Eternal Life: Talent Grows with Age

"But the trouble over at Purple Ice Lake should’ve eased up a bit. Who knows when that Profound Turtle Alchemist’s cave mansion will surface, and there’s bound to be a scramble for it. Steward Lu, you might want to get a move on with your relocation plans."

"What’s going on at Purple Ice Lake anyway? Is it related to this whole demon calamity business?" Lu Chang’sheng wasn’t planning to stick his nose in the Purple Ice Lake mess, but he was curious about it all the same.

Given Ning Zhao’s position as an elder, he surely knew a few secrets.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, you’re one of us in Good Beast Sect now. No harm in sharing some intel: Over there at Purple Ice Lake, there’s a bunch of monsters—recently they’ve started clustering together, blocking off the exploration routes. Folks over there had to ask for help, so we decided to use Immortal City as a base and handle some of the guidance, just to lighten the load."

"Of course, that’s only on the condition they actually find the Profound Turtle Alchemist’s cave mansion."

"So you’re saying the sect didn’t really plan on getting involved in the first place?" Lu Chang’sheng said in surprise. No wonder news of the Profound Turtle Alchemist’s cave had been floating around for ages, but it was only recently you saw disciples from Good Beast Sect poking around.

Turns out, there was more to it—deeper reasons, not just what met the eye.

Ning Zhao gave a bitter laugh: "What can you do? That Profound Turtle Alchemist was notorious."

Lu Chang’sheng was taken aback—Notorious? What’s with this guy, even pulling out words like ’notorious’?

"Profound Turtle Alchemist was a real bastard. Lived like a scumbag, died without a shred of decency."

Ning Zhao cursed.

Lu Chang’sheng saw his mood sour and instantly got it—looks like Ning Zhao himself had been burned by that Profound Turtle Alchemist.

Thing is, that guy lived thousands of years ago. The Good Beast Sect’s been around a while too, but the timelines shouldn’t really match up, right?

Curious, after some subtle and carefully-nudged questioning, Ning Zhao finally spilled the story.

"Right before he croaked, Profound Turtle Alchemist did something big. He went around Guangnan Domain and all the surrounding Small Domains, hyping up the supposed legacy he’d buried in his cave mansion. Claimed he’d left all his life’s savings there, his entire alchemy inheritance, immortal techniques, secret arts—you can imagine the commotion."

Sound too good to be true?

Lu Chang’sheng thought to himself, this guy could’ve gotten a ’good guy’ badge.

You know, in the Spirit Realm, when cultivators sense their final days coming, they’ll either leave behind some treasures for future generations, go off to die quietly in some nowhere place waiting for fate, or pick a disciple to inherit their mantle.

But someone hyping their legacy to everyone before they’re even dead? Either a saint, or—

"It’s a setup?"

Lu Chang’sheng noticed Ning Zhao’s face tightening like he was constipated.

Thought to himself: Whatever tricks he pulled, it’s ancient history—how could this possibly affect you now?

Turns out, Lu Chang’sheng was seriously underestimating Profound Turtle Alchemist’s signature bullshit.

"Big time. After the guy died, someone found traces of his resting place. After that, it was mayhem—cultivators came flooding in for a shot at his cave mansion’s leftovers. Picture it: Guangnan Domain, Futu Domain, more than ten nearby domains, all chasing after his legacy. Some Immortal Sect folks hadn’t even made it there before the hidden backstabbing started. No telling how many people died."

"The scene must’ve been wild!"

Lu Chang’sheng nodded. Yeah, you could picture it.

Loose cultivators, evil cultivators, Immortal Sect disciples—fighting in the open, harpooning each other from the shadows.

Just thinking about it gives you chills.

"But after all those people risked their lives and pushed into the cave mansion, they found it completely empty. At first they thought someone had already scooped it out, started killing each other over it. Then someone found a Jade Scroll left behind by Profound Turtle Alchemist."

At that point, Lu Chang’sheng figured—this Jade Scroll was gonna be trouble.

Sure enough, Ning Zhao cursed: "The Jade Scroll kicked off another round of fighting. Eventually, a Golden Core cultivator from Heaven-Burning Valley stepped in to settle things, took the Jade Scroll, and made it public."

"Guess what was inside?"

"Bet it wasn’t anything good!" Lu Chang’sheng said, dead certain.

Ning Zhao sneered, "Way beyond bad. It was basically pissing on every cultivator’s head."

Ning Zhao laid it out, plain and simple: The Jade Scroll said, ’Welcome to one of my thousands of carefully-prepared cave mansions. Too bad, this isn’t the one I kicked the bucket in, there’s nothing here! Was it a surprise? Did you like it?’"

Seriously? Is that even human?

Even with Lu Chang’sheng bracing himself, this hit him silent.

So many people put in so much effort, and in the end, what do they get? ’Hope you enjoyed the scenery!’

Might as well have died in the fighting.

"Then all the pissed-off cultivators from the various domains went nuts searching for the real cave mansion. Part of them clinging to hope, part of them wanting to give Profound Turtle Alchemist a taste of his own medicine. But this went on for decades—they found at least ten Profound Turtle Alchemist cave mansions, burned through a mountain of time and energy, and every damn one ended the same way as the first."

"If he’d lived through this, he’d be begging for death."

Lu Chang’sheng said, "After so many of these dead ends, guess there aren’t a lot of people still searching for it?"

