Longevity begins with alchemy master

Chapter 1160 Jing Lan's Death, The God of the Valley

Inside the quiet room of Weichen Pavilion.

Luo Chen carefully unlocked the stone box's seal.

The moment the Immortal Essence Stone appeared, he once again felt that surge of energy gushing out.

This situation is almost exactly the same as the scene described in the ancient books where a cultivator's magical power dissipates rapidly after appearing in the Great Destruction Realm!
"Even immortal energy, a higher level of energy, cannot resist the suppression of the Void?"

A thought flashed through Luo Chen's mind, and he quickly swallowed the immortal essence stone.

Waste is shameful!

As soon as the Immortal Essence Stone entered the body, streams of qi immediately climbed up and bound it tightly, drawing it into the Qi and Blood Furnace.

Boom!

A muffled thunderous sound rang out, and the entire Qi and Blood Furnace began to spin rapidly.

Blood Refining Divine Qi tightly bound the milky-white Immortal Essence Stone, refining it wave after wave.

However, unlike what he had imagined, even though Luo Chen tried his best to circulate his cultivation technique, refining the fingernail-sized immortal essence stone was still extremely slow.

Three full days passed, and the Immortal Essence Stone's size remained unchanged.

If Luo Chen hadn't been able to feel a significant increase in his own Qi and blood power, he would have even doubted whether he was doing something in vain.

But this result made Luo Chen extremely satisfied.

This shows that the energy contained in the Immortal Essence Stone is extremely vast!

Even a tiny bit can be transformed into a massive amount of vital energy.

The reason why the refining process is too slow is not due to the Immortal Essence Stone, but simply because my own cultivation level is too low.

Let's take it one step at a time!

"If I could refine them all, I might be able to break through to the Flawless Realm directly!"

Luo Chen calmed down and began to circulate the Divine Qi again and again.

The Qi and Blood Furnace spun rapidly, and the Blood Refining Divine Qi washed over the Immortal Essence Stone time and time again, causing the acupoints around the body to radiate a dazzling light like stars.

And in the outside world.

The celebrations of the Lord of Yixian City's 70th birthday have gradually come to an end.

Because of Luo Chen's instructions before he went into seclusion, Jing Lan also stopped her business activities, which could be described as extortion and exploitation.

After decades of frantic operation, the Immortal Remnant City finally had a chance to breathe, thanks to Luo Chen's reduced demand for resources.

Jing Lan had no children, and Luo Chen had no disciples or friends. Considering his advanced age, Jing Lan began to cultivate a successor for the city lord.

The choice of successor was somewhat unexpected.

It turned out to be a woman from the Xiao family back then!
In fact, the Xiao family bloodline has never been broken.

As mentioned earlier, before leaving, the old city lord Xiao Lin left behind five children.

Two men and three sisters.

The eldest and second eldest were Xiao Feng and Xiao Yun, respectively, both of whom have long since perished.

But his three younger sisters were still alive, and Luo Chen never went to cause them any trouble.

Jing Lan trained one of her three daughters to be a candidate for city lord, which can be considered a return to her rightful owner.

As for whether they will hold a grudge because of their previous disagreements?
Jing Lan wasn't worried about that.

She knew very well that Brother Luo Chen didn't value the Immortal City that much at all; he was just using it to collect cultivation resources.

Once Luo Chen has achieved a certain level of cultivation, he will naturally leave this place.

All Jing Lan sought was peace of mind.

While training her successor, Jing Lan would also come to the Guanchao Pavilion in her spare time to gaze at the quiet Weichen Pavilion in the distance.

They often sit for half a day at a time.

However, Luo Chen never emerged from seclusion.

Only the koi carp that were looking for food would occasionally swim up to her and leap up to play in the water.

……

Twenty years later.

Apart from the patrolling Xuanjia soldiers and some servants, the Xiao residence was sparsely populated.

The reason lies in the Weichen Pavilion located in the center of the mansion.

In recent years, turbulent sounds have been heard from the attic from time to time.

It sounds like the croaking of frogs and the roaring of cattle, like rumbling thunder, and occasionally like the surging of great rivers.

Such noise persisted for so long that ordinary people could no longer live there.

In the last two weeks, this voice has become increasingly frequent.

Consort Xiang dismissed all her servants, leaving only a small number of Xuanjia soldiers to protect the outer residence, while she herself guarded outside Weichen Pavilion.

"He's finally coming out of seclusion!"

Inside the Weichen Pavilion.

Before anyone knew it, the once spacious training room had become crowded.

A blood sphere, resembling a silkworm cocoon, stands inside!
The blood cocoon seemed to have a life of its own; as its heart pounded, it emitted the awe-inspiring sounds from the outside world.

The blood cocoon began to tremble violently, sometimes expanding and sometimes contracting.

Suddenly!
The blood cocoon swelled to its limit, almost filling the entire training room, and then collapsed wildly inward under a strange suction force.

A blurry figure gradually came into view.

The figure sat cross-legged in mid-air, completely naked, its entire body like a sponge, absorbing the blood cocoon that enveloped it from every part of its body.

