Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex didn’t keep Sunflare inside his Soul Space any longer than he had to. The man came out, still holding onto his strange expression, going over the things Alex had said to him just earlier.

Bladedance appeared outside as well, taking in a deep breath as she no longer had to shut herself down completely while inside his Soul Space.

”Are we done?” she asked.

Alex nodded. ”I believe so,” he said, looking toward Sunflare.

Sunflare glanced back. ”Yes, we do not have anything else to request at this very moment. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to see our god again.”

”That is fine. Although, I do question what it will take to prove to you all that I really am the Sun God,” Alex said.

Sunflare let out a slight chuckle. ”Listen, young man. We do believe that you have the Sun God’s body. That does not make you the Sun God. The Sun God is capable of controlling Heaven and Earth. You will never have that strength even if you become a Celestial.”1

Alex wanted to argue that point and show him something using his Primordial energy, but all that would do at this moment was maybe introduce some doubt inside the obstinate heart of this old man and leave him defenseless whenever the Fire God made it here.

”If you truly were the Sun God, you would not need to announce it yourself. The world would do it for you,” Sunflare said.

Alex had no arguments for that. He kept his mouth shut.

”You two may return now,” Sunflare told the Divinities, who quickly bade farewell and left.

Bladedance turned toward Alex.

”We should head out as well.”

Alex nodded, and they left the courtyard. As always, Sunflare followed behind.

Along the way, Alex turned toward the old man, something from before crossing his mind again. ”Senior, you said that you cannot talk about your oath to anyone but your seniors, right?” he asked.

”I did,” the man said. ”Why do you ask?”

”Well... since you are a Celestial, I was wondering if there were other Celestials in the Nine Yang Court that are your seniors,” Alex said.

”The Nine Yang Court consists of two Celestials other than me, but I wouldn’t consider either one my senior. Our cultivation bases aren’t so different that we consider any one of us a senior.”

Alex blinked. ”Well... then who do you discuss these truths that you’ve learned from your Court with?”

”Nobody. I have no senior, so I can talk to no one about it,” he said.

Alex blinked. ”Wait, so there is no way to get that information out of you?”

Sunflare shrugged. ”That is my oath.”

Alex didn’t know what to say.

Bladedance turned her gaze toward Sunflare as well. ”I assume your juniors have the same oath. And they can talk to you about it, their senior.”

”They do,” Sunflare said. ”But you need to have reached a certain cultivation base to learn what I have learned. So most of them will not be helpful with what this young man wants.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. ”So, only a scant few know of the different forms of the Sun God even in the Nine Yang Court.”

Sunflare hesitated slightly before giving a soft nod. ”You could say that.” He did his very best not to confirm it.

”I also had another question,” Alex said. ”What does the Nine Yang refer to?”

Sunflare narrowed his eyes, looking around. ”Is it not obvious?” he asked.

Alex shook his head, turning to his master. ”Is it obvious?”

”I have no idea. I never thought it had much meaning anyway,” she said.

Sunflare looked between the two. ”It’s the Yang Daos,” he said. ”You do know how many there are, don’t you?”

Alex blinked. He lowered his head quickly, counting through them all. ”Wait, so Nine Yang means the nine Yang Daos?”

”That is what the name refers to, yes. The Nine Yang Tree is a tree of pure Yang that consists of all the Yang Daos,” he explained.

Alex had at no point even considered that to be the case. He was surprised at just how simple that explanation was.

”So, what was that about the First Yang and the Last Yang?” Alex asked.

”The First Yang is Creation, the Dao of Life. The Ninth Yang is Destruction, the Dao of Purging,” the man explained. ”All Nine Daos form the True Yang Dao, which is perfection itself.”

Alex quietly rubbed his chin in thought. That was something, alright. Now that he thought about it, a lot of the prayer did refer to the various Yang Daos. Illusion, Vitality, Radiance, Light. These were all the various Yang Daos.

”I see,” Alex said finally. ”I will need to learn all of these Daos then.”

”Yang Daos are not so easy to learn, but I do wish you luck should you wish to try. With your spirit root, you may have the best chance out of all of us.”

Alex thanked the old man. After visiting the tree, he had grown considerably more mellow in his words. He was no longer as haughty as Alex had previously felt he was. Though Alex’s earlier threat before he entered the workshop may have had something to do with that as well.

”One last thing,” Alex said. ”What do you mean when you call your God Creator and Destroyer? Does it have any meaning beyond the obvious one?”

The man gave a confused look at that question. ”What other meaning would it have? The Sun gives life, and the Sun takes it away.”

Alex sighed a little. So it was only coincidental then that he was called the Destroyer. He supposed he was reading too much into it. What Starsight called him wouldn’t be the same thing that the people of the Nine Yang Court called their god, after all.

After walking for a short while, they finally arrived before the palace once again.

Bladedance’s eyes narrowed, and she nodded slowly. ”They are still here. You ready?”

Alex nodded and walked in.

don’t read too much into the ’earth’ here.