Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Everyone celebrated Momo’s breakthrough to the Saint Core realm along with her first successful creation of a pill with Pill Veins. She had managed to accomplish two wonderful things in the span of just two days.

During the celebration, Momo also finalized her decision on what she was going to do next. Since her Master wasn’t going to stay around after the tournament, she decided to study further under the Alchemy God.

Everyone supported her in this choice.

“Master, Grandmaster, I wanted to talk to you two about something,” Momo said. “I noticed something when I was creating Pill Veins and hoped you two could help me figure it out.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “What did you learn?”

“Are you close to learning another dao?” Silvermist asked with a slight tease.

Momo shook her head. “It’s about how the energy of the pill lightning flows into the pill to make Pill Veins. It enters the pill regardless of the fact that the pill is already full of energy. How does it do so?”

“That… uh… I cannot give you an exact answer, I’m afraid,” Silvermist said. “I fear I too do not know the answer to how it really happens. It’s one of those mysteries about pill making that you quickly learn to live with.”

Momo’s eyes lowered slightly, and she turned to Alex.

Alex thought for a bit. As Silvermist said, it was something one quickly ignored. But unlike Silvermist, he had an advantage in understanding this phenomenon.

“I believe the energy from the pill lightning is pulled to the deepest part of the pill without condensing the energy. When it reaches there, the energy tries to push itself out, and only then does it end up mixing with the rest.”

“In a way, what you did on the outside before pouring into the pill is what the pill lightning’s energy does from the inside. The pill vein on the outside might just be a way to either seal the energy or mark its existence. That is all I can really tell you since, like your grandmaster, I too don’t know the answer.”

“But how does it reach the inside?” Momo asked. “How does the energy go to the center on its own?”

“Well, that is no different than just a technique, isn’t it?” Silvermist asked. “The energy in the pill lightning follows an order from the heavens to work in a way. Sadly, we don’t know what that technique is.”

Momo felt a little dejected. She had been quite excited about learning more about how that worked.

“How about this?” Alex asked. “You should try and learn how that technique works. See if you can replicate it. It will be a great achievement if you do.”

Momo thought for a moment and nodded. “I’ll try that.”

Alex smiled. “In the meantime, you can learn this,” he said, handing her a small talisman.

Momo had a curious look in her eyes when she took it. She read through it slowly, and as she did, her eyebrows furrowed. “Master, is… is this what I think it is?”

Alex smiled. “It is. You deserve it now, after all you’ve accomplished.”

“I… I don’t know what to say.” Momo had been hearing about this for such a long time, and to finally receive it, she couldn’t help but be shocked.

“What is it?” Silvermist asked. “Let me see.”

“No need,” Alex said as he pulled out another talisman and handed it over to Silvermist. “I have one ready for you too, Master.”

Silvermist raised an eyebrow as he took the talisman and read through it. Upon reading it, he fell silent for a long time, simply processing what he had read.

Then, he looked up at Alex, his eyes wide in shock. “This is a pill-forming technique,” he said. “I have never before heard of one like this.”

“It’s the best. I’ve been using this forever,” Alex said.

Silvermist quickly put it away. “Learn it and destroy it,” he told Momo.

Momo was quite surprised by the stern look on Silvermist’s face, but she did as she was told.

Silvermist turned to look at Alex. “How many people know that you have this?” he asked.

Alex shrugged. “Many,” he said. “I do make most of them take an oath to never share it with anyone else.”

“Oaths can be broken. You know this,” Silvermist said. “You need to learn to make an arbiter pill and feed it to others before sharing such things with them. I have one for me right now, so I’ll make one for Momo later.”

Silvermist pulled out a pill from his storage bag, the same one Grimsight had been given. The pill was one with nine Pill Veins, although it was difficult to tell if it had a Pill Soul or not.

“Huh? Wait!” Alex looked at what his master was doing with a concerned expression.

Silvermist paused before eating the pill to look at him. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked. “What do you think you’re doing? You eating that pill is no less than a slap to my face, Master.”

Silvermist put the pill down. “I don’t understand. It’s better to have oaths made with these pills, you know.”

“I know,” Alex said. “But why do you have to make that oath?”

“You said you made everyone swear an oath,” Silvermist said. “So I was going to follow what you did.”

Alex felt his temper rising. “That was a hyperbole. Do you think you’re just anyone? You’re my master. Why the hell would I ask you to swear an oath?” he asked. “The same goes for Momo. Why would I ask either of you to swear an oath?”

“But these techniques…”

“They’re great, I know,” Alex said. “But they’re not better than our relationship. Or do you think this technique is more important to me than you are? I am giving these techniques to you. It’s a gift. Great it may be, but it is not you. The mere fact that you thought I would ask you to swear an oath is an insult to me, Master.”

Silvermist remained frozen for a while with the pill in his hand. He sat there for the longest time before slowly putting the pill back into its bottle.

“I… I didn’t think you thought so much of me,” he said. He smiled at the same time his eyes began to grow moist. “I haven’t had the chance to teach you all that much, after all.”

“Even if you gave me a single piece of advice, Master, you would still be my master. And you have taught me a lot more than that,” Alex said. “So now and forever, you will always be my master.”

Silvermist wiped his eyes.

Momo smiled. “Thank you for the technique, Master. I will forever cherish it.”

Alex turned toward her and smiled. “Make good use of it. It is probably the best technique I have. Certainly the best pill-forming technique out there.”

Momo nodded.

Silvermist nodded as well. “I will do my best to learn it too. I’ll start right away,” he said.

“Actually, Master, the technique is quite difficult to learn and takes a long time,” Alex said. “So rather than that, we should head over to the stadium instead. The interviews should have started a while ago.”