"Alchemy Realm?"
Luo Chen murmured the two words carved into the pale gray stone stele, a thoughtful expression surfacing on his face.
"Could it be that the inheritance ground this starlight conduit leads to is an alchemy legacy?"
The moment the thought crossed his mind, he felt certain of it.
Earlier outside, among the thirteen paths, he had faintly felt two exerting a powerful attraction upon him.
Looking at it the other way around, if the Heaven Refining Demon Lord wished to choose a successor most suited to inherit his orthodoxies, that person naturally had to align deeply with the specific path in question.
And of all Luo Chen's skills, his alchemy was by far the highest.
In fact, while still in the early Golden Core stage, he had already reached the level of a Tier 4 alchemist!
Even in the vast Mountain Sea Realm, he was among the most peerlessly gifted, unrivaled by any other!
He was fully worthy of being hailed as a grandmaster of his generation!
Realizing this, Luo Chen felt somewhat ambivalent.
As far as alchemy was concerned, his attainments were already high enough.
Whether for his current Golden Core stage or even the future Nascent Soul stage, he felt his skill was more than sufficient.
Advancing further in alchemy would not necessarily bring much improvement to his personal cultivation.
This was precisely why, after arriving in the Northern Sea, he had tempered his body, refined artifacts, and learned various techniques and arts, while being far less devoted to alchemy than he had been in the Eastern Desolation. He had merely repeated the refining of pills he had already mastered in the past.
If it was enough to serve his needs, why bother pushing it further?
Now that a chance at an inheritance lay before him, he would have preferred something in another field...
"Ah, well!"
"Now that I am here, I might as well make the best of it!"
"With my alchemy attainments, passing the trials of this Alchemy Realm should be more than manageable."
Luo Chen set aside his regrets and readjusted his mindset.
Inheritance sites were reputed to be perilous. Even though this Alchemy Realm appeared peaceful and serene, who could say whether danger lurked within?
Luo Chen first checked his condition.
His Magic Power flowed smoothly, his magical treasures were ready for deployment at a moment's notice, and while his second primal core suffered a slight deficit in Magic Power, he could find time to mend it.
His storage ring opened without issue, but as for the spirit beast pouch...
Just as he went to open it to summon the Black King and Tianxuan to scout ahead, he discovered that the pouch seemed bound by an invisible force, completely unable to be unsealed within this realm.
Luo Chen's brow furrowed. "Does it forbid outside assistance during the trial of inheritance?"
Shaking his head, Luo Chen sat down cross-legged before the stone stele.
Before exploring the Alchemy Realm, there was one matter he had to attend to.
With a shift of thought, his Magic Power surged.
As his Magic Power churned, a bizarre foreign energy stirred within his body.
Very quickly!
An anomaly manifested.
Looking down at the mushroom-like growth sprouting from his shoulder, Luo Chen's expression darkened slightly.
Taisui's power!
This strange power drained vast amounts of Magic Power from him to generate parasitic growths like mushrooms and lingzhi.
Luo Chen even sensed that once his Magic Power ran dry, his flesh, vitality, and even his soul might be siphoned away to serve as nourishment for the fungus.
"Vicious methods, sinister power."
Muttering under his breath, Luo Chen slowly closed his eyes, his divine sense spreading to every corner of his body.
Then, the Wither-Bloom True Fire within him steadily seeped outward, enveloping his entire frame.
Amid this slow incineration, the wisps of bizarre energy left behind by Taisui's avatar were steadily refined away.
Any ordinary cultivator would never dare roast themselves with true fire in this manner.
Yet Luo Chen was different; his robust physique, rivaling that of a desolate beast, had itself been forged and tempered day and night through fire.
*As expected, my strengthened Wither-Bloom True Fire indeed exerts a degree of restraint over Taisui's power.*
*Had I recklessly kept devouring fire spirits until reaching the level of the Vermilion Bird Fire Spirit, even Taisui wouldn't dare provoke me lightly.*
*Though if I had done that...*
Curling his lip, he dismissed these idle hypotheticals.
Luo Chen focused his mind, persevering in refining away the sinister power within him.
...
Several days later.
A red-robed Daoist strolled unhurriedly amid green hills and clear waters, looking relaxed and free.
He did not fly, but walked across the earth at a leisurely pace.
This was Luo Chen, having completely eradicated Taisui's power.
The reason for his leisurely stroll was the extraordinary flora and celestial herbs carpeting this world.
Although by his standards, these herbs scattered everywhere were not particularly high in rank—mostly Tier 1 to Tier 3—the sheer variety was staggering, and many were rare treasures seldom seen in the outside world.
Take the present moment, for instance.
Luo Chen squatted down, produced a medicinal hoe from his storage ring, and carefully began to dig.
A moment later, a whiskerless wooden root resembling a human tongue emerged before him.
"It really is a Root of Heaven and Earth!"
"I thought as much. The spirit vein here clearly isn't high grade, yet it draws all kinds of varied spiritual energies together."
"Only a Root of Heaven and Earth has such an effect."
