Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

The moment the woman took on her beast form, Pearl knew the battle had gotten serious. It had been serious to begin with on his end, but the woman had been more or less just thoughtlessly attacking him. She was so strong to begin with that doing anything else would be entirely unfair to her opponent.

Except, Pearl had exceeded her expectations, so now he would have to bear the full force of her might.

So yes, the battle had gotten serious.

The first thing Pearl noticed when the phoenix became her giant bird self was the rippling air around her. The air distorted with heat until it began combusting, truly burning like flames.

Then, as he watched, her bird body itself turned into flames and charged forward.

Pearl pulled his thoughts in line and attacked. Space between him and the woman shrank, giving him reach as his spear struck the bird.

Only, he didn’t. While his spear reached her, it went through her body as though he was hitting nothing. His spear opened a gap in the flames, revealing an emptiness inside where her body should’ve been. Pearl’s eyes widened in confusion as he wasted no time teleporting away.

As he arrived elsewhere, he immediately scanned the area in search of the woman, coming to the understanding that the phoenix had likely hidden herself somewhere else, sending forth a facsimile of herself in the attack.

It was similar to Alex’s trick of using his doppelgänger to distract while he-

Pearl’s thoughts stopped in his mind as he saw the fire reach where he was standing before, and from within it appeared the phoenix

again.

He stared at her with widened eyes, unable to make sense of what was happening. ‘I hit the fire. There was nothing there,’ he thought. ‘How did she…’

A thought came to Pearl, bringing more surprise. ‘Was she the fire? Had her body turned into actual flames?”

Pearl had no time to think. The phoenix turned immediately, charging at him again, once again turning into flames.

Pearl struck her again, only to once again fail at doing anything to her at all. He teleported away as she arrived where he was, the flames turning into her body.

‘Shit!” he thought as he understood what was happening now.

Pearl knew one could turn their body ethereal and untouchable if they so wished. He had seen it done by Hao Ya, the disciple of the human known as Senior Yang, and senior disciple sister to Ronron.

Her physique allowed her to turn ethereal. Could the phoenixes do the same with their bodies? Only instead of being ethereal, they turned into flames?

Scarlet never did that, but then, he had never seen her do anything.

‘And not every heavenly beast has the same combination of abilities, Pearl thought. ‘It’s completely possible that Sister Scarlet doesn’t even have these abilities.

The phoenix threw out flame arrows that Pearl dodged again. The resulting explosion caused Pearl to feel a deep sense of fear.

He turned around to look at the flames, seeing the red, blue, and yellow within them raging violently.

‘Phoenix flame,’ he thought with a frown. ‘I’m starting to be surrounded.

His momentary distraction allowed the woman to charge toward him again, her body turning into untouchable flames.

‘How do you fight something you can’t hit?’ Pearl thought with a frown as he teleported again. This time, he remained nearby.

The woman took her form and immediately noticed Pearl to the side.

Pearl’s attack was already underway, but even as his spear reached her, he could feel a dense air around her that was almost viscous somehow. He also felt the heat surrounding her, which was transferring through his metal spear.

Pearl pulled back his spear, moving further away as he watched her closely.

The ground burned where the phoenix stood. The grass went up in flames, turning into charred remains that then burned, turning into ash. And even the ash disappeared as it was burned away.

The phoenix had done nothing. She merely stood in one place; the flames around her were intense enough that she had to do nothing. ‘It’s so powerful,’ he thought. ‘It has to be a bloodline technique! The phoenix’s stance changed and she looked toward Pearl. “It’s not an artifact, is it?”

Her sudden question took Pearl off guard. “What?”

“Your teleportation. It’s not from an artifact, is it?” she asked.

Pearl took a moment to decide whether to tell the truth or not before deciding it wouldn’t matter. He nodded. “It’s my Dao.”

“Hmm,” the phoenix said. “I would rather I win this encounter, but if

we’re going to be fighting from a distance, I doubt either of us will win without the other one slipping up. And I don’t think that will be a fun

victory”

Pearl paused for a moment, not sure how to take this. “If you want to, we can stop. But we can also continue on.”

The phoenix seemed surprised. “Do you think you have a chance at winning?” she asked. “Without me slipping up, that is.”

Pearl thought for a moment and nodded.

The phoenix seemed surprised. “I see. So you are still hiding something,” she said, understanding Pearl’s words. “Well then, let’s see what it is that you can do.”

Her body turned into flames again, rushing toward Pearl.

Pearl waited for a moment, not attacking, letting her approach. Even if the phoenix no longer had a physical body when she moved in her fire form, it was still a body. And if there was a body, there was a

soul.

Sure, Pearl could not attack her body, but he could attack her soul. He waited until she was right in front of him and delivered his spiritual

attack.

He let out a bellowing roar as spiritual energy moved out of him in a

blast. It struck the incoming phoenix, making her flames waver. She did not return to her physical form until she arrived where Pearl had been, but when she did, there was a definite pained look on her face.

“Alright,” she said with a groan, looking at Pearl to the side. “I should’ve known a White Tiger would likely have that technique.”