An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

When these words fell on his ears, Lin Jingtang’s face flushed red. The horrifying memory of that defeat came flooding back to his mind.

He did not have a good background; no one knew who his parents were. Nevertheless, he had an upbringing that he was proud of. He had been adopted by the head of the Lin family, who had raised and taught him as if he were his own son.

Lin Jingtang had started shining quite early on due to his outstanding cultivation aptitude. Even though he had never formally joined the Heaven Origin Dao Sect, he had always been compared to the sect’s disciples of his generation. He had lived up to everyone’s expectations, refining his qi, establishing his foundation, and going all the way to forming his Nascent Soul.

The day he reached the Nascent Soul Realm was the happiest day of his life. The Lin family held a celebration ceremony for him. Members of many houses on friendly terms with the Lin family had come to congratulate him, and even peers from the Dao Sect had attended the ceremony.

He knew the head of the Lin family had done everything so he would do his best to assist Lin Bufan in the grand competition, but he had no complaints. He had always been prepared and willing to do his utmost to protect Lin Bufan and repay the kindness of the Lin family. Furthermore, he had the confidence to fulfill this task.

However, in the Mirage Dragon Pocket World, Luo Chen’s palm strike had cast a shadow over his confidence. It had sent him flying a hundred li, dealing quite an injury, and yet it was only a casual move from the other party. This was unbearable for Lin Jingtang, who had always considered himself to be as strong as the Dao Sect True Inheritors.

How could he think of standing above the clouds with the Dao Sect elite when he wasn’t even a match for a rogue cultivator? If he didn’t have to prioritize Lin Bufan and thus had to refrain from acting on his emotions, he would have long since found a way to erase that shame.

He had been suppressing his anger all along, but now, after hearing those words...

”Asking for death?” Lin Jingtang grinned as he returned from his thoughts. The strings of blood on his white teeth painted a scary and hideous face. ”Even if I die, I’ll drag you to hell with me!”

In a shocking move, his tattered Nascent Soul swooshed out of his Purple Mansion, revealing itself in broad daylight for everyone to see. Its tender little arm was placed on the disproportionately huge golden bell, and then the Nascent Soul suddenly pressed down without looking back, determined to crush Luo Chen to death!

BOOOOOOOOM!!

The blow shattered the mountain peak under Luo Chen. But contrary to everyone’s expectations, he remained floating in the air, unaffected.

Meanwhile, Lin Jingtang had landed at the mountain foot. He was stunned to see that the opponent was fine, but with his wealth of experience, he quickly realized why: His blow had missed by a little. The reason was that, when they passed each other just now, many ghostly illusions had suddenly appeared on Luo Chen’s body.

Illusions that can fool the divine consciousness? How is that... Lin Jingtang wondered.

Meanwhile, Qi Xiongcheng flew over to Shi Ju and said with a grave look, ”It’s that technique again! The difference this time is that he used it while in a state of enlightenment. He must either practice some kind of soul-splitting technique or have a second Nascent Soul to be able to pull that off!”

”A second Nascent Soul? No way.” Shi Ju shook his head. He didn’t think a rogue cultivator could ever obtain such an advanced technique. ”It is a soul-splitting technique! Didn’t you see? His usual fighting style is straightforward, but just now, he mainly used sneak attacks. This means he is unable to fully utilize the mana reserve of his Nascent Soul, much less mobilize ambient spirit energy.”

There was a clear difference between splitting one’s soul and cultivating a second Nascent Soul.

Having a second Nascent Soul was the closest equivalent of having a second life. A complete Nascent Soul with a complete divine soul, if equipped with a corresponding physical vessel, could become a cultivator’s true incarnation, something that puppet or mana avatars could never hope to compare. It was said that only Blood God Clones of the Primordial Devil Sect could reach the level of a true incarnation, but only barely, as Blood God Clones did not have the cultivator’s Nascent Soul at the core.

Meanwhile, a cultivator that had a second Nascent Soul had an almost perfectly identical clone. The cultivator and the clone would be of one mind and thus could cooperate seamlessly in combat, which resulted in their power increasing severalfold!

Meanwhile, soul splitting was merely that, splitting off a divine soul fragment and forging it into a subsidiary soul. Certainly, it possessed the same exact consciousness and behavioral logic as the original one, but in the end, it was only a divine soul with little to no access to mana. Therefore, being able to perform soul arts and mobilize even a small amount of mana through it was enough to show Luo Chen’s exceptional expertise in soul refinement.

