Now, You Ought to Give This Seat an Answer

"The Desolate Hermit is the Alchemy Grandmaster, and the Alchemy Grandmaster is the Desolate Hermit." With a light chuckle, Luo Chen pushed back his black hood and casually sat down in a chair beside the old man. Zhou Yunshen sighed with emotion. "A mere loose cultivator from the Eastern Desolation... It turns out you made your origins clear from the very beginning. And I suppose 'Luo Hai' was nothing more than an alias as well!" Pouring himself a cup, Luo Chen let the hot tea slide down his throat and smiled. "A speck of dust falling into the Northern Sea—it was hardly a stretch to call myself Luo Hai." In just a few words of banter, Luo Chen made clear the logic behind his disguises back then. Seeing him act so completely at home, Zhou Yunshen felt the wrinkles on his face twitch slightly. "Rumor has it that the Alchemy Grandmaster possesses peerless abilities. Upon your initial return to the Eastern Desolation, you slaughtered countless demons, and several decades ago you even fought on par with Demon Sovereign Qingshuang, who is hailed as foremost below Deity Transformation. I wonder if that is true or false?" "That news was likely put out by an ancestor of the Dao Sect himself, so how could it be false?" Luo Chen gave a faint, enigmatic smile and countered, "Or could it be that you, Elder, are half in doubt?" Zhou Yunshen replied calmly, "Rumors are often exaggerated. After all, I am nearly a thousand years old, yet my realm has only reached the sixth layer of Nascent Soul. Fellow Daoist Luo, you are far younger than I am, and you attained the Dao long after me, yet your cultivation has advanced by leaps and bounds to a degree that feels almost surreal. I still remember that when you left the Central Plains, you were merely in the early Nascent Soul stage..." The word "early" dragged out on the old man's lips, and whatever words were to follow choked in his throat. It was because an aura as deep as an abyss and as vast as an ocean faintly rose and expanded through the hall. Caught within it, one felt a sinking dread. That aura originated from Luo Chen. Looking closely, it felt as though a majestic sun was rising into the sky, sending tremors through the old man's divine soul and striking sheer terror into his heart. A dry, raspy voice broke uncontrollably from Zhou Yunshen's mouth, his cloudy, weathered eyes filled with astonishment. "A yin soul crossing to yang, Nascent Soul transforming into a deity... You have already reached the Deity Transformation stage?!" Whoosh! All the aura, every phenomenon, vanished in an instant, as if nothing had ever happened. Only the black-robed Luo Chen sat there, sipping spiritual tea with unhurried ease. With the disturbance gone, Zhou Yunshen finally regained his faculties. He stared deeply at Luo Chen. "Not yet Deity Transformation, but merely a single step away." Luo Chen smiled. "Old friend, your eyes remain as sharp and your knowledge as vast as ever. You can even see right through to the fact that my realm is all surface splendor—an imposing exterior hollow within." "That is hardly hollow. Just now, for a fleeting moment, I almost thought I was looking upon the Northern Sea's mighty Li Canghai." Zhou Yunshen no longer harbored any improper notions, and even his most basic inclination to probe had vanished into thin air. He asked directly, "Fellow Daoist, what brings you back to the Central Plains in such secrecy?" Catching the mention of that prominent figure, Luo Chen raised an eyebrow. "Can I not come visit an old friend without some grand purpose? After all, both of us are still Star Gate guest elders." Zhou Yunshen shook his head. "The Star Gate is no more, and Heaven and Earth Peak has collapsed. How can there still be any talk of Star Gate guest elders?" "Yet those days when we resisted the demon race together and crossed the boundless oceans are still etched clearly in my memory," Luo Chen said with a sigh, adding, "I still remember how the Coral Sea was packed with guests gathering to celebrate Ancestor Zhou's eight-hundredth birthday. What a grand and joyous occasion that was." Back when Zhou Yunshen celebrated his eight-hundredth birthday, Luo Chen had attended in person under his identity as the Master of Penghu within the Myriad Immortals Association. Although the two had not interacted extensively, their ties ran deep. Even Luo Chen's former worldly affairs agent, Zhang Jiadi, had married a daughter of the Zhou family, establishing a cooperative