After all the blood and energy have disappeared, only smooth, silky skin remains, as tender and smooth as milk.

The figure slightly opened its mouth, and its originally thick and hard teeth began to fall out one by one.

At the same time, new teeth grow from the spot where the tooth root fell out.

The newly grown teeth are full and plump, like snow and crystal. They seem fragile, yet they seem capable of biting through the world's most solid gemstones.

His once lush hair was now growing wildly like weeds, each strand of jet-black hair as tough as a python's tendons or a dragon's spine.

The changes don't stop there!
Inside the body, even more astonishing changes are taking place that are unimaginable to ordinary people.

Seven hundred and twenty acupoints, emitting a scarlet light, are both blurry and transparent, with clusters of qi curled up inside, like stars hanging high in the universe.

The meridians were expanded to their maximum extent, allowing streams of vital energy to surge within them.

Even the bones that had been previously tempered were making a cracking sound like bamboo joints bursting.

Especially the spine on its back!
At that moment, lightning blazed brightly!

Streaks of silvery-white electric arcs spread out, almost piercing through his body.

Is there a connection?

Outside the attic, dark clouds were gathering high in the sky.

But the next moment, as Luo Chen suddenly opened his eyes, the dark sky slowly dissipated.

Luo Chen looked up at the void through the wall.

After a long while, he finally lowered his head.

"Within this Void of Return, even a lightning tribulation cannot be formed?"

Just like a cultivator who has reached the Nascent Soul stage will face their first Tribulation of the Three Nines in their life.

The same applies to martial artists!
In fact, the tribulations that martial artists have to endure are even more dangerous than those of immortal cultivators.

After all, the celestial calamity is born for the purpose of punishment and destruction.

Compared to the fragile soul, the physical body cultivated by martial artists is much more difficult to destroy, and naturally, the external lightning tribulations will be more brutal and powerful.

However, in this Void of Return, Luo Chen, just like those martial artists recorded in ancient texts, did not suffer from the lightning tribulation.

"It's a pity. If there really is a tribulation of lightning, it means that this world still has the consciousness of the Heavenly Dao."

Luo Chen exhaled a breath of stale air and focused his attention on his own family.

He was already thoroughly familiar with the changes, both external and internal.

The change in his spine, however, surprised him.

Thunder Bone!

This is not something unfamiliar.

During his Foundation Establishment stage, he used the power of lightning to temper his body in the White Night Cave of Jilei Nine Mountains, which resulted in the creation of a lightning bone.

At that time, he even hoped that this lightning bone would have a special performance when he underwent lightning tribulation in the future.

Later, when he ventured into the Land of Fallen Demons, he used the Nine Tribulations and Three Nirvanas Technique to undergo a physical rebirth, and everything was rebuilt.

That lightning bone still exists!

He did indeed absorb a small amount of lightning power when he was undergoing the Nascent Soul Tribulation.

But it seems that's where it ends, and it didn't bring Luo Chen any further assistance.

Even after his physical body reached the fifth level of the Ancient Desolate Realm, his spinal lightning bones remained unchanged. But unexpectedly!

As he stepped into the fourth stage of body refinement and cultivated the flawless golden body, there was a noticeable change in the spine behind him.

"Without cultivating thunder magic or possessing a thunder spiritual root, how could one advance to the Thunder Bone realm relying solely on the power of blood and qi?"

"Does this mean that as my blood and qi continue to transform, this thunder bone, which is being nourished by it, will also transform?"

Luo Chen was puzzled.

He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again.

His acupoints suddenly closed, and a membrane of energy generated by Blood Refining Divine Qi enveloped his entire body.

Looking at it from all angles, it resembles a demonic blood god!
This is his flawless golden body!

Luo Chen raised his right palm into a knife shape, dispelling the blood film, and then slashed at his left arm.

The air film was tough and remained completely still.

Luo Chen paused for a moment, then couldn't help but smile.

That last strike was powered by 30% of his physical strength, and its power was roughly equivalent to a Nascent Soul cultivator wielding a true weapon.

The result was quite pleasing.

No wonder Wang Yuan wanted to study how to strengthen his internal energy, and even added divine winds and earthly evil spirits to it.

The energy membrane generated by this Blood Refining Divine Qi alone is enough to block attacks at the True Artifact level.

With such a strong defense, their offensive power must be even greater!
With a light laugh, Luo Chen slowly landed on the ground. His long, flowing hair seemed to have a spirit of its own and retracted back to its normal length, hanging down behind his waist.

He changed into a white shirt and then stepped out.

Outside the Weichen Pavilion.

Xiangfei's eyes lit up with joy, and she called out from afar.

"Congratulations, senior, on your arduous cultivation and attainment of the flawless golden body!"

Luo Chen walked up to her, breathing in the fresh air and feeling the sensation of his body as if it were its own private world, which made him feel refreshed and relaxed.

Over twenty years, he refined immortal essence stones and broke through to the fourth realm of body refinement.

It was indeed a period of rigorous self-cultivation.

"Where's Jing Lan? I haven't seen her." Luo Chen asked casually.

Xiangfei opened her mouth, but hesitated to speak.

Luo Chen was taken aback, and then he understood everything.

