Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Steelmind was fascinated after hearing about the World Tree. To think there was a tree out there capable of creating Qi out of nothing—such a thing sounded pretty much impossible.

Every other god was the same as him, asking more questions. Everyone understood that Qi could not come from nowhere, so they began trying to understand what the source could be.

Some wondered if it was some old, dried spirit vein that the tree had stored up and was now diffusing that Qi into the atmosphere. Some wondered if perhaps living people were being sacrificed to the tree to make it work.

However, no one really landed on any result. No one knew what the real reason was.

After some time, the Poison God asked the question that was on everyone’s mind.

“How strong is the Qi this tree is releasing?” she asked.

Everyone turned toward the Sky God.

“Plenty of Divine Qi, and some Celestial Qi as well,” the Sky God said.

Those words sent gasps flying around the room. They could not believe those words to be true, but the Sky God had said it, so it had to be true.

Steelmind had only just reached the Divine Domain realm some time ago, so he was beginning to understand the importance of finding a source of Celestial Qi very soon.

Even finding plenty of Divine Qi to sustain his level of Qi had become harder, but thankfully his workshop was built upon a giant Divine spirit vein, so for now, it didn’t matter.

“Are you sure?” a god asked. “Celestial Qi?”

“Yes, it’s confirmed,” the Sky God said.

“Okay? Then where is this tree?” another god asked.

“Still in the Forest Moon realm. We got there, but besides finding the tree, we weren’t able to do much. Our soldiers were forced to retreat,” the Sky God said.

The gods gave a weird look.

“And they left the tree there?” someone else asked.

“They attempted, but the tree proved far too strong for them to take away,” the Sky God said.

“How many are there?”

“Just the one. We’re searching for any information on the tree in our own records, but it’s looking like it might just be the one.”

“Where is the Wood God?” someone asked. “We need his help. I haven’t seen him in the past three gatherings.”

“The Wood God…” the Sky God hesitated a bit. “It is not official yet, but the Wood God is most likely either dead or will be soon. A new god will be replacing him in the near future, most likely his student, Wildvines.”

“How are we going to get the tree then?” another god said. “We have to get it any way we can.”

The Sky God nodded. “That’s what this meeting is for—to discuss options for how we can take away the tree from the hands of the demons.”

Steelmind didn’t feel like he belonged in that conversation. He didn’t know the first thing about the front lines of war and how much death a regular mission would take. The best he could do was suggest the use of some artifacts to contain the tree, but apparently, that was tried the first time.

The World Tree had a will of its own and could use its Intent to reject the use of any artifact. So it most likely needed someone strong to personally go there and take the tree away.

Nothing fruitful came out of the long conversation, but they did land on a few different ideas they could employ and would have to further see where they went.

After the council was over, Steelmind spent not a single second in the palace anymore and rushed his way to the Spirit Blossom Realm. He found his way to Steelheart’s sect, which he remembered was in the rural area of the continent. But when he arrived there, he was surprised by the sheer advancement that area had seen.

No longer could it be considered rural, as cities sprawled as far as his eyes could see, with Steelheart’s sect being one of the more important sects in that world.

Steelmind was surprised. The man had mentioned his sect doing a bit better than usual, but this was not what he expected.

His arrival was met with the sect master of the sect, a fully adult woman that had a strong resemblance to Steelheart.

Steelmind smiled. “Little Shen, you’ve grown quite a bit.”

Shen Yaojia’s lips drew into a smile, one that carried a sense of happiness at seeing him, and a melancholy that hadn’t yet erased away from her heart.

“It is nice to see you again, Uncle Steelmind. Thank you for coming.”

Peace still lingered in the Spirit Blossom Realm, and nowhere was it more apparent than in the disciples of the sect, each one of whom trained diligently with a naive but hopeful look on their face.

Each one of them had their own troubles and worries, but it all looked so small from where Steelmind stood. For a moment, he missed those problems. He too wanted to be able to worry that he didn’t have enough spirit stones to buy a gift for the woman he had fallen for.

Smiling, he followed Shen Yaojia as she took him through a tour of the sect that had expanded far more than Steelmind could have imagined.

The sect had previously been an ensemble, teaching bits of everything, but over the past 50 thousand years, it had changed to become focused on artifact making more than anything else.

Shen Yaojia’s talent in artifact making had improved the sect by leaps and bounds.

“You must’ve become excellent at making artifacts then,” Steelmind said as he walked.

Shen Yaojia paused and turned, flipping her hand over. As it faced upward, a crystal hammer appeared upon it, almost exactly the same as Steelmind’s own crystal hammer.

“It was all thanks to you that I’ve managed to do anything, Uncle Steelmind,” she said. “My Creation came from you, and so did all of my skills and techniques. The truth is, I wish to call you master instead, but…”

“But what?” Steelmind asked.

The woman shook her head. Instead, she put away her hammer and walked along. They arrived at a sacred region of the sect, housing the ones that had passed away.

It was a mountain of graves, and at the peak was the gravestone of Steelheart next to his wife.

Steelmind climbed all the way to the top, one step at a time, and stood before the grave of his brother. He didn’t know what to say to this man. Words seemed to leave him every time he tried to speak.

Both he and Shen Yaojia remained silent for some time before he heard some shuffling from the woman.

He turned to find Shen Yaojia bringing something out from her Soul Space.

“My father wrote this during his last days,” she said. “He wished me to send this letter to you, but I couldn’t trust anyone else to take this letter to you. So, I decided it would be better to give it to you once you had arrived.”

She handed him the letter, and once he took it, she silently bowed toward her father’s grave and left.

Steelmind opened the letter and began reading it, tears dripping down his face as he received his brother’s final message.