Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Once Alex saw that his opponent had failed, he was ready to go back to finishing up the next recipe. However, he was distracted by the fact that next to Faithseeker’s name, there was a 100%.

‘I thought I was the only one,’ Alex thought, but Faithseeker was not the last of it either. Aethersage’s name showed up with another 100% as well.

‘What the…?’

Alex could believe that there were more than him in the competition who could make Pill Clouds right from the start, but to do it without anyone else realizing that they had done it was what surprised him.

‘Do they know about the Ritual Oaths too?’ Alex wondered. His master didn’t know about it, so he was certain it wasn’t a prevalent idea. But if it was, then…

‘No, maybe Faithseeker would know it, but not Aethersage,’ Alex thought. He realized that the likelier truth was that the barriers were made in a way that the participants were not disturbed by any new phenomenon outside.

Once he realized that much, he went back to preparing his next recipe.

The next recipe Alex made had something to do with the Earth Spiritual Root. It wouldn’t be so great as improving one’s Spiritual Root permanently, but he thought he could find a way to at least temporarily do so.

He was halfway done with the recipe already; he was sure of it. He just needed to exchange a few ingredients, and he could work on analyzing the energy and the final result.

That took a few hours to get to.

Alex wondered for a moment if he was getting mentally slower at things now. He had started noticing just the smallest bit of delay in thinking things. It wasn’t so bad that he could do nothing at all, but he worried that he might have to take a rest from now and then.

That would slow things down a lot if he did.

‘I can think about resting once I’m done making this pill,’ he thought and continued.

This recipe was surprisingly easier than the last one. He didn’t have to go through the placement of the ingredients too many times to get a decent result. Once he did, he quickly formulated the amount of ingredients needed and then refined that recipe to make the best pill possible.

While Alex did think it was fast, it still took him an entire day. Now, there were only 14 hours remaining before the next finale.

Alex paused for a second with the recipe in hand. He looked at the timer and decided that the right thing to do here was to make that pill. As long as he had the 100% pill in hand, there would be nothing for him to worry about.

Memory got excited when Alex put it to use again but was subsequently dejected that it wouldn’t get to eat any of the energy. It asked without words when it was going to get fed next, and Alex had a single answer for it.

“Once you evolve.”

Then, he began making the pill.

Making the pill was a simple task. Alex didn’t even have to focus on the pill more than necessary to have it come out perfect. The sky darkened over him, and at that point, Alex noticed that the clouds had in fact appeared inside the space he was in.

For whatever reason, the Pill Clouds considered the space within the barrier as an ‘inside location,’ no different than a room or a cave. And as in every room, the Pill Clouds appeared both in the sky high above and on the ceiling of the room.

He couldn’t get a good vantage point to see the actual sky thanks to the Pill Clouds, but he was certain that if he looked at it right now, he would see absolutely nothing.

That sight and sound were completely hidden from him.

‘So it’s not Ritual Oath then,’ he thought.

The first lightning bolt fell, and Alex proceeded to protect his pill.

* * * * *

“Once again, Alchemist Dawnblade has shown us his great skill at forming Pill Clouds,” the Alchemy God said. “This is the eighth Pill Cloud we have seen today, and I have no doubt we will see many more.”

“Despite his weak cultivation base, Alchemist Dawnblade still handles four of the nine Pill Lightnings. We can only wonder how good his skills will be once he grows further. Keep watching out for him; he will surprise you, I’m sure.”

The Alchemy God spoke until the Pill Clouds vanished.

“Who will be the next one to form Pill Clouds?” he asked the audience with a playful tone. He waited for a moment and received a message.

“Alchemist Dawnblade has just registered the pill recipe he has made, and it is very similar to the pill young Alchemist Leafheart made for the last round,” the Alchemy God said.

“This pill recipe uses the Nine Star Jewel Fruit as the major ingredient, and when eaten, it temporarily increases the person’s Earth Spiritual Root to a very high grade. The poorer your starting Spiritual Root, the better the improvement you will see.”

“The improvement lasts quite a while too, for up to a month at least. However, the pill has a downside. The pill is safe in moderation, but if you eat it too much—say three pills in three months—it will permanently damage your Earth Spiritual Root.”

“At the end of the day, it is still an incredible pill, as expected of Alchemist Dawnblade.”

The Alchemy God’s constant input and explanation of the various pills being made was an incredible thing to hear about. It helped the audience be right there in the minds of these brilliant alchemists.

He would only go away from time to time but would always return a few minutes later, or if something new happened. The ones that didn’t know much about alchemy greatly appreciated it all, and it made watching the tournament a very fun experience for them.

Time passed swiftly, and this round too came to an end not long after.