Qinglan only grew more worried. Changing one’s voice was a simple matter for cultivators, so the sudden shift in his vocal qualities only resembled a clumsy attempt to cover up the truth... especially when the paucity of his spirit energy fluctuations made him look like a Qi Refinement cultivator. An elderly one, at that!

”How did this happen?” mumbled Fu Chaosheng.

Luo Chen had little inclination to explain himself at the moment. ”I need to rest and reflect on this experience, so I will have to excuse myself. If there’s anything you wish to discuss with me, please come back in a few days.”

This was him dismissing his guests.

Fu Chaosheng didn’t pursue the matter and turned to leave with his granddaughter, but Fu Qinglan kept glancing back at Luo Chen. He stood there at the edge of the mountain ravine, letting the breeze ruffle his long, gray hair.

”Grandpa, I don’t know why, but... this man gives me the impression that he’s become even more dangerous.”

Fu Chaosheng, who had been wallowing in self-reproach, worry, and disorientation, was stunned by her comment. ”Really?”

Fu Qinglan nodded, very slightly but extremely seriously!

***

After standing in the mountain breeze for a while, the daze in Luo Chen’s head from half a year in enlightenment cleared up somewhat. He returned to his cave residence, took a bath, changed into new clothes, lit some incense, and sat down. His long gray hair was simply tied back with a wooden hairpin.

His divine consciousness directly sank into his Purple Mansion. The first thing he saw there was his Nascent Soul who was sitting cross-legged next to a dim flame. At the moment, its normally smooth and snow-white skin was covered in wrinkles, but they were not the wrinkles of old age. Rather, it looked no different from a baby who had just been born!

Looking at his Nascent Soul, anyone unaware of the real situation would have assumed Luo Chen had lost control of his cultivation and had been affected by a Heart Devil that led him to suffer a major regression. Yet the man himself smiled from the bottom of his heart at this sight. ”Maybe this cultivation method is suitable for others, or maybe it isn’t, but it works best for me. Finally figured it out!”

He opened his status panel. Under the Techniques section, the entry Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture: Perfected Mastery had changed to Withering-Flourishing Dao Sutra: Beginner (50/100). This was the name Luo Chen gave his new cultivation technique. A grand title like “Dao Sutra” was probably a bit of an exaggeration, but it embodied his hope to seek the Great Dao!

The important thing was that he had indeed found the right direction during the six months of enlightenment.

This self-created cultivation technique used the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture as a deep and solid foundation. Then, it incorporated the essentials of the Blazing Radiance True Scripture and the Eastern Stem Firebreak Scripture regarding the circulation route through meridians and acupoints. Furthermore, it drew on the Purple Yang Divine Art’s ability to precisely harvest special fire-attribute spirit energy.

Not stopping there, Luo Chen had also integrated into it his self-created Fine Dust Primordial Art to account for the cultivation of mental state. He had even added in some insights from Soul Split on the cultivation of divine soul.

Overall, the Withering-Flourishing Dao Sutra was eclectic and rather rough around the edges, but it inherited the comprehensiveness of the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture. It covered all the bases from the inside to outside, from qi to spirit.

In terms of cultivation speed, the speed at the Beginner level was roughly the same as that of the Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana Scripture. It did seem slower at a glance; this fresh Dao Sutra covered many aspects, which made it more cumbersome and tiring to practice. However, Luo Chen was confident that as the proficiency increased, the disadvantages would be smoothened out one by one, and his cultivation speed would increase tremendously!

On the same note, while studying the principles in the transformation of the Withering-Flourishing True Fire to create the dao sutra, he had also come up with a new spell he had called the Withering-Flourishing Divine Restriction!

Well, calling it a spell wasn’t entirely accurate; it was actually based on the Darkness restriction and bore resemblance to a formation prototype. To make an analogy, it was similar to the innate demonic abilities or perhaps the rumored divine abilities of powerful demonic beasts.

The spell focused on neither offense nor defense; its purpose was to assist Luo Chen’s cultivation. By borrowing the power of the Withering-Flourishing True Fire, the spell could seal the mana of his Nascent Soul and prevent it from leaking out. During this state, his true fire would constantly temper and purify the mana.