Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Sometime along the way, a change was made to the rules of the secret realm that completely changed the dynamic of how everyone interacted inside it.

The rule was very simple.

If a person was in the vicinity of more than 4 other people for more than a month in a row, they were not allowed to challenge or be challenged for at least a week. They would still be charged for it, which would be 1000 stars every day unless they decided to pay 100 ahead of time.

It was a simple rule, but it brought on disruption that no one was really expecting. Hundreds of communities all around had to start breaking apart as they could not stay near each other for more than a month in a row. The fact that only groups of 5 could stick together encouraged people to go out hunting for stars instead of staying in the same place.

The change mattered little to what Alex did. His quest was the same regardless, after all. All it really did was give him more people who could challenge him all on their own instead of him having to fight them.

Alex went around fighting anyone he met, getting them to call him the Sun God. Many people didn’t care enough to agree to his terms, and for those battles, he was harsher, defeating them with more force. For the others, he was gentler, though he still won those fights as well.

Slowly, more and more people had to leave the secret realm, and before long, Alex was fighting mostly people in the higher cultivation bases.

As time passed, something happened that he hadn’t really thought of.

His title as the Sun God was beginning to make rounds around the secret realm as claims of a person who was strong enough to defeat anyone he fought against. Apparently, according to the rumors, he had fought with people such as Fang Xianhai, Han Yifei, and Su Nian and won.

If it was a battle alone, one of those was true. Not that these people would know at all.

”Could you tell me how you heard about my name before today?” Alex asked the young woman who looked a bit scared of him, despite his attempt at appearing gentle.

”News passes around. They said you have hundreds of thousands of stars to spare, and that you fight anyone and everyone, and defeat them,” the woman said. ”Is it true that you’ve defeated a Divinity as well?”

Alex could only chuckle and shake his head in return.

”I have defeated no Divinity yet,” Alex told the woman. ”I wouldn’t even know how I could possibly do such a thing.”

The woman shrank a little, though she did not show any sign of actual fear.

”Very well then. Thank you for the star, and have a good day.”

”You too, Sun God.”

After that small encounter, Alex saw several more people recognizing him as soon as he said what he wanted to say. In fact, some people recognized him even by his looks alone. Alex could hardly understand why he was famous at this point, but he didn’t really mind.

’I’m 3000 stars down, so I just need another 2000. And then I can leave.’

That was his only plan for anything at the moment. As Alex went around finding more challenges, time slowly passed. Another few years passed, during which time he earned more than a thousand stars. Now, there were only a few hundred remaining. If he could go around and find people he hadn’t fought yet, that would be great.

A few months later, Alex was walking through the desert when he came across a group of 4 people who came out of the side of a canyon. Alex saw the small group and recognized a few of them.

One of the women there was Lan Suyin, disciple of the Hidden Orchid Palace that Alex had met during his Dao Comprehension trial. Along with her were two other people he did not recognize, and Xu Tianle, someone else he had met during that time.

The moment they saw him, they immediately brought out something from their Soul Space and struck it on the ground. As soon as they did, a loud sound, no different from the continuous tinging of metal after being struck, spread all around.

Alex could only wonder what exactly it was that the group was doing, but he made his way toward them anyway. As he arrived close, he could see the slightly distressed looks of the two women and the 2 unknown men who were there with them.

Alex saw the robes of the two people and guessed that they were part of the Fang clan and the Luo clan. Beyond that, he knew nothing.

Just as he was about to speak up, his eyes moved to the far distance, where he saw some specks appear out of nowhere. At the same time, he saw another group of people coming toward him from the other corner of his eyes.

Alex took a moment to look at them and then turned around to look in all directions. As he suspected, more dots appeared around the horizon that grew to become people. They were all rushing toward this exact location.

Alex didn’t do anything at all and simply waited for the others to arrive.

As they came, he looked through them all. There was Jin Yuelan of the Jin clan, Fang Xianhai of the Fang clan, Su Nian of the Wandering Star Pavilion, Han Yifei of the Han clan, Zi Mengyao of the Violet Mist Sect, Luo Sheng of the Luo family, along with many other disciples from the various different sects and families all around the Sky God’s Palace.

As Alex waited, they gathered before him, one after another, for nearly 10 whole minutes before finally no one else came.

Then he walked toward the group and looked all around.

”This is certainly a fun welcome, isn’t it?”