relationship with the Coral Sea Zhou family. It could be said that Luo Chen and Zhou Yunshen had been collaborating since long ago. Perhaps due to his advanced age, or perhaps because of his earlier conversation with the family's younger generation, Zhou Yunshen could not help falling into reminiscence after Luo Chen brought up the past. Yet he quickly cast that nostalgia aside. "The Coral Sea is no more." Curious, Luo Chen asked, "Did you visit it in person, Fellow Daoist Zhou?" Zhou Yunshen sighed. "A century ago, when the Tianyuan Dao Sect launched its campaign against the Northern Sea, I was conscripted because of my Northern Sea origins. Naturally, I took the time to visit the Zhou family's ancestral land, but alas, things had changed and the people were gone. Not a single familiar sight remained." Thoughtfully, Luo Chen remarked, "The Coral Sea was not in the core region of the Northern Sea cultivation world. For you to have been able to revisit old haunts, the Tianyuan Dao Sect's conquest of the Northern Sea must have proceeded quite swiftly back then!" Zhou Yunshen glanced at Luo Chen and did not refute his conclusion. "Fellow Daoist Luo truly sees the whole from a single detail. The Tianyuan Dao Sect did indeed come close to completely conquering the Northern Sea cultivation world." Luo Chen was surprised. "That fast?" Luo Chen had personally experienced just how vast the Northern Sea was. While it might lack continuous landmasses like the Eastern Desolation or Western Desert, its islands were scattered like stars in the sky. Even excluding the marginal reaches, its total area exceeded that of both the Eastern Desolation and Western Desert cultivation worlds combined. It was precisely this immense scale that yielded resources richer than anywhere else in the Mountain Sea Realm. The Tianyuan Dao Sect had crossed the ocean to the Northern Sea, fought on unfamiliar ground in such a short span of time, yet had almost conquered the entire Northern Sea? Were the native cultivators of the Northern Sea utterly useless, or were the demon armies simply vulnerable to a single blow? Connecting this to the Northern Sea mighty Zhou Yunshen had mentioned earlier, Luo Chen probed, "Did you meet Mighty Li Canghai in person?" Zhou Yunshen hummed in assent. "When we first arrived in the Northern Sea, the Dao Sect's Ancestor Zhan took us to meet Mighty Li. It was precisely due to his cooperation that the Canghai Righteous Path Alliance did not resist stubbornly, allowing the Dao Sect's armies to conquer the Northern Sea and expel the demon race far more rapidly." At this point, he could not help but size Luo Chen up again. The moment Luo Chen had unfurled his primordial spirit just now was scarcely inferior to the divine soul foundation Li Canghai had displayed when Ancestor Zhan had overpowered him back then. Of course, it was also possible that his own realm was too low to fathom the true depth of a Deity Transformation mighty. Yet he could not gauge the depths of Luo Chen's power either! Inside the hall, after their idle banter and reminiscing about past events, the somewhat distant atmosphere between the two grew warm and familiar once more. Zhou Yunshen hesitated for a long while before finally asking frankly: "Fellow Daoist Luo, there is no need to beat around the bush with this old man. If you have business, speak plainly!" Luo Chen chuckled and set down his teacup. "My business is actually quite simple. Fellow Daoist, you and I are both Star Gate guest elders, so you should know about the matter of life souls!" Understanding dawned upon Zhou Yunshen. Connecting this to the realm Luo Chen had just displayed, he immediately grasped Luo Chen's goal. Luo Chen likely wanted to retrieve his life soul to formally attempt the Deity Transformation stage. Yet immediately afterward, a deep wave of confusion welled up in his mind. "Fellow Daoist Luo, since you are a Star Gate guest elder and also aided the Five Elders of Tianyuan in dealing with the Demon Phoenix sisters atop Broken Soul Cliff, you could simply apply to Ancestor Liancheng to retrieve your life soul! With your current strength, if the Dao Sect gave its full support—or rather, even if they merely allowed you to cultivate in seclusion within the Lanke Mountain Range for a few decades—reaching Deity Transformation would be a matter of course. Especially now when the Tianyuan Dao Sect is in dire need of Deity Transformation mighties, Ancestor Liancheng would surely not refuse." Advancing to