An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

As Luo Chen listened to Devil's Cloud's description, he recalled the brief glimpse he had caught earlier. The towering crimson mass standing beside the vortex leading to the spirit herb garden had not been some strange underwater formation at all—it had been the Ghost Immortal Tower itself. With the black murky water hazing, it was easy to mistake it for some bizarre mountain or underwater formation, and few would ever suspect it was a living beast. Still, one question lingered in his mind. "How come I've never seen it mentioned in any records? Yet you seem to know quite a bit about it, Fellow Daoist."

Devil's Cloud smiled wryly and shifted his gaze toward Ding Yi, who was sitting on the ground catching his breath. "You'll have to ask Fellow Daoist Ding about that. Everything I know came from him."

"Oh?"

Ding Yi shot him an irritated look. "And why do you think I know all this? Have you forgotten that piece of Soul-Nurturing Wood you bought back then?"

Soul-Nurturing Wood? Ghost Immortal Tower?

The connection clicked instantly. Back then, the piece of Soul-Nurturing Wood he had purchased for Han Zhan had been tainted by an extremely terrifying dark energy. He had expended tremendous effort to remove it, even pushing a fourth-tier spell all the way to Perfected Mastery before finally succeeding. At the time, he had often wondered what kind of existence could have left behind such a frightening energy. Now the answer stood plainly before him.

Though decades had passed, the familiarity remained unmistakable. The dark energy hidden within that piece of wood had clearly originated from the Ghost Immortal Tower!

"Hooo..."

Ding Yi exhaled slowly, steadying his breath. The shriveled appearance left behind by his escape art gradually faded, and the sunken flesh across his body slowly filled out again until he looked much as he had before. A faint look of disgust crossed his face, though it seemed less like revulsion and more like annoyance at a mild chronic condition he had long grown accustomed to.

Luo Chen gave him another look. Earlier, Ding Yi had used his own flesh to fuel a blood-transformation escape art. The speed it produced had been astonishing, nearly rivaling his own for a brief period. Even more surprising was that the gauntness caused by the technique was already fading from his body. Still, his interest in that escape art quickly faded. Compared to it, the Ghost Immortal Tower was far more worthy of attention.

Fortunately, Ding Yi did not keep him waiting. "This thing feeds on all kinds of sea demons, especially turtles, softshell turtles, and Great King Squids. Every time it devours a Great King Squid, it keeps the tentacles and drapes them over its body like hair. Whether it does that to show off its kills or for some other reason, nobody knows. And those Blood Lanterns? They're terrifying in their own right, yet they like to live on the Ghost Immortal Tower and act as its eyes. We only saw two of them earlier, but that thing is hundreds of zhang long, so who knows how many low-tier Blood Lanterns are living on it.

"This beast has killed an astronomical number of beings, and a lot of dark energy has gathered around it, to the point that it generates illusions naturally. Anyone who looks at it directly will be dragged into a trance on the spot. As for why you won't find any records of it, that's because the devil sect spent thousands of years trying to subdue it. At one point, they even drove it deep into the Demon Sea. On the rare occasions humans encountered it there, they were overwhelmed by the dark energy surrounding it. They fell into its illusions and ended up as dinner.

"That's why, over all these years, information about the Ghost Immortal Tower has barely spread through the Northern Sea, and almost nobody knows anything about it. I only learned these things after I was injured by that strand of dark energy inside the Soul-Nurturing Wood and started searching everywhere for a way to heal my divine soul. That search eventually led me to some surviving members of the devil sect."

Luo Chen was deeply shaken. While practicing the Infinite Blaze Prison, he had personally slain a late-stage Blood Lantern King, so he knew exactly how dangerous such a beast was. Yet beings of that caliber were merely parasites living upon the Ghost Immortal Tower! As for Great King Squids, those were even more scary. Their strength surpassed notorious sea demons such as the Overtide Devil Flood Dragon and the Golden-Horned Silver Rhinoceros.

Hundreds of years before, one had appeared in the Coral Sea and slaughtered countless low-tier cultivators before the Zhou family's grand elder personally stepped in to kill it. Even Luo Chen himself had encountered one only three years earlier in the Sunken Sea. That beast had forced Saberstorm into the skies, where he endured the relentless Void-Scorching Wind rather than remain below and face its attacks. And yet even such a beast was nothing more than prey to the Ghost Immortal Tower!

When he heard that even the Holy Land had repeatedly failed to subdue the beast, his awe deepened further. "What tier is that thing then?"

Ding Yi replied, "These archaic beasts can't really be measured by the same standards as modern demonic beasts. Some are massive creatures that roam the world unchecked, while others are tiny yet capable of swallowing entire oceans. They don't produce demon cores or Nascent Souls either, so you can't exactly call them Demon Kings or Emperors. If cultivators want to gauge an archaic beast's strength, all they can do is rely on experience and what they've personally observed. As for this Ghost Immortal Tower, if we compare it to a human, I'd say it's a late-stage Sage. And honestly... considering it's escaped the devil sect's experts time and time again, I'd say it's probably only a step away from Divine Transformation."

Even by the time he finished speaking, the lingering fear in Ding Yi's eyes had yet to fade. When he looked at Luo Chen, that fear was now mixed with unmistakable caution. He remembered very clearly that under the influence of Ghost Immortal Tower's dark energy, Luo Chen had undoubtedly fallen into the illusion. Yet within mere seconds, he had broken free and become the first to flee.

