An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Heavenjade's lips trembled, and her voice came out choked. "I will."

Although Black King's eyes remained tightly shut, his voice drifted out once more. "Master... do you still remember the favor I asked of you a while back?"

Luo Chen went still and searched his memory. For a moment, nothing came to him, and shame pricked at his heart. Black King had rarely asked anything of him, yet Luo Chen still could not recall it at once. Fortunately, the memory surfaced eventually. "An enchanted treasure... You're talking about making an enchanted treasure for that little girl from the Zhang family?"

"Mmm..." Black King answered weakly.

That had indeed happened. Black King had pitied the orphaned little girl of the Zhang family, so he had given Luo Chen the undigested Cliff Serpent hide and asked him to make a protective enchanted treasure for her. Luo Chen still remembered her name—Zhang Jingqing, a name that Zhang Jiadi had chosen with care to win his favor.

Luo Chen replied solemnly, "If I get the chance, I'll keep that promise and personally deliver the gift to Little Qing."

Black King's divine soul rippled with rare delight. "Heh... then I wish you success on the Dao of Immortality... and a smooth Nascent Soul breakthrough..."

After saying those final words, the fluctuations of his divine soul weakened rapidly. It was as if the moment he woke up... was also the moment he was about to die.

Luo Chen's face tightened as he turned toward the old man in green robes. "Senior!"

Han Zhan waved him off. "Don't look at me. I may have some skill in soul cultivation, but I can't revive the dead."

The answer made Luo Chen's heart sink, but then he caught a lingering hesitation on Han Zhan's face. That slight narrowing of Han Zhan's eyes was enough to make him grab onto a last thread of hope as he locked his eyes onto Han Zhan.

Han Zhan frowned deeply, his eyes shifting between Luo Chen and Black King. After a long moment of silence, he finally replied, "If you're willing to pay the price, I might have one last way. But it's a long shot... basically we're just trying anything at this point."

Luo Chen's spirits lifted at once. "Tell me!"

Han Zhan stroked his chin, as if recalling something from long ago. "Back then, when Ice Torrent failed her tribulation, her yin soul was struck by the pure yang power of heavenly lightning, and the damage was severe. Later, the disciples of Ice Fortress sealed her body inside a Black Ice Coffin while they searched for a way to save her. I studied her condition during that time and came up with a possible treatment, though I never had the chance to test it. Black King's state is somewhat similar to hers, so that approach might work on him."

Luo Chen forced down his impatience and listened closely.

"To heal an injured divine soul, you need to address the soul directly," Han Zhan continued. "If the damage has reached its foundation, then the foundation has to be restored first. In Black King's current state, he can no longer do that on his own, so he will need power from an external source."

"An external source..." Luo Chen frowned. "You mean pills?"

Han Zhan shook his head. "Pills like that are far too rare. But you have something even better than any medicine of that kind."

"What?"

"The Stone Dragon's lingering soul!"

Luo Chen's expression changed at once.

Han Zhan was not surprised by his reaction. "You and I have both seen it. That lingering soul has no intelligence of its own, and it is perfectly pure, as expected of something born of heaven and earth. In essence, it is the purest kind of soul origin power. If I use a technique to force Black King into one final burst of vitality and return him briefly to his peak state, he may be able to use his innate demonic ability to devour that lingering soul. If it works, that power might pull him back from the edge of death."

Devouring another soul was not something to take lightly. Even under ideal conditions, it still carried certain risks. Yet Black King was an unusual being in every respect, and in this moment, with his life already slipping away, this approach no longer felt like a danger to avoid but a chance to grasp. His innate demonic ability could absorb almost anything, and it might achieve what no other external means could.

What truly gave Luo Chen pause was the cost. The Stone Dragon's lingering soul was a fifth-tier existence; he had planned to keep it as part of his foundation after forming his Nascent Soul, and one day use it to nurture a spirit vein for his future cultivation. It was no wonder that Han Zhan had framed the decision as a matter of whether he was willing to pay the price.

Han Zhan saw the uncertainty on Luo Chen's face, and his tone grew more serious. "I should warn you first. I have never actually tested this technique, so there is no guarantee it will work. If it fails, Black King will still die, and the Stone Dragon's lingering soul, which you risked your life to obtain, will be gone as well. So think carefully."

But what was there to think about? Luo Chen admitted that he was selfish, but that selfishness only applied when the matter was beyond his ability. This time, however, he was not powerless and still had a way to act. Black King had stayed loyal to him to the literal end, and in a way, he was also an investment; Luo Chen had already done way too much to stop here and simply watch him die. Besides, the Stone Dragon's lingering soul being able to nurture a fifth-tier spirit vein in the future was only Luo Chen's own hypothesis. Whether it would work or not was likewise up to chance.

