Because Aurora City sat isolated on the rugged frontier of the Triad Kingdom, reaching either Kerak City or the Royal Capital required navigating vast stretches of dense, uncharted mountain forests.
Lacking a detailed regional map, Lucien Novar knew that wandering into the wilderness alone was an unnecessary gamble.
On the eastern outskirts of the city gates, his sharp eyes caught sight of a large merchant caravan preparing to depart.
Six heavy wooden wagons laden with trade goods stood ready, their draft beasts stamping in the dust.
Because the desolate roads between frontier settlements were infested with ruthless bandit gangs and rogue cultivators, the merchant caravan had hired a ten-man escort of paid mercenaries.
Nine of the armed guards were seasoned martial artists standing firmly at the 9th level of the Body Tempering Realm.
At their head was a weathered, broad-shouldered man with a scarred chin and a heavy iron broadsword strapped to his waist, radiating the disciplined spiritual pressure of the 3rd level of the Bone Forging Realm.
Approaching the convoy with Lumi resting quietly on his shoulders, Lucien greeted the guard leader respectfully.
“Excuse me,” Lucien said, meeting the man’s assessing gaze.
“Are you heading toward Kerak City? I need to reach the City of Iron, but I do not know the forest routes well. I don’t require any payment or carriage space. I only ask to travel alongside your convoy for navigation.”
The guard leader, Ronald, scrutinized Lucien from head to toe.
Seeing the clean dark robes, the composed demeanor, and an apparent cultivation base hovering at the peak of the Body Tempering Realm, Ronald’s gruff expression relaxed into a friendly, toothy grin.
In the dangerous wilderness, an extra peak-stage martial artist traveling with them meant added security for the convoy at zero cost.
“A young traveler heading to the City of Iron?” Ronald barked with a hearty laugh, clapping Lucien on the shoulder.
“The wilderness doesn’t forgive wanderers without a compass, kid. As long as you pull your weight if bandits strike, you’re welcome to walk with us. I’m Ronald.”
“Lucien,” he replied, nodding with a faint smile.
The overland trek to Kerak City was slated to take three full days.
Throughout the first day, the convoy moved steadily along the winding forest roads.
Ronald proved to be an easygoing, talkative veteran, sharing tales of mercenary skirmishes and trade politics, while Lucien listened attentively, absorbing practical knowledge about the geography of the Triad Kingdom.
By dusk, the caravan broke through the forest edge and entered Sombit City, a modest transit hub nestled between the mountain valleys.
Having arranged their lodgings well in advance, the merchant team dispersed to designated warehouses, while Ronald and his mercenaries headed to their regular guild quarters.
Lucien took his leave and secured a private room at a respectable local inn near the commercial district.
After leaving his travel satchel in the room, Lucien stepped back out to explore Sombit City’s bustling night market.
Torches and spirit lamps bathed the cobblestone avenues in amber light as street peddlers and wandering cultivators haggled over beast pelts, basic ores, and common medicinal roots.
While strolling through the southern thoroughfare, an open-air curio stall caught Lucien’s attention.
There were vibrant blue stones humming with light , fiery red gems, and luminous yellow ores radiating clear light, drawing the gaze of curious onlookers.
Yet Lucien’s eyes bypassed all the glowing minerals entirely, locking onto a bizarre specimen resting in the far corner of the cloth.
It was a pitch-black stone roughly the size of an adult’s head.
Unlike the other gems, it did not radiate an ounce of spiritual brilliance; it was completely lusterless, cold, and rough, resembling a common slag rock dredged from a riverbed.
Yet deep within Lucien’s sea of consciousness, an undeniable instinct stirred.
“How much for this black stone, Elder?” Lucien asked calmly, crouching beside the mat.
The old peddler blinked, surprised that someone was interested in the ugly, dead rock he had picked up near an ancient crag.
Smelling an easy profit, the merchant coughed into his sleeve.
“A discerning eye, young master! That is an ancient abyssal meteorite—fifty gold coins, and it’s yours.”
Lucien did not bother haggling.
