Immortality begin with Alchemy Grandmaster Chapter 2518 - 925: Bearing the Coffin, Suppressing Ghosts and Gods (Part 2)

"Since it's a family affair, I'll take care of it myself!"

Cang Long gazed at her with grave intensity, eventually offering a subtle nod, "Very well, handle it on your own then!"

Shortly thereafter.

At the borders of the Ice Castle, in the infamous Death Ice Sea, a pursuit erupted, igniting a fierce clash where a spouse betrayed his partner.

Bombarded relentlessly by a barrage of Talismans in swirling patterns, Shang Hu, skilled in Pill Refinement yet weak in Battle Formation, ultimately collapsed.

With despair in his gaze, he stared at the advancing Gu Xiaorou, her sword in hand, confusion swirling in his eyes.

"Why?"

Gu Xiaorou's stare remained icy cold, "The ways of Humans and Demons part forever, nothing more."

Shang Hu refused to accept it, "Yet I've never wronged the Human Clan, nor hurt any disciple from the Ice Castle."

Gu Xiaorou's lips tightened, she shot back, "So why have you been covertly linking up with the Demon Beast Clan of the Great Snow Mountain? And ever since you entered the Ice Castle, beast tides keep surging. Care to justify that?"

Shang Hu fought to speak, "If I claim those beast tides bear no connection to me, will you trust my words?"

"I do!" Gu Xiaorou affirmed with a nod, but just as Shang Hu began to ease with relief, she lifted her sword's edge, "The Sect, however, will not."

Shang Hu's mouth parted, yet in the end, his face filled with utter desolation.

"Xiaorou, do you truly have to act so ruthlessly?"

"Forgive me!"

Gu Xiaorou drove her sword ahead; a spray of blood bloomed across the frozen lake, and the enormous White Fox slumped motionless upon the ice.

Having completed the deed, Gu Xiaorou appeared completely drained, stumbling several paces.

At last, she propped herself against the sword's tip, planting it firmly into the ground.

Through the howling wind and snow, Cang Long drew near step by step.

She cast a glance at the White Fox's corpse, then offered Gu Xiaorou a gentle smile.

"Xiaorou..."

Yet Gu Xiaorou refused to meet her eyes, sheathing her sword and striding past her shoulder.

Her words drifted back, frigid as the frost, carried on the gale.

"Never call me by that name again."

Cang Long's lips trembled faintly, settling into a wry, pained smile.

To safeguard the Sect, she had embodied both the kind and the cruel roles, bearing the full weight of the consequences alone.

But her former close junior sister now felt worlds away, leaving a sour ache in her heart!

She managed the disposal of Shang Hu's remains herself and delivered his possessions to another for relay to Gu Xiaorou.

Included among them was a fractured piece of Alchemy Equipment, the Official’s Cauldron.

From that point forward, the Sect stood united inside and out, forging an unbreakable front.

The Ice Castle thrived with each passing day, birthing powerful cultivators one after another, rising to become the third mighty Sect in the Yu Ding Realm, surpassed only by the Sword Sect and Luo Yun Sect.

Not even Qingdan Valley, boasting several Golden Core Cultivators, could rival the Ice Castle's surging vitality.

Yet as the Ice Castle's power swelled, tensions simmered within its ranks.

With hordes of Foundation Establishment Disciples numbering in the hundreds and thousands, and Golden Core Cultivators approaching a dozen, the unchanged territories strained under resource shortages.

The followers who once revered her now clustered around diverse Golden Core Elders, spawning multiple factions locked in endless overt and hidden rivalries.

Exhausted by the endless strife, Cang Long felt it keenly when reports came that Han Zhan, after his stubborn travels, had broken through to the Nascent Soul Stage, stirring her epiphany.

"No one grasped sooner than I the harsh reality that without Nascent Soul, you're forever just an insect— so why did I waste time on trivial Sect politics?"

She recognized her master's sway as the root, yet her own knotted feelings played a part too.

Staying on this path, the radiant Cang Long Fairy would fade into just another commonplace Golden Core Cultivator lost in the masses.

Therefore, Cang Long cast aside all worldly duties entirely, allowing others to scramble for influence and gains, devoting herself wholly to cultivation.

Once she attained the Nascent Soul Realm, she could quash any Sect discord with her own might!

Tianshan sealed itself away from then on, hiding the sight of snow lotuses in full bloom.

Cang Long's cultivation surged ahead with increasing speed, gliding seamlessly from Mid-Stage Golden Core to Late-Stage, conquering hurdles with ease.

The merging of the Three Treasures—Essence, Qi, and Spirit—gained swift momentum.

Her expansive Divine Soul, without her full notice, had long exceeded Golden Core boundaries, teetering on the edge of Nascent Soul.

In the midst of this journey, Cang Long started to sense a peculiarity.

Were the old incidents replaying as if lived through countless cycles?

Reflecting on her steps, her mindset had shifted completely.

Plunging into turmoil over and over, clawing back each round—when would the torment cease?

How could she break free from these earthly bonds?

Lost in a haze, she spotted a huge Crimson Dog, traversing the pristine frozen expanse in solitude.

"Such a large dog!"

The long-absent Chi Quan materialized once more, fixing her with an icy glare from across the frozen lake.

With that, Chi Quan wheeled around and departed.

This instance, Cang Long refused to let it slip away, pursuing without pause.

...

"The moment has arrived!"

Three years following Luo Chen's insight into the Fire Origin, on that very day, Luo Chen rose to his full height.

Shifting into a brilliant flash of light, he soared toward Tianshan.

To the astonishment of the Tianshan Disciples and Jueqing Fairy, an ice coffin wreathed in crimson glow rose gradually into the heavens.

"Supreme Elder?" Jueqing Fairy uttered.

Luo Chen gave a faint smile, securing the ice coffin at his back, tilting his gaze skyward before surveying the crowd below.

"Before long, you'll witness your senior sister's safe return."

Without delay, he departed the Elixir Saint’s Blessed Land, ice coffin in tow.

En route, a streak of dark light erupted from below, fusing onto his form.

Li Yingzhang positioned himself before a grand palace, observing Luo Chen's vanishing figure, his face etched with mixed emotions.

This exit by the Supreme Elder carried no certainty of return.

Li Yingzhang stood powerless to assist, his sole duty being to steward the Luo Tian Sect capably in his stead.

"Fear not, Ying Zhang won't disappoint you."

"Upon your homecoming, Luo Tian Sect shall stand as a true Nascent Soul Ascendant Sect!"