Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

It was half a day later that the Red Heaven Realm was finally ready to open. Near evening, once millions of Immortals were gathered by the barrier, someone flew into the sky and began announcing the start of the secret realm.

Alex recognized the person as Riftblade, one of the Sky God’s Reverends, and a very active disciple. He was now what Yang Renye had been in the past, and every important matter that the Sky God herself could not complete was now put to Riftblade.

That was part of the reason why he had represented her back during the alchemy tournament as well, and now he helped here.

”Greetings, everyone.”

When Riftblade began speaking, the world went silent.

”Welcome to the 77th millennial opening of the Red Heaven Realm. As always, we have something new prepared for all of you in this year’s opening of this secret realm.”

An image appeared in the sky of a six-pointed star with a metallic texture to it.

”Please allow me to explain the purpose and rules of this year’s Red Heaven Realm. This year, we are holding a Star Gathering Tournament,” Riftblade said out loud.

A soft wave of murmurs rang out as people grew curious about what it was.

”Star Gathering Tournament?” Alex said under his breath as well.

”I hope I don’t have to fight,” Helen added.

When the crowd grew quieter, Riftblade continued.

”Upon entering the secret realm, you will find a metallic star on the floor. You will take that one star, and throughout the course of the night, you will refine it. Do not worry, it will be very easy to refine,” Riftblade said. ”By morning, whoever has not yet refined a star will be thrown out of the secret realm.”

Concerned voices spoke in whispers about their worries. Though it did not reach Riftblade’s ears, he had already predicted it.

”You are not allowed to interfere with anyone during this time. If you do, you will be disqualified. Once you’ve refined the star, it will act as a short-distance compass, showing you the location of the nearest non-refined star.”

”For the first year, your objective will be to find the rest of these stars that have been scattered throughout the realm. They will be in various locations, each with its own trials to get the star. Beating these trials may reward you with more than just a star, so make sure you get to these as fast as you can.”

”Once the first year is over, we will open the floor and allow people to go after other stars as well. To get someone else’s star, you must challenge another star-holder. The one who is challenged may not refuse a challenge, unless they have lost a star to that person that day. They will, however, have the option to choose what they would like to be challenged in.”

”It can be whatever you wish. A battle of strength, a battle of speed, a battle of knowledge, or anything else. The challenged has the choice.”

”Should the one challenging not like the proposed form of challenge, they may choose to either lose their star and move on, or they could choose to put up the difference in their stars as a bet and then allow the stars to choose the challenge themselves. Whoever wins gains a star from the other person, as well as the stars bet.”

”If the one challenging has fewer stars, they may reject the challenge with no cost assigned at all.”

”Should you run out of stars, you will have 1 year to find some that will be repeatedly placed around the realm. If you fail, you will be disqualified.”

”The purpose of this tournament, as you may have realized already, is to see who will have the highest number of stars by the end of the 50 years you will be spending inside,” Riftblade said. ”Whoever ends up with the most by the end will be declared the winner.”

The images that had been appearing in the sky alongside his explanation finally vanished, leaving just the single man floating in the sky.

”I wish you all the best of luck. The tournament... starts now.”

The massive red barrier opened, and as though through floodgates, the massive crowd of millions of Immortals flooded in through the hole.

Alex stood up from where he sat next to a rock and looked around. ”We should head in too.”

”Yes,” Battlesage said with no small hint of excitement in his voice. ”I want to see just how many stars I can get by the end of the 50 years.”

”50 years, huh?” Helen said with a sigh. ”I hope your father can take care of himself during this time. We should have brought him along.”

”It’s fine,” Alex said. ”He’s with brother-in-law anyway, so they’ll train or participate in the other tournaments. As for his pills, Sister Hao Ya has promised to keep an eye on him. And I’ve given her my pill. If his pill poison becomes too much, she will just feed it to him and he’ll return to how he was beforehand.”

”I suppose.”

”It is honestly good that you are leaving for some time,” Liz said from the side. ”My brother needs to be able to do things without you. I sometimes wonder if, without you, he won’t even know how to feed himself.”

Helen laughed slightly and continued on.

The group arrived by the opening and passed through. As soon as they were inside, they felt something strange affect them immediately. Not a single one of them could place their finger on what it was, but they were sure something was happening.

”Hmm, my spiritual sense isn’t suppressed, neither is my aura. I wonder what this feeling is then,” Liz said as she tried to figure it out.

Alex could only shrug as well. ”Maybe we’ll find out in a few days’ time,” he said.

They took a step forward and saw a massive pile of six-pointed flat golden stars, each about a finger’s length wide.

They took one each and continued in.