Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Whisker stayed with the tortoise, doing nothing whatsoever to try and leave. As the night deepened, it was incredibly clear that any location beyond the tortoise’s body would be a devastating place to be at.

As Yin was drawn down from above, this region continued to be filled more and more with Yin. And yet, it wasn’t here where the Yin lingered. It continued further down.

There was something down there. Something that Whisker was more or less certain could use Yin Qi to create Elixir. He wanted to find out what it was, but as he was right then, it was utterly impossible.

So, all he could do was wait for his brother’s help.

While waiting for the sun to rise again, Whisker spent his time trying to understand the situation regarding the tortoise. It made no sense to him why the tortoise would be hot all on its own.

He walked in closer and used his senses to check its body. Surprisingly, it was quite difficult to penetrate into the tortoise’s body with his Spiritual Sense. His Spiritual Sense itself was heated up when moving through the inside of the beast, making it quite uncomfortable for Whisker.

Whisker could sense the beast cultivating, dragging in True Qi all throughout the place. It was frankly an absurd amount of Qi that, if the beast had been cultivating thoroughly for more than a few years, should have been able to send it to the Saint realm.

But no beasts ever reached the Saint realm.

In other locations, even if the peak was the Saint realm, one could still become an Immortal. However, here, despite being at the peak of True realm, these beasts could never break through to the Saint realm.

That was something Whisker had thought about for a long time now, and he still thought about it.

Other than regular cultivation, the beast was also absorbing Elixir from the surroundings. Whisker could sense its slightest motion as it was drawn toward the turtle at that moment.

‘So this beast is definitely here to gather and absorb Elixir,’ he thought and continued to observe its body.

Whisker still had the 3-meter range around him where he could use his Spiritual Sense. He wondered why it was that he couldn’t extend it further since he was already in another being’s domain.

Did the Intent surrounding them exist even within their 3-meter space, but simply chose not to act on anything until it escaped?

That was the only answer Whisker could come up with.

Thankfully, he had to come up with no answer in regards to what was going on with the beast. It was clear that its body was burning up with what Whisker could only imagine as Yang energy and Fire energy.

He was almost certain he could feel the Dao of Heat in there.

‘So this can only be the result of a Sunheart, right?’ Whisker thought. He couldn’t think of anything else that could be causing such a phenomenon.

‘But this is so much different than how Sunhearts are supposed to work,’ he thought. ‘Aren’t they only supposed to suck in Yang aura from the surroundings?’

At least, that was the information he was given by Alex. He had partially observed it too, but with this newfound evidence, it was clear his brother was wrong.

Sunhearts didn’t just absorb energy. They released it too.

‘Release?’ Whisker paused for a second. ‘Isn’t that the same as Decaying Sunhearts?’

Whisker had seen a few and understood their value. Decaying Sunhearts went for twice the price of a regular Sunheart since their release of Yang could allow for people to use different formations.

The Yang released from the Sunheart had a tendency to activate different scripts and formations that would otherwise perhaps have other requirements to unlock them.

It was nearly the same as Alex’s ability to use formations and scripts by simply pouring Qi into each respective thing.

‘Decaying Sunhearts only form after years of working the other way. It stops collecting Yang for a few years and then it starts releasing the Yang. But if I am correct, then this tortoise is doing so right now.’

A beast that was capable of actively decaying its Sunheart was an incredibly absurd thing to hear about. However, Whisker could now tell that was the truth.

In the heat of the desert, a Sunheart had no point in giving off more heat. So instead, its natural state was one where it constantly absorbed Yang aura.

In the depths of the underground where Yin was high, though, a Sunheart that collected Yang was rather useless too due to its sheer absence. In the end, the only useful thing a Sunheart could do was give off heat for the beast to survive.

‘That’s why it has managed to come this far down,’ Whisker thought. He had a different guess for how beasts with Sunhearts survived in the depths, and now he finally had the answer.

That still raised a few questions though, the most important of which to Whisker was a single one.

Why did these beasts leave the underground? Was it merely because of instinct? Had all beasts fallen into a daily cycle of leaving and returning, despite never needing to do so?

These beasts could stay inside for as long as they wanted to, given the absurd ability of theirs to reverse a Sunheart and cause it to decay, thus keeping them warm.

‘But they still leave every day,’ Whisker thought. There had to be something there he was missing.

Whisker had found the reason for why the others left — the ones without Sunhearts. It was because they could not survive in the Yin here at night. Only a beast with a Sunheart could.

However, the same logic did not apply for this beast. It had a Sunheart to keep itself warm no matter what, so why would beasts like these still need to go to the surface for food or territorial battles?

‘I want to know why.’