An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Hundred-Li Green River wasn’t very large, but it held a rather robust third-tier spirit vein, robust enough to sustain the hundred li of herb fields.

After the Luo Tian Sect settled down here, they established five cave residences with third-tier spirit energy concentration for their Adepts’ cultivation. By having the eight or nine Adepts share and take turns, these five cave residences just about managed to accommodate their needs.

Instead of any of those third-tier residences, however, Luo Chen had selected a scenic spot on Verdant Mountain as his temporary residence.

He was currently in the process of consolidating his cultivation. His body still contained a vast amount of unrefined mana from the primal qi forced upon him when he grasped the principles of Withering and Flourishing. Moreover, he had refined a large stockpile of top-grade Grand Origin Pills earlier, so he wouldn’t be short on spirit energy for quite a while.

At the moment, inside his temporary cave residence, two people were hard at work.

”Little Qi, use the alchemy technique I taught you to further refine the Purple Monkey Flowers. These ones from the Divine Talisman Sect have probably been sitting around too long; their medicinal properties are no longer concentrated enough.”

”Right away!” Qi Yi walked over to the shelf containing the Purple Monkey Flowers and retrieved them.

After getting the flowers ready, he suddenly asked, ”Supreme Elder, why not let Qu Lingjun help you? I heard his alchemy mastery is on par with some third-tier alchemists now.”

Luo Chen, in the midst of cutting up a Five Elements Lotus Pod, replied without looking up, ”Why, you don’t think you’re up to the task?”

Qi Yi hastily shook his head. Having the chance to be Luo Chen’s alchemy assistant and observe the Nascent Soul Pill being refined was a dream come true for him. He wasn’t about to let a lack of confidence make him miss out on it. After only a second’s hesitation, he said, ”I just thought having an extra pair of hands would help lighten your load a bit. Anything to increase the success rate of this refinement, really.”

”You needn’t worry about this. Refining the Nascent Soul Pill is hardly a challenge for me. Don’t overthink it, just focus on getting the preparations right. This experience will be very beneficial for you.”

”Understood.” Qi Yi asked no further questions and focused on processing the Purple Monkey Flowers.

Meanwhile, the knife in Luo Chen’s hand moved effortlessly back and forth through the Five Elements Lotus Pod, turning it into slices with many interconnected cavities. In his mind, however, he was answering Qi Yi’s question just now.

That kid Lingjun... His aptitude is too poor, yet he’s been pouring all of his time and energy into refining pills for the Windflower Palace. It’s no surprise he still hasn’t reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment, even at his age. Now that we’ve got him back, I can’t let him get distracted from cultivation again. If he trains diligently for fifty years in a spirit land, maybe he still has a chance to break through to the Golden Core Realm before his lifespan runs out.

If he succeeds, his lifespan will double, and at that point, the possibilities will be endless. I hope he understands my intentions and doesn’t let other things cloud his judgment.

Letting out a sigh in his heart, Luo Chen continued to slice the lotus pod. With the two seedless Five Elements Lotuses Old Tal had given him, he could easily refine twenty batches of Nascent Soul Pills. However, based on the previous successful precedent, he was confident that he only needed to use one to make the required pills and therefore could save the other for his personal use.

The Five Element Lotus Pod was a marvelous thing, according to the knowledge Han Zhan had imparted to him in the Land of Fallen Devils. In fact, rather than a medicinal ingredient, it was much more suitable for other roles. The seeds contained the essence of the Five Elements in an overwhelming concentration and thus were best for artifact forging. Meanwhile, the lotus pod was incredibly pure and able to filter impurities from ambient spirit energy, so it was often used by Sages as a support tool for daily cultivation.

During his time in the Blazing Purgatory, Luo Chen had once briefly used a top-grade Five Element Lotus for cultivation, and it had pushed him forward a long way. He could never forget the marvelous effect of that thing after that experience. The two lotus pods from Old Tal weren’t particularly high-grade, but they were just about sufficient for his needs.

***

A few days later, Luo Chen sat cross-legged on the lotus pod he had saved, eyes closed as he caught a brief rest before beginning the pill refinement. Yet his mind was quite active.

There are so many matters to attend to right now... None of them are hard to deal with, but they are petty and troublesome. Even if I can multitask, I’m physically unable to be in two places at once. But I’ve cultivated two subsidiary souls. If there’s some way I can send them out to handle my tasks for me, it might save a lot of time and speed up progress in various areas.

With that idea, Luo Chen slowly opened his eyes. Subsidiary souls could not be outside on their own for too long. They needed a host, and he could make that possible if he followed Han Zhan’s example.

I need two puppets!

Luo Chen actually had a White Tiger puppet sitting in his storage ring right now, but it was extremely high-tier and it contained a spirit to boot, so controlling it was beyond the power of his subsidiary souls. After all the research he had done over these years, he had some confidence he could subdue the White Tiger puppet, but he ultimately decided against this option as the possible risk was too high. At his current level, forcing control on it would likely result in a backlash.

