Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Shumi nodded without much hesitation. “I haven’t been able to figure out a way to get to the center of this island.”

“Really?” Alex said, turning around toward the flat-topped mountain with a vertical, cliff-like rockface wall. He started walking toward it to take a closer look now that he had to.

The mountain was near enough that it took him no time to walk directly before it. He placed a palm on the surface of the mountain, slowly looking up until his head was tilted sideways to see the top. The top of the mountain lay just below a layer of smog, making it difficult to deduce what was up there.

“Do we know if we have to go to the top of the mountain or not?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know,” Shumi said. “I’m guessing we do, but the Moon Goddess doesn’t point toward the top for me at all. She points straight ahead, at the center, inside the mountain.”

Alex looked toward the Sun God and sighed. “The Sun God is pointing in the same direction as well.”

Shumi made a small noise. “Your god asked you to come here too?”

“He did. I’m assuming yours was the same then?”

Shumi nodded. “Ever since I came out of my cultivation session in the Ever-Dark Realm, she nearly made me go mad with the constant and incessant demand for me to come to this realm. It wasn’t until I acquiesced that she finally stopped. What about you?”

“Same,” Alex said, feeling just slightly guilty when he lied. He probably had gone through a similar situation back in the place where he lost his memories, but he remembered none of that now, so that period of torture was gone from his mind.

He quickly diverted the conversation. “So, have you tried going to the

top?” he asked.

“Of course,” she said. “It’s not possible.”

“Not possible?” Alex asked, looking surprised. “What’s stopping you?”

“The suppression formation,” Shumi said. “Can’t fly.”

“Then we climb,” Alex said. “Did you try climbing?”

“Of course,” Shumi said. “But it doesn’t work either.”

“Why not?”

Shumi thought for a moment. “I think you should try it yourself. It might be easier than me explaining.”

Alex slightly raised his eyebrows and shrugged. “Alright. Let me see.”

He grabbed hold of a protruding rock and stepped on another crevice to start climbing. Just a single step in, he felt a strong suppression lay on top of him, forcing him down.

He pushed through it, taking another step, and it got even stronger.

Alex took a deep breath and continued climbing, pushing through the suppression. When the suppression became unbearable, his body sent forth a degree of warmth that directly countered it, making it easier for him to continue.

He was still struggling and very slow with his motions, but he was at least able to keep climbing. However, when he was maybe a third of the way through, he found himself unable to continue.

There was no rock or crevice to grab onto for support. He tried looking around, but above a certain level, the cliff-face grew smooth without anywhere to grab at all.

“The hell?”

Since there was no existing place to hold on to, he decided to create one of his own. With the suppression still active, he pulled back his fist and punched at the side of the mountain.

A massive resounding boom spread through the island, but there was no hole to show for it at all. Alex felt no different than a mortal trying to punch a hole through a thick block of iron. He tried again and again, and all he had in the end to show for his effort were smudges of blood on the side of the wall.

It just wasn’t possible.

He frowned slightly, realizing this was what Shumi was talking about. He remained on the side of the cliff for some time, thinking of how else to go up there. After a thought, he jumped.

With all the force he could muster from where he was, he propelled himself directly toward the top of the mountain. However, his speed quickly dropped for some reason, and what should have sent him straight over ended up not even reaching the two-thirds mark.

When Alex reached his peak, he instantly pulled out his sword and tried jamming it into the side of the mountain, only for the strike to not make a single scratch at all.

Alex fell all the way back down, landing loudly on his back. The pressure up there hadn’t even given him an opportunity to properly turn around for a graceful landing.

“Are you okay?” Shumi walked up to Alex quickly, seemingly worried.

“Don’t worry,” Whisker said without any hint of concern. “My brother will be fine.”

“I would still appreciate a bit of worry, Whisker,” he said, before standing up and turning toward Shumi. “I’m good.”

She nodded. “See? We can’t get up there at all.”

Alex nodded. “I was thinking of trying to throw you up there, but that

likely isn’t going to work either,” he said. “There is some sort of barrier up there that actively stops you from going up. That’s likely all throughout this island too, and not just this section.”

Shumi nodded. “I’ve tried climbing the mountain from multiple

directions, but I’ve never found a single path to the top.”

Alex couldn’t help but trust her words. He saw no other reason for her to lie, especially with Whisker not countering her words in the

slightest.

“So, if we can’t get to the top and it is unlikely we can get to the top, then surely there is only one thing we can do, right?” Alex said as he came to the obvious conclusion.

“Get into the mountain,” Shumi said. “Yes, that’s the same conclusion I

came to as well. But that’s not possible either. These walls are too

strong for me to break through.”

“Maybe,” Alex said. “Or maybe you don’t have to break through them at all. Just maybe… there is an entryway somewhere.”