Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

They continued drifting in the sea while hours passed. From time to time, they would see tall pillars hidden in the fog close by that appeared to grow out of the sea floor, going up to the sky.

They questioned what it was but never got an answer.

As a few more hours passed, Bladedance began frowning. They waited for a while longer just to see if she was perhaps mistaken, but as the surroundings remained the same, she had to ask.

“Can you still sense the Time aura?” she asked Alex.

Alex nodded.

“Has anything changed?” she asked.

Alex felt the surroundings for a moment and shook his head. “It’s the same accelerated time,” he answered.

“Then why is it still dark?”

“Still dark?” Alex asked with a confused look before her question began making sense. He looked around, frowning, as the world remained dark despite the hours that had passed.

Outside, the night should have ended and the sun come out a long time ago. And yet, there was no sight here at all. Was it just because of the fog? That couldn’t be. There was light yesterday.

“Senior Guardian, is the sun not out yet?” Alex asked him.

“It is out,” the Guardian Tiger answered.

“Then… Why is it still dark?” he asked.

“Because, you are in its shadow.”

“Its… shadow? Shadow of what?” Alex asked. The others listened closely.

The cub turned around. “You’re about to find out soon.”

The leaf sailed smoothly for a few minutes before Alex and the rest saw another one of those massive pillars in the fog that grew out of the water. This time, they passed close by it.

As they got closer to the pillar, the fog cleared away from it, allowing them to finally see it.

The pillar had a ragged surface to it with uneven thickness throughout it. Alex was the closest to it, so he carefully laid his palm and swiped across the pillar, feeling something come along with it.

With his touch, he could tell the pillar was hard, but it was not made of stone or metal, but rather wood. It was quite cold to the touch as well.

He frowned.

“I think this is a tree growing out from underneath the sea,” Alex said, although he found it hard to believe it himself. “All these pillars must be trees as well.”

“Really?” Bladedance asked. “Is that where this leaf came from?”

The old man looked curiously at the leaf now that he learned about the tree. “Could a leaf this size really come from a tree of this size?” he asked. “The trunk is big, but it’s not really that big, is it?”

Alex supposed that was true.

“That’s not a tree trunk,” the cub said. “What you’re looking at is just a vine.”

Alex paused. “Just… just a vine?” he asked, turning back toward the pillar that had gone past them. “That was not a tree trunk?”

The thing was so massive that if he tried to hug it, his arms couldn’t reach all the way around. And it was just a vine?

“Just a vine,” the cub answered.

“The vine…” the old man spoke. “It’s not growing out of the sea, is it?”

“Of course not,” the cub said.

“But… we’ve been seeing the vines since forever. Where do they come down from?” the old man asked.

Alex looked up, imagining where the vines were coming down from, and just then Bladedance said something.

“We’re in its shadow.”

Alex looked toward the cub. “Is it… a tree?”

The cub smiled. “We’re close to reaching the land.”

A few minutes later, something giant appeared in their vicinity. It looked like the side of a cliff of the island they were to go to. The leaf arrived by its side, with Bladedance closest to it.

The leaf continued drifting without stop.

Bladedance touched the wall, feeling its coldness. The wall was a little too smooth to be climbed, so she was worried. “I don’t think we can climb here. It’s far too smooth to climb. We could maybe jump, but then I don’t know if the leaf can take that,” she said.

She took back her hand, annoyed at how sticky it was. She washed the stickiness away in the water below.

Alex looked at the tall wall and nodded. “Let’s continue ahead then. Senior should know what is a good place to land.”

The cub laughed. “Land? We haven’t arrived at the island yet. It’s still a few minutes away.”

The three turned toward the Guardian Tiger.

“What do you mean, senior?” Bladedance asked. “Is this not the island? Are there multiple islands? Is this an archipelago?”

“That’s not an island. What you touched was not the side of a cliff,” the cub said. “That is just a root. One of the many.”

The three turned toward the wall in surprise. “That’s just a root? But it’s massive.”

“So was the vine,” the cub said. “So is the leaf.”

“That’s the root of a tree?” Alex asked, moving closer to the wall. He felt it, trying to see if the root could perhaps help him gain answers to the tree’s identity, which the leaf and vine had failed to.

The tree was smooth to the touch, not similar to most roots he had come across. It was cold to the touch as well, but not too cold.

He tried to gain answers, but he got nothing. He took back his hand, disappointed.

As he tried to return to his spot, he looked down at his hand, at the stickiness. There had been some sort of layer on the root that stuck to his palm.

He expected it to be moss, but it looked clear with maybe a hint of brown to it.

“What is this?” he asked, lifting it to his face to smell it.

The old man looked at his hand at the same time.

There was no smell to the thing, so Alex tasted it instead. The moment he did, the familiar earthy taste filled his tongue.

His eyes widened at the realization of what he had just consumed.

“This is Elixir!!”