Luo Chen sent a message with his divine consciousness. ”Call Yuanjiang to my place.”

Before long, Qin Yuanjiang entered the cave residence. After hearing that the Supreme Elder needed two puppets, he didn’t hesitate for a moment to take out an array of puppets from his storage pouch.

Looking at the colorful rows of puppets before him, Luo Chen was somewhat astounded. ”How do you have so many?”

Qin Yuanjiang smiled faintly. ”These are all shoddy, mass-produced items meant to be detonated during battle.”

Luo Chen instantly understood. These puppets certainly weren’t quality goods; not even one was human-shaped. Since that was the case, he found no reason to hold back. He casually picked out a red dog and a black ape.

Qin Yuanjiang put the rest of the puppets back in his storage pouch and looked at Luo Chen with curiosity. ”Elder, are you also well-versed in puppetry?”

”I wouldn’t call myself an expert, I’ve merely dabbled in it. But I have a way to control puppets...”

Luo Chen closed his eyes right in front of Qin Yuanjiang. The next second, two streaks of light flashed out from the top of his head and entered the red dog and the black ape.

Click click! Click click!

The dog opened its eyes, followed by the ape.

Qin Yuanjiang’s heart skipped a beat. He wouldn’t mistake it, the bizarre scene before him was definitely the soul-splitting technique recorded in the Falling Cloud Sect’s archives. Given his status, he had no access to such a high-tier technique, but just a while ago, Luo Chen had given him three scriptures, among which a technique called Soul Split an, allowing him to grasp just the tip of the iceberg of this field.

Luo Chen then slowly opened his eyes.

”Yuanjiang, do you understand my puppetry technique now?”

Qin Yuanjiang inhaled deeply and slowly nodded. Clearly, the Supreme Elder had obtained a certain technique from the Falling Cloud Sect and practiced it to a very profound degree, which was why he was able to split off two subsidiary souls from his divine soul. And by demonstrating this so openly before Qin Yuanjiang, he further demonstrated his trust.

”As a good friend of your parents, it’s only right for me to look after you. Now that you’ve joined our sect, you needn’t worry about your future path. Whatever the Falling Cloud Sect could teach you, I can also teach you. Go ahead and practice those puppetry arts with confidence. Who knows, perhaps one day you’ll establish a puppetry lineage in the Luo Tian Sect.”

As Luo Chen spoke these words, his eyes were full of encouragement in its most genuine form.

While he did not possess the complete three arts and two techniques of the Falling Cloud Sect, what he did have was the Fine Dust Primordial Art that had been fused with Beaded Curtain Lock, and the Open Thatch Art as well as Soul Split from Han Zhan. Together, the three of them made up a complete method to cultivate the divine soul. This method might have some flaws, but paired with Luo Chen’s Spirit Passage Pill and Great Soul Pill, these flaws would be inconsequential.

If Qin Yuanjiang managed to fully master this set of techniques and dive deeper into puppet crafting and control, he might well be able to recreate the might of Falling Cloud Sect’s puppets.

Facing Luo Chen’s earnest gaze, Qin Yuanjiang bowed respectfully. ”I will not disappoint you, Supreme Elder!”

Luo Chen smiled faintly and dismissed him. After Qin Yuanjiang left, his gaze settled on the two puppets.

They now contained two of his split souls, even the weaker of which had now reached the Nascent Soul Realm after consuming a large amount of Great Soul Pills. Moreover, since they originated from the same main soul, their minds were linked. Everything they did, learned, or achieved was crystal clear to Luo Chen. The only drawback was probably their lack of energy.

At the end of the day, they aren’t true incarnations. Without a Nascent Soul, they have no mana.

He found himself inexplicably thinking of Shi Ju’s lightning incarnation. Even with just a fleeting glimpse of it in the Mirage Dragon Pocket World, Luo Chen could tell the incarnation was a real physical body with the guy’s second Nascent Soul, possessing immense mana and great capabilities. It was ten thousand times better than these two puppet avatars he’d hastily cobbled together!

Luo Chen shook his head. No matter how envious he was, a true incarnation like that was far too hard to obtain.

He raised his hand and shot out two rays of light, sending dozens of top-grade spirit stones into the two puppets to serve as their batteries. Not only that, he took it one step further and sent out a wisp of the Withering-Flourishing True Fire from his mouth. As the wisp of fire floated out, the Red Dog puppet opened its own mouth and absorbed it.

Finally, Luo Chen commanded, ”Black Ape, go study talismans. Master the theory and become familiar with the methods of drawing them. Red Dog, follow me. We’re going to refine pills!”

He didn’t need to go into details. As their souls were in sync, the two puppets understood him completely. They immediately sprang into action.