Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex was willing to spend ten thousand years of his lifespan only one more time, so he had to make it count.

He spent the next few days going through everything he had learned about the clouds and used everything he could to find any differences between the two. The more he struggled to find any differences, the more it proved that there were no differences.

Or at least, there were no differences he could see.

This third and final time would be the last chance for him to search for those differences. As soon as he failed to find any difference this time around, he would move right back to making Pill Clouds and absorbing the clouds from there.

It wouldn’t be that easy to start absorbing it all, as the cloud itself was still quite complex for Alex, but it would be a start.

“Ready?” Alex asked.

Shumi nodded strongly.

Then, Alex called his Immortal Tribulation once again.

As Alex’s spiritual sense reached into the skies, so did Shumi’s. Her senses connected to the clouds, and she quickly braced herself for the overwhelming amount of Intent that would be flooded into her. As soon as she took over the clouds, she began her two objectives. The first one was the simple one, which was to hold on for as long as she could. She had been taken aback by its strength the first time around, but after so many days, she went into her second attempt with far more preparation.

Shumi closed her eyes, letting the Intent affect her, but not letting it take control of her. She became a woven basket for the Intent to enter and filter out through the holes.

Her second objective, and perhaps the more important one, was to read into these Intents and see if they were something that came from the clouds themselves or from the Heaven that had given up its authority moments earlier.

With how strong the Intent was, it was quite difficult for Shumi to determine which of the two situations it was, but as she continued, she realized the amount of Intent was decreasing by quite a bit. If there was something creating the Intent, then it should not have decreased by such an amount. This told Shumi that it was indeed lingering Intent left behind by something else, most likely the Heaven. She held on for as long as she could, which this time was nearly double the amount she had done previously. Then, right before she felt she could not handle it any longer, she gave up her authority, letting the other thing return.

As it did, Shumi felt the Intent flare up and immediately overtake everything. This time, the Intent was far too strong to even compare

at all.

Not even her master could survive if he were to contend against the Intent.

Shumi was only beginning to realize the true might that was contained within the Heavens.

She staggered back as her senses returned, her face carrying a harrowing look. Just how much energy had the two gods been forced to expend to create it?

And more importantly, if the Heaven was capable of creating Intent, then… was it alive?

Shumi gulped as she thought about it all and just how impressive that made the existence of the Heaven.

Alex, on the other hand, hadn’t noticed any such thing as he had been focused entirely on the cloud and its makeup. He didn’t even notice the falling lightning bolts as they failed to do anything in the slightest

to his Divine realm body cultivation.

Upon completing it, Alex finally retrieved his senses and sat in complete understanding that the clouds were, in fact, the same. So, he could now focus on the Pill Clouds and be perfectly unworried that he was forming a weaker Creation.

He talked to Shumi, gathering their results together. After confirming with each other, they came to the conclusion that the lightning created by the clouds would have to be imprinted with an aura through Intent, so the cloud by itself would be enough for Alex.

After learning as much, Alex got right to work to figure out everything he could about the cloud next.

He began making pills again, studying the pill clouds each time they formed. Shumi stayed by his side, using the moment to tap into the Heavens again and understand it more closely, while also improving her own Intent.

As Shumi spent more time with the Heaven, she gained a better understanding of what it stood for. She had always heard from others that Heaven was unbiased when it came to how it did things, but nothing was more apparent now as to just how much truth there was in those words.

The Heaven was there for the balance of the world, to not let anyone get too strong if they did not deserve it. Shumi understood better than anyone else at this point that it wasn’t about squashing potential or stomping on cultivators.

The entire point of Heaven was to protect people. Not just from threats that could come from people, but rather from the apocalypse that would come in its absence.

The main thing Heaven did was maintain the gravity and atmosphere atop each and every realm. The moment the Heaven grew weak, the realm’s gravity would return to normal, and almost all realms would get crushed under their own weight as they formed into planets.

At that point, no person atop them could live.

The atmosphere, which protected everyone from being destroyed by the Sun, would also be gone, leaving everyone defenseless.

The Heaven was required to save everyone in this way, and for that to happen, the Heaven needed an ample amount of Qi.

As such, if someone did not deserve that Qi, the Heaven couldn’t

allow them to have it.

That was why everything had to go through tribulation, why Immortals weren’t truly immortal, and why if anyone tried to go against it, their only aftermath was death.