Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex’s body turned blood-red as it lengthened, growing nearly two heads taller than he normally was, with his proportions changing along with his height. His body drooped slightly, his lanky arms reaching lower than his knees.

Sharp fingernails jutted out of his hands like a beast’s claws. His eyes became fully red as well.

Aside from changes to what already existed, new features appeared as well.

Two horns grew out from the sides of his head, like those of an ox or a goat. They were nearly a handspan long, and even then didn’t appear fully developed. Similarly, two pairs of red bat wings formed from his back, neither of which looked very large either.

Finally, a small tail jutted out from his tailbone, fleshy with a pointed end.

With how much the Blood Origin in his mind had developed over the past few decades, he had come quite close to forming a perfect devil. There was still some time before he fully completed it, but that time was not far away.

The rhythm of his heart blasted in his eardrums, filling his entire head with the thrumming beat. He could feel himself giving in to the sound as anger and fury emerged within him that hadn’t been there before.

It was similar to corruption, with his strength increasing.

Surprisingly, however, there was not a lot of bloodlust among the emotions he felt. There should have been more of it as he brought his Blood Origin closer to Perfect Transcendence, so the lack of intensity surprised him for a moment.

However, he quickly concluded that it was likely not affecting him as much because of his current mental strength.

While that worked in his favor for now, allowing him to push his madness to grow his strength, should he ever weaken or lose control, he would go too far to pull himself back.

He had to be careful.

With a set of Blood Armor forming around him a moment later—including the robe, the helm, the gauntlets, and the greaves—he was ready.

While the soldier was still confused by his transformation, Alex moved.

His speed was far beyond what he had been capable of before. Combined with teleportation, the man couldn’t see the attack coming.

Alex arrived before him, Midnight already glowing bright with the only attack that had done anything to the man so far.

True Immolation Strike.

The armor rang loudly as the sword made contact with the barrier, bright yellow flames bursting into a blaze a moment later.

The force of Alex’s attack was beyond anything the man had felt until that point. He had mistakenly believed that Alex had already been using some sort of forbidden technique to empower himself, so seeing something else layered on top made him realize he had been wrong from the start.

The man corrected himself at a distance, the wings on his back spreading wider to slow him down. He grunted in pain for only an instant before using a defensive technique to protect against the fiery heat.

At the same time, his hand moved, the whip finding Alex in his devilish form. The end of the whip turned into a snake with bright blue fangs, lunging to bite him.

Alex struck the whip away, taking the full brunt of the lightning attack that came with it. It hardly affected him at all.

Still, the exchange told Alex one thing.

In a battle of pure strength, the man would still come out on top.

’I have to push it further,’ he thought. He needed to lose more control to gain more strength. Training with Bai Jingshen had given him an idea of how far he could go before losing himself.

To gain the most strength possible, he had to walk the line between sanity and madness in that instant.

“You demon!” the man shouted. “Demonic cultivators like you all deserve to die.”

Alex had no argument against that, not because he believed the man was correct, but because there was no point in debating the truth at that moment.

The only truth that mattered to him was his own: nothing was inherently demonic. It was defined only by the intent of the one who wielded it.

In the end, he simply let out a devilish grin.

“You think I’m a demon,” he said, brandishing his sword for another strike. “But I’m the devil.”

He moved again, even faster than before. The man moved as well, blitzing through the sky at an impossible speed.

Alex swung his sword, and the whip came for him at the same time. Instead of blocking, Alex pressed forward, attacking through it.

The two attacks collided.

The barrier around the man’s armor flared up once more, protecting him from most of the damage again. However, its glow was clearly diminishing.

Alex could see he was wearing it down. Before long, he might even destroy it completely.

He himself hadn’t fared as well.

The whip, carrying what Alex believed to be Whip Qi, struck him in the left shoulder, just above the heart, tearing out a massive chunk of flesh.

His left arm hung by skin and a few tendons at best.

The man laughed gleefully.

“In the end, you’re still only an Immortal!” he shouted like a mad man. “If you think you have the strength to fight against me, a Divinity, then you’re sorely—”

His words caught in his throat.

Before his eyes, Alex’s muscles and bones regrew from the wound, skin sealing over it. Blood flowed back into the robe, restoring it as if no damage had ever been done.

Alex smirked.

“Please,” he said calmly. “Don’t let me stop you. Do finish your sentence.”

The man could hardly find any words to say at that moment. Seeing that, Alex spoke up.

“I’m curious. Why have you not used your Creation until now?” he asked. “Is it not a battle oriented Creation? Or do you think you can defeat me without using your Creation?”

The man remained silent still.

“Unless…” Alex looked behind the man at the glowing pair of blue lightning wings.

“Are the wings… your Creations?”