Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex got a little curious.

“Why are there more men than women in this tribe?” Alex asked.

The older woman chuckled. “Such is the curse of the Baylords,” she said, shaking her head.

“Curse? What curse?”

“Mili, what are you doing here?” a somewhat angry voice took away Alex’s attention. He turned around to see Para, Mili’s mother. The woman glared at Mili. “I told you to bring Grandma, didn’t I?”

“Eek! I-I was bringing her,” Mili quickly said.

“No need,” the woman said and held the old woman’s hands. “Come, Mother. We’ll get you some food. You can give your blessings to your granddaughter and our new son-in-law.”

“Alright, alright,” the old woman said and got up. She paused and turned around. “Will you be remaining in the tribe for more days?”

Alex nodded. “I don’t have anywhere to go exactly, so I will stay here for a while until I figure some things out.”

“Come visit me from time to time,” the old woman said. “I get lonely staying at home during the day.”

“I will.”

The old woman left, leaving Alex with the bowl of meaty soup and the girl next to him, grinning rather wildly.

“Um… can I help you with something, Mili?” Alex asked.

“Are you married?”

Alex nearly choked on the food, having to cough it out. “I’m sorry? N-no, I’m not married.” He hesitated a little. “Please don’t ask me to marry you.”

“Marry you?” The little girl looked offended. “Who would marry a man like you with no color in his skin? Bleh! Besides, I would only marry someone who can kill a fish as large as that.”

She pointed to the fish skeleton still hanging on the wooden posts.

“What happens to that skeleton now?” Alex asked. “Does it get hung on a wall or something?”

The young girl looked confused. “Why would we hang fish on a wall?”

“To make a show of it,” he said.

“Why hang it on the wall? Why not just lay it on the ground?” she asked.

“Do you lay it on the ground?”

“What? No. We eat it. We grind it up and put it in our food. Why would anyone waste good bones?” she asked with an exasperated look, as if looking at someone who had something wrong with his brain.

“I see,” Alex said. He should have guessed they would eat it. He decided to change the topic rather than make the girl realize just how little common sense he had for the tribe.

“So, what is this curse that your grandma talked about?” he asked.

“The curse? Oh, the one about girls dying? Yeah. Girls are cursed here. A few die every year for no reason,” she said.

“No reason?” Alex asked with a curious look. “Maybe they eat something. Or they go to some place.”

Mili shook her head. “We all eat from the same fish, and there is nowhere else to go but the ocean, so it really is the curse.”

That got Alex curious. There had to be a reason other than a curse, right?

‘But then, this is hell. Maybe curses are real in hell.’

“Is there anyone cursed right now that I could look at?” Alex asked.

“Of course not. If you’re cursed, you die in less than a day or two. So, there is no one for you to look at.”

Alex frowned. That made things a little bit more difficult. How was he supposed to find out the true nature of the curses now?

‘Maybe I’m not supposed to,’ he thought.

“Ooh! I think they’re done,” Mili said. “I’ll be leaving now. I have to go tease my new brother-in-law a bit.”

The little girl ran away briskly, leaving Alex by himself.

Alex sat on the bed, eating alone, looking at the people who began singing some sort of folk song. There were large drums, beaten to a rhythm as they danced around the fire.

The people enjoyed themselves quite a lot.

Alex still could not believe that this was a place everyone called hell, a place they almost always spoke negatively about.

It was no different than the Wasteland in the Southern Continent. In fact, it was even better than that since there was actually Qi here.

‘What exactly am I missing?’ Alex wondered. ‘What is so bad about this place that it is hell?’

“I heard you can speak our language now,” someone said.

Alex barely even noticed the man’s arrival. He secretly cursed the Storm God again and turned toward the voice. It was the chief.

“I’m still getting used to it, but we should be able to communicate much better now,” Alex said. “By the way, thank you for taking care of me. If there are ways I can return the favor, please do let me know. I will do what I can.”

The chief seemed surprised by how easily Alex spoke their language. In fact, he seemed somewhat suspicious too.

“I don’t know what I could get from a wounded man like you,” the chief said. “Do you mind telling me about yourself?”

Alex nodded. “I do have to warn you, my name is apparently a bad one amongst your tribesmen,” he said.

“I have had contact with outsiders throughout my life. I’m used to such names,” the chief said.

“Alright then, I’m Alex. I come from a faraway place. What else would you like to know about me?”

The man looked at him. “How were you in the sky?”

Alex paused. “I’m sorry?”

“I saw you falling from the sky. I am pretty sure it was you. How were you in the sky?” he asked.

“I was sent there by my enemies,” Alex said. “I can’t tell you much more than that because you likely won’t understand.”

The chief frowned. “Are your enemies after you? Are you a threat to my tribe?” he asked.

“Don’t worry, my enemies got me where they wanted to send me. They don’t care about anything anymore after that,” Alex said. “I promise you, your tribe’s safety will have nothing to do with my presence.”