Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

“Your session with the Sacred Jade Lotus will be in 3 days’ time. So, we will have to leave in 2 days at the latest. If possible, we could leave right now as well,” the Beast God explained to Alex.

“Oh, really? We can leave now if you want, senior,” Alex said.

“No,” Bladedance said quickly. “We’ll leave tomorrow. I’m finally out, so I need some time to deal with your situation.”

Her eyes gestured to Alex’s whole being, referring to his status as a Half-God.

In the time that Alex had been there, the energy inside his dantian had been slowly but steadily growing. As a result, it had increased by quite an amount. It wasn’t a lot by any means, but it was a sizable chunk compared to what he had before.

The stream had reduced a little more in that time, but time played a bigger role than the flow of the stream. By now, he had 5 times as much energy as he had in the first week of when he arrived in that place.

And it would only continue to grow. Soon, it might even be big enough for Alex to be comfortable experimenting with this power instead of keeping it for some random instance where it could come in handy in the future.

The increase in energy hadn’t come with no side effects either. With the increase in his Half-God energy, the feeling of reverence everyone felt toward him had also gotten slightly stronger.

It wasn’t so significant that it was noticeable immediately, but if one was careful enough, they could tell that it had grown stronger.

Alex himself couldn’t tell that, and surprisingly, none of his beasts could feel the reverence, so they couldn’t help him understand the change either. In the end, it was through other people’s reactions that Alex had even the inkling that something might have changed.

“Has anything changed in the time that I was out?” Bladedance asked.

“Regarding my Half-God state? No. Nothing at all,” Alex said. “I can tell I have slowed down in improving a little, but that’s about it.”

“That’s normal,” Bladedance said. “I’ve heard the others talking about this. They generally don’t like being away from their world for this reason. It gets weaker when they’re away.”

Alex’s eyes widened slightly. So he was right about distance being a factor.

“Do you know anything specific about that?” Alex asked. “How many worlds away would I have to be to no longer see any improvement?”

Bladedance shook her head. “I don’t think it works like that, but I couldn’t be sure. Only a Half-God could truly tell you what it is all about.”

“What about the Wine God? I thought he had the records,” Alex said.

“He does have old records, but how many of the Half-Gods were ever selfless enough to record these things in the first place?” Bladedance asked. “In a way, it was almost as if being selfish was the way to become a Half-God. Since you held dominion over an element, you had to be selfish enough to call yourself the best at it and never share that opportunity with anyone else.”

Alex nodded slowly. It made sense, given what she had explained. There was still a lot of information missing, so he didn’t hound her over any confusion on his part. She was already doing the best she could with her explanation of the whole thing.

“If we’re leaving tomorrow, then I shall make the preparations,” the Beast God said. “I shall also leave the two of you to talk among yourselves privately.”

Bladedance nodded and gestured for the Beast God to leave. Alex bowed as she passed by and went over to Bladedance, sitting down where the Beast God had been sitting.

He looked out, seeing the hot summer afternoon with many disciples working out in the open. As he glanced around, he saw Blueflake out in the distance, working together with the Cicadas. She was practicing her control over them even after 2 months. He wondered how well she had gotten by now.

“Have you used your new power yet?” Bladedance asked from the side.

“Not really,” Alex said. “I’m still waiting to gather a lot.”

Bladedance frowned. “You’ve done nothing with it?”

Alex shook his head. “The only thing I’ve done is figure out that I can use it to ask the Heavens some questions. I’m worried I will waste all the energy if I try something else, so I’ve been keeping it safe for now.”

Bladedance thought for a moment and nodded. “The other Half-Gods have more than enough to spare for some experimentation, so you alone are stuck without knowing what your power can do.”

Alex nodded. “Honestly, I’ve had the thought to ask the Heavens what my new powers can do, to understand their limits, but I worry I might waste my energy. Unlike the True God’s energy, I can’t be certain that not being able to get an answer won’t get my energy taken away still.”

Bladedance grew attentive. “The True God’s energy. Is it really all gone? I’m more fascinated by it than your Half-God status, really. To think you had the chance to become a real god. I couldn’t stop thinking about it while I cultivated,” she said.

Alex gave a rueful smile. “Sadly, there is none left. And what’s worse, I don’t think I can ever gain it again. I’ve lost what little presence I had as the True God, so now I am really just a Half-God. I’ve been demoted.”

Bladedance looked at him with a strange expression on her face, almost as if she were trying to hide her pity. She nodded in the end, moving the topic away.

“You mentioned something else before,” she said. “Something about your Soul Space changing.”

“Oh, yes. I added new islands to the existing island, so it’s now a bigger and better island. It’s not fully prepared, though, and still needs a lot of fixing,” he said.

Bladedance nodded. “Can I see?”