At this point, there was nothing left to hesitate over. Luo Chen drew in a sharp breath and brought out the Soul-Summoning Banner. "Senior, please."

Han Zhan gave him an approving look before taking the banner. With a wave of his hand, the restrictions Luo Chen had placed on it shattered one after another. "Come out!"

A massive dragon head rose from within the banner, its form shifting between something real and something illusory. Han Zhan's expression grew grave as he continuously formed hand seals. Thin strands of light slipped from his brow and gathered in front of him, gradually condensing into a pattern that looked like an ancient seal. When it was complete, he sent it forward with a light motion of his finger, and it drifted through the air before settling into Black King's forehead.

As the light faded, Black King's divine soul power, which had been on the verge of scattering, suddenly swelled wildly. It was not a true recovery, of course, but the last flare of a dying flame, a desperate burst drawn out from the edge of death.

Han Zhan reached out and drew his hand back. "You come out too!"

A shadow slipped free from Black King's head and took the shape of a small flood dragon no more than half a zhang long. The phantom was unsteady, and its gaze remained unfocused, as though it had yet to understand what was happening. Han Zhan's lips moved faintly as he sent a message directly through his divine soul.

The next moment, Black King seemed to receive an order, and a spirit light burst from the soul and lunged toward the enormous dragon head. As Black King opened his jaws toward the Stone Dragon, both souls cried out, and a powerful devouring force spread outward. Above Dragon Abyss Island, wind and clouds churned, and every living being trembled under the pressure.

Though the Stone Dragon's lingering soul had long since lost its intelligence, it still reacted on instinct, struggling against the pull that sought to consume it. Yet each time it tried to break free, Han Zhan steadied the Soul-Summoning Banner and sent out spirit seals to press it back down.

While it was under restraint, strands of fragmented power were steadily drawn from it and absorbed by Black King.

Heavenjade stared at the scene in shock. "Master, what is this?"

Luo Chen narrowed his eyes, committing to memory the seal Han Zhan had used while he answered her, "This is his final chance. Whether he survives will depend on his own ability."

***

The flood dragon's devouring of the dragon lasted for half a month. By the time the struggle neared its end, the balance between the two above Dragon Abyss Island had completely reversed. Black King's soul had grown to a full hundred zhang in length, while the Stone Dragon's lingering soul had become a small and frail little snake.

Han Zhan's face was pale, but his eyes were shining brighter than ever. "Today, we finish this!"

As if responding to his shout, Black King's soul let out a roar. It opened its mouth wide and swallowed the last wisp of the Stone Dragon's lingering soul in one bite, then shuddered in midair and dove back into its body.

"Black King!" Heavenjade called out.

Han Zhan raised a hand to stop her. "There is still one last step. Wait."

He quickly formed another series of seals, and streams of light flew out from Black King's body one after another before gathering toward Han Zhan. One, two, three... until seven streams had returned.

Only then did two vertical pupils slowly open, glowing faintly like lanterns. His gaze lingered on them as if he could not quite remember who they were.

Luo Chen stepped forward, but before he could say anything, Black King let out a low roar. His body began to swell, pushing past the formation's suppression. The ten-zhang frame he had been confined to instantly expanded; in the span of a breath, he had transformed into a massive flood dragon a hundred zhang long. He looked at Luo Chen for a moment, then lowered his head slightly toward Han Zhan in gratitude. After that, he turned and plunged into the sea.

For a moment, Luo Chen could only stand there in silence. "Uh..."

Han Zhan let out a long breath and smiled. "This should count as a success. The Stone Dragon's lingering soul was too powerful, and Black King took quite a shock from devouring it. He'll need quite a while to pull himself together again. Right now, he only remembers us. As for the rest of his memories, they will have to recover slowly."

Is that so? Luo Chen looked in the direction where Black King had left.

Heavenjade's face lit up with joy. "Black King is saved!"

Luo Chen nodded, and a smile finally appeared on his face as well. "Then all that life-and-death farewell earlier was for nothing. But as long as he's alive, that's enough. As long as he's alive..."

As he murmured those words, Luo Chen felt the weight that had been pressing on his heart finally lift. With Black King saved, he could at last prepare for his Nascent Soul breakthrough without that lingering worry. And the first thing he had to do... was refine the Nascent Soul Pill!

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