216: Chapter 215 Ending

Pill City, the holy land for alchemists, where the air was thick with the scent of medicinal herbs and the stench of copper. Dragging his half-crippled body, Chen Zilong followed the clues mentioned by both Luo Qingfeng and Su Wan and found the 'Hundred Herbs Pavilion'. The place had an unassuming storefront, hidden deep within an old alley, exuding an air of 'take it or leave it' obstinacy.

The shopkeeper was a withered old man named Wu, whose temper was indeed as foul and stubborn as the rumors said. Chen Zilong didn't beat around the bush. He directly slapped the black bone fragment recording the 'spirit purifying soul calming powder' onto the counter. Old Man Wu initially couldn't be bothered to even lift his eyelids, but when he caught a glimpse of the ancient runes on the bone fragment, a sharp glint suddenly erupted in his turbid eyes, like a starving wolf spotting meat.

'This thing... where did you get it?' Old Man Wu's voice was hoarse. His fingers rubbed the scorch marks on the edge of the bone fragment. His gaze wasn't that of someone looking at an object, but more like looking at an enemy, or perhaps an old acquaintance.

Chen Zilong didn't tell the whole truth. He only said he obtained it by chance and sought to complete the pill formula to treat his fractured primordial spirit. He specifically mentioned 'soul source' and the Xuan Yin Sect's 'Nine Nether Soul Chasing Seal'.

Upon hearing 'Nine Nether Soul Chasing Seal', Old Man Wu sneered, the wrinkles on his face deepening. 'Those creatures of the Xuan Yin Sect who shun the light... This 'spirit purifying soul calming powder' was originally created by an ancient alchemy prodigy to counter sinister soul-path secret arts like the 'Nine Nether Soul Chasing Seal'! 'soul source'? Heh, it's not some heaven-defying treasure. It's a strand of 'mutated soul substance' produced when the soul of someone marked by such a soul mark is corroded! To others, it's a deadly poison. But for the marked person themselves, it's the crucial medicinal catalyst for using poison to attack poison, mending soul injuries, and even refining the soul mark in reverse!'

Chen Zilong's heart shook violently! So that was it! No wonder the Xuan Yin Sect pursued him relentlessly. Besides revenge, they probably wanted to capture him to extract the 'soul source' continuously generated within him by the marking and corrosion of the 'Nine Nether Soul Chasing Seal'! This was a vicious cycle—the soul mark allowed him to be tracked, the soul injury required 'soul source' for treatment, and the 'soul source' came from the corrosion of the soul mark...

'What, scared?' Old Man Wu glanced at him sideways. 'The method is told to you. Whether you dare to use it is up to you. I have the main medicinal ingredients for the pill formula here. The supplementary ingredients and refining technique—the missing part on the bone fragment—I fortuitously completed in my youth from some ruins. But refining this pill is extremely perilous. The moment the pill forms, you must guide that strand of your own 'soul source' into the pill, fusing it with the medicinal potency. Succeed, and the soul injury heals, the soul mark dissolves, even allowing a backlash against its caster, injuring their soul. Fail... heh, soul annihilation, not even entering reincarnation.'

Chen Zilong remained silent for a long time before looking up. 'Refine it! I ask for Senior Wu's assistance.' He had no choice. Tu Shan Xiaoxiao was still waiting in the ice coffin. The Xuan Yin Sect was like a clinging maggot. With the road ahead vast and uncertain, he had to gamble on this.

Old Man Wu looked at him deeply, said nothing more, and turned to enter the inner chamber. Three days later, an extraordinary fragrance soared from the pill room, accompanied by faint sounds of soulful weeping. Following the secret method taught by Old Man Wu, at the exact moment the pill formed, Chen Zilong endured excruciating pain as if his primordial spirit were tearing apart, forcibly extracted that grayish-black strand of 'soul source'—belonging to himself yet polluted by the soul mark—and threw it into the pill furnace.

'Boom!'

The pill furnace trembled lightly. A strange pill the size of a longan, with a chaotic color yet a pure silver light flowing on its surface, flew out. Chen Zilong swallowed it. Instantly, he felt a torrent of coolness and scorching heat intertwine and sweep through his soul. The spiderweb-like cracks rapidly mended. Moreover, a domineering force, following an intangible connection, surged back in a counterattack!

At the same time, far away in the Soul Nurturing Pool at the Xuan Yin Sect's main altar, Huang Chen, who was warming his primordial spirit, and that 'Vice Sect Master Xue Ming' simultaneously let out a wretched scream. Their souls felt as if struck by a heavy hammer, suffering not-light hidden injuries. The 'Nine Nether Soul Chasing Seal' they had placed on Chen Zilong completely shattered, backlashing upon themselves.

With his soul injury initially healed, Chen Zilong did not leave Pill City. Using the alias 'Chen Xiao', relying on his solid cultivation base and newfound insights into the alchemical path (especially that life-and-death experience refining the 'spirit purifying soul calming powder'), he participated in the Alchemy Grand Competition hosted by the Pill Pagoda. He no longer rigidly adhered to fixed pill formulas but flexibly combined ingredients based on their properties. He even integrated a thread of thunderous vitality from the 'Nine Heavens Thunder Control True Canon' into a pill, refining a peculiar spirit pill with the effect of purging evil, winning the championship in one fell swoop.

