Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

It was expected of Renye to be surprised that the Sky God hadn’t taken away the World Tree from Alex. It was, in a way, the entire reason why Alex had to come here after all.

”Well, I don’t want to go into details just yet, but we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s much better for the tree to remain with me, rather than being with anyone else.”

”Really?” the man asked.

”Yeah. We talked about it in detail some time ago. It took some persuading, of course, but I succeeded,” Alex said.

”Well, then I suppose I have nothing else to say.”

Their conversation continued, now into more meaningless stuff. Meaningless though it was, Alex was happy to hear it all.

He came to learn that after the Sky God had taken her role after her master’s demise, he had been the first disciple she had chosen. It was understood from the start that he would not be her main disciple, as her main disciple would be someone capable of inheriting her godhood. Still, he was chosen for his skills and talents.

Yang Renye had been alive for a long time now, and had been there to watch through the ascendancies and deaths of several gods.

”You’ve met the first Alchemy God then?” Alex asked the man.

”I was the first disciple, so I was in charge of dealing with the guests in the palace. As such, I interacted with the Alchemy God a few times. He was closer to my age, so we were somewhat more than acquaintances. I would like to believe that we were friends, but I’m not sure if he would think the same.”

Alex nodded. ”That’s how you knew he had the 7 roots, but didn’t start with them.”

The man nodded. ”One of his greatest pills he made was one that could give a person spirit roots. Sadly, I believe the recipe for it is lost,” he said.

Alex nodded. ”I was told as much. There is a single pill too, so I could look through it to determine the recipe, but considering that I’m not in the Divine realm just yet, it was decided that it would be better for me to wait until then before I look at the pill.”

Yang Renye nodded vehemently. ”That sounds great.”

They continued their chat and slowly the 2 hours came to an end. With there being not much time left, Alex decided it was time to say his goodbye to this man. However, before he said that, there was one thing he desperately wanted to figure out.

Alex looked around the place, the grim atmosphere that surrounded this man’s living, and asked the question he had been dreading to ask.

”Do you want to die?”

Renye’s face froze for a moment, a strange expression appearing upon it.

”What do you mean?” he asked.

”This punishment you’ve been given. From my perspective, it’s worse than death. The Storm God proposed a similar prospect for me should I give myself up to him, but I believe I would’ve been at least given a better view than this. What you see here is... I can’t consider this to be any good at all.”

Yang Renye remained silent for a bit too long, letting an awkward silence hang between them that almost forced Alex to take back his words. But Alex held onto the silence, looking at the man as he waited for his answer.

A certain pleading look appeared on the man’s face as he opened his mouth to speak. However, just then, his expression changed suddenly, his face growing colder out of nowhere.

”No,” he said. ”I do not wish to die. I will keep living.”

Alex looked at the man, trying to determine if this was the truth or just a false bravado he showed him for now.

The man’s expression softened a lot more. ”This is my punishment for what I’ve done. I will accept it.”

Alex looked at the man with narrowed eyes. ”But you don’t believe yourself to have done something bad, do you? You stealing everything you did was justified from your perspective. So you certainly don’t like being punished for it.”

”No, I don’t,” the man answered right away. ”But that is not the only crime I’ve committed, is it? There is so much more I’ve done. Your ancestors. I was the reason they were all brought over. The chaos and deaths I put them through back then, it’s all my fault. And if that wasn’t enough, I sent millions of you out into the real world without a single understanding of the danger it possessed, and when you died, I sent even more. If nothing else, I deserve punishment for that.”

Alex remained silent. It was sometimes difficult to remember that this man wasn’t just responsible for making him a cultivator. He was responsible for bringing him to this world in the first place.

If not for him, he would have likely been born in the other world called Earth, in the land where Godkiller had fled to.

The reason he was here now was thanks to this very man.

Looking at it from the man’s perspective, he could imagine why he would consider it right for him to be punished.

”I... I just hope that you’re not holding out any hopes that you’ll be freed is all,” Alex said. ”Life will likely be even harder for you the longer you live on.”

”Then so be it,” the man said. ”I accept it.”

He stood up with a gentle smile on his face. ”You do not have to worry about me. Just worry about yourself and do the best you can,” he said. ”Give my best wishes to your friends and family. I’m sure Ronron can look after herself now, but do help Hao Ya if she needs any. She was an orphan when I took her in, and I fear she is like a daughter to me. As for the rest, I’m sure you’ll do what is right.”

Alex stood with a straight back.

”Thank you for your sacrifice, senior. I will not let it be in vain.”