An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

In Skypiercing Pass, Old Ghost Skyscraper and Sage Divine Fire had a heated argument and eventually parted on bad terms.

Divine Fire’s favorite grand-disciple was also curious why Divine Fire hadn’t done what Skyscraper had expected of him. He asked, ”Grand-master, why didn’t you confront Luo Chen?”

As an Adept who had also spent years dealing with the Luo Tian Sect in the early days, Ran Feng was privy to many secrets concerning this matter. His Supreme Elder’s covetous intentions toward Luo Chen was one of those. Thus, he saw the recent event to be a golden opportunity to achieve it. If they used the influence of the two upper sects to pressure Ye Lingtian into punishing Luo Chen, and from there...

Divine Fire looked in the direction Skyscraper had departed, squinting as he asked offhandedly, ”What would be the point in that?”

”Umm...” Ran Feng thought for a moment, but actually couldn’t come up with a coherent reason.

Divine Fire continued, ”The city lord clearly favors Luo Chen, so there was no guarantee he’d agree to punish him. Even if he agreed, he’d still be lenient in light of the fact that Luo Chen is a Sage. Best case scenario, Luo Chen would be fined some spirit stones and assigned some menial tasks, which we stand to benefit nothing from. Moreover...”

After a brief pause, he said grimly, ”The Supreme Elder wants Luo Chen alive and intact. Rather than do anything that can alert him to our plans, we should inform the Supreme Elder about the issue and let him handle it.”

It then dawned on Ran Feng, and he made a face that clearly expressed how much he admired the wisdom of his elder.

Divine Fire gave a rather forced smile in response. In his head, he was weighing his situation. He knew he would inevitably be held accountable for Yin Sixiang’s death. However, he was not too worried; the sect wouldn’t be too harsh to him at a time like this, where a Sage was critical. If anything, the Supreme Elder might even reward him for bringing news of Luo Chen.

His cultivation... It’s probably somewhere between the second and third stages?

Luo Chen’s aura had fluctuated wildly during the battle, making it hard for Divine Fire to judge his cultivation accurately. Still, as uncertain as Divine Fire was about this, he reckoned Luo Chen was only in the early stages of the Nascent Soul Realm. The only thing that truly alarmed him was that powerful and eerie white flame, which had refined Skyscraper’s life-bound True Artifact in the blink of an eye. Divine Fire put this on his list of things to be reported back to his sect.

The master of Windflower Palace might be a potential ally of his, and City Lord Ye as well...

Divine Fire’s guessing thoughts stopped short when he recalled Ye Lingtian’s attitude.

The city lord was a little too friendly toward Luo Chen. While it seemed normal for someone known to love making friends, Ye Lingtian typically reserved this attitude for those whose backgrounds he knew well. Meanwhile, Luo Chen had suddenly appeared out of nowhere; his temperament, his conduct, and what he was capable of were still a complete mystery. It was very odd that the city lord would hold him in such high regard.

In the end, Ye Lingtian’s attitude toward Luo Chen was precisely why Divine Fire had chosen to stay silent and endure back there.

Is he not curious at all how Luo Chen managed to escape from Green Parasol Mountain?

***

Somewhere in the city lord’s residence, Ye Lingtian was hidden behind a thick stack of bamboo scrolls. These scrolls were rather new, as could be told from their subtle scent of fresh bamboo and ink. The content recorded on them was also a little disorganized.

Luo Chen, 231 years old, comes from the Dahe Market in the Sword Cauldron Domain. He rose to prominence in Tianlan Immortal City...

He has five-element spirit roots, so his cultivation aptitude was considered exceptionally poor at the time, and he had no support from a sect or a clan. But while in the Qi Refinement Realm, he displayed remarkable talent in alchemy and earned the Dao title ”Dan Chenzi” among rogue cultivators.

At this part, Ye Lingtian stopped briefly. He gained a Dao title during Qi Refinement?

”Interesting!”

He marvelled out loud and continued reading the scroll, following Luo Chen’s journey from Qi Refinement to Foundation Establishment and then to Golden Core. The locations also changed, from the remote and little-known Dahe Market to Tianlan Immortal City, until the outbreak of the Frontier War initiated by the Falling Cloud Sect.

After that, the battle at the Great Snowy Mountains marked the failure of the Frontier War. The battle at Green Parasol Mountain ushered in a new round of all-out war between the humans and demons of the Eastern Wilderness’s cultivation world—the first conflict of this scale since ancient times.