Luo Chen naturally noticed the apprehension in Ding Yi's gaze. But he had no intention of explaining himself. Any ordinary Adept would have been trapped the moment they laid eyes on the Ghost Immortal Tower, but he was different. He had long been proficient in illusion arts, thanks to Mirror Flower Water Moon, and he had even used the Ghost Immortal Tower's dark energy as a template to create a similar illusory world of his own. That gave him a natural resistance to such illusions. Coupled with Han Zhan's timely shout, it was nothing weird that he'd broken free.

Having learned what he wanted to know, he turned his attention to their surroundings. In fact, he had been observing them ever since entering through the vortex. The three of them stood within a narrow passageway that stretched into unfathomable depths. Endless Void-Scorching Wind poured from within, rushing upward through the vortex above them and into the outside world. If they wanted to reach the actual pocket world, they would have to travel against that endless current.

Luo Chen had little reason to worry. With the Profound Dust Armor protecting him, the wind posed little threat. For Ding Yi and Devil's Cloud, however, the situation was far less favorable. The Treasure Basin Fish was gone, and their backup, the Regression Pearl, had been reduced to dust. Faced with a passage constantly spewing Void-Scorching Wind, they had effectively been cut off from the path ahead.

Luo Chen looked at the two of them. "So what's the plan now?"

Devil's Cloud frowned. "I have the materials, and I can refine another Regression Pearl now, but it'll take at least half a month."

"No. That's far too long." Ding Yi immediately shot the idea down before turning to Luo Chen. "Azure Yang, your armor was able to cover your flood dragon earlier. Covering the two of us shouldn't be a problem, right?"

"I can protect you, that's not a problem." Luo Chen casually took a few steps toward the passageway entrance. "The real question is why I should."

The moment he said that, both of their expressions changed. "Azure Yang, what's that supposed to mean? Are you really trying to use this situation against us?"

"Azure Yang, we're all in this together. You're not getting what you want from that pocket world on your own."

Luo Chen merely smiled. "To be honest, I also thought we were in this together. But I remember very clearly that when the two of you boarded that Treasure Basin Fish, neither of you seemed particularly interested in bringing me along."

Ding Yi frowned. "You think we were targeting you?"

Luo Chen shrugged. "Who knows?"

"You..." Ding Yi pointed at him, his finger trembling with anger.

Devil's Cloud remained calm. "Azure Yang, we've all seen how deep your mana reserves are. It's only a short trip. Why make such a big deal out of it?"

"Just because it's abundant doesn't mean you get to use it for free."

"Then what do you want? Enchanted treasures? Recovery pills?"

"I don't want any of that." The carefree smirk vanished from Luo Chen's face, and he said seriously, "I want the exact location of the herb garden where the Five Elements Lotus grows. And I want every piece of information you have about the pocket world."

Devil's Cloud immediately understood and looked toward Ding Yi.

Surprisingly, under their combined gaze, Ding Yi visibly relaxed. "That's all? You could've just said so. No need to make things so tense."

Luo Chen stared at him. "If it's so easy, then please tell me."

He understood the situation better than anyone. This three-man alliance had never been particularly harmonious, nor did any of them possess any means of keeping one another in check. More importantly, all information regarding the Sunken Sea pocket world remained in Ding Yi's hands. No matter how powerful Luo Chen was, if he lacked information, he could still be led around by the nose. That was why he had shamelessly resorted to this kind of leverage despite their supposed cooperation.

After thinking for a moment, Ding Yi answered with unusual seriousness, "The truth is, I don't know the exact location of the Five Elements Lotus."

Luo Chen's brow furrowed. "Huh? You said that vortex leads to the spirit herb garden!"

"It does. That vortex," emphasized Ding Yi. "It's the only stable route into the garden region. But now the Ghost Immortal Tower has occupied it, and I don't assume you can get past it. And if we enter from somewhere else, I honestly have no idea how to find the place."

"How can that be?" Luo Chen was far from convinced.

But Ding Yi met his gaze. "That's simply the truth. I've got no reason to lie to you."

"Then how are you so sure that vortex is the right entrance?"

Luo Chen clearly had no intention of letting the matter go. Under his relentless questioning, Ding Yi reluctantly revealed the truth. "Do you remember what I told you about the Flesh Ganoderma? The trace of will inside my body is constantly drawn toward the main body. Out of all the entrances, that vortex is where the connection is strongest. That's why I'm certain."

Luo Chen glanced at the restored flesh covering Ding Yi's body and ultimately chose to believe him. However, there was still another question left unanswered. "What about the information regarding the pocket world?"

Ding Yi let out a bitter laugh. "Let me ask you something instead. What kind of cultivator do you think could leave behind a pocket world that a Holy Land would spend over a thousand years exploring without success?"

The question caught Luo Chen off guard, and when he looked at Devil's Cloud, it was immediately obvious to him that the master artisan did not know the full story either. The two exchanged a glance as the implications slowly sank in. A Sage? Impossible. An Ascendant could acquire a Sage's inheritance with a snap of their fingers. An Ascendant? That made little sense as well. Even if they had been stronger than the devil sect's Ascendants in life, how could their heritage possibly keep resisting for a millennium after their death?

A shocking possibility slowly emerged in their minds. And as if on cue, the wooden token hanging from Luo Chen's chest vibrated faintly. A weathered voice echoed in his mind. "As I suspected, this pocket world was left behind by a Monarch."

"Monarch?" Luo Chen blurted out.

Devil's Cloud reacted just as quickly, though his words were directed toward Ding Yi. "A Void Refinement expert?"

Ding Yi slowly nodded. "That's right. According to the devil sect's records, this pocket world is the portable estate of a Monarch, a Void Refinement cultivator. And not just any Void Refinement cultivator, but perhaps the strongest Void Refinement expert in history. Because they died here... this place is also known as the Land of Fallen Devils."

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