Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

　　Shen Jing took Alex to the capital that very morning. He left after that but promised to come to visit frequently and even help train him.

　　If Alex were to fight against Shen Jing, he would need no one else to train against.

　　The princess stood at the front of the gate with her two male guards that were in the Saint realm.

　　”Your highness,” Alex bowed in greeting when he saw her.

　　”You are called Yu Ming, right?” She asked. 

　　”Yes, your highness,” Alex replied.

　　”Don’t call me your highness, call me Princess Xumei or you can call me Sister Xumei if you want,” she said.

　　”I think I will stick with princess Xumei for now,” Alex said.

　　Xumei wanted to get close to Alex just so she didn’t accidentally offend him and bring the wrath of Shen Jing on her family.

　　”Alright, follow me,” she said and walked in.

　　Alex walked in with her and watched the empty meadow on either side of the walkway as they went towards the Royal Palace.

　　The servants and workers bowed toward the princess as she walked in. Alex hadn’t read up much on the royal family, but he had read enough to know that she was the most important princess in the family.

　　Behind only the crown prince whose name he didn’t know.

　　As they went in, the princess carefully explained every single aspect of the palace to Alex. Where he could go, where he couldn’t go, which side the royal family lived on, where the servant’s quarters were etc.

　　Once she was done explaining, she took him to the back of the palace. The backyard of the palace lay beyond the city walls and was actually at the foot of a tall mountain facing the west.

　　The backyard itself was beautiful. Even as the princess explained everything, Alex was just in awe over the garden that lay there.

　　Different types of rare plants of all types of grades grew in there. There was also an empty area at the center with a massive pond where fishes of all types swam.

　　”This garden is beautiful,” Alex said.

　　”Isn’t it?” the princess said enthusiastically. “Our gardener takes good care of it.”

　　Alex wasn’t lying. The garden was indeed very beautiful, perhaps the most beautiful he had ever seen.

　　He didn’t see much value in the plants as ingredients as no matter how rare they were, the pill they made weren’t important, but aesthetically, they were marvelous.

　　”I would love to meet this gardener of yours and learn a few lessons of raising plants,” Alex said as he remembered that he really needed to learn about botany.

　　As an alchemist, cultivating plants and beasts for ingredients was supposed to be one of his talents, yet he knew nothing about it.

　　He didn’t even know where the seeds for most of the plants came from. Especially for ones that didn’t bear fruit.

　　”Alright, let me go show you your room,” the princess said and took him along. Alex saw his room and nodded to himself. 

　　He couldn’t have thought of a better-looking room out there. This was even better than the guest room back at the royal palace of the Crimson Empire.

　　”If you want to go anywhere else, just let me know,” the princess said.

　　Alex nodded. “Where’s the room I’ll be working in?” he asked.

　　”Um… we don’t have an alchemy room,” the princess said.

　　”Huh? Where will I be working then, princess?” Alex asked.

　　”In the guild,” the princess said. 

　　”You don’t have Royal alchemists or the likes?” Alex asked.

　　The princess shook her head. “We haven’t needed an exclusive alchemist… ever,” the princess said. “If we ever need a pill, we simply tell the guild. They have an exclusive agreement with us where we are prioritized if we do request for any pill.”

　　”I see,” Alex said. “So I will be working in the guild huh?”

　　”Well, I’m sure we can prepare a room if you truly require it,” the princess said.

　　”I don’t really require it, but it would be better if you do prepare it. After all, I suppose you will be taking in alchemists for the family after I am done here,” Alex said.

　　”I suppose so,” the princess said. “Alright, I will talk with old Huo later and tell him. For now, take this.”

　　Alex reached out and grabbed the talisman she handed it to her. Just from looking at the runes, he could tell it was a communication talisman that worked within a few kilometers.”

　　”I will get you a servant. Work along with him to gather ingredients and make pills. If there is anything important, you can message me directly,” the princess said.

　　”Thank you, princess Xumei,” Alex said.

　　”I have some work to do, so I will leave you now,” she said and left.

　　Alex locked the door and entered the room. With a simple scan of his spiritual sense, he realized that there was a formation carved into the room that blocked off senses from outside.

　　”Good,” he thought and spread his spiritual sense to the fullest inside the room. 

　　The guest room he was given had 2 more rooms. One was a bathroom with a big bathtub inside. The other room was a cultivation room with a small Qi gathering formation carved in the center.

　　”The bathroom first,” Alex thought and called out to Pearl.

　　”Woah, where are we, brother?” Pearl asked as he looked around the room with its massive size and beautiful white walls.

　　”We’re in our guestroom. Make sure to behave here and never speak when you are outside this room, okay?” Alex said.

　　”Okay,” Pearl said. “I miss mother.” 

　　”Me too, buddy, but we will go visit her from time to time,” Alex said.

　　”I hope so,” Pearl said.

　　”Right, I don’t know when I will have to start my work here, so we should finish our little task before that,” Alex said.

　　”What are we doing?” Pearl asked.

　　”YOU are doing something,” Alex said as he brought out the Divine Devil’s fruit. 

　　Shen Jing had already given one to his mother, and now Pearl was getting one too.

　　Alex prepared a bath, and despite Pearl’s insistence on not needing it, he made Pearl get in the bath and cultivate.

　　After Pearl was comfortable for a while, he finally made him eat the fruit. Not knowing what else he was supposed to do, he made Pearl cultivate even more.

　　There were numerous cuts on his body as Pearl cultivated, but Alex kept a steady eye on the little furball.

　　Soon, the white fur on his body was starting to stain black a little. 

　　As he waited, the white fur got even more black in some spots.

　　Time passed and Pearl kept cultivating. After finally 4 hours of cultivation did the black stuff stop coming out.

　　Alex had to already close his nose because of the smell, but when he saw that Pearl was done going through Mortal Cleansing, he told him to stop and thoroughly cleaned him.

　　’That was faster than mine. It probably has to do with age,’ Alex thought.

　　”How do you feel, buddy?” he asked.

　　”Amazing,” Pearl said. “I feel like I can jump really high.”

　　”Is that so?” Alex chuckled. “Alright, let’s quickly test how good you are. I need to go work soon.”