An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Luo Chen was also very close to a complete collection of soul cultivation medicines, now that he had the formulas of the Spirit Passage Pill, the Soulsoothe Powder, and the Great Soul Pill. If he could somehow obtain the formula of the Medicine King Sect’s first-tier calming incense, or the recipe of the Divine Fury Incense created by the Mistress of Fragrance, that would truly be the cherry on top.

These systematic sets of pill recipes, the method to grow spirit plants, the huge reserves of spirit soil in the Penglai Eightspire Pavilion, and the abundant dragonworms in Black King’s body... All the alchemy resources I have are more than enough to establish a sect on the same scale as the Medicine King Sect.

For physique cultivation, with Wang Yuan and me, and an outstanding disciple like Zeng Yilong, we can absolutely recreate the glory of body cultivators in ancient times. If Qin Yuanjiang has the aptitude to grasp those puppetry techniques and then cultivate his divine soul with my soul refinement medicines and soul cultivation techniques, he might even have a chance to replicate the Falling Cloud Sect’s heritage.

I’ve gained some achievements in the art of artifact forging as well. Our good guy Duan Feng left the Luo Tian Sect with a solid foundation in this area. From here...

One idea after another came to Luo Chen, each representing a promising future. He didn’t even want to return to the Central Continent to serve as a guest elder for the Star Gate anymore. How could living under someone else’s roof beat the wonderful feeling of dominating a region and leaving a mark on the world with his own legacy?

But Luo Chen very quickly quashed this thought. The minimum required to make those notions come true was already far too much. He first needed a vast, resource-rich territory that had at least a fourth-tier spirit vein. Then, he needed a great number of outstanding disciples and followers. Finally, his sect needed a stable political climate.

As things stood now, all of that was beyond his reach. Rather than daydreaming, Luo Chen knew he was better off taking a diligent approach to improving his own strength first. Fame and prestige were merely extrinsic power. Only intrinsic power, like his mana and physique, and his divine techniques and wisdom would allow him to roam freely and stand firm in this turbulent world!

After a short rest, Luo Chen got back to his sword.

He had ten wisps of crimson firmament energy, seven of which he had collected in the Azure Darkness and three from Old Tal. Refining them all would hopefully bring him into the first stage of the Myriad Transformations of the Firmament, granting him yet another tactic to use against his enemies.

Delaying no further, Luo Chen released a wisp of crimson firmament energy and inhaled it, letting it settle somewhere between his chest and abdomen. Primordial Slaughter lay across his knees, and as Luo Chen breathed in and out rhythmically, the sword began to resonate with the crimson firmament energy. Under their resonance, his entire being grew increasingly sharp and piercing, to the point it would take courage to look at him directly.

***

Zeng Yilong hurried into a grand hall with his entourage.

”Dao Uncle, here is the third batch of parchments from the Divine Talisman Sect.”

After giving a respectful salute to the towering black ape in the hall, he gestured for the disciples behind him to set down the goods.

A heavy sound echoed, accompanied by a foul, blood-like stench, as a stack of talisman parchments the height of an average person was dumped on the floor. Black Ape walked up to the stack and examined them.

One of the disciples explained, ”This batch was made from the hides of various demonic beasts around the second tier. As per your instructions, we selected all the fire-attribute ones available, but there weren’t enough of those, so there are still quite a few pieces of other attributes as well.”

Black Ape Luo Chen nodded in acknowledgement. The only drawback of crafting talisman parchments from beast hides was that the products’ attributes were limited by the beasts’ original attributes. However, this wasn’t really a problem for Luo Chen. His main body could freely convert the attributes of his mana, and he was highly proficient in spells of all five elements. Therefore, none of these random talisman parchments would go to waste in his hands. Black Ape only needed to master the theory of talisman-making and leave the actual crafting to the main body.

After a thorough inspection, Black Ape straightened up with satisfaction and said, ”Thank you all for making these trips. You can go to Yang Pingdu to collect your rewards.”

