Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

A few seconds later, a handful of people walked into the mud pool where Alex was still half-submerged. He turned toward the people, noticing the two women from earlier who were in the True realms, and the three new people who had come that were all in the Saint realm.

These three were women as well. Now that he paid attention to his senses, he could see that this was a women-only sect. The few of the other people submerged in the hut were also women.

“You have awakened,” one of the older women said.

“I have,” Alex said. “I thank you for your hospitality.”

The woman gestured something, and the other two female elders moved on either side of Alex, ready for more commands.

“Now then, why don’t you tell us how you ended up here? Our sisters should be guarding the other Voidgate. How did you get past them?” she asked.

Alex narrowed his eyes a little. “I do not know what you mean.”

“Playing dumb won’t save you, young man. To have entered the domain of us women, you should know what fate lays in your future,” the woman said.

Alex smiled a little. “My apologies, but it seems there is a miscommunication here. I didn’t come from a Voidgate. In fact, I tore through space to come out.”

The woman showed no emotions at all, as if his joke wasn’t all that amusing after all. “We found you unconscious outside of our Voidgate, and you still dare claim you didn’t go through it on the other side.”

“I’m sorry, but I am not sure what you are talking about,” Alex said. “Not that I care either. The only reason I let you come talk to me is because I am grateful that you thought I was wounded and chose to heal me.”

Alex stood up, the mud immediately replaced by his clothes. It all happened so quickly that not a single one of the women managed to see how he had changed in an instant.

“Now then, I must leave,” Alex said. “Thank you for taking care of me. I hope you will forget about me with this.”

Alex left them a storage bag and teleported away.

The women who were left behind could do absolutely nothing about him leaving at all. They were simply forced to stand stunned, with the storage bag slowly landing on the solid ground before them.

The eldest elder took the storage bag and looked inside. When she did, her eyes widened in pure shock as she saw the wealth that was left behind.

Having left some minor treasures behind for the group of women, Alex teleported to where his Master and the old man had gone off to.

They were about a hundred kilometers to the north, standing atop a massive mountain that overlooked a beautiful blue lake.

The moment he arrived, Alex felt something stir above him. The Heavens responded to his actions for some reason, confusing him slightly.

“Did you teleport just now?” Bladedance asked.

“I did,” Alex said.

“Don’t do that.”

Alex gave a confused look.

“The Heavens don’t see kindly to Immortals and the rest who tread on a lower world without hiding their power,” Bladedance said. “Any actions of yours that may affect someone living in this world have a chance to trigger Heavenly Judgment. You don’t want that.”

“Oh!” Alex said with a surprised look. “I didn’t realize that. I thought it was only if I attacked others. Err… maybe I’m thinking about the Heavenly Beasts’ oath before they become a ruler.”

“Just… lay low,” Bladedance said. “Try not to interact with the people here too much and you’ll be fine. It is very hard to determine just what the Heavens consider punishment-worthy.”

Alex nodded. “So, I’ve been feeling a sort of pressure ever since I awoke. Is that the Heavens too?” he asked.

“The feeling of rejection? Yes. That is the Heavens telling you that you don’t belong here and that you need to leave immediately. If you help it a little, you will be teleported away like any new Immortals would.”

“Ah!” Alex realized. “So we can leave right away?”

Bladedance frowned. “It’s not so simple,” she said with a slight frown. “It has been too many years since we left, so we do not know how the state of the other realms is.”

Alex frowned as well. “I don’t understand. What do you mean, master?”

“The war,” Bladedance said simply. “We do not know if it has started or not. Given that we’re in a Demon realm, the chances of us being teleported to a Demon Immortal realm are pretty much absolute. If the war has started, we won’t be treated fairly there.”

Alex chuckled lightly. “I’m sure it’s fine. No matter how battle-hungry everyone is, I doubt they have started any war in such a short time. Doesn’t it take quite a long time to even travel to the Demon realms the normal way?”

“Decades,” Bladedance said.

“See? I doubt they had the time to start a war. It’s only been 250 years, after all.”

Bladedance narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you mean over a thousand?” she asked.

“No, 250. Why would it be over a thousand?” Alex asked.

“Because you said it would take that long. That’s why we went into the other room where time moves slowly. We spent about 50 days there, but I don’t know what that means in terms of the outside world.”

“I… I never said such a thing,” Alex said. “It took me maybe two days in total to navigate the Void. Around 50 years passed during that time and then we were out. So it shouldn’t be more than 250 years since then.”

Bladedance shook her head. “That’s not true. We were inside for way longer.”

“No, I’m not lying, master. Look, I can easily tell you what—”

Alex’s mind froze in that moment as he tapped into the Temporal Awareness Dao on his own and found a truth that should not have been true at all.

Over 1,400 years had already passed since he left Hell.