An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

The haze above Heaven-Earth Peak suddenly split apart, and a brilliant ray of light pierced down from the heavens like a sword, falling directly upon Chu Yan’s Primal Soul. As though responding to it, her soul trembled, while a slender body slowly rose from the depths of the mountain below. If everything proceeded as the records described, her Primal Soul would now return to her body, and once the two become one again, the light would carry her into the immortal realm!

But the expected reunion failed to occur. Chu Yan let her Primal Soul float outside her body and kept drawing spiritual vitality from all over the Mountains and Seas Realm, as if the light meant nothing.

Luo Chen waited for a while, yet the scene before him did not change. He grew more and more confused, and from the looks of those around him, he was not the only one.

Suddenly, Mo Shouzhuo’s voice echoed through Heaven-Earth Peak. ”I’ll handle the rest.”

That sentence brought every eye to the old-looking man. He gestured toward the two figures that had come with him earlier, and it was only then that many in the crowd seemed to remember that they were even here. One of them was the white-haired Go Saint Ke Lianshan, and the other was Tea Mist, the True Inheritor of the Dao Sect’s master-disciple lineage.

Ke Lianshan stepped forward and respectfully offered up an ancient Go board. Mo Shouzhuo took it and gently set it onto his left palm, then he raised two fingers of his right hand and made a trace in the air.

Seeing this, Luo Chen immediately poured more origin energy into his Spirit Eyes. With his red vision, he saw invisible threads of spiritual vitality gathering at the right fingertip of Mo Shouzhuo. As more gathered, they began spiraling together into a tiny vortex. Mo Shouzhuo brought his fingers together and pressed downward. The vortex descended like a Go stone and settled at Heaven Origin, the center of the ancient board.

When it touched the board, the burden weighing upon Chu Yan seemed to be lifted off her shoulders as her Primal Soul descended and merged back into her body. At the same moment, starlight flared across the ancient Go board, and the world seemed to quake in response.

Suddenly, there was a commotion of wind and clouds above Heaven-Earth Peak, and the bright light that had descended to receive Chu Yan suddenly disappeared.In its place, thick black clouds rolled across the sky, with bolts of lightning writhing within their depths.

Luo Chen stared upward in disbelief. What is he doing?

The spiritual vitality had gathered to assist Chu Yan’s Ascension, yet Mo Shouzhuo was intercepting it and sealing it inside the Go board instead.

He immediately thought of the legends surrounding the Woodrot Spirit Treasure. The Woodrot Go Board was said to possess the ability to control the spiritual vitality of the entire continent. If the ancient board in Mo Shouzhuo’s hand truly was that treasure, then he was now using that very power to seize the spiritual vitality heaven and earth had gathered for Chu Yan.

Luo Chen no longer had the attention to spare for what Mo Shouzhuo was doing. His focus snapped back to the Saint Alchemist. Whatever benefit the Dao Sect might gain from interrupting an Ascension and seizing the spiritual vitality of heaven and earth, it was, without question, a grave act of defiance against the natural order. For Chu Yan, the consequences of such interference were impossible to ignore.

The black clouds above Heaven-Earth Peak thickened by the moment as more lightning gathered within their depths. The pressure descending from them grew increasingly terrifying.

Under normal circumstances, a cultivator would face lightning tribulation only three times over the course of an entire lifetime: upon entering the Nascent Soul Realm, the Dao Integration Realm, and finally the Tribulation Realm. Each consisted of three rounds of lightning and was collectively known as the Three-Nine Heavenly Tribulation.

Ascension to the upper realm, however, was supposed to be entirely different. It was an auspicious departure from this world, with heaven and earth themselves seeing the cultivator off. By all right, there should have been no heavenly punishment at all. Yet the tribulation now gathering over Heaven-Earth Peak was so overwhelming that even Luo Chen could scarcely fathom the power contained within it. How was Chu Yan supposed to face it?

While he watched with growing concern, Chu Yan showed no trace of fear. She simply rose from her cross-legged position in the void with her plain white robes settling loosely around her slender figure.

Ruuummmmmmbbbbleee!

