An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Gu Daosu watched with parted lips, but in the end, he said nothing. Take Luo Chen down with you? No way. That sword strike is terrifying enough that you’ll be lucky just to survive it. How are you supposed to kill him too?

Yet the next moment, delight flashed across his eyes. The crimson sword light suddenly veered away from the Unfailing Mirror’s light and changed course toward Shi Ju. With nothing left to bar its path, the mirror’s light continued straight toward Luo Chen.

Shi Ju merely gave a snort as the crimson sword light shot toward him instead of Gu Daosu. ”Hm? You’re coming after me now? If you think I’m an easier target, you’ve chosen the wrong person.”

He slapped the Purple Yang Gourd, and raging golden flames poured from its mouth. The fire rapidly condensed into the shape of a crow, which circled him once before letting out a cry and charging straight into the incoming sword light.

The moment the two forces met, the crimson sword light melted away like snow in the blazing sun. Shi Ju sneered. ”What bloody filth! It’s obviously some kind of devilish treasure. Too bad for you! The Purple Yang Gourd contains Solar True Fire. There are a few things it burns more readily than crooked arts like yours.”

Hiss, hiss, hiss...

By the time the golden crow faded, almost none of the sword light remained. What emerged from within was a vicious crimson longsword, its blade seething with terrifying killing intent.

Shi Ju’s eyes lit up with greed. He licked his lips and reached for the sword. ”That’s it? You’re already out of tricks?”

As far as he could tell at a glance, the sword was extraordinary. Even if it was not a spirit treasure, its destructive power was by no means inferior. If he could seize it, he might gain another powerful asset.

Golden flames surged over his outstretched hand as he reached directly for the blade. With Solar True Fire protecting him, he was confident enough to seize the sword barehanded.

Just then, a soft shout reached his ears. ”Go!”

The blood sword twisted and slipped past Shi Ju’s flaming hand. Then, before everyone’s eyes, it charged straight toward the gourd under Qi Xiongcheng’s arm. Qi Xiongcheng’s expression changed, and he instinctively raised his right arm to block it.

PZZZZZ!!!!

The crimson blade cut straight through his arm as if it was made of paper and struck the Purple Yang Gourd with full force. Under both men’s stunned gaze, cracks spread rapidly across the gourd’s surface, branching and multiplying like the pattern on a tortoise shell until...

BAAAAAAAAAANNNNGG!!!!

The Purple Yang Gourd exploded. White mist burst from within, carrying a mass of illusory cores that scattered everywhere.

Shi Ju’s composure shattered along with the gourd. ”YOU FUCKING BASTAAAAAAAAAARD!”

He and Qi Xiongcheng had spent twenty years collecting those illusory cores! The Purple Yang Gourd had been keeping all of them sealed, and now, the entire hoard was escaping right before his eyes.

Qi Xiongcheng did not even have time to worry about his severed arm. He frantically cast one technique after another, trying to recapture the fleeing cores. But after finally breaking free, the illusory cores had no desire to be trapped again. Hidden amid the white mist, they shot away like meteors, leaving long trails of vapor behind them.

”FREEZE!”

On the other side, Dragon Abyss gathered the last of his strength and forcibly immobilized one of the fleeing cores. The moment it stopped, he seized it and turned to Tea Mist. ”Go!”

Tea Mist glared furiously at Luo Chen in the distance. ”Wilderness Hermit is already exhausted and drained of strength. Are we really going to let him escape?”

Dragon Abyss’s aura was weakening by the moment, and his injuries left no room for hesitation. ”Northern Sea rogue cultivators have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves. Someone like him won’t be that easy to kill. I’m badly injured and can’t fight anymore. Retreating now is our best option.”

Tea Mist could feel how quickly his condition was deteriorating, so she did not argue. Even so, before leaving, she gave one last resentful glance toward Luo Chen.

Yet what she saw made her pale instantly.

The beam from the Unfailing Mirror had clearly pierced straight through Luo Chen’s chest, yet his figure simply blurred for a moment and reappeared unharmed. The light continued past him and struck a mountain in the distance. Without so much of a sound, the entire mountain crumbled into powder, blowing dust into the sky behind him.

Tea Mist stared in disbelief. It missed?

Gu Daosu was equally stunned. ”How could it have missed?”

The Unfailing Mirror could lock onto a target through divine consciousness. Its power might not always be enough to defeat an enemy, but once it was fixed on someone, it was never supposed to miss.

Lady Xu let out a weak sigh. ”Perhaps my mind is too muddled. I must have lost my lock on him. Su’er, you’re on your own now. I can’t hold on much longer.”

As she spoke, the Illusory Go Stone flew out and transformed into black-and-white light that enveloped her.

Just before she disappeared, she sent him a voice transmission. ”Without me here, you can’t stay much longer. Wilderness Hermit may have set all this up to deal with you, but that sword was clearly aimed at Shi Ju. He’s after the illusory cores and the spiritual vitality, not you. Once I’m gone, don’t go picking a fight with him just because you’re angry. Find somewhere quiet and use the illusory cores I left you. Try to comprehend the Laws again. You’re already so close. Don’t throw that away just to prove something to them.”

Gu Daosu watched the vortex disappear into the air with a grim expression.

Beyond the ruined mountain, white mist still rolled across the battlefield. Luo Chen remained suspended in the distance with his white robes fluttering in the wind as though the terrifying exchange had never touched him.

