Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

There was another burden placed upon Alex, one he created himself for Whisker’s sake.

Before the tournament began, Alex had created a pill by managing to copy the energy of the Fain Immortal Peach Lily. While he had only copied it, he now needed to improve it. He needed to understand what made the energy unable to be used in succession and then try to improve that.

Once he was done, he could use it to quickly improve Whisker’s cultivation base without having him cultivate at all.

Alex was going to have less and less time to cultivate his physique going forward, so this was the best idea he could come up with to help Whisker while taking the least amount of his own time.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t complete it by the time the tournament rolled around, so Whisker would have to wait until afterward, as Alex’s focus would return to the tournament for a while.

Alex arrived at Hardrock City a few days before the tournament. He was swiftly allowed inside after a few checks.

They arrived at the apartment not long after, and Momo quickly went to her room to continue her cultivation. She was close to reaching the Saint Foundation realm and only needed a few more months to break through. So whenever she had the time, she chose to continue her cultivation.

Alex found himself strangely indifferent about the tournament. Perhaps because he knew this tournament didn’t matter much, there was a sense of peace with this competition, no reason to try hard.

He would do his best nonetheless, as that might be the one way to help his master get rid of the doubt he had in himself. Even if the competition was entirely optional, Alex would still do his best here.

The city began flooding with more cultivators, surprisingly more than he remembered from last time.

Alex sat by the window sill, watching the people who made their way through the streets below. Many had come to watch the competition, and because of that, more subordinates of the Alchemy God were tasked with guarding the contestants.

There were at least three Immortal guards out there, with a Divinity watching over multiple such apartments nearby. No one in their right mind would want to harm one of the contestants in such a situation.

Silvermist walked by the window, the morning sunlight striking brightly against his short black-and-white beard. “More have come than last time, huh?” he asked.

Alex nodded. “The tournament is coming to an end after a decade, so more people must have wanted to watch it now. They probably believed it wouldn’t be fun to watch thousands of people do the same thing over and over again,”

“That is, of course, the case, but there’s also the fact that many of these people just arrived here,” Silvermist said. “Go and ask where they’re from, and I guarantee you two in five will say they’re not from the Medicine world.”

Alex involuntarily raised an eyebrow. “Do you think there are that many outsiders?” he asked.

“There have to be,” Silvermist said. “This is the greatest tournament since… well, I fear this might be bigger than the one I took part in. Those tournaments were popular, but only to see upcoming alchemists who could help in the war. This one, there is no such objective for anyone to come and watch it, and still, they do. This truly might just be the greatest alchemy tournament that has taken place in the past half a million years. Maybe even more.”

Alex couldn’t hide the shock from his face. “Has there been no other alchemy tournament bigger than this?” he asked. “Surely Divine realm alchemists have tournaments too, master.”

“Uhh… I wouldn’t call those a tournament. They are usually duels involving two alchemists and rarely any more. Divine realm is the highest realm a regular person can reach, so it is very unlikely for those people to take part in a competition,” he said, chuckling at the thought. “After all, who would dare judge the tournament?”

Alex supposed that made sense. Divine realm alchemists were certainly too prideful to take part in simple competitions. Even those duels would mostly be for show unless their name was at stake.

Alex looked down as the staff began clearing up space by opening a small gap in the road through which only certain people would be allowed to pass.

“Well, I should be leaving now, master,” he said. The time for the competition had come.

Silvermist nodded. “Good luck.”

Alex left.

He walked down the open gap in the road, watching the people who were forced to make way for him. Many looked at him, most seemingly not recognizing him. Only a few seemed to know exactly who he was and gave quick nods in greeting.

Alex greeted back with a nod as well.

‘So, there are indeed more newcomers than not,’ Alex thought. He wondered for a moment if he was perhaps overestimating his own popularity in the tournament. He soon concluded that it was a mix of both.

He met up with Aethersage and Jai Heiyun along the way, who had been waiting for him, but he failed to see Killersky anywhere.

“Do we wait for her?” Alex asked the two.

“Sure, but for how long?” Aethersage looked around. “We might have to leave soon.” Discover stories with empire

Jai Heiyun pulled out her talisman to contact Killersky, but she received no response. “Let’s just wait. She might be busy cultivating or something.”

The three waited by the road for an hour, but even as the minutes passed, there was no sign of Killersky anywhere.

“We can’t wait for her much longer,” Aethersage said finally. “If we wait too long, we might get disqualified.”

Alex agreed. “Yes, we should leave now.”

The three left without Killersky and arrived at the park, through which they were teleported into the secret realm inside.

And again, as every other time, the secret realm was different from the last.