Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

”Are you really a healer?” Bluedoor asked with a somewhat skeptical look on his face.

”I am indeed, senior.”

”And an alchemist?” Wildgust added.

”That too,” Alex said.

Bluedoor narrowed his eyes. ”What would you consider yourself to be if you could only choose one?” the man asked.

Alex didn’t immediately answer. He took his time coming up with the perfect response. After a brief second, he opened his mouth to answer.

”In a situation like that, I would consider the question itself invalid.”

”Invalid?”

”What do you mean?”

Both the husband-and-wife duo seemed more curious than anything to hear his thought process. Ronron stood to the side, clearly not expecting such a response from her father.

Alex gave his explanation.

”An alchemist without any knowledge of the human body cannot be called an alchemist. They are merely people who have happened to learn how to make pills. They cannot dare claim that title.”

”In a similar way, a healer who understands the human body but has no means to deal with the issues it suffers is also a complete waste.”

”Being an alchemist and a healer just means getting better at the same task. As a result, if you were to ask me to pick either of them, I can’t. I am both at once.”

The three stared at him for a long moment before the wife opened her mouth.

”An alchemist is more than just someone who deals with the human body. Pills have many uses after all, and not all have to do with the human body,” she said.

Alex thought for a moment and nodded. ”My apologies. I should have been more clear. I shouldn’t have claimed only humans, but also beasts as well as demons. Let me revise my statement. An alchemist and healer both deal with living beings, so they can only be the same.”

”No, no,” the husband added. ”While being a healer does have everything to do with healing living beings, an alchemist is more than that. Surely you know there are pills that don’t involve people.”

”I do,” Alex said. ”But I consider them to be nothing more than failures. If a pill is to be considered one, then someone living must be able to consume it. That is the sole criteria.”

”That’s not true at all,” the woman quickly said. ”I have recipes for pills that have absolutely nothing to do with humans at all. My Lightning Bud Pill can create thunderous attacks on anything it lands upon.”

Alex nodded only twice before he understood where the woman was likely coming from. ”I have never heard of this Lightning Bud Pill, but may I guess that it has something to do with overloading the pill with lightning energy and pushing it to a volatile state where the first sign of agitation causes it to explode with power?”

”That is indeed correct,” Wildgust said. ”You must know of other pills like that.”

”I do,” Alex said. ”May I ask you a question then?”

”Sure.”

”If you make a healing pill, but you end up failing and the pill explodes on you, do you consider the pill a success?” he asked.

”No, that’s a clear failure.”

”Then how is it different from your Lightning Bud Pill?” Alex asked.

”Because that’s the intention behind the pill,” the woman said, as it was quite obvious after all.

”So you intended for the pill to fail, so it may explode.”

”Yes.”

”And the pill successfully fails each time.”

”Yes. No, wait. Why do you keep saying the pill is failing?” she asked.

”Because that’s how pills work, don’t they?” Alex asked. ”You are using the volatility of the energy between the ingredients to establish an expected failure. That’s how the pill works.”

”Yes…”

”So that’s a failure,” Alex said. ”A successful pill is always stable after all. And no pill that is stable can be used in any way other than by a living being, can it?”

The woman’s mouth opened multiple times to say something, but each time her words stuck in her throat. Alex’s words were just so true that she couldn’t help but consider that she may have been going about it wrong the entire time.

Alex found the argument to be rather easy. After all, it was the sole basis of his Axiom. If anyone could come around and destroy his personal truth so easily, then it wouldn’t have been his truth.

”That’s surprising,” Bluedoor said with no small hint of surprise. ”This is the first time I’m seeing my wife concede in an argument. I can’t remember the last time she has ever backed off.”

Wildgust gave a sharp glare toward Bluedoor. ”That’s because you’ve never made an argument that holds water. There’s always an issue with them.”

”My arguments are always valid. You are the one that keeps adding nonsense to make them sound untrue even when they aren’t,” the husband fought back. ”Even just now, you were clearly wrong and yet you continued arguing against me.”

”I was right. I am right. You just refuse to see it because you consider alchemists to be lesser than healers,” she fought back.

”No, I am right. You are clearly wrong,” Bluedoor shouted loudly again as though he had already forgotten that someone was standing before them. They continued their argument from before, so Alex and Ronron could only remain to the side, watching it all unfold.

Alex listened to their argument, taking in what they were saying. Slowly, he learned what the argument was about.

Their argument was surprisingly about the human brain.

If one were to take the brain of a cultivator and place it into the head of another cultivator in a successful brain transplant, would the second cultivator remain himself, or would he become the first one?

The husband argued that because the brain held the memories of a person, it would mean that the second cultivator was now the first one.

However, the wife argued that because the second cultivator was an Immortal whose entire body was a spirit, that spirit would overtake the brain, thus keeping the second cultivator the same.

Alex raised his hand. ”I think I have an answer.”