"Yeah. Cultivators from all the domains have been searching for decades, most gave up in the end—now it’s just some newcomers clinging to blind hope. But, as you’ve seen, to this day, no one’s found the real deal. Profound Turtle Alchemist must’ve taken that into account, sometimes leaving tiny bits of junk in the fake mansions. The Turtle Shell Map for example, pretty famous."

Ning Zhao, thinking of that, couldn’t help cursing again: "You ever see someone so lacking in morals, pumping out all those Turtle Shell Maps—the so-called ’Alchemy Dao insights’ written on them, half real, half fake. No idea how many folks went broke chasing those things!"

Lu Chang’sheng could not agree more. When he first heard about the Turtle Shell Map, he’d thought something was fishy too.

No way to tell what’s legit—lots of people dropped serious cash for one, only to find it totally empty or packed with weird stuff. They say one guy bought a Turtle Shell Map, cracked the seal, and found it was a thoroughly explicit man-woman wrestling artwork.

"Profound Turtle Alchemist definitely had personality," Lu Chang’sheng remarked.

"Personality my ass!" Ning Zhao snapped, clearly triggered.

Seriously, from the moment he met Lu Chang’sheng, the guy had been polite as hell—showed just how seriously pissed off he was.

Lu Chang’sheng thought about it—after all these years and all those scams, most of the people from back then should be long dead. How come Ning Zhao was still so fired up over it?

When he asked, Ning Zhao immediately cursed: "Profound Turtle Alchemist’s kamikaze tricks were nasty as hell. He loved setting up checkpoints outside his mansions—you wanna get in, you gotta play by his rules and pass some conditions. And some of those checkpoints were just—"

"Why’d you stop, Daoist Friend?" Lu Chang’sheng asked. He’d been hooked, then got cut off—hell of a cliffhanger.

Ning Zhao shook his head. "Forget it. That’s forbidden sect business, better not. Just remember, if you ever go into Profound Turtle Alchemist’s cave mansion, brace yourself."

Lu Chang’sheng nodded. Not like he planned on going in anyway.

Ning Zhao didn’t go on, but Lu Chang’sheng figured, Ning Zhao probably got burned pretty bad in one of those fake cave mansions during his years in Guangnan Domain.

"Eight or nine chances out of ten, even if not him, it’s someone close to him."

Lu Chang’sheng thought, giving the guy props for being the ultimate troll, but also feeling a touch wary.

"No telling what kind of tricks are waiting in this round’s Profound Turtle Alchemist cave mansion."

For a Foundation Establishment big shot, Ning Zhao had one hell of a grudge—those checkpoints must be something else.

"So that’s why news about this cave’s been around so long, yet no heavyweights have shown up."

Once Ning Zhao left, Li Nangua covered her mouth, giggling. She’d also been seriously entertained by Profound Turtle Alchemist’s posthumous trolling.

Lu Chang’sheng laughed: "Things might be different this time. Otherwise, Supreme Profound Sect and Good Beast Sect wouldn’t have sent a bunch of elders. I bet other Immortal Sects are gonna start sniffing around soon too."

"Besides, you’re not interested in getting mixed up—you’re really just here for the show." Li Nangua knew Lu Chang’sheng’s style—if he didn’t absolutely have to, there’s no way he’d join in on something like this.

"You do get me!" Lu Chang’sheng thumped her on the head.

The cave mansion of the ultimate troll, Profound Turtle Alchemist? Not even a dog would bother with that!

Li Nangua’s eyes were bright with laughter; she shot him a look.

"We’re an old married couple and you still act like a kid."

For a moment, there was real affection in the air.

······

Not long after Ning He left, the two made their way from Imperial Garden back to Lu Mansion. Lu Chang’an had already packed up the household per his orders, just waiting for them to return so they could move out.

The Pill Shop and the Lu Mansion’s land lease were both pretty pricey—hard to offload. Luckily, the Pill Shop was in a good spot. Now that the demon calamity was over, the Immortal City’s recovery was well underway. Give it a little time, and while it might not bounce fully back, it’d get most of the way there.

So, with a bit of effort they could probably sell it. The land lease for Lu Mansion, though, was a tougher case.

"The land lease can wait. If push comes to shove, just leave some folks here to sell it off slowly."

Lu Chang’sheng said.

The plot Lu Mansion sat on was massive—back when he was just a Grade B Alchemist, there’s no way he could’ve bought it outright. Instead, he’d struck a deal with the Gu Family for fifty years of residence.

There was still time left on that lease, worth tens of thousands of low-grade spirit stones. It was a fat chunk of money, and neither Lu Chang’an nor Lu Chang’sheng wanted to just toss it out the window.

With Nangua, Chang’an, Lin Yin and the others helping out at home, Lu Chang’sheng could focus on his own matters. Leaving Lu Mansion, he went to White Cloud Pavilion—seeing the big sign over the gate brought back a rush of old memories.

He’d spent quite a bit of time at White Cloud Pavilion, so coming back now felt like settling things with this newly-risen force.

He walked through the corridors and courtyards toward his residence. The demon calamity had hit White Cloud Pavilion hard, and what used to be a lively place was now nearly deserted.

"Alchemist Lu, you’re back!" Before long, Lu Chang’sheng found a somewhat lost-looking Duan Ming standing in front of his courtyard.

When Duan Ming saw Lu Chang’sheng, his eyes lit up and the gloom on his face faded quite a bit.

But then, he seemed to remember something, and his mood dimmed again.

The past couple days, stories of Lu Chang’sheng’s performance during the demon calamity—and the fact that he’d pissed off two Foundation Establishment big shots—had spread through Platinum Immortal City like wildfire, stirring up a wave of attention and shock.