Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex had known for a long time that there were 3 Demonic Plants, blessed by one of the two True gods. It was only recently when he met Rosemist that he had learned about all of their names.

The World Tree, the Tree of Life, and the Soul Mother Tree.

There was exactly one of each tree in this world, and the World Tree had been cut down. Fortunately, its seed had survived, which now grew in Alex’s soul space.

However, until now, Alex had heard nothing about the other two trees or if they even existed.

And now, it was possible that he had actually met one.

“Are you the Tree of Life?” Alex asked, making sure he wasn’t getting ahead of himself.

“Yes,” the tree answered. “You are close to becoming Father if you know that.”

The tree’s words failed to register for Alex beside the confirmation. His own surprise had overwhelmed him far too much to hear anything else.

He had met far too many great things today, but this was the most surprising.

There were 33 gods, and 15 Primordials. But there were only 3 of these plants.

And he had now met one of them, at the center of Hell.

“I have been watching you ever since you arrived in my realm,” the tree said. “You have touched my roots, but I could not communicate to you back then. I hoped you would come here directly, and you did. I am happy.”

“May I ask why you are happy to see me?” Alex asked. “The world believes that it was the Moon Goddess who helped you guys, then why are you happy to see me? As far as I am aware, the Sun God should have no hand in anything related to plants.”

“You are not Father,” the tree answered. “When you are, you will know. It is true that Mother blessed us, but that doesn’t mean that we do not owe Father anything.”

“What did he do for you?” Alex asked.

“When you are Father, you will know.”

The tree did not seem to want to answer his questions regarding the two gods. Alex sighed.

“Have you met Mother yet?” the tree asked. “Have you two reunited yet?”

“I have met her,” Alex said. “She’s in a similar state as me in terms of how close she is to becoming what you want us to be. Or at least that was the truth about 80 years ago.”

“I wish you had brought her here,” the tree said. “I wish to meet Mother too.”

Alex narrowed his eyes. “The Guardian Tiger told me that I had her… blessing? What did he mean?” he asked.

The tree paused for a moment. “You now hold her blessing, the one she gave to that man on that cold night, when he was about to die.”

Memories flickered through Alex’s mind. “The Undying Physique,” he realized. “That’s what he meant?”

This was perhaps the greatest confirmation Alex could receive that the woman who had given the first Undying God his physique was in fact the Moon Goddess.

She was the first of the very few women whose image had moved his heart.

“Was there a reason you wanted to see me?” Alex asked. “Other than just meeting me, I mean.”

“At first, I had none. But as time went on, I have found a reason to have you come,” the tree said. “Are you aware of my sibling’s death?”

“The World Tree?” Alex asked. “Or has the Soul Mother Tree died too?”

“No, just the World Tree,” the tree said. “She died many years ago, and I felt her death. Ever since then, I’ve been scared of dying myself.”

“You’re hidden. It should be unlikely that you will die,” Alex said. “Besides, even the World Tree didn’t truly die. She left behind a seed.”

“She did,” the tree said. “But that seed was taken away and I have not sensed her grow again. I fear she might have been forgotten, or worse, died.”

“No, the World Tree is alive,” Alex said quickly. “She’s thriving.”

“That’s not possible,” the tree said. “Us three are connected. I could sense her, should she have grown again.”

“Are you sure you can sense her?” Alex asked. “How would you be able to when you would be realms away anyway?”

“Through the Heavens, of course,” the tree said. “The connection between us is powered by both Father and Mother’s Intent. We are connected, even worlds apart.”

The reasoning behind the tree’s assumption made sense. The World Tree was in his Soul Space, which was away from Heaven, so it couldn’t be sensed. But the reasoning alone was not enough, since there was something else entirely wrong here.

“There is no Heaven in this world. It hasn’t existed for many, many years. Long before your sister died. How could you sense them at all? In fact, how could you tell she was dead?” he asked.

The tree answered. “Heaven isn’t gone. It is only very weakened. But it exists.”

Alex’s eyes widened slightly. “Does it really exist?” he asked.

“Yes,” the tree said. “But do not expect it to work in Hell. Heaven is far too weak to govern this world. Right now, my Intent is what governs Hell instead, and Heaven simply remains an observing entity.”

Both of the pieces of information were shocking to Alex. The fact that Heaven still existed was surprising enough, but he hadn’t realized that the Tree of Life was behind the Intent of Hell.

“Your Intent is what is governing everything in Hell?” Alex asked. “The suppression we feel, the constant Qi degradation, that is all you?”

“Yes,” the tree said. “It is all me. I did what I thought was right in order to save this world.”

“Save it from what?” Alex asked with curiosity.

“Myself,” the tree answered.

Alex paused for a long moment. “What do you mean? Why would you have to protect Hell from yourself?”

“It was a mistake I made,” the tree said. “One that I could’ve never foreseen the consequences of.”