An Alchemist's Path to Eternity

Chapter 1021: The Echoes of Demons and Devils (I)

Although the name “Wood Heaven Plains” suggested a plateau, it was actually anything but a flat expanse. Mountains stretched across the landscape, ravines cut through the land, and rivers and streams wound between them. The higher peaks remained snow-capped throughout the year, while the lower regions enjoyed entirely different climates. This diverse environment nurtured an astonishing abundance of spirit herbs.

According to the Flesh Ganoderma, the Monarch had planted a lot of spirit herbs throughout the region. Because different varieties required different growing conditions, formations had been carefully arranged to suit each one's cultivation needs and prevent them from interfering with one another. On top of that, there was also a flight-restriction formation covering the entire region. Low-altitude flight was still possible, but soaring high above the plains was out of the question.

As far as Luo Chen was concerned, his purpose in the Land of Fallen Devils had already been fulfilled. Having obtained the Five Elements Lotus, he no longer felt much interest in either the inheritance grounds or the opportunities hidden within them.

Based on the Flesh Ganoderma's account and Han Zhan's deductions, the inheritance grounds had most likely been prepared for Sages. Even if an Adept managed to enter, there was little chance of gaining anything truly useful. Therefore, what remained for him would be to fulfill his promise and help the Flesh Ganoderma escape its predicament. Afterward, he would wait for the spirit-gathering formation sustaining this pocket world to shut down, locate a teleportation formation, and leave. And if he happened to encounter a battle between Sages along the way, he would not mind lending a hand if it allowed Han Zhan to seize the body of a Sage.

That said, now that he had arrived at what was effectively the Monarch's spirit herb garden, the alchemy nerd in him had no intention of leaving empty-handed. Picking up a few spirit plants along the way cost him nothing. More importantly, the Flesh Ganoderma had mentioned several of the devilish herbs were beneficial for the physique. The possibility of finding such resources was enough to make him stay.

Ever since advancing to the fourth tier in Physique Refinement, Luo Chen had sensed an invisible barrier standing in his path. At first, he had assumed it was merely another bottleneck, but as time passed, it began to feel more like a set of shackles binding him in place. Whatever it was, he was stuck. Also because he had been constantly on the move, he had never had the opportunity to investigate the problem carefully. Truth be told, he had only given it some thought while stabilizing his cultivation at Surging Lake.

The first possibility he considered was the simplest. Perhaps the human body simply could not surpass the limits of a fourth-tier ancient beast. Another possibility was that the flaw lay within Myriad Path Convergence itself and that his self-created cultivation art was no longer capable of supporting further growth. Yet the more he thought about it, the less convincing that explanation became. During his journey through Blazing Purgatory, his primordial true fire had undergone a tremendous transformation. Since it played such an important role in his Physique Refinement, its growth should have logically resulted in an improvement of his physique.

Then there was a third possibility, one Luo Chen found far more plausible. The problem might lie in the Blazing Cloud Roc blood essence he had refined years ago. After all, his archaic beast physique had been built upon that blood essence and developed from the Sky Roc Transformation. If the limitation originated there, then simply accumulating more power would accomplish nothing. He would first have to resolve the flaw in his foundation.

Compared to a true fourth-tier ancient beast, a second-tier Blazing Cloud Roc had far too little potential. By now, he had likely extracted everything that bloodline could offer. Unless he could obtain a stronger bloodline from the same lineage, or at least one that was not overly incompatible with the Blazing Cloud Roc, there would be little room left for further growth.

There was, of course, one final possibility. The problem might not lie within himself at all, but in the lack of external resources capable of supporting further advancement. If he wanted to push beyond the early stage of the fourth tier, he might need some resources powerful enough to break through the bottleneck, like the Black Sovereign Paste had done in the past. That was why the mention of devilish herbs beneficial to Physique Refinement immediately captured his attention.

Whoosh...

A cool breeze swept past as three figures landed upon a stretch of pale white stone. The moment the Flesh Ganoderma saw the enormous crater below, its face darkened. "These people have no manners at all!"

Devil's Cloud frowned in confusion. "What happened?"

Luo Chen crouched down and scooped up a handful of soil from the rocks. "This is Green Sack Soil!"

Devil's Cloud looked puzzled. "Green Sack Soil? Isn't that just ordinary spirit soil?"