Gu Daosu was unwilling to leave matters there, but Lady Xu was right. In the end, he suppressed his anger and quietly pulled back.

Shortly after he left, two furious roars erupted from below the mountain.

”WIIIIILLDDEERRNEEEEEEESSSS HEEEEEEERRRMIIIITTTT!!!!”

”I WIIIIIILLL FUUUUUCKINNGG KIIIILLL YOOOOOOOUU!!!”

The Wang family’s elder shot into the sky with bloodshot eyes, while Shi Ju burst out from the surrounding mist with fury etched across his face. Gu Chen and Gu Yuan emerged soon after through the boundless white fog. Every one of them fixed their gaze on Luo Chen and locked onto him with divine consciousness. Even the enormous white eagle, which had landed on a mountain nearby after being struck earlier, took to the air again, coming toward him.

Luo Chen’s earlier sword strike had covered a huge area, and the Sages had not been its only targets. The illusory beasts had been caught within its range as well. Aside from the white eagle and a handful of stronger beasts, nearly all of them had been blasted apart. Even though the sword light itself had already vanished, the surrounding hundreds of li were still submerged in the white mist left behind by their shattered bodies.

On a mountaintop not far away, two figures stood watching the aftermath.

Yu Xu’s face was deathly pale, and lingering fear still filled her eyes. She could not imagine where Fu Qinglan had found such a terrifying Dao Protector. That single sword strike had been horrifying, even though its power had been spread across countless targets instead of concentrated on a single person. If Luo Chen had focused the entire attack on a single opponent, she felt that anyone here would have been utterly obliterated.

Even with its power spread so widely, the strike had still gravely wounded Dragon Abyss and forced a True Inheritor of a Noble House to flee the pocket world. Had she known that even Lady Xu had been pushed to the point of leaving, her fear would only have deepened. As it was, her heart was still pounding wildly.

”Fellow Daoist Heavengazer, good thing you saw something was wrong and you got me out of there in time.”

Heavengazer glanced at the listless pangolin in his hand, which was actually a Gu insect, and shook his head. ”I’ve already learned that lesson. I wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice.”

Their previous clash with Luo Chen was still vivid in his mind. When he and the Wrathful Vajra had joined forces against him, Luo Chen had relied almost entirely on defensive enchanted treasures. This time, however, he had drawn a flying sword and spent a substantial amount of time gathering power before striking. That alone had been enough to tell him that the attack would be absolutely cataclysmic, undoubtedly stronger than the fire phoenix and flame dragon Luo Chen had unleashed before.

Yet after seeing a single sword strike overwhelm almost all Sages present at once, he realized he had still underestimated Luo Chen.

Yu Xu looked toward the battlefield. ”Fellow Daoist, should we strike now while Wilderness Hermit is weakened and help the others take him down?”

”Weakened?” Heavengazer let out a laugh and pointed ahead. ”Take another look.”

Yu Xu followed the direction of his finger and saw the white mist filling the sky converging continuously toward the great lake beneath Luo Chen’s feet like a qi dragon. ”Does that look like a man who’s run out of mana?”

Yu Xu froze.

”And don’t forget what he did to the Wrathful Vajra. A man who can tear someone like that apart with his bare hands is still dangerous even at his weakest.” Heavengazer shook his head. ”If we join in now, there’s no telling who he’ll drag down with him. Better to stay out of this mess.”

***

Ghosts and Gods Scatter really is useful. It throws off their divine consciousness and breaks their lock. It’s perfect against attacks like that from a distance.

Luo Chen smiled faintly and reached out with one hand.

Whoosh!

A streak of crimson light tore through the surrounding clouds and mist before dropping into his hand. Gripping the sword, Luo Chen calmly surveyed the enemies closing in from several fronts.

There was the Wang family’s elder, whose eyes were bloodshot after losing the true inheritor under his protection and who seemed eager to cut Luo Chen into a thousand pieces. There was Shi Ju, the prodigy of a Great House whose treasure had been destroyed, wiping out decades of painstaking effort in an instant. Then there was also the Gu family’s Dao Protector, still in peak condition and watching him like a tiger stalking its prey, his golden robe flapping as killing intent rushed around him. And finally, the white eagle illusory beast circled nearby, screeching furiously as its powerful aura drew everyone’s attention.

Luo Chen shook his head. ”I wouldn’t mind trading a few moves with you guys. But right now, there’s no point.”

He beckoned with one hand. The great lake immediately began to rumble. Its waters parted, and a massive cauldron burst from the depths with masses of cloud and mist pouring into it. Inside, more than ten illusory cores could vaguely be seen struggling desperately, only to be firmly suppressed by his subsidiary soul.

Luo Chen gave the contents a quick glance. ”That should be enough.”

The cauldron rapidly shrank, and his subsidiary soul flew back into his sea of consciousness. By then, the others had realized what he was about to do next and were already charging toward him, but Luo Chen did not even spare them another look. He tossed out a formation disc, and hazy azure light quickly spread around him.

Nine Heavens-Ten Earths!

Luo Chen stepped into the light.

BOOOOOMMM!!

A moment later, the azure radiance shot into the sky, and golden flames swept across the lake. The heat vaporized the water and left the area filled with steam. By that time, however, Luo Chen was nowhere to be seen.