Luo Chen dug out the tongue-shaped root, a look of wonder on his face.
He was no stranger to the Root of Heaven and Earth.
Back when he was still in the Qi Refinement stage, he had seen one auctioned at the Zhenlong Black Market in Dahe Market.
It was said to have come from a Golden Core ruin in the Guyuan Mountain Range.
This spiritual herb possessed an extraordinarily unique property: it could absorb spiritual energy of all attributes without restriction.
The older its age, the better its efficacy.
It yielded unimaginable benefits for cultivators seeking a breakthrough.
Back then, Duan Feng had relied on an eight-hundred-year Root of Heaven and Earth to successfully break through to the Foundation Establishment stage.
According to ancient records, the wonderful uses of the Root of Heaven and Earth went beyond Foundation Establishment; as long as its age was long enough, it could even aid in Golden Core formation or Nascent Soul condensation.
Yet after the initial pleasant surprise came disappointment.
The spiritual energy within this Root of Heaven and Earth was average, aged at roughly five hundred years, just barely enough to assist a Qi Refinement cultivator in achieving Foundation Establishment.
Its medicinal potency was even somewhat frail.
"Indeed. With cultivators so active across the world, thousand-year herbs are hard to come by, and ten-thousand-year herbs are rarer still. Where could there possibly be so many..."
Just as he sighed in lament, Luo Chen instinctively looked toward the green hills.
A sense of dissonance surfaced in his heart.
*Setting aside how the Heaven Refining Demon Lord arranged this Alchemy Realm during his lifetime, a thousand years have passed since his demise and the creation of the Land of the Fallen Demon. Why, then, are the spiritual herbs here virtually all five hundred years old or younger?*
*That shouldn't be!*
Perplexed, Luo Chen quickened his pace, his divine sense and spirit eyes constantly sweeping across the landscape.
Snowclearing Grass, three hundred and fifty years old.
Red Bead Flower, one hundred years old.
An unknown spiritual herb, roughly two hundred years old...
As Luo Chen ventured farther, the doubts in his heart deepened.
After crossing three mountains and five lakes and examining over a thousand types of herbs, the dissonance grew overwhelming.
The herbs here all seemed arrested at the five-hundred-year mark.
Right then, before he could uncover an answer, the upturned eaves of a roof caught his eye amid the verdant hills.
Luo Chen's spirits lifted, and he flew toward it without hesitation.
Shortly after, a stone hall covering roughly five mu appeared before him.
Its architectural style was identical to the familiar stone house where the Spirit Gathering Formation had been laid when he first arrived, putting Luo Chen's mind at ease.
"Is this the place where the inheritance is bestowed?"
He approached the stone hall with caution, pushing the heavy doors open with both hands.
There was no billow of dust from years of neglect, only the faint mingling aromas of ink, books, and medicinal herbs greeting his nostrils.
Beyond the hall doors, three gravel paths lay before him.
Each path was marked with a sign:
[Study]
[Dispensary]
[Alchemy Chamber]
This was indeed the standard layout of an alchemist; Luo Chen had arranged his quarters the same way back at the Luotian Sect.
Stopping before the three paths, he hesitated briefly before heading toward the Alchemy Chamber.
*Perhaps there are elixirs and miracle medicines left behind by the Heaven Refining Demon Lord?*
Clinging to this hope, Luo Chen pushed open the door to the Alchemy Chamber.
What met his eyes was utterly ordinary: an unexceptional dharma artifact cauldron resting atop an earth-fire vent.
A dharma artifact cauldron?
Surprised, Luo Chen swept his divine sense into the cauldron; no lingering pills remained inside.
After circling the room, Luo Chen had to abandon that pleasant fantasy.
Only at the earth-fire vent did he pause.
The blackened, charred scorch marks showed that someone had used the earth-fire here not long ago.
"Someone was here before me?"
A jolt of alarm ran through Luo Chen.
Before entering the inheritance grounds, he had anticipated encountering others and was prepared to fight.
Yet upon arriving at the fourteen starlight entrances in Mingzhao Heaven, that concern had largely receded.
After all, there were fourteen... no, thirteen paths in total, each corresponding to a different demon lord inheritance.
Those capable of reaching Mingzhao Heaven were either Nascent Soul Perfected Persons or Golden Core cultivators protected by one.
While many met that criterion, after being winnowed down by Liwang Heaven and the Five Elements Heaven, those who reached Mingzhao Heaven were few and far between.
Under such circumstances, with the survivors dividing among thirteen paths, Luo Chen had not expected anyone else to pick the exact same route.
Yet the traces clearly proved someone had entered the Alchemy Realm ahead of him to accept the Demon Lord's alchemy legacy.
Luo Chen narrowed his eyes slightly.
*Who could it be?*
Looking around, most traces had been deliberately erased, leaving only that faint scorch mark around the earth-fire vent.
After pondering for a while, Luo Chen could not recall anyone among the cultivators who entered the Land of the Fallen Demon being known for alchemy.