Deity Transformation seemed fraught with innumerable difficulties to the world, but in truth there was only a single hurdle: condensing a primordial spirit! Many great cultivators in the late Nascent Soul stage were unable to condense a primordial spirit in their entire lifetimes. They could only pin their hopes on the spiritual opportunity contained within a fifth-order spiritual vein, forcibly fusing a primordial spirit through natural absorption, before resonating with the momentum of heaven and earth to draw a vast quantity of origin qi from the ocean of origin qi, thereby consolidating the primordial spirit. Once one reached that point, one became a so-called Deity Transformation mighty! Yet for an incomparable prodigy like Luo Chen who had already condensed a primordial spirit in advance, advancing to Deity Transformation required only the final step. This was by no means an exaggeration; Master Xuandu, who had also condensed a primordial spirit in advance back then, had broken through with virtually no obstacles, the entire process flowing as smoothly as water forming a channel. Luo Chen should have been the same. However, his life soul was incomplete, which prevented his primordial spirit from enduring for long. Thus, he did not dare take that final step, which ought to have been a mere formality. Having grown shrewd with age and broad in knowledge, Zhou Yunshen had offered the most reasonable suggestion. And yet! Under his gaze, Luo Chen solemnly shook his head. "I am different from all of you." Zhou Yunshen was puzzled. Luo Chen said slowly, "You joined the Star Gate through standard procedures and are formal guest elders. The extraction of your life souls was subject to corresponding regulations; when the appropriate time came, you could apply to retrieve your life soul to attempt Deity Transformation. But back then, because I did not meet the requirements, I was merely an external guest elder." Zhou Yunshen asked in perplexity, "If you were not a formal guest elder, then your life soul shouldn't be in the hands of the Tianyuan Dao Sect either, should it?" A bitter expression appeared on Luo Chen's face, tinged with thirty percent resentment. "Fellow Daoist Zhou, do you still remember when I escorted the Fu clan's Perfected Cultivator into the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven to participate in the tournament and compete for opportunities?" Zhou Yunshen nodded, but immediately his expression changed drastically. "Could it be that when you entered the Mirage Dragon Grotto-Heaven back then, a mighty of the Dao Sect forcibly severed and seized your life soul?" Luo Chen sighed. "I said earlier that your eyes are sharp, and that proves true once again. You saw through their trickery at a glance." Though it was praise, it rang in Zhou Yunshen's ears like a death knell, sending a chill through his heart. Since the Tianyuan Dao Sect had treated Luo Chen in such a manner, how could they possibly return his life soul with an open hand, let alone assist him in advancing to Deity Transformation? No doubt there was another hidden motive behind Luo Chen's choice to aid the Tianyuan Dao Sect during the battle at Broken Soul Cliff back then. Under such circumstances, with Luo Chen having hit a bottleneck and returning to the Central Plains in secret, his purpose went without saying. He had not even notified the Tianyuan Dao Sect; instead, he had come to the declining Zhou family. His intentions were obvious! Zhou Yunshen did not believe Luo Chen was unwilling to break through to Deity Transformation. In that case, there was only one way: retrieving his life soul by any means necessary! And the Zhou family was merely one of the means he intended to employ! The mere thought of the Zhou family becoming entangled in a struggle between Luo Chen and the Tianyuan Dao Sect made Zhou Yunshen's scalp tingle. "Fellow Daoist Luo, don't you think you are crossing the line?" Turning a deaf ear, Luo Chen said indifferently, "It is quite simple! Right now, the Tianyuan Dao Sect's strength has drastically diminished. They are plagued by internal power struggles and external crises, making this the precise moment they are most desperate to replenish their core strength. "They have brought out resources accumulated over thousands of years to vigorously cultivate a new generation of powerhouses, and they have even lifted restrictions on Star Gate guest elders, permitting you all to fully integrate into the Tianyuan Dao Sect. "I need not show myself