Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

“Which one? Any?” Ma Rong asked. 

Alex looked down and pointed at 3 different nodes and said, “Those 3 nodes. As long as the Origins in those nodes are filled, and assuming I set everything properly, it should work.”

Ma Rong nodded and flew down to one of the nodes Alex had pointed at. She released her True Qi onto the node and started pouring it out as much as she could. 

Alex watched from above and waited for the formation to start. As for Ma Rong, she struggled to activate the node. No matter how much she tried, she just couldn’t get the formation to start. 

In the end, she couldn’t help but be sure that she couldn’t do it. “It’s not working,” she said. 

Alex frowned. “That shouldn’t be the case. These nodes seem perfectly fine,” he said as he flew down next to her. 

He then checked the nodes to see what the problem was and realized that the node was unusually cold, even frosted at places. 

“Ah, it’s your Qi, master. I think the Yin Qi is stopping the formation from running as well as it should,” Alex said.

“That… so my body is at fault again?” Ma Rong softly spoke and stopped pouring in Qi. “Just how much trouble is it going to give me?”

“It’s okay, master. Take your time getting used to your constitution. It shouldn’t take that long now,” Alex said. 

“Sigh, I know,” Ma Rong said. “Anyway, what should we do now?” 

“Hmm… maybe we should call some other elder. We need someone to pour in more tru—”

Alex stopped speaking. He suddenly looked back and felt the air. The node had defrosted a little and Alex could start feeling the Qi in the air. 

“It’s working,” he said under his breath.

“What?” Ma Rong asked. 

“It’s working,” he shouted. “Haha, it’s working, master. You did it.”

Ma Rong looked around, but she couldn’t tell anything. Everything including Qi and air came to a complete standstill when they were near her, and the only thing she could possibly feel now was auras. 

She tried to feel the air, but nothing happened. “What’s supposed to happen?” she asked. 

“It’s Qi, master. Qi is gathering in this area,” Alex said. “I hope this means the other formations will work too. Let’s go, master.”

Alex then flew over to the next node with Ma Rong following right behind him.  Once he reacher there, he let Ma Rong work on it again. 

Ma Rong wasn’t sure what happened to the last node, but her disciple said that it was working so that was all she needed. 

He put aside her hesitation and started pouring her Qi into the node and waited for it to work. But once again, despite her constant pouring of Qi, it didn’t show any signs of working at all.

Alex waited for a few moments and said, “Master, can you stop for a moment?”

Ma Rong nodded and stopped pouring in Qi. She was about to be disappointed about it not working when she saw her disciples concentrated face. She waited for a moment and saw his face put on a smile. 

“It’s working,” he said. 

Ma Rong couldn’t help but sigh. She still couldn’t tell anything. Somehow, even her spiritual sense was cold, so she couldn’t even use them to feel most of the time unless she focused on keeping her Yin Qi inside. 

“I can’t even tell if they work. Let’s just go to the next one,” she said.

“Uh… but you can, master,” Alex said. “Look behind you.”

Ma Rong didn’t know what he was referring to and turned around. Suddenly, her eyes went wide as she visibly saw Qi and energy start gathering on the mountain. 

The 5 colored Qi was moving all in front of her face, going left and right as it flowed with the wind. 

“How?” she asked. 

“I think I understood what is happening, master,” Alex said. 

Ma Rong turned to look at him inquisitively and waited for him to tell her what she had figured out. 

“So, just as how all energy and attack lose momentum near you, the Qi you pour out onto the formation also suppress the formation from doing anything at all.”

“However, the moment you stop using it and the Yin Qi gain their freedom, they go back to functioning normally and the formation starts working.”

“Or at least that’s what I think is happening,” Alex said. 

“I see. That… makes some sense,” she said. There was still a lot of mystery surrounding her new body, but at least she was learning something.

Her eyebrows got together when she squinted a bit and started thinking. She suddenly released a lot of energy from herself and stopped her connection. 

She couldn’t watch the Qi in the air, but she could see the small wave of condensation in the air. The Yin Qi that wasn’t under her control exhibited no similar properties to what they did when they were inside her. 

She suddenly had an idea. “-ster.” 

“Master,” Alex called repeatedly. 

“What?” Ma Rong asked after waking up from her stupor.

“I said we should go to the final node and get it done with,” he said. 

“Oh right, let’s go,” Ma Rong said and moved. Alex flew behind and finally, they were at the final node. 

Ma Rong was a lot more confident this time and didn’t hesitate at all as she poured in her True Qi onto the final node. She poured it for quite a while before she stopped.

She looked at the slightly foggy mountain with the five-colored Qi and waited. As she did, more and more of the same Qi started appearing around them. She smiled as she watched the mountain fill with a very dense Qi.

“This is amazing,” Alex said as he looked at the fog. “It’s not on the same level as the one from the southern forest, but this alone is amazing.”

“This is not similar to that place?” Ma Rong asked in surprise. 

“Oh no, it is. It’s just that since the formation there had been going on for years, there is no chance a formation created just minutes ago would compare to that. We will have to wait for a few years,” Alex said. 

“Oh, and how much Qi do these formations take? I hope they don’t steal a lot from the True Spirit vine down below. That would be horrible,” she said. 

“Huh? Oh, did I not mention it yet? This is all the energy this formation needs. There is no more requirement,” Alex said. 

“Huh?” Ma Rong asked in confusion. “I thought all formations needed a power source, which is always either spirit stones, spirit vine, or some other ingredients that are very rich in Qi,” she said.

“You are not alone in thinking that, master,” Alex said. “However, the fact is different. While you do require a power source, it already has one.”

“You see there are 3 different formations in this place. 2 of them are Element Convergence formations, while the last one is a True Qi Delivering formation.”

Alex then pointed behind him at the multicolored fog and said, “that which you can see is the work of the 2 Element convergence formations. Its job is to gather different energy from the surrounding that belonged to one of the 5 common energies.”

“It converges Yang and Yin energy as well, but just as night comes along, the Yang Qi disappears, and just as the day comes along, the Yin qi disappears, so it’s not possible to see them getting gathered,” Alex said.

“Not like they are that freely available out in the open without certain circumstances.”

Ma Rong looked at the fog. Now that she was looking for it, she did in fact notice certain bluish-black Qi floating in the air. ‘So Yin Qi is there, huh?’ she thought. 

“Oh right, what about the single formation? What’s its job?” she asked. 

Alex sighed and shook his head. “This is one of the reasons I was so vehemently against getting formation setters, master. This is one of the main reasons,” Alex said.

Ma Rong started getting curious. “What does this one do?” she asked. 

Alex took a deep breath and said, “It’s a True Qi Dellivewring formation. It gathers True Qi from the air and uses it to sustain whatever formation is created inside of it. 

“The formation this formation makes is a little different from the rest. Instead of spanning across a large amount of land, it only works in a certain… circle,” Alex said.

“Or maybe saying just around the outer circumference would be better. Since that’s all where it works. It gathers True qi just on the circumference.”

“If you happen to have a formation working in that circle. It works as the power source for that formation,” Alex said. 

“Wait, so it’s a formation that powers other formations?” Ma Rong asked in surprise. 

“Yeah, and that’s not even the best part,” Alex said. “Normally, if you use this, you would have to constantly put in more True spirit stones to keep them working.”

“However, there is a neat little trick that one can do,” Alex said. “If you make it so that the formation’s outer circumference is the same path is where the formation itself is, then you can keep the formation running forever.” 

“That is what is happening here right now. I’ve set the 3 formations in the same circle and set the formation to work in that circle as well.”

“So, not only will it automatically fuel the other two formations, but it will also fuel itself for eternity.”