Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex went through what he understood about Unity.

It was the degree of connection between a body and soul, formed during the instance when one was cultivating. The Black Tortoise matriarch seemed to assume that only the body and soul were what mattered, but since it was Qi that formed the connection in the end, Alex had a feeling that Qi mattered too.

There were two ways that one’s Qi could be affected when it came to cultivation. It was the technique they used and the spirit roots they had.

Anything else that affected one’s Qi, such as body constitution and such, was more of a permanent thing that could not be so easily changed. Although, Alex did believe that too could be considered when viewed from the perspective of a body’s evolution.

It was just not something he could test.

Alex considered the two things he could test and thought about them.

“The better someone’s Unity is, the faster their cultivation has to be,’ Alex thought. Alex wondered about the time when his techniques had improved, when he began using the next stage of the Five Yang Divine Path technique. His rate of cultivation had certainly improved.

‘But that’s because the Qi I was absorbing from the surroundings improved. It’s not that my Unity improved, but rather the Qi itself was stronger. That had nothing to do with a change in my talent,’ Alex thought.

Even back when he was in the common realm, any technique could help him wake up during cultivation. So a technique most likely had nothing to do with it.

‘Then, what about spirit roots?’ Alex thought.

To test this, Alex would have to change the amount or type of spirit roots a person had. However, making any permanent changes would require the person to change their body and soul to adapt to those changes.

What Alex needed were temporary changes to the spirit roots that could be reverted back quickly.

One of those ways Alex could think of was to use pills that could temporarily affect one’s spirit root, improving it or changing it even. He had a few recipes that he would have to create or improve for that, but that was too much work.

He had a simpler method in mind.

Alex lifted his robe, revealing his bare torso. His hand flattened and on it appeared his Sword Qi formed by his Sword Heart. His hand was now as sharp as anything else he could use.

His muscles loosened and Alex cut through his stomach, enduring the pain that came from it, digging in deep until he found his own dantian. After some thought, he removed one set of spirit roots. The Supreme Metal root.

His strongest spirit root was the Yang root, but he didn’t want to

touch it just yet as there was a Yin bead inside of him, ready to freeze him from the inside. He would keep that for the end if nothing else worked.

After the Yang root, his Metal root was the strongest thanks to the White Tiger’s bloodline.

When he ripped out the Metal root, Alex felt Qi leak out of the hole at a tremendous rate. Alex let it happen. The Qi in there had been affected by the presence of the Metal root anyway, so he needed it all gone before he started absorbing new ones.

It didn’t take long for the Qi to leak out. When it was all gone, Alex closed off the opening where the Metal root had been with his blood. Blood aura transformed into Qi, quickly filling up his dantian once

again.

Then, Alex began cultivating with the wound still open on his stomach.

Alex struggled to keep his wounds from healing while he cultivated, his mind focused on both tasks at the same time. And then, as his cultivation progressed, he focused on figuring out how good the

session was.

It would be hard to tell anything in a short time, so the test would have to last several sessions.

Before Alex knew it, a few days passed. While he was entirely focused on cultivating, a distraction arose. The talisman the matriarch had given him for direct communication became active.

Alex read it with what attention he could afford to spare and realized that he was to go meet her in an hour from now. Realizing he wouldn’t have much time anymore, he stopped.

His leftover wounds healed in a flash, the Metal spirit root forming back in its spot as if it had never been destroyed. The spirit root he had pulled out of him suddenly lost all of its aura as the connection was lost.

Alex took a deep breath, a little surprised that he had gotten so used to the pain on his torso that its absence made him feel like something was missing. He smiled a little and focused on his body once again.

He examined his body, hoping there would be enough change to make a qualitative conclusion. To his surprise, while there wasn’t enough change, there was almost a certainty that his cultivation speed had regressed.

He couldn’t tell by how much, but it was slower than it should have been normally.

‘Am I just seeing what I want to see?’ Alex thought, frowning. He didn’t think he was, but he needed to be certain about it. ‘After I return, I should do a much more thorough test than this. Only then

can I be sure!

Alex quickly planned the various tests he was going to do on himself, and also planned a few other things that wouldn’t involve ripping his

spirit roots out every time.

That would be a good use of the free time he would likely have while the second test was going on, since he would likely not be around when the evolution took place as it would happen in the ancestral

pool.

Xuan Lingkai arrived not long after, her tortoise form slipping up out from the door. “The matriarch wishes to see you immediately.”

Alex nodded, ready for it. “Let us not keep her waiting.”