With what had happened to Sima Wenjie, the Merit Palace had been transferred to Yang Pingdu’s charge. As someone who had joined the Luo Tian Sect partway through, when he was already an established cultivator, Yang Pingdu had no patrons in the sect. He had no misgivings being as impartial as possible. Even if he offended everyone, it was the same as if he had offended no one. He was thus the most suitable to lead the Merit Palace.

When Zeng Yilong’s group was leaving, Black Ape suddenly called out to the disciple who had earlier introduced the talisman parchments. ”You stay behind.”

The others were somewhat taken aback, but none dared ask questions. After they left, Black Ape looked at the young man standing before him, whose features seemed faintly familiar.

”You are Qu Jiu?”

The question caught Qu Jiu completely off guard. He hadn’t expected the Supreme Elder to know him. Then again, the Supreme Elder was not only their sect’s founder but also the master of his father, strictly speaking. The only reason Qu Jiu could think of as to why he was being kept behind was his father.

To his surprise, however, Black Ape brought up something entirely different. ”You’re not interested in alchemy, but the subject of talismans, on the other hand... From how you spoke of the talisman parchments earlier, it seems you have some understanding of talismans?”

Qu Jiu took a moment before he replied somewhat hesitantly, ”Because of my mother, I’ve always been curious about the art of talismans, so I’ve studied it... a bit.”

”Your mother? Mi Li?”

”Yes. Before her passing, she left me a protective talisman, and it later saved my life during a battle with the demonic beasts. When I asked the seniors in our sect, I learned it was a third-tier defensive talisman she’d had personally asked Elder Ye to make for her. Elder Ye is an eminent expert of the Divine Talisman Sect, who she was only able to get to through her connections.”

As Qu Jiu spoke of the past with a nostalgic look, a smile unconsciously bloomed on his face. Then, he returned to the main topic.

”Ever since then, I’ve been fascinated by talismans. I’ve found it to be a convenient and powerful skill to have, and most importantly, my talismans can protect those dear to me when I can’t be there to protect them in person.”

Black Ape nodded stiffly and said slowly, ”That is indeed true. Although talismans cannot directly enhance a cultivator’s strength, they can assist us in many other ways.”

This insight was something Luo Chen had gained through his recent study of talismans. Talismans weren’t just for direct use in combat; they could be used in all sorts of situations. One example was that, in their immensely arduous journey toward higher cultivation realms, cultivators often encountered battles where they had to expend a great amount of mana, and the recovery from such an exhaustion was a lengthy process. If, however, they stored some mana into talismans and used that in battle, their recovery and therefore cultivation post-battle would go much more smoothly.

Of course, as charming as the benefits were, becoming overly obsessed with talisman-making was certainly not advisable.

When Black Ape looked at the handsome Qu Jiu, for some reason, he felt a deep sense of kinship. After a moment’s contemplation, he decided in a deep voice, ”From now on, I’ll be teaching you talisman-making!”

Qu Jiu stared blankly in shock. ”Supreme Elder, I...”

”Just call me grand-master,” said Black Ape, firmly patting Qu Jiu’s shoulder.

His expertise in talisman-making was barely third-tier according to the status panel. Hardly impressive, but more than enough to mentor Qu Jiu. Furthermore, now that Luo Chen had a great supply of talisman parchment to improve his proficiency in this field, his talisman-making would predictably quickly improve from here on out. For Qu Jiu, studying under Luo Chen’s guidance would undoubtedly be far better than trying to figure it out on his own.

”Let me test your knowledge to see where you’re at in talismans first, and then...”

Black Ape’s voice suddenly trailed off. He looked up, gazing far into the direction where his main body was.

As I thought, that batch of pills is a success. Old Tal should be here soon.

Luo Chen expected it wouldn’t take long for the news of the successful refinement of a fourth-tier pill to spread after Old Tal’s visit. The world would soon know that his bold declaration at his own Nascent Soul Formation Ceremony was no empty boast. They would know he was a genuine great-grandmaster of alchemy, capable of refining a great many kinds of pills. And then, even those normally aloof powerhouse would find it hard to continue sitting still.

The days of leisure are coming to an end for my main body. Hopefully, our future visitors will come with alchemy recipes we don’t yet have!