Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

While Bladedance roamed the land of the Demon Realm, surveying both the trees inside it, Alex turned his focus toward the old man.

“Incredible,” the old man said softly. “I would have never imagined that there was a possibility for such a world to exist within a cultivator themselves.”

“Yes, there are a few people who can do the same as me,” Alex explained.

The old man looked around, the greenery something he had missed dearly.

“There’s a reason I brought you here, by the way,” Alex said. “A reason beyond seeing if you could cause any problems being in my Soul Space.”

The old man stopped and looked up in confusion. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“Whisker, can you show him the way?” Alex asked.

Whisker ran forward. “Follow me.”

Whisker took the old man with him to the massive mountain up ahead, making him walk through a dark tunnel with rooms on either side.

“What is this place?” the old man asked curiously.

“Cultivation rooms,” Alex answered. “Do you have an hourglass?”

The old man thought for a bit and brought one out. “What about it?” he asked.

Whisker took it from the man and placed it on the ground. “Can you go in there? Just take some time to cultivate, and then you can come out.”

“Why am I cultivating?” the old man asked.

“So we can show you something.”

The old man was confused, but he obliged all the same. He entered the room and took out some spirit stones to start cultivating. He was a little surprised at the aura present inside the room and realized that it was a place truly made for cultivation.

He cultivated for some time happily, and when he felt he was done a day or two later, he walked out. When he did, he walked out to Whisker and the hourglass.

“You waited for me all this time?” he asked.

Whisker pointed to the hourglass. “All this time,” he said.

The old man looked confused. “What about it?” he asked.

“Can you tell the time?” Whisker asked.

The old man shook his head. “I don’t know when you started.”

“I started when you entered.”

The old man paused. “That hourglass only lasts for four hours. I entered a day ago.”

“And yet this is the truth,” Alex told the old man. “We have not manipulated anything. Instead, this is what we wanted you to see.”

The old man slowly realized what they were talking about. “You don’t mean… did I just…”

“You spent a day or more inside that room, and yet only an hour passed on the outside,” Alex said. “That is to say, time flows differently inside these rooms.”

The old man remained speechless, unable to vocalize a single one of his thoughts.

“There’s another room elsewhere that does the opposite,” Whisker said. “One day in there is an entire year out here. Do you want to go check it out?”

The old man nodded wordlessly.

Whisker took the man to the Timeless Palace, where he showed him the inside world. They remained there for just a few seconds, and yet an entire hour had passed on the outside.

The old man still couldn’t believe what he had witnessed. He could have never imagined such a thing to be possible at all. And yet, here it was.

It took the man a while to gather his thoughts. “Why… why do you show me this?” he asked. “It cannot be for the mere sake of showing me it exists, right?”

“I have a reason,” Alex said. “I hope to get you to change these places a little.”

“Change?” the old man asked. “Change how? How could I possibly change such a thing?”

“They are all made with runes and scripts,” Alex said. “And so far as I know, you are the greatest rune master I know. So, could you help me combine the rooms in the tunnel below so I could turn it from individual rooms to an entire garden or something similar? I want a place where I could grow my own alchemy ingredients or have others cultivate in a very short time.”

“Is that even possible?” he asked. “I’ve never worked with any such runes or scripts.”

“You have the opportunity now. I will not ask you to do this if you aren’t confident,” Alex said. “But you have the greatest knowledge of us all, and more than that, you have an example of how it works right here. If you will just give it some time and look through it all, maybe you’ll realize that it is possible.”

The old man thought for a while and nodded. “I shall give it a try.”

Alex let Whisker show the old man around and focused back on Bladedance, who had seen it all now.

“Are you going to keep the trees?” she asked. “You said you wanted to give back the World Tree, right?”

“I will. The others intend to use the matter of germinating the World Tree as a cause for starting the war. So, just having the tree revealed to everyone should dissuade many who are on the fence. They will have no need to.”

“You’ll have to give away the Nine Yang Divine Tree too,” Bladedance said. “If the monks were to find out that you have it, they will tear heaven and earth to get to it. You don’t want to get on the wrong side of those fanatics.”

Alex nodded. “I will keep that in mind, Master.”

Alex looked at the trees. He had wanted to keep them with him, but he knew he must part from them soon enough. He worried somewhat for the beings living in this world when the trees were taken away.

But that was something he would have to worry about when he gave away the tree.

“I don’t believe I have anything more to see here,” Bladedance said. “I will leave for now. Focus as much as you can on learning the Time Daos. It might soon be time for you to start learning from the Void again.”