Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

When the 4th pill lightning struck down from the skies, Alex blocked it with a treasure he brought out. He could easily stop the 4th pill lightning with his own Qi, but he didn’t want to let people know just how strong he was.

This was a good way to do things.

After the 4th lightning, Alex dismissed the Pill Clouds, which faded away. Then, he pulled the pill out from the cauldron and smiled as it turned out perfect.

He had made this pill using the Golden Mind Chrysanthemum as the major ingredient, supported by the Nine Star Jewel Fruit, another major ingredient, along with 12 other minor ingredients.

The pill was a unique one. For the duration of the time when one ate this pill, it gave them a temporary physique. From a few minutes to up to a few hours—depending on the quality of the pill—one would get a golden body that made them a little stronger than their regular body.

However, that was not the end of it. For the duration of the time one did have this body, they would be naturally very resistant to mental attacks. Completely blocking any would be impossible, but what could pass through would still be weakened by a large degree.

While Alex did make the recipe, he worried if it would count or not. He had made a defensive pill before using the Nine Star Jewel Fruit, so if the Divinity said this was the same, it could be an issue.

He hoped that would not be the case.

He called the Divinity inside next and handed the man the pill and recipe.

The Divinity was certainly surprised because there was still a lot of time on the clock. But then again, he had watched the alchemist before him just form a pill cloud, so there was no point in being surprised that he was called in.

Still, he decided to do his due diligence and explain why this was wrong.

“Please remember that if you call us to register your pill before the final hour, you won’t have a chance to change it. This pill should be fine, but for the next time, please wait until you make the best pill you can make,” the Divinity explained.

Alex smiled. “Thank you for the kind advice, Senior,” he said. He knew that much himself too. But that did not mean he was going to stop, because the truth was, each pill he would make after this was no doubt going to form with a pill cloud. The chances of him failing were unfathomably low.

The Divinity took the recipe and pill and looked through it quietly. Alex waited for the man to make his decision, and even as he waited, he began thinking about what he could do if this pill wasn’t accepted.

What other ways could he change this recipe so it would be accepted?

Thankfully, it turned out he was worried for no reason.

“This recipe is accepted. Once this round is over and we have your opponent’s result, I will make the necessary announcement,” the Divinity said and walked away.

Alex bowed toward the Divinity as he left. He rested for a short period and then began anew to make more pills.

He still had quite a few hours remaining before this round was over, and he even had the recipe ready for the next round afterward.

With the recipe he just made, he would pass the Top 64 round. With the next recipe, he would pass the Top 32 round as well.

Meaning, the recipe he worked on now was for the Top 16.

Alex looked at the bracket he was in to see who he would come across by the Top 16. From what he could see, the only notable name he could be up against was the one alchemist named Eightsnow.

And the only thing of note he had done until now was rank before Alex during the first phase of this competition. If he made his way through the competition without failing, then he would be up against the next recipe Alex was going to make.

‘Let’s make sure he has hell to fight against,’ Alex thought and began working toward the 7th recipe without any delay.

* * * * * *

Time passed, and once again, the round was over. This time around, there would be no one skipping to the next round. Everyone had an opponent to go up against.

There had been three pill clouds during this round, a stunning sight each time for the audience. It was bound to be a cause of dread for many of the alchemists that participated in the competition, and yet no one was scared at all.

No one knew that three pill clouds had formed in the first place. Aside from just sights and sounds, the barriers surrounding the alchemists stopped all aura from reaching them.

This was partly to not distract them but also so that they wouldn’t worry about it while they made their pills.

There had been considerations to make the pill clouds visible for all to see, even if it did give them any minor form of inner demon. However, upon second thought, they had gone with the opposite.

Grayslash smiled just as the round ended. He had made quite the recipe this time around and refined it to an incredible level. Now, he just needed to make a pill with it, and that was the easiest of all.

He looked up at the brackets and saw Alex’s name. He had known from the start that he was going to be his opponent, but he had seen the man’s result before this round.

His pill last time had barely been in the 80s range. No matter how good he was at making pills, if the recipe wasn’t good, he wouldn’t get far.

‘I can do it.’

Grayslash was confident. Part of that confidence came from his own talent, and part of it came from his hard work. He, one of the greatest younger-generation alchemists of the Divine Thunderforge realm, would definitely make his way to the finals.

He began making his pill with dozens of formations working all around to aid him in this task. The recipe he had made was for a pill that allowed a person’s body to partly turn into lightning.

And at the speed of lightning, they could then start moving around very quickly. It was an incredible pill, if solely for movement.

Grayslash took eight minutes to make his pill and pulled it out with a wide smile on his face. It came out at 96%.

The chances that anyone did better than this were going to be very low. He handed the pill and recipe over to the Divinity before him and watched the brackets.

Alex’s name was still empty, but he saw other numbers pop up around. There was one person who had made a pill with 97% in the third group, but other than that, he had made the best pill.

“Your recipe is accepted,” the Divinity said, making Grayslash smile.

Now, he just had to wait for his opponent to—

Grayslash’s name flashed with a 95% next to it. However, at the same time, Alex’s name flashed too, with a 100% next to it.

Grayslash stared at the brackets for a long time, unable to believe what he saw at all.

“Did I just… fail?”