Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

The Artifact God stared at the sword with rather wide eyes, moving slowly closer toward it.

”May I?”

Alex nodded and handed over the sword for her to hold.

The Artifact God took it and was immediately amazed that it was rather cool to the touch. ”I was expecting it to be blindingly hot. Did it cool already?”

”Yes,” Alex said. ”The only heat there now is the Yang heat. Though it doesn’t release much at all.”

The woman nodded. ”I can sense that. It’s not necessarily a good thing, though it’s not a bad thing either.” She focused on it for some time before slowly nodding. ”The spirits are quite weak, huh? They need to grow before they become proper spirits.”

Alex nodded. ”I’ll make sure to feed everything I can into the sword.”

”I’m sure you can determine what to do on your own,” she said, concentrating back on the sword. ”The Qi lines came out nice. Actually, they came out quite well.”

”I would hope so,” Alex said with a dry laugh. ”I had to give up so much, after all.”

She held a strange look, not understanding exactly what he was saying. ”You look weak. No, you are weak. What’s wrong? This feels like more than just overworking.”

Alex sighed. ”I had to use two drops of my Blood Essence to Blood Refine the sword. I feel as weak as I look.”

”TWO DROPS?!” she asked, her eyes growing wide. ”You do realize you don’t need Blood Essence to Blood Refine an artifact, right? You can do that with regular blood too.”

”I understand,” Alex said. ”But I had used a lot of Qi, and my blood had grown considerably weaker during this time. Given the strength of the material in use here, I did not want to take any chances at all. So I used my Blood Essence.”

The Artifact God frowned slightly. ”But why two?”

”Because one didn’t work.”

She froze for a second. ”What? You failed to refine this with a single drop?”

Alex nodded.

The Artifact God looked down at the sword as if she were looking at something incredible for the first time in her life. This was the same God who, just a few years ago, had made the first artifact out of Primordial material since her master. Her look of surprise there told Alex more than anything she could’ve said with words.

”I see,” she said finally, looking at the sword again. Her eyes lingered on it for a long time before she handed it back to Alex.

Alex took Nightslayer and placed it into his Soul Space. He took in a deep breath and let it out before looking at the Artifact God. ”I should rest now, shouldn’t I?”

”With two drops of Blood Essence gone, you should find a healer to help you,” she said. ”Though considering your knowledge of Alchemy, you should have pills to help you.”

”I have some,” Alex said.

Though they wouldn’t work as well as the Artifact God might have been thinking they would. The fault was not hers, but rather the fact that no one really understood just how important Blood Essence was, even during its own recovery.

Before he could say another thing, he saw the Artifact God’s eyes move away from him. He followed her gaze a second later and turned just in time to find the barrier cracking open from the pressure that had built up all this time.

A single leak was enough to blow the whole thing open, throwing out a shockwave of powerful Energy that spread throughout the palace.

It was by no means a destructive force, but wherever it reached, the people sensed its strength and became very curious as to what it was.

Sunflare, who was the closest, arrived outside the workshop immediately, feeling the remaining aura inside. The aura of Yang was strong and intense, which took him off guard.

”What’s happening here?” he asked. ”What are you two doing?”

Alex frowned a little but did his best to hide it.

”It’s alright, senior,” the Artifact God spoke quickly to calm him. ”Nothing is wrong.”

”Something is clearly wrong. I can sense it,” he said. ”Are you two tinkering with the tree? I swear to the Lightmaker, if I find out that you two have been—”

”Nothing has happened to the tree, senior. Rest assured,” Alex said.

”I will only be assured when I see it with my own eyes,” Sunflare demanded.

However, before he could push that demand any further, more figures appeared.

The Sky God arrived with a man wearing a deep green robe, with long green hair in twisted locks that spread around his shoulders like dried roots and vines. His eyes held a deep gaze, making him feel far more ethereal than he looked.

Alex had to look at the man for no longer than a second to feel the aura that emanated from him. An aura that was similar to his own and the Sky God’s. An aura that made people feel a sense of reverence toward him.

Alex had no doubt as to who this was.

This was Wildvines, the Forest God.

”Your Verdancy,” the Artifact God spoke quickly, bowing a little. ”I didn’t realize you had arrived.”

The Forest God gave a single nod, though his eyes fell on Alex. They lingered on him for a second, only long enough for him to raise an eyebrow before looking around.

”What is going on here?” he asked. ”I sense... Yang.”

”Nothing, Your Verdancy,” the Artifact God said quickly.

”It’s certainly not nothing, junior,” the Forest God said.

”Artifact God. Tell us what happened here,” the Sky God asked rather resolutely.

Alex looked at the two Gods and realized that the Artifact God could in no way hold onto her information at all. So, he decided to speak.

The Artifact God spoke before Alex could.

”We were working on an artifact.”

”Made of what?” the Forest God asked, his eyes narrowing.

The Artifact God took a deep breath.

”Made of materials belonging to the Three-Legged Crow.”