He tossed a heavy purse containing fifty gold coins into the old man’s hands, took the heavy black stone, and carefully sealed it inside a sturdy wooden box before placing it into his inner robe.
With the curious stone secured, a loud rumble broke from Lucien’s shoulder.
Lumi was sniffing the air with wide silver eyes, her stomach letting out a small, pitiful growl.
Master… meat, her crisp, childlike voice echoed telepathically in his mind, her paws tapping against his collarbone.
Lumi smells roasted beast meat!
Lucien chuckled, scratching the cub behind her ears.
“Alright, little glutton. Let’s eat.”
He walked into the largest upscale restaurant on the boulevard.
Choosing a secluded corner table, Lucien began ordering lavishly from the spiritual beast menu.
Plate after plate of high-grade roasted Ironhide Boar ribs, braised spirit-pheasant, and spiced mountain venison arrived in endless waves.
To the astonished stares of the waiters and neighboring diners, the slender white-haired youth and the tiny white cub tore through all of roasted meat with terrifying appetites.
By the time they cleared the final platter, the tabletop was stacked three feet high with clean bones.
Lucien settled the astronomical bill with a purse of one thousand gold coins without blinking, entirely satisfied with the dense nourishment fueling their bodies.
Returning to the quiet solitude of his inn room, Lucien latched the door and sat cross-legged on the cedar floor.
Lumi curled up comfortably beside his knee, purring softly as she digested the meal.
Lucien’s thoughts turned to his next urgent objective.
Finding a weapon capable of enduring his power in Kerak City was only half the battle; he also desperately needed to locate an elite apothecary to gather the missing ingredients for his cultivation. Find the original chapter at novelping.com.
To break through from the Stellar Body Realm into the Bone Harmony Realm and forge legendary Harmonic Bones, the Genesis Alchemy Scripture dictated a singular, indispensable requirement: The Harmony Pill.
The recipe required five specific ingredients:
Frigid Cold Grass
Neon Fire Leaves
Bone Marrow of a Blood Quenching Realm Beast
Grade 2 Spiritual Water
100-Year-Old Ginseng
Back in Aurora City, Lucien had managed to scavenge only Frigid Cold Grass and Neon Fire Leaves from the eastern apothecary—just enough raw material to brew ten Harmony Pills, an amount likely only sufficient to push him to the 1st level of the Bone Harmony Realm.
But without the remaining three rare components, he could not refine a single pill.
Standard Bone Forging Pills—common Grade 2 medicinal elixirs traded across the Eastern Continent—were useless to him.
Even if he consumed a hundred or a thousand standard Bone Forging Pills, their mortal composition could never spark the divine equilibrium needed for Harmonic Bone Forging.
Fortunately, his alchemy capabilities were already formidable.
In the martial world, alchemists were strictly divided into nine tiers mirroring the nine martial realms.
Across all of Aurora City, there had not been a single 3rd Tier alchemist.
Lucien held no formal alchemist guild badge, but because his raw physical foundation commanded the sheer power of a 3rd-level Blood Quenching expert, the profound techniques within the Genesis Alchemy Scripture allowed his soul force to comfortably refine standard Grade 3 pills.
In practical capability, he was already a full-fledged 3rd Tier alchemist!
Yet the Harmony Pill was not a Grade 3 pill; it was a supreme Grade 2 pill.
According to the scripture, its opposing properties could never be merged through ordinary alchemical cauldrons or common fire.
It could only be refined using Stellar Flame.
Because only Lucien commanded internal celestial fire, he was the only being in the world capable of bringing the Harmony Pill into existence.
Furthermore, Volume One of the scripture noted that across the entire world, there existed 100 types of Ranked Earth Flames—legendary, coveted fires born from tectonic faults and volcanic veins that master alchemists spent entire lifetimes hunting.
Yet the scripture explicitly stated that even the number-one ranked Earth Flame was merely mortal dust when compared to the tyrannical, sovereign purity of pure Stellar Flame.
Resting his back against the timber bedpost, Lucien watched the gentle rise and fall of Lumi’s snowy chest.
With Kerak City only two days away, he closed his eyes and let the warmth of his internal star core lull his consciousness into a deep, restorative rest.