Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex sat around in the room for a few hours, at which point Lingkai finally returned.

The tortoise came up from the door on the floor first, walking over to the right before two other figures climbed up through it. One a snake, the other a tortoise.

The two turned toward Alex, their eyes showing signs of surprise.

“It’s really him,” the tortoise said in a hushed voice.

“You really came! I can’t believe you made it here, Alex,” the snake said in a louder voice.

Alex paused for a moment, the voice so familiar to him. His eyes widened as he recognized them finally.

“Senior Luhei?!”

The snake’s form changed, turning into a beardless man with short black hair. Alex recognized his human form more than his snake form.

“Young man, it’s great to see you,” the snake said, stepping forward as he took Alex into a hug. Alex stared blankly for a moment before grabbing the man tightly.

He let go a moment later, staring at the snake’s body. “You’re…” he paused. “Are you alright?”

Something had changed about the snake since his time in the lower realm. He was far weaker than before.

“I’m… fine, I guess,” the snake said. “As fine as I could be.”

Alex frowned for a moment. “I remember brother Shen telling me about your mishap during your return. Apparently your body was destroyed. I’m glad to see that you got your body back.”

“Well… yes,” the snake said. “It wasn’t cheap, but I got it. We spent every single bit of contribution we had gathered in the family to get

my body back. And that too only got me so far anyway. What you see took me 300 years to get to.”

Alex was about to say something, but Lingkai stepped in just then. “I’ll let you continue your conversation later. For now, here is all the blood we have gathered. As well as the information you asked for. And these two will remain with you so you may study them as you need. So long as they don’t come out worse by the end of it all, we don’t mind what you do to them.”

Alex turned toward Lingkai and quickly bowed. “Thank you, senior.”

The tortoise nodded. “While you can take your time with it, please don’t take too much time as we’ve removed every individual from the Ancestral pool for the sake of your test. That is a request, not a command.”

“I will try to complete this at my earliest, senior.”

Lingkai brought out a talisman and handed it over to Alex. “The Matriarchs asked me to give this to you. Should you require anything, you can ask them directly.”

Alex took the talisman with a strange look on his face. He was getting direct communication to the matriarchs?

He was not the only one stunned by the thing. The other two beasts in the room were flabbergasted by what was happening.

Lingkai left through the door on the floor and it shut down behind her. The tortoise Luhei turned toward Alex with a strange look on his beastly face. “Why are they letting you contact the matriarchs?”

The snake gave a curious look. “What have you been doing since you left the lower realm?”

Alex smiled. “Oh, I have a lot to tell you two about.”

Alex’s tale of his journey during the past millennia and a half was something neither of the beasts could seem to believe. From nearly becoming a sacrifice in a demonic sect to becoming the greatest

alchemists the current generation of humans had, Alex’s stories sounded more fiction than truth. It sounded even more ridiculous when he told the two that he had been sent to the Immortal Prison Realm, and then downright unbelievable when he told them how he escaped.

“The Void? You left the prison realm through the Void?” the tortoise asked, its eyes wide in shock.

“You healed a Celestial and she’s now your master?” the snake asked in an equal amount of awe. “Not just any Celestial either. You said she was a Sword God?”

Alex smiled. “I came out of the void with my master, but I lost time in the Void. When I came out, it was already over a thousand years later. Then, we used the teleportation talisman we got from Pearl’s father, and then we arrived here. It’s been less than a decade since we came.” The snake shook his head. “And I bet you’ve already done something surprising if the matriarch herself has got her eyes on you,” he said. “Senior Yang always said you were so talented that you were likely going to become a god in the future if given a proper opportunity. I had my doubts at the start, but after everything I’ve seen since then, I don’t think I have any doubts now.”

Alex couldn’t help but reveal a grin. “That’s enough about me. Why don’t you tell me about you two? How have you been since I left?”

“Well…” the snake said, hesitant at first. “Not much happened really. I stayed in the mansion for nearly forever before it was our time to leave. I teleported out to the Northern Continent and hoped to survive the Heavenly Judgment that had waited for me, but I failed. I would’ve died had Bai Jingshen not saved me.”

The tortoise took over. “As soon as we arrived, our senior took over and saved him. They first helped his soul heal, and then gave him a body once it could handle.”

The snake sighed. “It’s been 300 years since then. My soul is as healed as it can be after so many expensive elixirs, but my body is lagging

behind, primarily my bloodline.” He then looked up at Alex. “But I’m told that you are here to help me with that. What exactly are you

going to do?”

Alex’s eyes widened slightly when he realized what the snake meant.

“Ah! So you’re my first test,” he said, a thoughtful expression on his face. “You’re the one whose bloodline I’m supposed to help improve.”