Philosopher's Stone
Durand froze on the spot.
Those jewel-like deep blue eyes reflected everything in The Church, his face full of disbelief!
The statue of the God of Truth that originally stood in The Church had already turned into pieces of rubble scattered all over the ground. This magnificent building, which was seven or eight stories high, was now piled full of countless rare metal materials, and gold even paved the ground, making the entire Church shine brilliantly.
But the impact all this brought to Durand was not as great as that Mercury Moon suspended high in mid-air. As the ripples on the mercury's surface swung outwards madly, this sphere was continuously undergoing matter conversion...
Durand could feel that within the half-second a ripple swung outwards, at least over three hundred kinds of materials appeared out of thin air, including metals, non-metals, organics, and even composite materials so complex that Durand couldn't perceive them. At the same time, nearly a thousand kinds of substances disappeared and transformed. It was like a ball of creation that mixed everything together!
"The Lord of Wuji??" Durand said in shock. "The Lord of Wuji has awakened? Doesn't that mean the Wuji Domain..."
"Rest assured, the Lord of Wuji's state is much more stable than you think."
Brand stepped forward, knelt on one knee in front of that Mercury Moon, lowered his head, and spoke respectfully:
As Brand's voice fell, that Mercury Moon full of ripples suddenly began to churn violently. A giant eyeball bloomed from within, as if made of some material similar to Glass, looking down indifferently at Durand at the door.
The moment he was stared at by this eye, an oppressive feeling instantly descended on Durand's heart. His brows furrowed unconsciously, and his deep blue eyes were instinctively vigilant.
"Durand, do you know what the Lord of Wuji's authority is?" Brand turned his head to look at Durand.
"...What?"
Brand smiled slightly. He stood up from the ground, speaking to the mercury sphere as if praying: "Lord of Wuji, please display your mighty power to the ignorant and muddled believers."
The next moment, bizarre hands extended out from the mercury sphere one after another. These hands were slender and graceful, their entire bodies gleaming with a silver metallic luster, like perfect works of art... But right now, thousands of hands were extending simultaneously, like densely packed mercury snakes swimming through the void, making one's scalp tingle involuntarily.
These hands extended for tens of meters, casually grabbing things within The Church. Some grabbed rubble in the corner of the wall, some grabbed wooden chair legs, some grabbed a handful of soil, some grabbed water droplets falling from the sky, and a few even started grabbing empty air, as if they had caught the dust in the wind...
These thousands of mercury hands that took in different substances clenched simultaneously. When they opened again, the substances in their hands had all changed.
Berkelium (Bk), Fermium (Fm), Californium (Cf), Helium-3 (He-3), Uranium-235, Plutonium (Pu)...
Countless rare elements were lightly held in the palms of the mercury hands. Some were ultra-rare elements that humanity had already discovered but were extremely difficult to obtain, and some humanity didn't even know existed. And they were all transformed from countless commonly seen materials...
Tens of thousands of mercury moons holding countless rare elements, like a Divine Being holding the authority of all material science, descended upon the human world.
As these hands casually rubbed together, several materials fused and reacted with each other under its control, and a fist-sized blazing sun bloomed in the center of The Church. Nuclear fission and nuclear fusion, which humanity had to spend massive amounts of manpower and financial resources to achieve, could be done by it with just a light rub.
The man-made sun hung high in The Church. Under Durand's dumbfounded gaze, Brand laughed heartily:
"How is it?! Isn't it very ironic?"
"The pinnacle of alchemy that we spend our entire lives pursuing, the [Alchemy] Path that we tread on, the rules of matter conversion that we believe in, are all nothing more than toys in the hands of the Lord of Wuji! What bullshit equivalent exchange! What bullshit complex spell formulas! It's all fucking fart!!!"
Amidst Brand's nearly mad laughter, Durand gradually recognized reality. He took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down:
"The authority of the Nine Monarchs was inherently beyond cognition... But I don't understand, why is the Lord of Wuji in this form?"
"Because the Lord of Wuji is undergoing transformation," Brand said. "He is trying to create a new body, breaking free from the lifespan limitations of carbon-based lifeforms, pursuing Immortality."
"Human Alchemy?" Durand froze for a moment, then shook his head. "No... Human Alchemy is refining a human body out of thin air. He wants to refine a body that transcends organic structure... But how is this possible? Refining a composite body that can replace human body functions is simple, but what about the spirit? Without a container to carry the spirit, even if he succeeds, he will just be a walking corpse."
"Haha, Durand, you truly are worthy of being our most genius alchemist. You immediately realized the crux of the problem... However, this problem has already been solved."
"How was it solved?"
"The Philosopher's Stone." Brand opened his arms. "The Philosopher's Stone is the only currently known substance that can carry a soul, and it is also the apex of the [Alchemy] Path... As long as enough Philosopher's Stones are refined to carry the Lord of Wuji's spirit and soul, he can achieve Immortality!"
Durand was stunned. A moment later, as if realizing something, he violently grabbed Brand's collar!
"Refining Philosopher's Stones... So, the massive alchemy arrays that slaughtered two large districts, you guys did that?! You're using the lives of the people in the Wuji Domain to refine Philosopher's Stones for the Lord of Wuji??"
"Durand, don't be so agitated." Brand said helplessly. "As long as it can allow the Lord of Wuji to achieve Immortality, what does the death of a few civilians amount to?"
"But can't he create things at will? Why doesn't he just change into a Philosopher's Stone himself?"
"The existence of the Philosopher's Stone is too special. It's not an aggregation of a certain substance, but the concentration of human souls... So even the Lord of Wuji cannot convert it right now." Brand smiled. "This point can only be achieved by the [Alchemy] Path."
"But the Lord of Wuji is a Rank 9 Demigod! How massive a volume of Philosopher's Stones is needed to perfectly carry his spirit and soul? Refining two large districts isn't even enough... Are you guys planning to refine the entire Wuji Domain?"
"The Wuji Domain is our headquarters. If we weren't in a hurry to stabilize the Lord of Wuji's state, we wouldn't have made a move against those two large districts... We already have another target for the materials to refine the Philosopher's Stone."
The corners of Brand's mouth curled up. He turned his head to look at that Mercury Moon suspended high in The Church, and slowly said:
"The population of that Realm is enough to supply sufficient Philosopher's Stones, allowing the Lord of Wuji to complete his transformation and become the only existence among the Nine Monarchs that will not die and gain Immortality...
And the Wuji Domain will also become eternal."