Or rather, while any high-ranking cultivator dabbled in alchemy, the only difference was whether they merely scratched the surface or achieved genuine mastery.
Unable to guess who it was, Luo Chen left the Alchemy Chamber for now.
*If the Alchemy Chamber has no pills, the Dispensary should at least have herbs!*
Whether raw spiritual herbs or gathered ingredients, he wouldn't mind... Well, it was entirely empty as well.
Not a single herb or pill in sight.
There were only various abundant tools for processing herbs:
Choppers, pestles, mortars, gold jars, herb grinding troughs... and even a "juice press"!
These implements were both familiar and alien to Luo Chen.
Familiar because he recognized all of them.
Alien because he rarely used them himself. Most of the time, he did not need to personally prepare his ingredients; subordinates prepped them beforehand, or he bought finished materials from merchant shops.
Even in the Northern Sea cultivation world, he had Cheng Haixin, Tianxuan, and cultivating clans like Zhang Jiadi's to process ingredients for him.
Thus, when it came to these tools, he was truly the most familiar stranger.
After lingering in the Dispensary for a short while, Luo Chen finally stepped into the Study.
As the doors swung open, the scent of books washed over him.
Ten tall bookshelves stood in orderly rows, with bamboo slips piled high like small hills.
A pale red desk of unknown material stood by the window.
Luo Chen walked slowly past the shelves, reaching out to take down a bamboo slip.
[Snowclearing Grass: Sprouts as rain and snow cease and skies clear; prefers damp cold, abhors dry heat. Morphology: Taproot thick and fleshy, extending straight down with numerous fibrous rootlets. Stems erect, roughly two inches long; petals six-angled like snowflakes... Cultivation: Wild Snowclearing Grass grows alongside snow-fluorescent moths; collect seeds and scatter them across the wilds. For artificial planting, use rootstocks... Note: Best triggered at intervals using the Minor Snow Formation and Minor Cloud-Rain Formation. Efficacy: Sweet in taste, neutral in nature, non-toxic; clears heat, detoxifies, relieves coughing, and calms asthma; best suited for detoxification pills. Due to its balanced and gentle nature, it also serves well as a primary ingredient in pills that unblock meridians. Processing method: Grind petals into powder; during concoction, dissolve with Pure Spirit Spring Water. Similar varieties: Resembles White Snow Grass; shares properties with Yinyue Flower...]
Luo Chen scanned the bamboo slip at a glance, reading ten lines in a single breath.
At first, he thought little of it.
He recognized this herb; the Ice Fort used to produce it in abundance.
Yet as he read on, his expression gradually shifted.
The detail of the description was unprecedented.
Even the cultivators specializing in cultivating this herb at the Ice Fort could likely not articulate so many facets.
From its growth habits and physical traits to planting, medicinal preparation, and even closely related species, everything was covered.
Near the end, it even specifically noted several natural predators and pests harmful to Snowclearing Grass.
"It goes into such detail?"
In astonishment, Luo Chen set down the slip and took up another.
This one recorded a herb he did not know, named Skyscorpion Leaf. The text inscribed upon it was just as densely packed, bordering on tedious!
Though he had never encountered Skyscorpion Leaf before, after reading through it, a distinct, vivid impression formed in his mind.
From its growth habits to its ideal processing and medicinal use, everything was clear as day.
Luo Chen set down the slip and looked quietly at the study lined with ten wooden bookshelves, waves of emotion churning in his heart.
If all the bamboo slips here documented medicinal herbs in such exhaustive detail, this study was a dream paradise for alchemists, spirit plant masters, apothecaries, and herb gatherers alike.
Its value far surpassed works like *Detailed Explanation of the Hundred Herbs* or *Illustrated Guide to Spiritual Herbs*.
At least, among all the herbology texts Luo Chen had seen, none possessed such depth.
If one thoroughly studied every slip here, even without concocting pills or compounding medicine, one could easily become a veteran appraiser in any merchant guild or auction house.
His heart surging, Luo Chen circulated the *Micromote Origin Art* to suppress his stray thoughts, walking toward the desk by the window.
Upon it lay a single jade slip.
If these bamboo slips containing detailed records of herbs were part of the Heaven Refining Demon Lord's inheritance, they were certainly precious, but hardly befitted the stature of a Void Refining True Monarch.
Therefore, this jade slip...
Full of anticipation, Luo Chen sent his divine sense inside.
[Why is it that immortals may roam heaven and earth, while mortals are trapped like frogs at the bottom of a well?
At its core, it boils down to two words: spiritual roots.
We alchemists comprehend the principles of medicine and understand the human body; we can craft myriad pills and miracle medicines tailored to each individual.
We can flesh dead bones, revive the deceased, ward off poisons, dispel confusion, cleanse the mind, stabilize the soul, and elevating cultivation realms is trivial work.
This being so, why can we not refine pills that bestow corresponding spiritual roots, breaking down the divide between immortal and mortal?]
*Clack!*
The jade slip fell onto the desk, leaving only Luo Chen's stunned expression shifting in the light filtering through the window as the evening sun set.
Chapter 683