This action attracted the attention of the Pill Pagoda's higher-ups and even drew an unexpected person—a reclusive senior elder of the Pill Pagoda turned out to be an old friend of Liu Mei from back in the day! From this elder, Chen Zilong learned more about Liu Mei: her disappearance back then wasn't simple; to explore the ancient 'Chaos Alchemy Path' and break through her own bottleneck, she actively entered a famous forbidden land in the cultivation world, the 'Returning Ruins Sea Eye', and had been missing ever since. The elder handed Chen Zilong a jade slip left by Liu Mei, containing only one sentence: 'The end of the Alchemy Path is also Chaos. To find me, you must first understand your own path.'

Holding the jade slip, Chen Zilong felt a tumult of emotions. His master's path seemed more difficult and distant than he imagined. But he also clarified his direction—elevate his alchemy path and find a way to enter the 'Returning Ruins Sea Eye'.

The Xuan Yin Sect did not give up because of the soul mark backlash. Vice Sect Master Xue Ming, enraged, allied with another vice sect master from the sect. They poured out in full force, laying an absolute killing trap while Chen Zilong left Pill City to search for a certain rare supplementary ingredient at an ancient site. Two peak Nascent Soul Late Stage experts, leading dozens of elites, surrounded him at the ruins of an ancient battlefield.

This time, there was no probing, no schemes, only the most naked killing intent and the collision of power.

Chen Zilong knew this was the final reckoning. He summoned the overlord cauldron, called forth the Vajra Puppet, clad himself in five thunders armor, and wielded a Thunder Spear. He pushed the 'Nine Heavens Thunder Control True Canon', the 'Heaven Swallowing Demonic Art', the 'Vajra Demon Subduing Scripture', and even his insights into the 'balance' and 'fusion' of the alchemical path to their limits. This battle shook heaven and earth, reducing the ruins and broken walls of the ancient battlefield completely to dust.

He no longer sought to defeat the enemy in one move. Instead, he traded injury for injury, life for life. The Heaven Swallowing Demonic Art devoured the opponents' Yin-ghastly attack power to replenish himself. The Vajra Demon Subduing Scripture withstood fatal blows. The Nine Heavens Thunder Control True Canon transformed into the most Frenzied attack. He even integrated his comprehension of 'using poison to attack poison' and 'Yin-Yang transformation' from refining the 'spirit purifying soul calming powder' into the combat. In this desperate situation, he faintly touched upon an opportunity to preliminarily merge the true intents of the three schools with alchemical concepts.

In the end, at the cost of self-destructing part of the overlord cauldron's origin, he severely wounded one vice sect master. At the cost of the Vajra Puppet's complete destruction, he held off most of the elites. Burning his essence blood and primordial spirit, he invoked a more complete and terrifying 'Nine Heavens Tribulation Light' than at Falling Eagle Ravine, locking onto the strongest, Vice Sect Master Xue Ming.

'Let's go together!' Chen Zilong roared, integrating the insight from Liu Mei's jade slip—'The end of the Alchemy Path is also Chaos'—into the tribulation light. That chaotic-colored tribulation light seemed to contain a trace of the primitive destructive power of world creation.

Vice Sect Master Xue Ming was engulfed by the tribulation light in despair, body and soul annihilated. The other vice sect master, severely wounded, fled. The Xuan Yin Sect's elites were mostly dead or injured. The sect's vitality was greatly damaged, collapsing from then on.

Chen Zilong, too, was completely exhausted, collapsing in the ruins. Just as his consciousness was about to fade, the jade slip left by Liu Mei in his embrace suddenly emitted a gentle, warm light. A stream of pure life force protected the last vestiges of his heart meridian and primordial spirit origin.

Several months later, Chen Zilong awoke in a nameless valley. His injuries were still severe, but his foundation wasn't destroyed. There was an additional person by his side—it was actually Su Wan, who had feigned friendship with him on the cloud boat. As it turned out, her identity was complex. She was both a hidden agent for the Xuan Yin Sect and a sleeper piece laid by Luo Qingfeng of the Listening to Rain Tower, and also... Old Man Wu's long-lost granddaughter. After the Xuan Yin Sect's downfall, following Luo Qingfeng's guidance (or orders), she came to help Chen Zilong recover from his injuries, bringing along foundation-stabilizing and essence-nourishing pills that Old Man Wu had exhausted his heart's blood to refine for him.

'Luo Qingfeng asked me to bring a message,' Su Wan said with a complex expression. 'He said, your path is not in the Xuan Yin Sect, not in the Listening to Rain Tower, not even in the Pill Pagoda. Your path is under your own feet. The Returning Ruins Sea Eye is a place of nine deaths and one life. Whether you go or not is up to you.'

Chen Zilong swallowed the pills, feeling the slowly reviving vitality within his body. He gazed into the distance, his vision seemingly piercing through the endless void. He saw Tu Shan Xiaoxiao sleeping in the ice coffin, saw Liu Mei who might exist within the Returning Ruins Sea Eye, and also saw the bloodstained yet gradually clear 'path' beneath his own feet.

He had fused Dao, Devil, Buddha, and Alchemy, walking an unprecedented road.

This road was destined to be lonely, Covered in thorns, but also filled with infinite possibilities.

'Xiaoxiao, wait for me.'

'Master, wait for me.'

He stood up. Although his steps were still somewhat unsteady, his spine was straight and upright. A new journey was about to begin. This time, his goal was no longer escape or revenge, but pursuit, transcendence, lifting the veil of Chaos, retrieving the two most important people in his life, and forging his own, unique 'Path of Chaos'.

(End of the Entire Story)