Chapter 55: The Way of Alchemy, Part 2

Le Kai let out a dry laugh. “Elder, just say what you have to. I’m not a three-year-old child.”

The old man chuckled warmly. “You’re quite the clever one. Rest assured, I have no hidden agenda. With your abilities, you should easily discern that I mean no harm. It’s only because your strength is so lacking that I seem intimidating to you. Even so, the power I possess now is less than a tenth of my true self. Boy, you have to work hard for the future.”

Le Kai smiled as well. “Elder, you still haven’t told me what you need me to do.”

The old man laughed. “Impatient, aren’t you? But I like that. As I said, I have only one goal: for the art of Alchemy to be passed down. Though your strength is far from sufficient to receive the inheritance, I have no patience left to wait any longer. Are you willing?”

Le Kai was taken aback and replied, “Why refuse something that benefits me? Of course I’m willing. However, I don’t believe that good fortune falls from the sky. Tell me, what must I pay in return?”

Amused by Le Kai’s forthrightness, the old man burst into laughter. “Indeed, fortune never falls from the sky. You put it well, and I feel more at ease. A straightforward scoundrel is far more reliable than a hypocrite. Our Alchemy lineage has existed since the dawn of the world. The first patriarch was known as the Alchemy God, and legend has it that he was born as a divine pill of the heavens and earth! He embodied all the wonders of creation, thus becoming the Alchemy God, the true deity revered by every generation of our disciples. When refining supreme pills, we must bathe, change into clean clothes, and pray devoutly. Only with the Alchemy God's blessing can a pill reach completion.

“The Alchemy God’s three chief disciples were the Alchemy Demon, the Alchemy Immortal, and the Alchemy Tyrant. Each had a unique disposition, and the pills they crafted were equally distinct. Our lineage in China originates from the Alchemy Immortal. By my generation, I am the 300th successor. My title is the Alchemy Devotee—for the sake of Alchemy, I would give anything.” The old man spoke with pride. “But unfortunately, the spiritual energy on Azure Star has gradually dried up. In three thousand years, I have failed to find a worthy disciple. As time passed and the world edged toward destruction, I became disheartened. In pursuit of the ultimate pill, I split my spirit: one part remained here to await a fated heir, the other…”

His expression grew strange, but he did not continue. Instead, he looked at Le Kai solemnly. “Boy, are you willing to take me as your master and inherit the path of Alchemy?”

Sensing a trace of sorrow in the old man’s heart, Le Kai felt a pang of emotion and replied without hesitation, “I am willing!”

“Good. Our sect has no rigid rules; we follow the way of nature, acting as our hearts dictate. Useless rituals only breed stubbornness and stagnation. But remember this—never lose your conscience. Kneel.”

This time, Le Kai did not hesitate. He knelt down with a thud. The old man’s figure vanished in an instant, reappearing before Le Kai. He pressed his large palm atop Le Kai’s head, and a stream of earthy yellow light flowed into him. Then, drawing his hand back, he regarded Le Kai with a newfound, inexplicable affection.

Le Kai was transfixed, motionless, as if bewitched. Yet his eyes sparkled like stars, whirling with dazzling light. An immense torrent of information surged into his consciousness, as powerful as a mighty data stream. This was wholly unlike the information he processed in battle—though he was adept at multitasking in combat, constantly reading his environment, analyzing opponents, and devising strategies, the complexity of those tasks was nothing compared to this. The old man’s unremarkable gesture had conveyed a boundless ocean of knowledge.

Le Kai could not possibly digest it all at once, but thanks to his formidable analytical and memory abilities, he managed to store the vast content in his mind.

The process seemed to last but a second, or perhaps a year.

When Le Kai opened his eyes, he saw both astonishment and admiration on the old man’s face.

“Master, the information you transferred was immense. I could only store it for now; I’ll have to study it slowly over time,” Le Kai said with utmost respect. The Alchemy Devotee was worthy of the title ‘Master’—this was the first and only time in Le Kai’s life he had ever addressed someone so.

“Hahaha, Le Kai, I was right about you! You are the fortune of our Alchemy path! A powerful mind and memory are exactly what an alchemist needs most. People think alchemists require special bodies or immense power, but even if one’s innate qualities are lacking, pills can compensate for that. Memory and analytical ability, on the other hand, are gifts from birth.”

The Alchemy Devotee, with his immense power, had seen through Le Kai at a glance. Otherwise, no matter how desperate he was to pass on the legacy, he would never have chosen a disciple so lightly. In ages past, he had thousands of alchemy apprentices, all considered prodigies by common standards.

If he were truly worried about the lineage dying out, he could have chosen any one of them, and their talents would have been only slightly below Le Kai’s.

What truly impressed him was Le Kai’s intellect and unique abilities!

Alchemy involves so much knowledge that without a prodigious memory, one cannot even be an apprentice. As for perseverance and endurance, those are just the basics.

Le Kai gave a small laugh. “Master, as I glanced through the information you gave me, I noticed that even the lowest-level alchemist needs to reach the Golden Core stage. What exactly is this Golden Core stage? How long will it take for me to reach it?”

The Alchemy Devotee paused, then gave a sheepish smile. “Le Kai, you’re still young. First, thoroughly study the foundational knowledge and master it. The Golden Core stage is a realm in martial cultivation. A martial artist cultivates an inner core, beginning with a point in the dantian. As this point becomes tangible and grows, it becomes the so-called ‘core.’ As one’s realm advances, the core increases in size and changes in color. When it becomes lustrous gold, that is the Golden Core stage.”

Hearing this, Le Kai almost stumbled, his face darkening. “Master, for your disciple to reach that realm seems like a very distant goal!”

Le Kai recalled the stages described in his “Unity Manual,” and felt a pang of frustration. The third level of the manual only just mentioned the Golden Core! Recently, with his growing mental strength, he’d gained access to the third level, which stated: From nothing comes something, the Golden Core forms on its own.

A one-star warrior possesses ten thousand pounds of strength; a two-star warrior, a hundred thousand; a three-star warrior, half a million!

Le Kai estimated that the Golden Core stage was equivalent to at least a three-star warrior!

That level was unimaginably distant for him now—he only had three thousand pounds of strength. And the further one went in cultivation, the harder the road became. He could hardly fathom how long it would take to reach fifty thousand pounds of strength and the third level.

It seemed that his earlier dreams of becoming an alchemist, then refining countless pills to make rapid progress and gain easy entry into the War God Academy, were nothing but illusions.