The conversation between Shi Ju and Qi Xiongcheng was not concealed in any way. It rang across the field and even reached Lin Jingtang’s ears, answering his doubt. His little Nascent Soul, bearing a large hole in its chest, was overcome with rage.

A subsidiary soul did this to me?! My Purple Mansion was shattered and my Nascent Soul is falling apart... because of something like that?! I can’t forgive this humiliation! I must have revenge!

Fury and hatred clouded Lin Jingtang’s mind. Ignoring Lin Bufan’s constant pleading, he kicked the huge bell with his little foot. The Bell of Terror flew up and hovered over Luo Chen.

Lin Jingtang formed a hand seal with both hands. Instantly, his declining mana poured out like an overflowing river. His Nascent Soul was shrinking and disintegrating, yet his eyes radiated utter madness.

”Bigger! Bigger! BIGGER!”

The golden bell began to expand like crazy. Ten zhang, fifty zhang, seventy zhang... until it became a hundred zhang tall. Like a sky-blotting pot lid, it obscured the hundred-zhang radius around Luo Chen.

No matter how cunning you are and no matter how exquisite your soul abilities are, you have nowhere to run!

With that thought, he controlled the Bell of Terror to drop down.

When she saw this, Fu Qinglan immediately shot into the sky despite her injuries, her sword and her leaf going ahead of her. At Shi Ju’s signal, Wang Yifu and Qi Xiongcheng intercepted the two items, while Shi Ju himself stood in front of Fu Qinglan.

”Out of the way!” Fu Qinglan shouted, striking out with her palm.

Shi Ju was unruffled. Blocking the palm strike with a wave of his fan, he coldly sneered. ”You take yourself way too seriously!”

With astonishing speed, his left hand formed a seal.

CRACKLE!

A thunderous explosion followed, and Fu Qinglan dropped from the air as if struck by lightning. When she stood up from the ground, there were dense, silver-white arcs of electricity flickering across her dress. She let out a muffled grunt and quickly dispelled the electric arcs using her dark-green mana.

A look of surprise and confusion crossed her eyes. He has the pure Nine Yang Dao Body, why can he use a lightning-element art?

”You can’t save him.”

Shi Ju’s snort rang right next to her ear. Fu Qinglan looked up to see the huge golden bell had completely covered Luo Chen.

Meanwhile, Lin Jingtang’s Nascent Soul was slowly flying up. Ignoring all the damage it had sustained, he constantly performed hand seals and while chanting an incantation. As he cast his spell, the Bell of Terror kept producing a vibrating noise.

Even though Fu Qinglan was far away from that noise, she still felt her soul being rattled to the point of disintegration. Her blood ran cold. Lin Jingtang is trying to kill Luo Chen with the shock!

She looked around. Shi Ju’s trio were raring to go, and the two members of the Gu family were watching intently like tigers fixating on their prey. High up, the white eagle’s figure flickered behind the clouds as it eagerly flapped its wings.

The situation was beyond saving now. In the end, she couldn’t protect Luo Chen like he had protected her.

If that’s how things are... at least I must make sure he lives!

Urging her mana and divine soul resonance to amplify her voice, Fu Qinglan shouted, ”LUO CHEN, ACTIVATE THE ILLUSORY GO STONE!”

As soon as these words rang out, all expressions faltered. Activating one’s illusory Go stone meant getting directly transported out of the Mirage Dragon Pocket World. None of the cultivators present had the ability to stop an Ascendant from carrying that out.

Even if Luo Chen’s main soul is dormant, he can still activate the illusory Go stone with his subsidiary soul. Do we have no choice but to watch him leave unscathed?

Shi Ju’s expression kept shifting. If Luo Chen was allowed to leave, all their efforts would go down the drain.

Wang Yifu was furious; not only was Luo Chen alive, but Fu Qinglan had also successfully grasped a Law. His vengeance was getting nowhere like this.

Unlike the others, Lin Bufan heaved a soft sigh of relief. It’s best if Luo Chen can just leave so that Jingtang can stop this. As long as his Nascent Soul returns to his body, then after we come back out, the experts of the Dao Sect may well have a way to preserve his cultivation.

Gu Yuan shook his head. His interest immediately fizzled out after it had just been piqued.