Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex had hoped Bladedance would teach him about Sword Heart and how to achieve it, but he had not expected her to teach him more than that.

He had known about being One with the Sword from a long time ago when Grimsight told him about it, but he had never known how one could achieve it.

Now he did.

‘Separate my sword intents from me, and combine them all into one, forming my Sword Heart. Combine that then with my various daos and understanding of the sword, forming as many as I can so I know what is best for me. When only one remains, I merge it back into myself, becoming One with the Sword,’ Alex thought, absorbing Bladedance’s information.

Alex understandably didn’t understand how the last two worked, but he could now get started with Sword Heart. All he had to do was understand the 3 sword intents he had and then merge them into one.

The first intent was the simplest. It was his pure Sword Intent, which was nothing more than his will to make his sword stronger and better.

The second intent was the one he had forged long ago in the Demon Realm, one in which he poured his intent to never stop moving, to keep moving forward.

The third intent was perhaps the most confusing one for Alex. It wasn’t a simple intent, formed from a willful desire of anything. He had instead formed a technique and used that technique as a crutch to create the Sword Intent.

That was perhaps going to make it harder than normal to form his Sword Heart.

To begin with, he would have to understand more of his own intent before he could merge it with the others.

Alex created the Sword Domain around him, attempting to learn his own intent. It was an intent formed from the sword technique, yes, but it was still a Sword Intent. So as long as he tried it, he should understand just what it was.

“Stop that!”

The Sword Qi had barely formed around him when Bladedance spoke up.

Alex stopped immediately, before turning toward her. “What’s wrong, master?” he asked.

“Save your energy. You can practice that later,” she said. “For now, you have a Void to learn from.”

Alex’s schedule changed somewhat afterwards, with him learning from the Void when he had the mental strength, and then learning sword from Bladedance when he didn’t.

Bladedance taught him about sword only at first, but then slowly started giving out other information as she got more and more familiar with him.

“Have you been to the Split Sky realm yet?” she asked. “That’s where I was grown and raised.”

“Split Sky realm?” Alex asked. “I’m afraid not. I’ve been to the Myriad Spirit realm, the Eclipsing Heaven realm, got close to the Ever Dark realm, then went to the Medicine realm World with my alchemy master. And of course, I was sent here to the Immortal Prison realm afterward.”

“I see.”

“Although, I did meet a princess from there in the alchemy tournament though.”

“A princess from the Split Sky realm?” she asked. “Do you know which continent?”

“I think she’s from the Sword Continent. Her name was Shao Humin,” Alex explained. Leafheart was one of the greatest alchemists of the younger generation, with her unique cauldron and orange flames.

“Shao is the royal family of the Sword Continent,” Bladedance said slowly. “My cult is there too. Or… it was. How many years has it been since I was sent here? 60 thousand years? I fear my cult may not have survived, now that I think about it.”

“Surely it’s still there, right?” Alex said. “It may be weaker and less influential, but it should still exist.”

“I would hope so, but I fear Purplerain has already taken over it, and the ones that were on my side have been killed or banished. Once I return, I will have to form a new cult, and I can only do that by becoming a Sword God. I will have to challenge the current one, or kill him and see who else dares to challenge me.”

Alex thought for a long few seconds. “How quickly do you think you’ll do it?” he asked. “Or I should ask, just how exactly does one get made a God?”

“Depends on the person,” Bladedance said. “To become a God, you need to either challenge the existing god, or claim yourself to be the greatest in something so others challenge you instead.”

“When I became the Sword God, the last Sword God had died to Godslayer and so the spot was vacant. Someone else had claimed it at the time, so I fought him and defeated him in a pure battle of sword. But that alone couldn’t make me the Sword God.”

“To officially become one, I had to claim myself as the greatest swordsman among a council of existing Gods, and then wait for the news to spread before other people came to challenge my standing.”

“When all who dared to challenge me did and failed, and 5 millennia had passed since my proclamation, only then was I made the Sword God.”

Alex narrowed his eyes. “From what I understand of the past, people were reluctant to become gods, were they not? Because of Godslayer, many did not want to become one.”

“That’s not really true,” Bladedance said. “Everyone wanted to be a god. Who told you they didn’t?”

“I was told that after the fourth Alchemy God’s death, many did not wish to take up that mantle, and the spot was vacant for a long time.”

“Ah! Alchemy God. No, that makes sense. You’re right. Becoming a God was no different than placing a target on your back for Godslayer at the time, but people who focused on fighting did not care. They were proud of their own strength, so when one died, the other took over as soon as they could.”

“The other way, of course, is simpler. To become a God, you simply challenge the existing God and defeat them.”

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