in person. I require only an avatar to enter the ranks of the Dao Sect's core true disciples under the name of your Zhou family. "You needn't worry that the Dao Sect's powerhouses will detect anything amiss. When the time comes, I will completely sever the connection between the avatar and my true body, tying up every loose end. With my attainments in the spiritual soul, unless the world's greatest mighties step forth, no one can see through its true nature. Even a Deity Transformation mighty in haste would not necessarily see through the avatar's essence. "When my avatar qualifies to have its life soul extracted, through the shared origin of our souls, it can guide back the portion of my life soul that was seized back then. "While this process cannot be called entirely undetectable, under the current circumstances, it has an exceptionally high chance of success. "Fellow Daoist Zhou..." Zhou Yunshen's eyes glared wide with fury, his magic power churning violently throughout his body as he growled, "Say no more!" Luo Chen looked up, fixing his gaze—calm to the point of danger—upon the old man with disheveled beard and hair. "I have finished laying out my plan." Gritting his teeth, his face flushed red, Zhou Yunshen demanded, "And am I supposed to accept? Am I supposed to cooperate with you? If I refuse, if I do not cooperate, what will you do?" "Nothing at all." Luo Chen shook his head, his tone just as steady as before, without a ripple of emotion. Zhou Yunshen was stunned, unable to understand why Luo Chen was so composed. This matter concerned his path to Deity Transformation, and he had explained the plan in such meticulous detail. If Zhou Yunshen refused, how could Luo Chen neither lose his temper nor fly into a rage? Luo Chen stood up and walked step by step toward the entrance of the grand hall. His deep, dark eyes seemed to take in the entirety of the vast Egret Marsh, taking in the numerous descendants of the Zhou family. With his back to Zhou Yunshen, Luo Chen murmured softly, "If my old friend refuses, I will simply find another family. There is no need to notify anyone; I can proceed in secret. It may be slightly more troublesome, but the outcome will ultimately be the same. Yet I am offering you an opportunity—an opportunity for the Zhou family to rise, or rather, a way of retreat." Zhou Yunshen gave a laugh born of extreme fury. "An opportunity to provoke the Tianyuan Dao Sect, or a dead end that leads to the destruction of my clan and the slaughter of my kin?" Luo Chen murmured, "Old friend, your lifespan is drawing to its close, isn't it?" There was no response from behind. Luo Chen seemed oblivious, gazing out over the miasma-cloaked Egret Marsh as he spoke to himself: "If you pass away, will the Zhou family be able to hold on to this Egret Marsh? If you pass away, given the abilities of those three Golden Core cultivators, will they ever have the chance in this lifetime to access a fourth-order spiritual vein and break through to the Nascent Soul realm? Among this generation of your kin, is there anyone with exceptional talent and lofty character who could lead the clan to restore the glory of the Coral Sea Zhou family after your demise?" Behind him, the decrepit old man went limp, his frail body nearly collapsing into the wide armchair. He gazed at the tall man standing at the entrance. In the light dancing with motes of dust, the man's silhouette seemed both sinister and sacred. Luo Chen turned around. Though he stood at the lower end of the hall, the angle from which he looked up at Zhou Yunshen felt like looking down from on high. In a commanding, imperious tone, he said, "If you accept, an incomparable genius will emerge within the Zhou family, and countless kin will reap the benefits. If you cooperate, the variables will be fewer and the Zhou family will be far safer. Even if the affair falls through, with strength that lets me traverse the five continents and four seas, I am more than capable of leading the Zhou family in retreat to the Eastern Desolation to preserve your lineage. You needn't worry—the Dao Sect's mighties would never dare set foot half a step into the Eastern Desolation! "Now, you ought to give this seat an answer." Facing Luo Chen's all-consuming eyes, Zhou Yunshen slowly closed his own. "I... agree." Those three meager words seemed to exhaust every ounce of Zhou Yunshen's strength. Luo Chen smiled faintly, a smile brimming with the power of absolute control. "Trust me. You will not regret this decision."