Immortality begins with Becoming an Alchemy Grandmaster

Lu Zhenqiu looked around, utterly puzzled.

”There’s no Demon Cave here, nor any trace of living creatures, so why would Demonic Qi be generated? And it feels like this moss has been steeped in it for a very long time, otherwise it wouldn’t be hidden so deep.”

Luo Chen clapped the dust off his hands and straightened up.

Qi Power flowed, and he collected a large patch of Phoenix Eye Obsidian Moss.

Then his gaze fell on the Nameless Daoist Temple before him.

”Phoenix Eye Obsidian Moss is almost extinct within the Mystic Realm. The reason is that it was never a native Spirit Plants of the Mystic Realm to begin with—it mutated after being contaminated by Demonic Qi during the Xuan Demon War ten thousand years ago.”

”After the Demon Realm was driven back and the Demonic Qi cleared away, Phoenix Eye Obsidian Moss gradually died out.”

”For so much of it to be growing here, there must be a source of Demonic Qi. Coupled with the phenomenon of Wood Type Spirit Qi draining away from Cuiyan Mountain...”

”Looks like the answer is inside this temple!”

As he spoke, he strode over to the temple doors, which were bare of any carvings or reliefs, and reached out with both hands to push the two panels open.

Behind him, Liu Muchan’s expression changed slightly.

”Xuan Luo, don’t act rashly!”

Lu Zhenqiu hurriedly tried to dissuade him as well. ”Once it involves the Demon Race and Demonic Qi, it’s beyond what we Golden Core Cultivator can handle. It’s better to report this to the Sect.”

Yet while they were speaking, the doors were already creaking, and Luo Chen pushed them open.

Luo Chen glanced back with a smile.

”It’s fine. Something that hides this much—no matter how dangerous it is, it won’t be that dangerous.”

With that, he strode straight inside.

Liu Muchan sighed inwardly. This genius junior brother, his journey has been far too smooth, and he’s grown overly proud.

The Mystic Realm is vast, and there is always someone stronger.

Even if this temple skulks in the shadows, it doesn’t necessarily belong to the weak.

It could well be designed to ward off Nascent Soul Transformation God Great Power.

But they couldn’t possibly let him take the risk alone!

Liu Muchan and Lu Zhenqiu exchanged a look, then, taking the other two Foundation Establishment Disciples, went into the temple together.

Before entering, they had already drawn their respective Magic Item, proceeding with utmost caution.

But inside, there was no movement at all.

The temple was empty and echoing, with not a single sign of danger.

Only Luo Chen stood alone in the middle of the main hall, head tilted back, staring in a certain direction.

Beyond the altar of incense burners and candle stands, behind the Sacrificial Official table—

A pitch-black statue with Three Heads and Six Arms sat there, bathed in the thin light spilling in through the open doors, silently watching the newcomers.

The three heads were set left, right, and center. The left head glared like molten copper, fanged teeth biting through its own lower jaw. The right head had no mouth and no nose, the whole face like black paper, with only its eyes showing a trace of spirit.

The central head, however, wore lowered brows and a faint smile, its broad lips parted as if in gentle benevolence, its Breath utterly peaceful.

The statue was clearly a dead thing, yet sitting there it felt like a living creature, quietly observing this world.

The six of them stared at the statue, struck speechless for a time.

Until a deep, magnetic voice broke the silence.

”Four eyes, one mouth, and Spirit Qi channeled within. This statue forms its own Spirit Gathering Formation, drawing in the surrounding Spirit Qi. Looks like this is the reason Cuiyan Mountain and even the Gray Triangle have lost their Wood Type Spirit Qi.”

Liu Muchan couldn’t help looking over at Luo Chen.

”But the statue is hollow—where did all that Spirit Qi go?”

”The answer is right here!”

Suddenly!

Luo Chen soared into the air and brought his palm down on the Heavenly Spirit atop the central head of the statue.

The next instant, that mouth abruptly split wide open.

Where it had been a smiling pair of lips, it now yawned into a blood basin gaping as if to devour people.

At the bottom of the great maw, a faint Array could be seen turning.

It looked like a Teleportation Formation?

Luo Chen’s eyes lit up.

”Inside!”

Before the words finished leaving his mouth, he had already plunged in.

”Xuan Luo!”

There he goes again.

Liu Muchan’s heart clenched with anxiety, and she rushed in after him.

Lu Zhenqiu also charged in with her people.

...

Just as Luo Chen had said earlier—

A temple that hid itself this much, even if there was danger, it wouldn’t be overwhelming.

Even the Nascent Soul Transformation God Great Power Liu Muchan and the others were worried about wouldn’t amount to much in his eyes.

If the enemy were at the Refining Void Integration Realm, he was confident he could still get away.

As for a Mahayana Venerable, that was absolutely impossible!

So, weighed against such dangers, Luo Chen cared far more about discovering the source of this Demonic Qi.

He intended to participate in this round of the Demon Suppression Trial, and if he could learn more about the Demon Realm and Demon Race beforehand, that would naturally be best.

So from beginning to end, he never hesitated in the slightest.

But once he entered the space within the Demon Statue’s gaping maw, a wave of disappointment rose in Luo Chen’s heart.

His Divine Perception spread across the entire space in an instant.

There were people inside!

More than just a few!

The place was full of living Breaths—there were at least several hundred cultivators.

Among them were even three existences at the Nascent Soul Stage.

Of those three, one had quite a high Realm, roughly Late Stage Nascent Soul, just a step away from the God Transformation Stage.

From the perspective of ordinary Cultivator, this Secret Realm was indeed dangerous.

But to Luo Chen, the enemy’s Realm merely set the upper limit of the intel he could obtain.

Nascent Soul Stage...

Luo Chen was rather disappointed.

Yet right after that flash of disappointment, a hint of delight rose on his face.

He saw that the ground of this space was carpeted with thick moss, a deep green verging on black.

Not Phoenix Eye Obsidian Moss, but Nine Nether Demon Moss!

The classics recorded that when the Demon Realm invaded the Mystic Realm, this Nine Nether Demon Moss was used to alter the very environment, turning Spirit Qi into Demonic Qi!

In an instant, past and present linked together, and Luo Chen understood everything.

Someone had seized this sealed pocket space, secretly siphoning Wood Type Spirit Qi from the Outer World to cultivate Nine Nether Demon Moss and practice a Demonic Technique.

It was just that simple!