Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

The clump of space stones, seven in total, hung within the glass cylinder like a bunch of grapes hung on a vine. The silver stones floated within the vacuum of the cylinder, ever so slowly rotating.

“I can’t believe it,” Alex said softly. “You really have space stones.”

Bladedance judged the sizes and quality. “Pure Space Stones. That would each easily go on an auction for a couple thousand Divine spirit stones at the very least. All seven together would net you upward of 50 thousand spirit stones even.”

That surprised Alex, but he supposed it would have to be that expensive. It was 10 thousand Immortal Spirit stones to one Divine Spirit stone, so that would mean selling this bunch of space stones would get the old man upward of 500 million Immortal Spirit stones.

Alex himself had less than 10 million right then, and that was after winning one of the biggest Alchemy tournaments in a long time.

“I don’t plan on selling them,” the old man said. “This is the sole reason the people of my sect can cultivate in the first place.”

Alex took a moment to get his thoughts in order and listen to what the old man was saying. “Huh?” He looked toward the space stones. “How are they cultivating through the space stones?”

“Not through the space stones,” the old man said. “In the space stones.”

Alex was still confused. “You’ll have to elaborate.”

The old man pointed to the metal formation laid out on the ground. “I created a formation that either uses these space stones to open a space or utilizes the space within them. Either way, with them, I’ve managed to open seven separate spatial pockets right here that people can go and come out of.”

Alex was a little taken aback upon hearing that. He had heard about space stones being used for storage rings or aiding with teleportation, but never had he heard about it being able to open spatial pockets that people could freely visit.

He moved forward, trying to get close enough to sense the thing.

The old man turned toward Alex and smiled. “Who is in the elder’s space?” he asked the guards nearby.

“None,” the guards said. “The next elder scheduled to go in is Elder Yuanwe, in about half an hour.”

“That should be enough,” the old man said. “Come, let me show you inside.”

The old man walked onto the formation itself, beckoning Alex and Bladedance to join them. Alex got up, his attention still on the space stones. He could sense a spatial pocket forming not in them, but rather next to them.

The space stones were being used, but they weren’t the space themselves.

He frowned for a moment. What was that he was sensing?

“We’ll be going in,” the old man said. “Have you guys teleported before? It’s nauseating, so be careful.”

Bladedance couldn’t help but laugh at the old man’s caution. “We teleported here from a different realm, and this guy knows Space Dao. We know how teleportation works.”

“Oh… okay, then I’ll send us in.”

The old man nodded to the guards, who activated the formation.

They vanished immediately, arriving in another place entirely. Unlike the canyon outside, surrounding them in orange and red walls, this place was open with short green grass underneath them and a garden further away.

Alex looked around, feeling something else. His eye widened slightly as his spiritual sense began expanding as well. It grew without restriction, immediately covering the entirety of the realm that was no more than a hundred meters in all directions.

“Welcome to our sect’s greatest secret,” the old man said. “The realm that allows us to become Immortals.”

Alex sensed the surroundings and took in a deep breath.

“The Tree’s Intent doesn’t exist here,” he said slowly, looking around. “This world is free of her restrictions.”

The old man nodded. “And Qi gathered here naturally combines back into Immortal Qi too,” he said. “This space is devoid of any interference, and that allows it to return to its natural state.”

Alex sensed Immortal Qi, Saint Qi, True Qi, and Common Qi. They stayed around in equilibrium, none being forced to turn to another. He could also sense the equality between Yang and Yin. The tree did not affect that here either.

He could then see the garden around him and realized that it wasn’t just a regular garden but an Alchemy garden instead. Things that were growing there were normal ingredients that would have an impossible time growing in the outside world due to the abundance of Yang.

Alex looked toward the sky, and saw it to be a hazy blue. The sun existed up there, but should he try to go there, he would arrive at this spatial pocket’s wall in just a hundred meters, at which point if he forced himself out, he would arrive back on the metal formation outside.

“So this is how your disciples manage to cultivate, huh?” Alex asked.

“Yes. There are seven of these in total. Four are dedicated to allowing everyone to cultivate. The other three are focused on growing plants for alchemy or medicinal pastes. Three of the cultivation spaces are for the disciples or outer elders, and one for elders of the sect.”

“Outer elders? Meaning those that work in the branches in the various cities?” Alex asked.

The old man nodded.

Bladedance looked around for a while and nudged Alex.

Alex turned around.

“Space stones cannot have land inside of them, let alone allow sun to come through,” she said. “Check if you can sense something different.”

“This isn’t in a space stone. It’s utilizing the space stone to create a spatial pocket,” Alex told her.

“Thought so,” she said. “Sense how much of the space stone it is using.”

“What do you mean?” the old man asked.

“They use space stones in large-scale teleportation formations as well, and over the course of thousands of years, they grow smaller and smaller as the aura in them is used up. I fear… the same might be happening here as well.”