Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

With the 5 simpler prophecies out of the way, Alex moved on to the bigger ones.

“These 3 were the ones I heard first from the well, back when I had only just broken through to the Saint Realm,” he said. “I never trusted it back then, but…”

He pursed his lips for a moment, taking a deep breath. “Anyway, the first one is perhaps the least vague of the three. It says: When two unworthy hands meet a stone, the Truth shall reveal itself.”

“Two unworthy hands?” Bladedance asked, her eyes raised slightly. “Your hands?”

“Both could be mine, or only one could be mine and the other could belong to someone else,” Alex said. “While it may be the least vague of the three, it is still very vague.”

“Hm… I can’t even begin to imagine what this prophecy could be speaking of,” the Wine God said. “Are we certain it can be trusted? You did say the well gave away prophecies, so there should have been many people who used the well. That should have depleted whatever energy it was that was used to run it. It was, after all, a lower realm.”

Bladedance seemed to agree with it.

“That’s not possible,” Alex answered. “The Divination God claimed that the wells were created to give prophecies about someone important. The only ones who got a decent prophecy would be someone who was related to this important person. I did ask if I was this person by any chance, but the Divination God didn’t give me a concrete answer back then. He said it could be me, or it could be someone else in that realm.”

Alex could easily understand now that the Divination God was likely talking about Shumi. Since she was in the same world as him, both a possible vessel for the rebirth of the True Gods, it could have been either of them.

That was why he wasn’t certain.

As for the prophecy itself, he was certain that it had already come true. Back in the Sun’s Talon Realm, it was their two hands that had come together to blow open a hole in the rockface mountain, leading to the hill inside where the True God’s corpses lay—the Truth.

Since he already knew about this, he chose not to bring it up in discussion, at least not with the Wine God present. He could always pass it along to Bladedance afterward if she cared enough to wonder about it.

The Wine God pulled on his long white beard, seemingly in thought. “If the Divination God had any influence in this, even with the well, then we will have to trust it as one of his prophecies. As such, there should be a lot of truth to it all. Two hands meet a stone… I shall look forward to learning if you encounter such a situation in the future.”

Alex nodded, saying nothing else.

Bladedance gave up on finding anything else about it as well, and sighed. “Alright, go on. What’s the second prophecy?”

“You hold the Key to a Fallen power. You shall help restore that power, and that shall be your death,” Alex said, every word carrying a tone that made it clear how much he hated this prophecy. “This prophecy speaks of my death, which is one of the reasons why I hate prophecies in general. If I’m to trust any of them to be true, then I have to accept that I will die in the future. It’s also not that I will die after I help someone or something, but that the act of helping itself will be my death.”

Bladedance remained silent, considering the prophecy as well as Alex’s rant with an open mind.

The Wine God did the same, nodding slowly as his eyes started losing themselves in thought.

Alex waited for either of them to speak, and when they didn’t, he spoke up.

“I’ve had multiple close calls for this in the past, a lot of which have made me think it might have been those moments this prophecy was for. But each time, I come out on top, so I don’t know whether to believe that I have beaten the prophecy or if those events had nothing to do with it.”

“What events are you talking about?” Bladedance asked.

Alex thought for a moment, going through everything that had happened to him.

“Let’s see.”

He gave a brief explanation about each of the situations where the prophecy had nearly come true.

There was Xue Kuangren, the Mad Immortal, who needed his help to heal himself enough to start cultivating again and break through to the Immortal Realm. He had nearly died to that man.

There was Scarlet, who required him to return to the Southern Continent from the Wasteland, thus regaining her cultivation and her throne. He had nearly died there, trying to save his father.

Then there was his cousin, who had been poisoned. Trying to save her had nearly led him to meet his end at the hands of the Dragon Emperor.

The Dragon Emperor himself was another such figure, who he had given the secret to his alchemy skills, helping him rise, while the man raised an army against him. He too had nearly died in that war.

Bladedance herself was such a figure as well. He had nearly died in the process of returning her senses to her.

Alex kept the last one to himself, one where he helped bring back the Sun God, only for the Sun God to try and take over his body. He had nearly died then too, but had managed to stop it from happening.

But did that mean he had completely stopped the prophecy from coming true, or were none of these the one to begin with?

What if, by surviving in each of the scenarios, he was simply delaying the inevitable?

His mood soured upon considering that. ’This is why I hate this.’

The two gods nodded to themselves, not saying much at all. They had nothing to say.

Bladedance glossed over it wholeheartedly.

“What’s the last one?”