Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex placed his refined star into the slot on the large stone slab. As the slab accepted his star, it spat out another star. Zi Mengyao moved behind him, doing the same.

Alex placed the star away and turned toward Su Nian, who watched him with a strange expression on his face.

”I thought you would do more to stop me,” Alex said.

”I was considering it,” Su Nian said. ”But I have decided otherwise. Would you like to join my community?”

Alex raised an eyebrow. ”If it’s just for a year, I accept. I have three more people who will be joining alongside me if I do.”

Zi Mengyao’s face was unreadable in that moment, her eyes moving between Alex and Su Nian.

”Not for a year. For many years. You can be my right hand and help me with it all,” Su Nian said.

”If it’s that, then I’ll have to refuse. I have no intention of being around this secret realm for too long. I only plan on staying for as long as my companions do.”

”Then your companions can stay here for as long as they need to,” Su Nian said. ”You can stay alongside them.”

Alex shook his head again. ”Staying at one location is just not our style. I’m trying to help them train, so we go around searching for all types of fighters. After a year or two of staying in this place, they will be pretty bored.”

Su Nian took a deep breath. ”I see. You only wish to go against my words then.”

Alex gave a strange look. ”I’m sorry, but you don’t really factor into my consideration for what I want to and don’t want to do. Anyway, I’ll be leaving now. If you are willing to allow us to stay here for a year or two, let me know. I’ll be returning tomorrow with my companions. We could either work together at that point, or you could oppose me.”

Su Nian said nothing. He simply looked away, not giving away his thoughts.

Alex turned toward Zi Mengyao. ”Let us leave.”

They walked down the hill and made their way through the region underneath the gazes of several hundred people, none of whom dared to stop them at any moment. They were far too scared to lose stars.

”You’ve angered Su Nian,” Zi Mengyao whispered once they had reached a little farther away.

”I don’t really care,” Alex said.

”You should. Firefang is one thing, but Su Nian isn’t an ordinary person. He very well could be the strongest person in this realm right now. He is especially dangerous because disciples of the Wandering Star Pavilion are trained to become extremely ferocious when they need to be. Don’t fall for his calm demeanor.”

”Ronron said something about that too,” Alex said as he kept on walking. ”But that’s still fine. If he wants to challenge me, he can. It’s not like we will be fighting under the conditions he wants.”

Zi Mengyao nodded after a while. ”If you’re lucky, you could get the same weapons challenge. Or maybe something related to alchemy or Daos. That would be very lucky for you.”

Alex nodded. He returned to Ronron and the rest and explained what he had done.

”So what do we do? Do we go?” Helen asked.

”We’ll go,” Alex said.

”Won’t the hundreds of people challenge us along the way? How are we going to get out of it?” Liz asked.

Alex shrugged. ”We’ll think about that when we get there. All we need to do is get to the center. After that, we can carve out a place on our own. If that doesn’t work, we can always teleport away.”

Ronron nodded. ”Alright, that works. When do we go?”

”At sunrise.”

Zi Mengyao stood by Alex’s side around dawn. ”Are you really going to try and invade his region?” she asked.

”Nothing more I can do,” Alex said. ”I’m sorry I couldn’t do more for your community. If there had been some negotiations, I could’ve put in some words about you, but... you saw how it all went down.”

Zi Mengyao held a weak smile. ”I’m glad you thought about us at least. That is enough.”

Alex gave a slight nod. ”I’ll see if I can change things still. Hopefully, he has thought things through and is willing to hear me out when I go over today, but I won’t hold out hope regarding that.”

”I wouldn’t either,” Zi Mengyao said. ”He is a stubborn man. He won’t change his mind.”

”Kind of like Father, actually,” Ronron said from the side as she walked up to them.

”What is that supposed to mean?” Alex asked.

”You rarely change your mind once you’ve decided something,” Ronron said. ”It’s not a bad thing. It’s just how you are.”

Alex shook his head and sighed. ”Are you ready to leave?”

”Yes, we all are.”

”Good.” Alex turned toward Zi Mengyao. ”Thank you for your time and aid, Sister Zi. If you ever want some pills made, you can contact me. I’ll be around in the Sky God’s realm for a few more centuries.”

The woman nodded. ”Good luck on whatever it is that you’ve planned.”

The sun rose in the distant horizon, and Alex gestured for the women to follow him. They left the area and soon reached the region right outside of where Su Nian’s people hid, waiting to ambush anyone who made their way toward the Marker.

This time, however, they weren’t hidden at all. They stood in a line, waiting for Alex’s group to come closer.

”That’s not worrying at all,” Liz said as she looked at the line.

”So many people,” Helen said with a soft sigh. ”I don’t think we can fight them all.”

Ronron turned toward Alex. ”Are we still keeping to our restrictions?”

”Of course,” Alex said. ”It wouldn’t be much of a training if you could get rid of it whenever you want. You will all stick to the restrictions and fight however many challenges come your way.”

”Now, let’s move.”