An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

The Alchemy Palace in the Heaven of Bright Illumination had preserved thirty-nine alchemical formulas in total. Three of them were sealed and unavailable to Luo Chen, while the remaining thirty-six covered the needs of the human, demon, and devil races, with twelve formulas each. The technique Luo Chen had used to save Black King came from one of the demon race's fourth-tier formulas, one for creating a blood pill. By drawing on the blood essence of countless living creatures, it could nourish a demon's body, and, under the right conditions, even allow it to condense a new demon core. For Black King, whose body had been gravely injured and whose inner core had been entirely shattered, it was the most suitable remedy Luo Chen had been able to find.

Over the years, Luo Chen had checked on him from time to time, and Black King's condition had indeed improved little by little. Even so, Luo Chen never allowed himself to take comfort in that progress. He knew better than anyone how fragile it was. Everything he had done so far was only preparation, all for the sake of preserving and nurturing Black King's divine soul until the final step could be attempted. If that step failed, then all those years of effort would come to nothing.

Luo Chen left the abyss that hosted the fourth-tier spirit vein through the pool now named Emerald Ripple Pool, and continued onward with Heavenjade following close behind. Partway through the journey, he slowed down, and his gaze shifted toward one of the few towering peaks on Dragon Abyss Island. A sagely-looking man in green robes sat alone on the peak, quietly watching the drifting clouds and the waves rise and fall. It was Han Zhan.

Luo Chen looked in that direction for a while. "Has he been there the whole time?"

Heavenjade nodded lightly. "Senior Han has been coming and going a lot these past few years. He said he's still getting used to his new body, so he needs to move around from time to time. Rosy Hill is where he usually goes when he wants to be alone. Hmm... Now that I think about it, Senior Han is really nice. He's even guided me in cultivation a few times."

"I see..." Luo Chen muttered before changing the subject. "Speaking of cultivation, I've been so focused on my own these past few years that I haven't really checked on your progress."

Heavenjade shook her head. "Master, you've already done more than enough for me. You helped me transform ahead of time, created a cultivation technique for me, and even gave me the chance to bathe in that spring. How could I trouble you over something like my own cultivation?"

At the mention of the Spirit-Shaping Sacred Spring, Luo Chen suddenly perked up. "Oh, right. After soaking in that spring, did anything change with your body?"

Heavenjade brightened up immediately and replied excitedly, "A lot has changed. My usual cultivation speed is more than twice as fast as before. And my skills for controlling wind have become much clearer, too. Senior Han said I've almost fully drawn out the potential of my spirit roots. Together with my demon body, I'm starting to show signs of something called the Xun Wind Body[1]."

"The Xun Wind Body?"

"Yes. It's still imperfect, but my control over wind has improved a lot. I've also achieved a pretty decent level in the Heavenspan Wing Codex. Right now, I'm at the sixth stage of the Golden Core Realm."

Luo Chen nodded slightly. "That's good. At least that wasn't wasted."

Back in the Alchemy Palace, Luo Chen had absorbed most of the Spirit-Shaping Sacred Spring. The little that remained was negligible to him, but for Heavenjade and Black King, it was still a rare and valuable opportunity. Heavenjade's rapid progress did not surprise him. Black King's situation, however, had always been far more uncertain.

As they talked, they arrived at their destination. Heavenjade's earlier excitement had faded by now, and Luo Chen's expression likewise turned serious as well.

It was no longer appropriate to call it a Blood Pool. What had once been a deep, thick crimson had faded to near clarity as its power was absorbed into Black King's body. Over the years, the pool had gathered the blood of several million low-tier dragonworms from across Dragon Abyss Island, along with that of many Demon Kings hunted by Heavenjade. In the end, Luo Chen had even added a drop of his own blood essence from the tip of his tongue. That immense accumulation of power had restored Black King to peak physical condition. In fact, his body had grown far stronger than it had ever been before.

Luo Chen quietly sensed the changes within him. "I didn't think a single drop of my blood essence would be this powerful."

He could tell that Black King's transformation had largely come from that one drop of his blood essence. It carried not only his origin energy, but also the terrifying life force he had taken from the Flesh Ganoderma.

"Indeed," Han Zhan said. "Even I didn't expect you to mend Black King's body completely."

