Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

The three members of the Nine Yang Court were all male, wearing bright yellow pants along with a yellow shawl that they wrapped diagonally around their upper half. It barely covered half their chest.

Their heads were just as Alex had been told, fully hairless. But he hadn’t expected them to have no hair on their faces or any other part of their bodies. They had no beard, no mustache, no chest hair. In fact, they didn’t even have eyebrows.

They were the most unique-looking set of cultivators that Alex had seen in a long time.

Of the group, there was a thin man of medium height up front, along with a shorter man and a taller man in the back.

Alex could sense the strength of the three men the moment they arrived inside the hall, with the man at the front clearly being a Celestial. The two behind his back were weaker than that, but they were still in the Divine Domain realm.

Alex had assumed they would be strong considering that they were one of the oldest organizations of humans to exist, but he didn’t expect them to have a Celestial among their midst who would come for this.

The Sky God stood up for the bald men, who looked toward her but didn’t bother to greet or even bow.

To anyone who did not know these men, they appeared very rude. But the Sky God treated this as quite normal.

Bladedance leaned next to Alex, whispering in his ear.

”They do not bow to any god but their own. Do you wanna try and see if you can make them?” she asked.

Alex wasn’t sure if his master was here to help him or get him into trouble. He quickly shook his head before turning toward the three.

The Sky God turned toward Alex.

”This is the Celestial Sunflare. His two companions are Daywind and Noonstar.”

Alex got up and gave a bow. ”Greetings, Senior. I am Dawnblade.”

The three men looked a little surprised by Alex’s greeting.

”Dawnblade?” the shortest one asked.

”Yes, Senior,” Alex answered.

”That’s a good name,” the tall one said. ”You must care greatly about the Sun to give yourself a name such as that. Do you wish to join our court? You won’t even have to change your name.”

Alex blinked for a moment, surprised that the first thing the group had tried to do was recruit him.

”I...”

He wasn’t exactly sure what his answer here was. To his own surprise, he didn’t exactly hate the idea of joining these people. Although, him joining them would have to be in an entirely different capacity than what they were expecting him to.

Bladedance spoke up just then. ”The people of the Nine Yang Court worship the Nine Yang Divine Tree, was it?” she asked.

The Celestial Sunflare turned toward her. ”Yes, that is correct. We of the Nine Yang Court worship only one god, and that is the Nine Yang Divine Tree. You may call yourself a god, but you will never be one, Celestial Bladedance.”

Bladedance gave a half-chuckle. ”You’re a little late for that. I’m no longer a God.”

The man raised a hairless brow in surprise. ”No longer a god, you say?”

”No, but that’s not what we’re here to talk about, are we?” she asked before gesturing toward Alex. ”You are all here for him.”

”Yes,” the Celestial said before turning toward Alex. ”I hear you have managed to find and bring back the Nine Yang Divine Tree that was lost in the lower worlds. Is that true?”

”In a way,” Alex said.

The three men narrowed their eyes in unison.

”What do you mean by that?” the Celestial asked.

”The tree that was left in the care of the Sky God has long since died,” Alex explained. ”What I have brought back is a new tree, grown from the seed that the old tree left behind.”

”WHAT?”

All three of the bald men shouted at once in pure surprise. Alex wasn’t sure why they were surprised until he looked toward the Sky God and realized that they hadn’t been made aware of the fact at all.

”A new tree? Are you certain?” one of them asked.

Alex nodded. ”Perfectly certain.”

”How do you know?” the other one asked.

”Because I was there when the old tree died and left behind the fruit that I acquired,” Alex said.

Sunflare’s eyes lowered toward the white marble floor as he slowly considered everything.

”Senior, is that possible?” the shorter man asked the Celestial. ”I have never even heard of the Nine Yang Divine Tree having a fruit.”

”Me too. I have worshiped the tree for millennia and millennia, and never has it once flowered, let alone produced a fruit,” the taller one said.

The Celestial remained silent for much longer, letting his thoughts shift around in his mind until he found something. Then he looked up.

”The tree does indeed have a fruit,” the Celestial said. ”In fact, one of the records I read claims that it was this very fruit that gave the Three-Legged Crow his abilities, making it the Sun Crow.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. The man was wrong about it being the Divine Tree, but other than that, he was correct.

”And it does bear fruit, but there can only ever be one tree, so the only reason it would ever bear fruit is just one,” the Celestial said as he realized the truth. ”The tree must’ve been dying.”

”Really?” the shorter man asked.

”Maybe it was hurt when stolen away, or perhaps the lower world didn’t have the nutrients it required. Either way, the Nine Yang Divine Tree realized it was dying. Our God was dying. So, to keep itself going, the tree produced a fruit so that it may live on.”

The Celestial turned toward Alex. ”You must’ve found the seed then. And you have now brought us back the tree that grew afterward.”

Alex nodded. That was more or less correct.