Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

“You… won’t be coming with me?” Pearl asked. “Why? What changed?”

“Nothing,” Bai Jingshen said as he got off the bed he was sitting on. “I never planned on going in the first place. Hence why it’s a lie. I had to make sure your breakthrough went well this time around. There’s so much pressure on you that I knew I had to lessen it somehow.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “I was wondering why they were going to let you go with us considering it is a trial. No wonder.”

Bai Jingshen smiled and turned toward Pearl. “Are you okay?” he asked.

Pearl blinked a few times before quickly smiling. “That’s alright, grandpa. I know I can’t forever be protected by you. And this is a trial I have to go through anyway. I don’t feel betrayed.”

Bai Jingshen sighed. “That’s a relief.”

Pearl laughed. “How long have you known me, grandpa? I know when I should be angry at someone and when I should be grateful. Thank you.”

Bai Jingshen couldn’t help but feel proud. He patted Pearl on his shoulders, a wide grin on his face.

“Alright then, we don’t have much time remaining,” Bai Jingshen said, turning to leave. “Prepare what you must in the next two days, and then we’ll leave.”

After Bai Jingshen walked away, Pearl turned to look at Alex. “We’re going somewhere?” he asked. “Don’t we have two more months before the trial?”

“We do. And I wanted to use that time to train my Blood Origin,” Alex said. “It’s a powerful ability I have, but I don’t use it often in my fear of losing myself to the bloodlust. It’s clear that I need practice to tame the bloodlust.”

“Not that I know if the bloodlust is even there anymore. If it is as I had hoped, then the bloodlust was a product of the Blood Devil being incomplete. As it is closer to becoming complete, maybe it is gone

now.”

***

The truth could not have been further from what Alex had hoped. The bloodlust had only grown with the improvement of the Blood Devil as it reached further and further toward the stage equivalent to Perfect Transcendence.

His body was longer now, crooked more than ever, with the ridge of his spine poking out of his crimson skin more so than ever. Two bat wings unfurled from his back-tiny for now, but sure to grow more later on. His fingernails were long and sharp, and the two horns on his head were already getting bigger.

The image of the thing that had saved the Artifact God when he was a slave flashed through Alex’s mind for a moment when the training had started, but he had soon forgotten about it, having lost himself in the fight.

The bloodlust was not a lot stronger than what he remembered, but that was after his own Spiritual Energy had improved drastically since the last time he used it. Comparatively, it was much higher than before, but somehow Alex felt that it was still not high enough.

It was possible that the lack of blood in the fight was what was keeping him from getting fully bloodlusted in that moment, so he could handle it.

Alex’s body became a red blur as he arrived before Bai Jingshen, the pitch-black sword in his hand coming down in an overhead swing. Bai Jingshen, now in his human form, shifted his body to the right, his fist moving toward Alex’s chest.

Alex turned his body at the last second, letting most of the force behind the punch slide off him, but still it hurt. Getting hit by a man

whose cultivation base and body cultivation base were much higher than his was not something he could easily walk away from.

The pain lessened a second later, by which point Alex had shifted the blade in his hand, swinging it sideways.

Bai Jingshen jumped backward, escaping the range of the attack, before sliding right back in to deliver a strong punch.

Alex couldn’t use anything to defend against that punch, so the punch put a hole in his chest, killing him instantly.

Alex regained his consciousness a second later, his Blood Devil flaring back in action. The hole in his chest had reformed almost immediately, the robe-like blood armor covering the skin in no time.

“How are you managing?” Bai Jingshen asked with a single look of

worry in his eyes.

“Just fine,” Alex said, looking down at himself and the sword. “I can tell there is bloodlust there, but it is within my control.”

“Good,” Bai Jingshen said. “Then let us push you some more. Start using your Sword Domain first, and then we’ll move to Daos.”

Alex nodded, white light coming to life around him and his sword.

With his Sword Intent active, there was much more his mind had to handle than just the bloodlust. As such, he could feel the bloodlust gaining an edge on him.

Still, he thought he could do it.

And so, the fighting began once more. First with just the Sword Intent and then later with Daos.

They stopped a while later, with Alex panting heavily, while Bai Jingshen looked barely touched. Aside from a few misplaced locks of hair on his head, nothing seemed out of the ordinary for him. “How close were you to losing yourself?” Bai Jingshen asked after they were rested.

Alex took a moment to concentrate his thoughts on what he had felt. “It became difficult,” he said. “I could still do it, that much I have no doubt. But I was more focused on wrestling over the bloodlust than I was with the fight itself.”

“You did become quite strong though,” Bai Jingshen said. “You could be a threat to a Divinity even if they use their Creation.” “Divinities are surely stronger than that,” Alex said. “More so, they have complete control over their powers. I don’t.”

“No, you don’t,” Bai Jingshen said. “But what strength do you gain when you lose control completely?”

Bai Jingshen lifted his hand and blood sprayed out from his wrist. “Let me see how dangerous you are when you give in to the bloodlust.