Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex opened the talisman and saw that it had some words written on it. Since it was written in the demon language, Alex could understand it quite easily.

[The Undying God is dying. How ironic. I can sense my spirit fading. Soon, my soul will move on to the cycle.]

[I have learned the Dao, but I believe I’m not strong enough to survive the advancement. As such, I leave behind my legacy.]

[If you know me, which I hope you do, you can find it all in this exact room. Please do not let the legacy of our ancestors created since the primordial times die with me.]

Below those words was a map with a location that located the exact position of the treasure that was left behind.

’The Undying God?’ Alex thought solemnly. Undying… that was the name of the house at the peak of the 5th mountain.

Alex thought back to the diary he got from one of the better houses on that mountain.

It spoke of a lord that had gone into closed cultivation because he took damage to the spirit. This was the young lord of the demon, who according to the diary was once ambushed by 4 humans and still managed to survive because he was Undying.

’So, he was the Undying God, huh?’ Alex thought as looked towards the door on the other side of the corner. The demon behind that was someone that was supposed to never die.

The Undying god never got to pass on his techniques, his legacy. The owner of that diary was quite happy when he learned it was going to happen, but it seemed that being in closed cultivation stopped the demon from doing so.

’His legacy… does it mean the thing that made him undying?’ Alex wondered. 

He thought of another piece of information he read in the diary. The young lord of the person whose diary he got had entered the Timeless Palace. Did that mean that he was currently in the Timeless Palace?

”Does that mean that time has stopped in this place? Is that why no matter how many days have passed, I still haven’t gotten out?” Alex thought. 

That made him a little happier. He wished his assessment of the situation was correct and continued thinking about the talisman’s information as he looked at the map.

The map showed a location with 6 mountain peaks arranged in a weird order. On one of those peaks was the marking that located the legacy.

Alex’s first thought said that the location was the secret realm he was in currently. However, upon closer inspection, he realized that the order of the mountain was a bit different.

The 1st mountain was closer to the 2nd than it was to the 3rd. The 4th mountain was very much larger than most of the others which weren’t correct.

The 5th mountain was very close to the 6th, which didn’t make sense to him.

’Is this a map to a different secret realm?’ Alex wondered. That was the only thing that made sense. After all, it was unlikely that during such an important war, there was only a single hiding location for most of the demons.

’So it’s not this place huh?’ Alex thought. His enthusiasm immediately disappeared once he realized there was no treasure here.

”Sigh, let’s just find if there’s a way out of this place,” Alex thought and pulled out another one of the talismans in the bag.

This one turned out to be a recipe for a healing salve that one could apply to the wound for instant heals. 

’Pills are way more useful than these,’ Alex thought, but he didn’t immediately discard it. Who knew when such things could come in handy.

So, Alex quickly memorized it and moved on to the other things. Most of the other talismans were also about medicinal paste.

Finally, Alex reached one that wasn’t. This too had something written on it.

[After days of experimentation, I have finally come across the information that will help me turn this technique of mine into a bloodline.]

[I have found the perfect specimen for experimentation. If I am successful, we will soon be able to save heaps of our members from needlessly dying during scouting missions.]

[I was successful in turning my technique into a bloodline power, and have managed to infuse it into the beast. I have since bonded with the beast, but I’ve left its descendant back in my house.]

[I hope someone finds the egg.]

”The Egg?” Alex’s eyes went wide. He immediately brought out the egg from his storage ring and looked at it with clear curiosity in his eyes.

’This egg holds the power of the Undying god?’ Alex thought with a hint of surprise in his eyes. His smiles widened as well when he thought about the fact that he had obtained this beast.

Now, he only wondered what it was exactly.

’I will find that out after I leave this damn place,’ he thought.

Alex sifted through a few more pastes and finally reached another talisman that wasn’t about pastes.

[If you can read this, then I am already dead.]

[I will die any time now. Even after coming to the Timeless Palace in hope that someone out there can find a way to cure me, no one has come to help me.]

[I cannot tell how many years have passed outside. If it has been years for even me, then it must be eons for the ones outside.]

[I do not know what has happened to the war. We were losing, but I hope we didn’t. Even if we did, I hope we weren’t eradicated.]

[Since I am to die, I will wait here for someone that holds the demon blood to take this Medallion of authority from me.]

[As such, I have removed the authority required to enter this place. Take the medallion and leave. I hope that in being the one with the most authority over the secret realms of ours, you will do some good.]

[I failed in helping us survive, but I hope you will do our legacy proud.]

[With this, the 8th Undying God bids his farewell from this world. I hope to reach the place where valiant warriors of the demon races go to after they die glorious deaths.]

[Goodbye.]

Alex stopped reading the talisman. His eyes grew solemn after having read the final words of a man who knew he was dying.

His death was likely slow, and maybe even painful. However, he didn’t seem afraid at all. In fact, he seemed to welcome death like a friend. 

”Farewell, 8th Undying god,” Alex said softly and bowed a little in the direction of the corpse. 

He placed the talisman into his ring and took the medal back out.

”So this is a medallion that grants authority over parts of this secret realm huh? I wonder what one can do with this?” Alex wondered.

Alex tied together the threads of the medallion and put them on his neck.

The moment he did so, as if a suppression field was lifted off of him, Alex could feel his spiritual sense roam freely all around him. 

Alex spread it all around to check every nook and crannies of the place. That was when he noticed something.

”What?” Alex exclaimed and moved his hand. A gust of wind followed his gesture with incredible force and it lifted the red carpet until it was clumped to the side.

Finally, Alex noticed something that was hidden beneath the carpet the entire time.

Runes.

Alex recognized part of the rune as part of another cluster of runes from something else. He had seen this part in the cultivation rooms in this very mountain.

Except they were less complex and different.

’Does this place increase time too same as the cultivation room?’ Alex wondered. That would make sense given where he was. 

But then, the name didn’t make sense. 

There was nowhere more time than the place he was at, so calling it the Timeless palace wouldn’t make sense.

The only time it would make sense is if the time in this place was stopped… or slowed down.

Alex’s eyes went wide and he quickly brought out the last talisman again. Then, he read one of the lines that he had simply read once without thinking much about it.

[I cannot tell how many years have passed outside. If it has been years for even me, then it must be eons for the ones outside.]

”Dammit!” Alex cursed. As it turned out, this place really was slowing down time compared to outside.

Then… if he had been here for 3 days, how many days had passed outside?

”I need to leave quickly,” Alex said and went back towards the runes on the circular stone embedded in the wall.

Now that he held the medallion, he knew that he had the highest authority in this place.

With that, he poured his Qi into the runes, and as expected, familiar teleportation powers engulfed him. Before he knew it, he was back out into the mountain top.

However, the teleportation powers didn’t leave him. In fact, they grew stronger as Alex felt something wrap around him from all sides.

He tried to push it back out of sheer instinct, and it even looked like he was successful for a couple of seconds. 

However, that did not last long enough as the power got stronger by the second.

Very soon, the stronger teleportation power engulfed him and Alex disappeared.

When the power finally left him, Alex found himself on grassy soil with the smell of water and salt all around him.

Finally, he was out of the secret realm.