Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

A short span of silence filled the area as no one dared to come between the Patriarch and the ancestor Yueming. No one wanted the ire of two Celestials on them at once.

More people kept arriving in the center, soon creating a bigger crowd than there had ever been. Nearly all White Tigers, even those that had been in closed cultivation, were now being called over.

And slowly, there were now two halves in the crowd: one belonging to the purists and one belonging to the rest.

The Patriarch looked around for a moment, realizing things were getting a bit out of hand.

“Things have happened while you were in closed cultivation, yes, but I can assure you that things are under control,” the Patriarch said to Yueming. “Let us leave this place to continue our conversation, shall we?”

“We can,” the female Celestial said. “But in a bit. I too am curious about the Sun God after all. I have been since Wanzhen told me about him.”

The name got the Patriarch’s eyes to narrow.

Alex turned toward Bai Jingshen. “Who is that?”

“Senior Wanzhen is—”

Before Bai Jingshen could answer, another Celestial made their presence known as they appeared out of nowhere.

Alex stared at the newly arrived male White Tiger and realized that he had seen this beast before. He had been among the group that had arrived at the center island in the Sun’s Talon realm.

“That’s him,” Bai Jingshen explained. “He’s Caoyang’s grandfather, and… the Patriarch’s younger brother.”

While the new beast’s bloodline wasn’t as strong as the Patriarch’s or Yueming’s, his presence as a Celestial wasn’t something to scoff at. His arrival immediately caused an imbalance in power within the garden.

As Bai Wanzhen arrived at the garden, his eyes scanned the crowd before stopping upon Alex. Slowly, he lowered his head a little.

“If it isn’t the Sun God,” he quickly said. “Our palace is honored by your presence.”

Alex had a hard time telling whether the beast was being sincere or not. Still, he gave a slight nod in acknowledgment.

’So that’s how they knew about me,’ Alex thought. ’It was him that told everyone else?’

That made sense. But what didn’t make sense was their attitude toward him. If their information came from a Celestial that had met him, why were they still so doubtful of him?

Unless…

Alex stared at Wanzhen for a second longer, slowly coming to a conclusion that this beast itself didn’t trust who he was.

“Are these youngsters here because of you, younger brother?” the Patriarch asked.

“If you’re asking whether I sent them here, then no. They came of their own volition,” the newly arrived tiger said. “All I did was relay my experience to them and they made their own decision.”

The tiger then turned toward Alex. “You see, when I told them about you, they told me that you had been there the day 30 of our young White Tigers had died. Of course, you weren’t the one who killed them, or so we’ve been told by the Patriarch. But you were there, so these children have some resentment against you.”

“They are prepared to throw away their resentment, however, if you truly are the Sun God. That is what they came here for today, I believe.”

Caoyang and several of the other tigers nodded fervently. “We cannot possibly blame the Sun God for anything, so as long as he is the Sun God, we are willing to put away any anger we might have against you or your comrades.”

Alex narrowed his eyes. “Truly the Sun God?” he asked, looking at the Celestial Wanzhen. “Is that to say you do not trust me?”

“Well…” Wanzhen hesitated for a moment before continuing. “I have had some reservations for some time, especially after meeting the Moon Goddess, who I truly do believe to be the Moon Goddess. She had an air about her that made me believe she was a god deep within my soul. But… I’m sorry, I feel no such feelings from you.”

The others held faint smiles when the Celestial said that, as if taking that to be the truth.

The Patriarch hesitated and turned toward Alex, and Alex could see in his eyes that he too had the same reservations. He just hadn’t found a way to speak them out yet.

“If you can, please prove to us that you are the Sun God so we may move on,” the female Celestial said before anyone else could speak.

Alex hesitated for a moment before shaking his head. “I’m sorry, I am too new to this and too weak to do anything. I must decline your request.”

“Weakness shouldn’t mean that you can’t prove you’re the Sun God, right?” Yueming asked. “I’m sure the Sun God would know what is hidden behind the palace, right?”

Alex paused. “Hidden… behind the palace?”

“The Moon Goddess knew of it apparently. Do you?”

Alex froze for a moment as all eyes turned on him. “You’re speaking of the Architect’s design?” he asked.

“Yes,” Yueming said. “Can you tell us what it is?”

Alex found himself tongue-tied. He had no idea what the thing was. He didn’t even have the slightest hint as to what it could be.

What could the Architect have buried behind the palace? Some underground tomb? Another palace? Some sort of monolith?

What could it be?

Alex sent his senses toward the sky to try and connect to the Heavens as a last-ditch effort, just like Shumi had said she had done, but he could feel nothing.

The Heavens didn’t respond to his senses as he had no connection to the Sun God whatsoever.

“What’s wrong? Surely the Sun God isn’t so weak that he doesn’t know the answer to a simple question,” Yueming asked.

“Or maybe he’s not the Sun God,” Caoyang said loudly. “Yes, that’s right. He can’t be the Sun God. The Patriarch lied.”

The sentiment soon spread throughout the gathered tigers as each and every one of them started looking at Alex and the Patriarch as nothing more than a pair of liars.