Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Using time dilation to make a pill faster was almost a given for the Phoenixes, who could so easily understand the Dao of Time. Most of them readily used it. Even the formations were set up in a way to aid them with that.

But Space… that was an entirely different entity in their pill-making sessions.

When Alex told Feng Xianhei how it was that he made pills in just a matter of seconds, she was surprised to hear the inner workings of the process.

“No wonder it’s surprising. I can’t do it,” she said. “I can’t manipulate Space the same way you can. It’s just not possible for me.”

Alex nodded. “So that part of my knowledge won’t help you, but I’m sure there are other ways I can help you,” he said. “For starters, can you bring on pill clouds every single time with your pills?”

“Every single time?” the bird asked. “No, it’s only possible when you reach 100% harmony, is it not?”

“That’s what I mean,” Alex said. “A way to get 100% harmony each time.”

The Phoenix narrowed her eyes. “That’s… that’s not possible to do consistently, is it?” she asked.

A look of understanding settled on Alex’s face. “I see. So you really don’t know about it. I expected as much, I suppose, considering only the best of Alchemists know this method.”

Alex began teaching Scarlet’s mother the method of getting 100% harmony each time, not by using the perfect ingredients, but by using a lot of them.

Compressing the abundant energy in the end helped with forming the perfect pill each time. At the very least, the ingredients no longer became the issue.

Feng Xianhei found the technique so very easy. And yet, not a single one of the Phoenixes had ever even thought of it. There were reasons for it, of course. They never really had a reason to learn beyond what they already knew.

Still, the concept was so simple that she was nearly embarrassed. She only calmed down when Alex explained just how underused the method was, even back in the Human Realms.

“Of course. This method completely falls apart when you only have a single ingredient,” Alex said. “In those cases, you can only hope to make the perfect pill you can.”

Alex brought out a talisman from his Soul Space and handed it to her. “This is a pill-forming technique I use. It is perhaps the greatest technique there is in this world. It was created by…”

Alex slowed down for a moment. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t actually know how the technique came to be.

He had derived it from the Pill-Splitting Qi used by the Alchemy God through the Intent left behind in his inheritance. But where did the Alchemy God get his technique?

As far as Alex knew, the Alchemy God had three treasure books, and none of them had anything to do with the actual process of making pills.

“Who created it?” the Phoenix asked, growing curious.

“By me,” Alex said. “I derived it from a much better technique I received from someone else. It will take some time to learn, but once you do, you will find it incredible. I promise you that.”

Scarlet’s mother looked through the talisman for some time, her eyes making shapes to convey her surprise that Alex didn’t know were possible. A while later, she placed the talisman down.

“It’s… quite incredible,” she said.

Alex nodded. “It is,” he answered.

“Thank you,” she said, storing away the talisman. “But what I was really interested in, more than anything, was what you did at the end back then. When you made a pill cloud form from a pill that was nowhere close to being perfect.”

“Oh, that…” Alex hesitated. The Divine Elemental Accord technique wasn’t something he wanted to teach to anyone else. It also wasn’t something he could teach to someone else. “If I may ask, what Spirit Roots do you have?”

“What roots? I’m a Vermilion Bird, so it’s obviously just a Supreme Fire Root and a weaker Yang Root,” Scarlet’s mother said.

Alex gave a saddened look. “Then I’m sorry, senior. But you can’t learn that technique,” he said.

“Huh? Why?” Xianhei asked, flustered all of a sudden.

“That technique uses all seven Spiritual Roots to do what it did back then. Without them, the technique just doesn’t work at all.”

Xianhei wanted to protest, but Alex explained further how the technique used all seven Spirit Veins to create all seven elements—even the hidden ones—that would always be present in a pill.

After thinking some more, she reluctantly nodded as she understood she was never going to learn the technique she had actually wanted to.

Still, the pill-formation technique, and the method to guarantee a pill cloud, were more than she could ever ask from Alex, so she was quite grateful.

They continued talking some more, both asking questions to determine what knowledge they lacked and where they could improve.

As they talked, Alex brought out the “new” ingredients he had inside his Soul Space, the ones he didn’t recognize. He wondered if the beasts were any different, but Xianhei didn’t recognize them either.

She had never seen a single one of them before in her life.

That confirmed to Alex at least that it wasn’t due to his or the Alchemy God’s lack of knowledge that he didn’t know of these ingredients. No one, beast or Human, knew of these plants.

Now he only had to have some Demons look at the plants to confirm that there was a realm out there where plants had naturally evolved and become something completely different than what they were in the rest of the world.

A world that likely lacked Heaven.

“I don’t have much to give you in return when it comes to Alchemy,” Feng Xianhei said. “But we Phoenixes are well known for our healing knowledge. Our healing pills and pastes are the best there is in this world. That, at least, I can teach you.”