Han Zhan had come down from Rosy Hill and was standing by the Dragon Abyss Blood Pool, yet Luo Chen did not react much. Since he had noticed Han Zhan earlier, it was only natural that Han Zhan had noticed him as well. Luo Chen kept his gaze fixed on Black King's massive body, coiled like a small mountain, with a single horn faintly gleaming atop its head.

Luo Chen sighed. "Unfortunately, this is as much as I can do. Whether he makes it or not is entirely up to his own fate now."

From what Luo Chen could sense, Black King's divine soul was finally beginning to stir, which meant the hibernation ability he had gained from the Cliff Serpent was no longer enough to sustain him. Back then, Black King had devoured the corpse of a Cliff Serpent that had failed to reach the fourth tier, and he had somehow managed to draw a life-preserving ability from it. That stroke of luck had kept him alive for years now, but it had finally reached its limit.

A faint fluctuation of the divine soul slowly spread from Black King's body. "M... Master..."

Luo Chen immediately withdrew every trace of his own power. Black King's divine soul was now as fragile as a newborn infant's, and even the slightest interference might harm it.

He spoke in a deep voice, "I've restored your body. Even your demon core has been temporarily replaced with a Blood Pill. All you need to do now is hold on and let your divine soul slowly recover and grow stronger. Can you do that?"

Everything Luo Chen had done had been aimed at preserving Black King's divine soul and giving him the best possible chance to awaken and stabilize. Yet...

"I'm sorry... I probably... won't survive this..." Black King's voice came out in fragments, like the flame of a candle about to go out.

Han Zhan let out a quiet sigh. "The Heaven Refiner Cauldron's self-destruction is not something a Demon King could survive. Devil's Cloud was reduced to dust on the spot, and even his divine soul was wiped out completely. The fact that Black King has held on until now is a miracle among miracles."

Luo Chen said nothing. He had once claimed with certainty that he had a way to save Black King, but now he knew this was the limit of what he could do. He had exhausted every method at his disposal, yet he still had to stand here and watch Black King's divine soul fade away. No amount of preparation made that easier to accept.

Black King had begun as nothing more than an ordinary Black-Scaled Giant Python. Later on, an initiate from the Flying Swallow Archipelago had captured him and, through a secret technique, forced him to advance into a flood dragon, though only the weakest kind. By all expectations, reaching the third tier should have been the limit of his path.

Then he met Luo Chen.

With large amounts of Imperial Nectar, Black King awakened his bloodline inheritance and gained the devouring ability. In the decades that followed, Luo Chen fed him large quantities of demonic beast corpses, countless spirit pills, and even the corpse of a Cliff Serpent. Although his cultivation path was not as clear-cut as Heavenjade's, his foundation remained steady enough for him to eventually become a late-stage Demon King. Later, he even gained the chance to bathe in the Spirit-Shaping Sacred Spring.

If not for what had happened at the Alchemy Palace, Black King might have had a bright future. Given enough time, he might truly have ridden the clouds one day as a true dragon. But what weighed most heavily on Luo Chen was not that lost future; it was the loyalty Black King had shown in the end. Even though there was no slave seal to bind him anymore, he had still chosen to stand by Luo Chen and protect him. Now, after what Black King had done, Luo Chen could only watch him die. The helplessness pressed against his chest until it felt almost unbearable.

Heavenjade could no longer hold herself back. "Old Black, you have to hold on!"

She turned to Luo Chen, her voice trembling as she begged, "Master, didn't you have a pill that could strengthen the divine soul? Can't you let him try it?"

Luo Chen shook his head. The Spirit Passage Pill was simply too low tier. For Black King in his current state, it would be no more than a drop in the ocean. Of all the formulas he had, there was only one that had a chance to do anything. It was a fourth-tier pill from the human side of the Monarch's legacy, and it was specifically meant for strengthening the divine soul. But even that chance was practically impossible to grasp.

Luo Chen lacked most of the ingredients, and finding them would take time Black King no longer had. Worse still, Moon Hermit was likely still after him, and his own Nascent Soul breakthrough was close at hand. He could not afford to leave now and search for materials. And even if he somehow managed to refine the pill in time, its potency might be too much for Black King's fragile divine soul to endure.

"Heavenjade..." Black King's faint voice sounded from within the Blood Pool. "Don't be sad for me. After I'm gone... cultivate well... and keep serving Master."

1. 巽 (xùn) is one of the Eight Trigrams. It represents wind and it is also associated with the wood element. ☜

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