Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

”Dawnblade!” Jin Haoran said his name slowly. ”You really are that alchemist.”

”How are you here?” Luo Sheng asked. ”How have you outrun all the people who should be after you?”

”In fact,” Xu Tianle spoke up, ”how are you even here? Shouldn’t you be hiding?”

Alex gave a little shrug. ”I’ve been lucky, I suppose,” he said. ”Besides, the hunting has stopped for now, so I’m more or less free to do what I want.”

Fang Xianhai and Han Yifei held very strange expressions on their faces now that they recognized Alex for who he really was.

”Is it true that you can make pills with pill veins without making a single mistake?” Luo Sheng asked. ”If so, I would like to commission a few pills.”

”It’s true, but I’m not really looking for any commissions right now. At least, not while I’m in the Red Heaven Realm,” Alex said.

The young man said nothing.

”How are you even here?” Zi Mengyao asked with a rather curious look. ”With how many people were searching for you, you must’ve had some big help to keep from being found.”

”I suppose you could say that,” Alex said.

He didn’t find a reason to explain his situation regarding that.

The group of youths asked a few more questions, mostly regarding why he was hunted and how he had survived all this time. Alex gave vague answers that they could learn nothing from. Even the Sentinel in the back, who had been focused on the conversation for some time now, couldn’t get anything from him.

The group never really focused on the women beside him, only on Alex himself. After a while, the topic of conversation changed, and they began chatting among themselves regarding things that Alex could never understand.

They were so in tune with each other regarding the politics and events around the Sky God’s realm that Alex had no chance of ever following them at an equal pace.

The timer on the wall of the test site continued to count down over the next few hours, and the group finally separated as they began sitting all around to cultivate and focus for the time when the site would open up for them.

Alex waited patiently for nearly a day before the timer finally came close to an end.

However, before it ended, people began walking out of the test site one after another. With dejected looks, they sighed as they left the site and either found their friends or families on the side, or just flew away as they were done for the time being.

So many people came crawling out of the site that Alex could only guess that all of them had to have failed somehow. He wondered now what the test precisely was.

After an hour or so, the timer finally came down to zero, and everyone who had been waiting for it to open got up from their places and flew down.

Zi Mengyao and Luo Sheng were the first to arrive there, and their presence immediately caused many of the others to stay back.

The ones that weren’t wary of them joined, and soon every one of the juniors from the seven sects was lined up to enter the place. Alex had somewhat decided to stay behind, but Fang Xianhai gestured him over, so he went over with Helen, Liz, and Ronron.

The young man looked at the three briefly, but gave no indication of wanting to know anything about them. His only interest in that group was Alex.

”Since we’re all here, I propose a friendly competition,” Fang Xianhai said. ”Let us see who has the best comprehension ability in our group.”

”You just want to show off, don’t you, Brother Xianhai?” Xu Tianle asked. ”I don’t think any of us are going to agree to this.”

”No,” Han Yifei said. ”I’m definitely taking part, if only to get a chance to rub that smug look off his face.”

”Sounds fun,” Luo Sheng said. ”Count me in.”

Jin Haoran and Lan Suyin saw no reason to stay out.

”How are we judging who succeeds?” Zi Mengyao asked. ”I haven’t been to this place before. Is there a method?”

”Oh, it’s simple,” Fang Xianhai said. ”Inside, you’ll be randomly sent to a location where you can learn the Dao of an element you’re familiar with. The trial lasts for an entire month, and at the end of each month, it tests your knowledge of that Dao. Unless you’ve made significant progress toward it, you are sent out. Depending on who can stay in there the longest, that person wins.”

The overall method of the friendly competition sounded fair enough to Alex, depending on what sort of Daos there were inside to learn. Everyone else agreed to it as well, and soon they were ready to enter.

As they walked in, they arrived before a wall with a dozen different openings. But before they could even enter through those doors, there was a large metal artifact with a stone platform waiting for them to approach it.

Two banners hung on either side of the artifact, explaining the context of the machine and the test.

The left banner explained exactly what Fang Xianhai just had, including the fact that they would be thrown out after a month if they didn’t take the test. The right banner held details of the stars they would be earning.

You will start with having all of your daos recorded by the Artifact before you. If you manage to learn a new Dao within the month, you shall receive 10 stars for each Dao you already have. The Dao you will learn will be chosen at random based on your understanding of the other Daos.

You may retake the test as many times as you need to.

Please stand atop the small platform and use your Daos so the artifact may record them.

Fang Xianhai looked around. ”Who wants to go first?”

”I will,” Xu Tianle said, walking up to the platform without any hesitation. Once she stood upon it, she began using her Daos.