With a sweep of her sleeve, the sea of primal qi surrounding her broke apart and descended over Cloud Sea Plaza as a gentle rain of spirit energy. The low-tier cultivators who had previously collapsed in exhaustion felt as though they had drunk heavenly nectar. Old injuries began to heal, their bodies felt lighter, and their cultivation rose to the point where they could feel it.

Some Initiates who had already reached Perfected Mastery even found vortices forming within their bodies as they began condensing Golden Cores without any conscious effort on their part. Even the Sages seated high above the clouds felt their mana increase considerably, while Luo Chen sensed the bottleneck that had kept him from the second stage loosen considerably. If he spent some time in secluded cultivation afterward, he would probably be able to break through to the second stage with no issues.

Is this her farewell gift to everyone? Luo Chen wondered.

Chu Yan, however, was not finished. She reached into the void as though grasping something invisible, and Mo Shouzhuo’s brows immediately drew together at the sight.

Chu Yan breathed out a stream of pure energy, then began forming seals with both hands so quickly that Luo Chen could barely follow the movements. The longer he watched, however, the more familiar the technique seemed.

She’s refining pills... but why does her technique look so familiar?

Before he could place it, Chu Yan stopped. Five fist-sized spheres of light now hovered before her. ”Sect Master Mo, forgive me. Before I leave, there are still a few things I’d like to leave behind.”

Mo Shouzhuo still had his fingers pressed against the Go board, but the faint crease in his brow gradually eased. ”It is fine. This small amount of spiritual vitality will not affect the greater plan.”

Of the five glowing spheres, two descended toward representatives of the Central Continent’s cultivation families, while a third flew toward the Woodrot Mountains. Since three of Chu Yan’s five farewell gifts would remain within the Dao Sect, it had clearly received the largest share.

The fourth sphere, however, crossed the plaza and came to a stop before the cultivator from the Nether Origin Sect.

”Daoist Aunt...”

Chu Yan gave him a gentle look. ”Take it. Consider it my way of making things up to the Nether Origin Sect.”

The man pursed his lips but accepted the glowing sphere without further protest. As for the final glowing orb...

Under everyone’s expectant gaze, it drifted across the gathering and came to a stop before one of the Star Gate guest elders.

Luo Chen stared at the glowing sphere in his hand and was stunned for a moment. Almost immediately, he became aware of the countless eyes now fixed upon him, especially the burning stare Seven Lamps was giving him from nearby. Being singled out so publicly made him very uncomfortable.

He looked toward Chu Yan. ”Senior, this is...?”

Chu Yan smiled. ”Your true fire is already close to completing its transformation. With this Heaven Mystery Pill, you should be able to take that last step. Consider it my gift to the Star Gate.”

Luo Chen was even more surprised. He had never revealed the condition of the Withering-Flourishing True Fire, yet Chu Yan had somehow seen through it at a glance and knew exactly how close it was to completing its transformation. What puzzled him even more was why, among all the guest elders and retainers of the Star Gate, she had chosen to give such a gift to a newly arrived elder like him.

Before he could make sense of it, Mo Shouzhuo’s voice sounded once more. ”You should go now.”

And with that, she did not linger.

High above Heaven-Earth Peak, the Star Gate opened wide, and a dazzling pillar of light shot into the heavens. The dark clouds scattered before it, revealing a mysterious gateway in the azure sky. Under the eyes of countless cultivators, the woman in white walked steadily upward until she reached the gateway. She pushed it open, stepped through, and vanished from the Mountains and Seas Realm.

With her departure, the wrath of heaven and earth lost its target. The gathering black clouds gradually fell apart, the lightning within them faded, and peace returned to Heaven-Earth Peak once again.

Luo Chen remained staring into the highest reaches of the sky. He had met Chu Yan only twice and had truly spoken with her only once, yet watching her leave stirred within him a strange sense of reluctance.

Before that feeling could settle, a dragon’s roar rolled through the night.

”The spiritual vitality is sufficient, and the Mirage Dragon has awakened. Fellow disciples, enter the pocket world!”

Luo Chen abruptly turned his head and looked down toward the foot of Heaven-Earth Peak.

Along the banks of the Passing River, boundless white mist was surging into being. It gathered quickly, twisting and expanding until it formed the outline of an enormous maw. As that mouth slowly opened, there was no flesh or throat within, only an impenetrable darkness suspended somewhere between illusion and reality, like an entrance to another world.