Mortals can never outlast time.

For him, it was just an ordinary period of seclusion, but for Jing Lan, it was the end of her life.

Although he avoided the melancholy of dying, Luo Chen was still inevitably saddened at this moment.

"Let's go, take me to see her."

Xiangfei responded softly, her joy at Luo Chen's breakthrough subsiding.

As they left the residence, people knelt and bowed at the entrance.

She is now the new city lord of Yixian City, Xiao Yuxin.

She knelt there, not daring to raise her head even slightly.

Luo Chen merely glanced at it and did not offer any opinion on Jing Lan's final arrangements.

The City of Lost Immortals was indeed unimportant to him.

He didn't actually have any deep-seated hatred for the Xiao family. If Xiao Feng hadn't been disobedient, he wouldn't have done anything to him. As long as the new city lord didn't do anything unwise in the future, he wouldn't bother to interfere.

Whether Xiao Yuxin can secure her position as city lord remains to be seen.

……

South of Qingshan Town, a plain-looking mountain stands quietly.

A stream flows at the foot of the mountain, and although there are houses on the mountain, there is no sign of human habitation.

Halfway up the mountain, a solitary grave stands alone.

"The villagers of Moon Village were taken away by Lord Jinglan a long time ago, and this place is now a desolate mountain. On her deathbed, she entrusted me not to hold a grand funeral, but simply to send her body back here for burial."

"The tombstone is unmarked, presumably waiting for you, senior, to erect one for it."

“There was another suicide note.”

Listening to Xiangfei's soft whispers, holding a thin letter in his hand, Luo Chen's gaze traveled from the grave to the green hills and finally landed on the letter.

To Brother Luo:

Seeing this letter is like seeing you in person. By the time you read this letter, Xiaolan will likely already be gone.

......"

This is a very plain letter. It does not entrust any affairs after death, nor does it express any feelings of longing. It is merely some everyday words left by Jing Lan as she felt her time was coming to an end.

However, the more mundane things were, the heavier Luo Chen's mood became.

After reading through the entire book, Luo Chen could only let out a long sigh.

He carefully put the letter away, then, with his fingers like a sword, slowly began to write on the nameless tombstone.

[The Tomb of Enyou Jinglan – by Luo Chenli]

Xiangfei stood behind and watched this scene quietly, somewhat curious about the words "kind friend".

But they didn't ask any further questions.

She was just a little sentimental. For an ordinary woman like Jing Lan to meet Luo Chen and have an extraordinary life, was it a blessing or a curse?
"Let's go!"

"Back to the Lost Immortal City?"

"No, let's go straight to Red Leaf Ridge!"

Luo Chen waved his sleeve and gracefully descended the mountain.

……

The former Red Leaf Ridge is now Red Leaf Valley.

Surrounded by five peaks, the lake is emerald green and the red leaves are fluttering.

Standing atop one of the mountains, Xiangfei looked down into the valley and could vaguely see a peculiar character amidst the crisscrossing ravines on the earth.

It resembles one of the ancient characters used by cultivators in classical texts.

While Xiangfei was still curious, Luo Chen's voice drifted over.

"We've waited several days, the time is ripe. Let's arrange for those death row inmates to enter the valley!"

Xiangfei gazed at the sky and could faintly feel a chill creeping in.

At this time of year, the ghost rain is about to arrive!
She dared not delay and personally went down the mountain to a prison a hundred miles away from Red Leaf Valley.

This prison was personally arranged for its construction by Jing Lan while she was still alive.

The prisoners imprisoned there were criminals accumulated over the past fifty years from Yixian City and other major cities.

These prisoners were all death row inmates who had committed crimes of violence and should have been executed long ago, but they were imprisoned here instead.

What we're doing is today!
Soon after, Luo Chen was able to see Xiang Fei leading the Xuanjia Army and a large number of death row inmates into Red Leaf Valley.

After these people entered, they were placed in that dreamlike azure lake, where each of them was shackled, unable to float up or dive down.

The sounds of chaos and panic were incessant.

Luo Chen remained indifferent, ignoring everything.

After everything was arranged, Luo Chen floated down the mountain and personally set foot in Red Leaf Valley.

"Senior, is there anything else you need?"

Luo Chen stood with his back turned, gazing at the Dream Locust Tree.

"No need, you can leave! Remember, no one is allowed to enter before I leave the valley, including you!"

Xiangfei trembled and bowed as she left.

After she left, Luo Chen slashed his wrist, and bright red blood gushed out, flowing along the grooves.

Gradually, a bright red character for "god" appeared in the valley!
The once noisy lake gradually quieted down, and the death row inmates hung their heads, as if they were asleep.

Luo Chen exhaled a breath of stale air and cast several hand seals.

In an instant, the malevolent energy that had accumulated over decades gathered at the Dream Locust Tree, and its red leaves began to sway.

The Blood River Demon Cloud Formation is activated.

The Dream Bubble Array is activated.

Only the last Five Ghosts Locking God Formation remains, poised to be unleashed.

And at this time.

pat!

A raindrop hit the surface of the lake, creating ripples.

(End of this chapter)