Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Bai Jingshen walked through the massive hallways of the White Tiger’s palace, making his way deeper into the main hall. Pearl walked beside him, looking around at the architecture of the place, the many murals drawn along the side of the wall and the ceiling.

Some pictures depicted some great White Tiger of the past. Some depicted great clashes between other tigers. Some depicted the turning of other beasts into White Tigers.

There was history on these walls, and Pearl was fascinated by them all.

“Who are these people?” Pearl asked in awe.

“I couldn’t tell you,” Bai Jingshen said. “This palace was made long before any of us were even born. I fear it was built long before the patriarch himself was born. There are few that remember these being painted, and those that do entered closed cultivation a long time ago.”

“Huh? The patriarch doesn’t know?” Pearl asked. “But… isn’t he the oldest of us all?”

“The Patriarch? No, he is the current head of the White Tiger. There are others that are older than him, but they are too old to come out and are in closed cultivation. You might have conflated him with our progenitor, the original White Tiger, Bai Gaojung. The current patriarch is the grandson of our progenitor.”

“Oh!”

He had assumed wrong. He truly had believed he would be meeting the very first White Tiger, but it was only the current patriarch.

They arrived at a large open area with golden light tinting the garden at the center, with the open golden dome shining with sunlight above them. Numerous sculptures of all sorts of White Tigers were scattered across the field, with a massive one at the very center.

“That was our progenitor,” Bai Jingshen said. “He was born during a time that no one can even imagine anymore. He was chosen by the gods to be blessed, and we came to be the Heavenly Beasts.”

Pearl looked at the marble-sculpted figure of a magnificent White Tiger, with the marble’s design itself depicting its black stripes. Its maw was open in the moment of a loud roar, the long beard-like mane flowing beneath its jaw almost seemed to move despite it being a sculpture.

“Incredible,” Pearl said in a soft voice.

“It is,” Bai Jingshen said. “Look closer, you might notice something.”

Pearl’s eyes moved through the figure, wondering what it was that he was searching for. Then, he saw it.

On the forehead of the progenitor’s sculpture, there was a small mark that appeared on its forehead. A mark that Bai Jingshen had long ago told him meant one and only one thing.

King.

“That’s…” Pearl’s eyes went wide in shock, trying to rationalize what he was seeing.

Bai Jingshen simply smiled. “I should truly explain to you what it means soon,” he said. “For now, just understand that it truly does mean what I said it means.”

Pearl’s thoughts raced to find an answer as to what it meant. What did it mean that he held the ability to create the mark on his forehead that he had only ever seen on this one White Tiger?

“Come on! We can’t keep the patriarch waiting too long.”

Pearl moved along with Bai Jingshen, but his gaze continued to linger on the figure for a while, and his thoughts a while longer.

The central ground of the palace was made in a way that the entire castle surrounded this one giant garden, with flat circular walls encircling it. Those walls were divided into four sections by four gates that led to the four wings of the palace.

Pearl and Bai Jingshen had come from the west wing, and were now headed toward the north wing.

Pearl saw other White Tigers along the way, some who stopped by to greet Bai Jingshen. Most remained indifferent, however, which made Pearl wonder if they even knew who Bai Jingshen was.

The palace was so large that it was perfectly understandable if many of the White Tigers themselves didn’t know of the other White Tigers.

Pearl walked along, looking at the walls that surrounded the garden. As with all the other giant walls and ceilings, these too were covered in murals. He had missed some of it, so he didn’t know what it depicted, but it included the first human he had seen in the entire palace.

“What’s this, grandpa?” Pearl asked. “Why is there a man in this one?”

Bai Jingshen turned upon hearing the question and saw the mural. “Oh, do you recognize it?” he asked. “It was a good enough attempt at copying this one.”

Pearl’s eyes narrowed for a moment before they widened slightly. “Oh, is this the mural from your palace back in the spirit realm?” he asked.

“That’s correct,” Bai Jingshen said. “Of all the murals, this is the most important, so I had it drawn back then.”

“Important?” Pearl asked with some surprise. “Then do you know what it depicts?”

“I do,” Bai Jingshen said. “I didn’t long before, but my master explained it to me, so I do now.”

“Your master?” Pearl’s eyes perked up. His grandpa’s master was always a fascinating topic. “What did he say this was about?”

Bai Jingshen was about to speak, but his eyes shifted suddenly. “We’re being scolded for being late,” he said with slight amusement in his words. “Don’t worry, I will explain this mural to you in detail at a future date.”

“Oh… okay,” Pearl said, slightly disappointed.

Bai Jingshen nodded. “You might have to wait until the humans are back. Alex needs to hear this more than everyone else, I fear.”

Pearl got even more curious now.

They walked a bit into the north hallway and took a turn before they arrived before massive golden doors with palace guards lining all the way up to the door.

In front of the door, the White Tiger Pearl had met first, Bai Fulin, waited for them.

“You’re late,” Bai Fulin said in a somewhat angry voice. “Do not waste any more of the patriarch’s time. Come, we’ll go in.”