Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Silvermist was happy to see his disciple immediately think of ways to figure out how to learn the Dao of Alchemy. As he said, finding the aura of the Dao of Alchemy was indeed the easiest way to learn the Dao of Alchemy. Only…

“Do you think I haven’t searched for it?” Silvermist asked.

Alex took a moment to consider and pulled back his excitement about learning about Daos. “Right, with all that you know, you should have tried searching for it already,” he said. “Did you fail to find it?”

“How do you find it?” Silvermist asked in return.

Alex wasn’t expecting an answer like that. “Well, you just…” He stopped and thought things through. He was about to say that one could just go around realms and find it there, but if things were so easy, his master would’ve found it already. The fact that not many had meant that it was very rare.

“There would be little to no record of the Dao of Alchemy,” Alex said softly. “No one knows what the aura feels like, so no one can tell you when you do finally end up with it.”

Silvermist nodded briskly. “It’s hard to search for something when people don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

“Can you sense it, master?” Alex asked. “I wonder if I understand the Dao of Alchemy at all. Is my Intent at all honed toward that aura?”

“You probably do,” Silvermist said. “But you have been so aligned with it that you don’t recognize it clearly. I do fear it is still very weak as an aura, despite your abundance of knowledge on the topic.”

Alex nodded.

Silvermist took in a deep breath, thinking about all the times he had left this place to search through the many realms. There was but one place he had yet to search, but to go there, one needed to find a ticket.

He could’ve taken it from Snowleaf last time, but that would’ve been wrong. He released the breath he held as a sigh after thinking of the time.

“It’s also not an aura that just exists, you know,” Silvermist continued explaining. “As you said, Alchemy is not natural, and you can’t just find its aura without someone creating it for others. And yet, there has been no such alchemist present in a long time, if there ever was one.”

“What about the Alchemy God?” Alex asked.

“Which one?” Silvermist asked.

Alex thought for a moment and shrugged. “Any.”

“I’ve been to God’s Origin and the Inheritance site in Wineweed City too many times to know they don’t have any,” Silvermist said. “The other Alchemy Gods ended up dying too early, in my opinion, to have ever gotten close to learning the Dao of Alchemy. If they did, they didn’t leave behind any aura.”

“What about the current one?” Alex asked.

Silvermist leaned back on the couch, scratching his eyebrow as he answered. “I don’t know if he knows it or not. If he does, he hasn’t shown it to me,” he said.

“I do intend to ask him about it soon. If he knows anything about the Dao, I’m going to ask him for guidance. If he doesn’t know anything, then I might just try and learn if anything exists beyond pill souls. Maybe I’m just punishing myself with these thoughts for no reason.”

“Would the Alchemy God know?” Alex asked. “I mean, if he has the Dao of Alchemy, sure, he can tell you the truth. But if he doesn’t, how would he tell you anything?”

“He’ll have read records of the past. As a god, he has access to places that I do not. Records left behind by the other gods and old organizations around the human world,” Silvermist said with a shrug. “He loves Alchemy as much as the next alchemist. He’ll have learned all of this as soon as he was allowed to.”

Alex could see the truth in his master’s words. If he ever did become someone of such great status, he too would use his advantages to learn more about what he pursued, assuming what he learned didn’t harm him in return.

He looked back at his master and saw a hopeful look on his face. Never before had he seen his master this… vulnerable. He had shown his disciple his worries, and that meant a lot to Alex.

“I do not know whether the Alchemy God knows the answer or not, but we’ll find it soon, master,” Alex said, his words a promise. “I will win this tournament for you so you may get your answers.”

Silvermist found himself feeling an emotion of great pride, pride in his disciple. He smiled and said, “I would rather you win it for yourself. Don’t you have anything you want after winning?”

Alex tried to speak, but he found himself without an answer. That was surprising. What did he want? He wanted to win, to get his face and name spread all around, mostly just in case his family hadn’t reached the Sky God’s realm yet.

But that would come with winning the tournament. What his master asked for was after that. What did he want after winning?

Alex was surprised to be unable to come up with any proper answers. Of course, there were the ‘rare ingredients’ and ‘rare recipes’ that he could ask for, but that was so simple. What could he really ask for that could help him improve his Alchemy?

“Would it be too bad if I asked for his book?” Alex asked his master in the end. There was so much he could do with that book, even if he got it just for a month or so.

Silvermist didn’t seem to realize that he wasn’t joking and simply said, “Of course, there’s no issue. He’ll give you the thing that helped him become the Alchemy God. Who wouldn’t want to let go of their most prized treasure?”

Alex could hear the sarcasm drip in thick blobs from his master’s words. He could only give an awkward grin in return.