Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

The Wine God looked more like a wise and kind grandfather than anything else. His cultivation aura was barely noticeable, so that wasn’t the first thing Alex had noticed. Instead, it was his smile that showed even through his thick white mustache that covered his lips and the long white beard that hung to a point before his chest. His hair was white as well, falling straight behind him, barely standing out against the white robe he wore.

As an individual, he barely stood out among the other older individuals that were standing next to him. Compared to him, the younger Divinity carried a more god-like aura about him.

“I see. So you are the Dawnblade I’ve heard so much about,” the Wine God spoke in a soft voice. He closed his eyes and looked up as if remembering something.

“He brings darkness. He brings chaos. He shall devour the moon and sunder the sun. The world shall not survive while he lives.”

He opened his eyes, looking back down toward Alex.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Destroyer.”

Alex blinked for a second, taking a moment to realize what the man had just said. The thing he had said was word for word what the old Fateseeker had spoken about him. These were the words that nearly got him killed back then.

“What was that?” Bladedance asked. “Some sort of prophecy?”

“It’s what the leader of the Fateseekers foresaw regarding him,” the Wine God explained.

Bladedance looked displeased upon hearing that. “Don’t trust a word that comes out of that woman’s mouth. She was responsible for aiding the others to backstab me. Nothing she says should be taken to heart.”

“Well… two things can be true at the same time,” the Wine God said. “But I digress. You must remember my son, Wineshard.”

The young man Alex had mistaken as the Wine God earlier bowed. “It’s a pleasure seeing you again, senior Bladedance.”

Bladedance nodded. “You have grown since the last time I saw you, young man. You’re ready to take over for your father.”

“I may have caught up to him in cultivation, but I still have ways to go before I can replace him,” Wineshard said. “I can’t even amount to the other seniors here when it comes to wine-making, so I can only continue to work hard.”

Bladedance nodded.

“Let us not stay out here,” the Wine God said. “The hall has been prepared in anticipation of your arrival.”

Bladedance walked into the palace without much hesitation, with Alex walking behind her. Alex looked around the hallway as he entered, finding beautiful vases and flasks put on display atop furniture along the way.

They didn’t look to be made out of anything particularly rare or expensive, but the craftsmanship around them alone was enough to give them value.

As Alex found his eyes drawn toward a flask, he heard someone speak to him.

“Do you like them?”

Alex turned to find the Wine God’s son, Wineshard, walking beside him. He nodded quickly. “I haven’t seen many places that have such displays, so I was surprised to find that I like them.”

“These are my father’s trophies,” Wineshard explained.

“Trophies?” Alex gave a quizzical look.

Wineshard pointed to a flask as they passed by. The entire flask seemed to be made out of bluish glass with fish scales carved directly onto it. The neck held the shape of a fishtail, and two fins came out on either side, all made of the same material.

“This flask held the Demon Rinsing Wine. The day my father made the wine for the first time, he placed it into this flask. When the wine was used up, he put the flask here as a trophy for what he had achieved.”

“Demon Rinsing Wine?” Alex asked, a little curious what that was. Did it have anything to do with the actual demons?

“It’s a wine that allows you a greater sense of clarity when breaking through, thus allowing you a much sharper consciousness than you would normally have when fighting the Inner Demon. Thanks to this wine, the failure rate of breakthroughs among cultivators within the Divine realm dropped from 4% all the way down to merely 0.6%,” Wineshard said.

Alex’s eyes widened in surprise. “That’s quite the drop.”

“The Demon Rinsing Wine is one of the greatest wines my father has ever made,” the man said with a somewhat proud tone to his voice. “That wooden gourd over there is the first gourd to hold the Joy Bringing Wine. Whatever situation you may be in, drinking that wine brings a smile to your face and joy to your heart. Depending on the situation, it can be good or bad, but objectively, it’s quite the powerful wine.”

“Over there is the flask that held the first Soul Saving Wine. It’s a wine that can help heal spiritual wounds at a faster rate.”

The Wine God’s son explained the various trophies that were around the hallway, clearly showing his pride for his father’s work.

“You can stop, son,” the Wine God said after a while. “While our wines may be considered great, before an alchemist, they mean nothing. An alchemist is able to do much more than what we can do with the same set of ingredients.”

Wineshard nodded. “Of course, father.”

Bladedance chuckled. “Weren’t you an alchemist first, Moonspirit? That’s how you got into winemaking, did you not?”

“Of course,” Moonspirit said. “That’s why I know which is better.”

“People eat pills and drink wines for entirely different reasons. You can’t take the effort needed in one and use that to explain why the other one is worse or better. They are entirely different arts. And you are the best in what you do.”

Moonspirit smiled. “That makes me happy to hear, senior,” he said. “And I have decided to bring out one of my best creations in recent times for your sake.”

As they arrived at the hall, spreads of fruits and snacks already awaited them.

The Wine God smiled. “Shall we?”