The scroll in Ye Lingtian’s hand ended here. He picked up another bamboo scroll that appeared relatively dated among the many brand-new ones.

”This handwriting... Junior Brother Chong Ming must have written this himself after he returned from the Central Continent!”

This revelation caused Ye Lingtian’s expression to turn somewhat solemn as he unfolded the scroll. Like the last one, it wrote about Luo Chen. Yet unlike the last one, it was not information from his time as a struggling rogue cultivator, but from his time as the famed Wilderness Hermit.

He had performed tremendous feats in the Northern Sea, then made a name for himself in the Central Continent. During the Mirage Dragon Grand Competition, he had beaten all odds and propelled Fu Qinglan to first place, even though her cultivation talent was not all that remarkable among the contestants.

The details of what had transpired in the pocket world remained confidential; outsiders were not privy to such information. But there was one thing everybody knew and deserved attention: Luo Chen was viewed favorably by Saint Alchemist Chu Yan. When she ascended, she had bestowed upon him a Heaven Mystery Pill! It was for this same reason that Chong Ming had taken notice of him and even instructed the Nether Origin Sect to gather intelligence on him.

Ye Lingtian’s movements slowed down as he sank into thought. Why would Senior Sister Chu take such a liking to him?

It would have seemed rather strange to an outsider that Ye Lingtian addressed Chong Ming as ”Junior Brother” and Chu Yan as ”Senior Sister,” yet Chong Ming referred to the Saint Alchemist as ”Dao-Aunt.” The generational hierarchy seemed mixed up here, but in reality, it wasn’t.

Chong Ming was actually a young genius of the Nether Origin Sect who did not belong to the same generation as Chu Yan and Ye Lingtian. Therefore, even after Chong Ming became a Sage and then represented the Nether Origin Sect on a diplomatic mission to the Heaven Origin Dao Sect, he still respectfully addressed Chu Yan as ”Dao-Aunt.” Meanwhile, Ye Lingtian was from Chu Yan’s generation, so he was used to calling her Senior Sister, but he was also familiar with Chong Ming and found it natural to address the latter as a fellow Sage.

After taking a while to make sense of why his senior sister would view Luo Chen so highly, Ye Lingtian finally came up with an explanation. Maybe Luo Chen has some kind of amazing talent for alchemy?

Yes, that must be it! Luo Chen’s aptitude isn’t good at all, but his cultivation has never stagnated. In fact, his progress has been meteoric. He condensed his Golden Core in just a hundred years; even those with a heavenly spirit root can’t be any faster than that. And since he didn’t have guidance from a master or a proper sect, the only possible explanation is that he took a shortcut.

Then, during his hundred-year journey across the Northern Sea, he leapt from the early stage of Golden Core all the way to the Nascent Soul Realm! Fortuitous encounters must be a factor, but absolutely not all of the reason. Such a feat is simply not possible without the aid of pills!

Ye Lingtian’s suspicions were immediately confirmed when he unfolded the final bamboo scroll.

Star Gate Guest Elder, goes by the name Luo Chen. Early stage of Nascent Soul. Extraordinary bearing; suspected to be a sword cultivator. Can refine middle-grade fourth-tier cultivation pills. Likely, a great grandmaster alchemist!

Ye Lingtian didn’t take time to applaud himself for making a correct guess and instead retrieved a jade scroll from his storage pouch.

”Keep an eye on Luo Chen; he is connected to what happened at Green Parasol Mountain. But do not use violence; he must be treated with courtesy!”

Though just two simple sentences, the message came with an immense divine will that compelled one to submit out of instinct. Clearly, it was the work of an Ascendant! It had been delivered to Ye Lingtian right before Luo Chen’s return and was the actual reason he had treated the latter so warmly.

Ye Lingtian’s brow furrowed as he traced his finger across the scroll’s jade-smooth surface.

Since the Ancestor is so concerned, why not simply capture Luo Chen and bring him back for interrogation? Is he holding back out of respect for his talent, hoping to recruit and cultivate him to be the next Saint Alchemist for our Nether Origin Sect? But in that case, shouldn’t we act as fast as possible? Is the Ancestor too busy for that right now, or does he have scruples because Luo Chen is a Star Gate Guest Elder?

Ye Lingtian remained utterly confused after much speculation. As he organized all the bamboo scrolls, he suddenly burst out laughing.

”What the hell, why am I concerning myself with all that? It’s been way too dull with those spiritless old farts in the Eastern Wilderness. It’s far better that I get to deal with an interesting character like Luo Chen!”