Luo Chen rose to his feet and shook his head slightly. "Ordinary for artisans, maybe. It's too soft and loose to be useful for crafting. But spirit botanists value it highly. Roots spread easily through it, and it doesn't compact like ordinary soil, which makes it much easier to work with. More importantly, this soil can be refined into Immortal Green Husk Soil. Some particularly rare spirit plants thrive in that kind of soil."

At that point, Luo Chen turned to the Flesh Ganoderma. “If I'm not mistaken, there were several mu of Immortal Green Husk Soil here, and there was some rare spirit plant growing here as well."

The Flesh Ganoderma nodded with a gloomy expression. "Yeah. This was the Monarch's garden for cultivating Dragonspit Grass. Taking the grass would have been one thing, but those lunatics even dug up the soil. They've stripped the place clean!"

Dragonspit Grass? That explained everything. That was a fourth-tier spirit herb that was highly beneficial to reptilian demonic beasts, but it demanded extremely specific growing conditions. Once removed from the Immortal Green Husk Soil, it would not survive for long. In that situation, most cultivators would do exactly what those cultivators had done and take the soil along with the herb. Luo Chen himself would likely have made the same choice if he lacked the means to refine it into pills immediately.

Devil's Cloud looked genuinely surprised. "Fellow Daoist Azure Yang, I didn't expect you to know so much about spirit botany."

Luo Chen smiled. "I wouldn't call myself knowledgeable. I've simply spent time around a few spirit botanists and picked up some of the basics."

He was not being humble. From Yuan Dongsheng and Granny Yuan in his younger days to Sang Jiugong of the Society later on, many of the people he had associated with were accomplished spirit botanists. Even Fu Jiusheng, who called himself “nothing more than a humble herbalist,” had a deep understanding of soils and the growth habits of spirit plants. After years of being around such people, Luo Chen had naturally picked up a fair amount of knowledge himself.

Meanwhile, the Flesh Ganoderma grew increasingly angry. It paced around the edge of the crater, its expression becoming uglier with every step. The sight before it was like a watchdog returning home to find not only the rooms ransacked but even the floor tiles dug up as well. "Even the cultivators of the devil sect knew better than this. They harvested spirit herbs in batches and left something behind for the next generation. Who would strip a place bare like this, taking everything they can get their hands on? Despicable! Absolutely despicable!"

From its initial complaint to outright cursing them, it was easy to tell just how angry the Flesh Ganoderma was. Luo Chen could understand its feelings. The devil sect had never treated the Land of Fallen Devils as a place to plunder and abandon. Their intention had been to conquer it, transform it into the sect's secret realm, and harvest its resources generation after generation. Given enough time, they might even have developed it into a training ground specifically for nurturing future disciples.

The cultivators who entered the Land of Fallen Devils now, however, had no such intentions. And if he were to be honest, Luo Chen himself was no exception. To them, this place was a one-time opportunity. They would take whatever they could obtain and leave as quickly as possible. No one cared what spirit plants might grow here centuries later, nor did they concern themselves with how much damage their actions might cause to the environment.

Yet that thought now raised an immediate concern. "Fellow Daoist Flesh Ganoderma, those spirit plant sites you mentioned... don't tell me they've already been picked clean?"

The Flesh Ganoderma stopped and fell silent for a moment, its expression uncertain. Eventually, it shook its head. "Probably not. Spirit herbs below the fourth tier are low-tier resources to the Monarch. There should be plenty of them, but in the end, they’re nothing but slightly useful weeds. Anything fourth tier and above is protected by its own formation. Those formations keep the spirit herbs isolated and prevent them from interfering with one another. Breaking one isn't easy.

“The Sages who entered this place came for the inheritance grounds. Even if they find a spirit herb they want, they'll just take it and move on. They wouldn't waste their time searching every corner of the plains. As for those below the Nascent Soul Realm... Let’s just say they wouldn’t find it very easy to break through the formation. If anything, they’d be lucky to escape alive if they were caught in one."

It sneered. "Come on, let’s go. The others only entered a year or so before us. They can't have gotten that far ahead."

With that, the Flesh Ganoderma picked a direction and flew off at low altitude. Luo Chen and Devil's Cloud quickly followed behind.