Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

The sect master of the sect had a weird look on her face. She narrowed her eyes and stepped forward with a cautious gait, approaching Alex.

“1000 Decaying Sunhearts?” he asked. “For a jar of Elixir?”

“You have heard about me, haven’t you? Then you have heard about my Elixir. I’m in need of some Decaying Sunhearts. Do you wish to purchase this from me?” he asked.

The woman didn’t agree immediately. She turned back toward her sect members, trying to gauge their reaction to the situation as well. She had come here expecting to fight someone to the death, so a simple trade had ended up making her flustered.

“1000 Decaying Sunhearts? Really?” she asked.

“Look, if you’re going to delay making a decision, I’m just going to leave,” Alex said. “I noticed the guy that left here a while ago. Where did you send him to? The Endless Night sect’s branch building?”

The woman’s eyes widened slightly, a spear forming in her hand, ready to fight.

Alex looked at her spear and grinned a little. “I’m not going to attack you. I just want to sell the Elixir. A jar of Elixir that costs upwards of 2000 Decaying Sunhearts; I’m selling it to you for just 1000. Do you want it or not?”

It wasn’t until Alex spelled out how cheap the Elixir was for her that she finally found herself wanting it. No, she really wanted it.

“I’ll buy it,” the woman said. “You’ll have to wait while I get the Sunhearts.”

“I’ll wait for 2 more minutes. If you don’t return in that time, I’ll leave.”

The woman nodded and immediately sent a few elders to go to the sect reserve and bring out the Sunhearts. Not even a minute passed before the people returned, still counting the Sunhearts as they made their way back.

Half a minute more and they finally finished counting everything. They placed it all in a storage bag and handed it over to Alex.

Alex took the storage bag and checked inside. As he had asked, there really were 1000 different Decaying Sunhearts. It was a good thing they were all Decaying, so he wouldn’t have to spend time going through shops to exchange them one by one.

That would’ve taken him a long time.

Alex handed over the storage bag with the Elixir and waited just long enough for the woman to check it. “Are you satisfied?” he asked.

The woman nodded.

As soon as the transaction was complete, Alex flew away.

The members of that sect watched with dropped jaws as Alex disappeared into the sky faster than they had ever seen anything else move. He had been on the floor at one moment, and in the next, he was a speck in the sky.

It was only a few minutes afterward that people from the Endless Night sect rushed over to find the Red Death. However, by then, they were too late.

Alex turned invisible in the sky and took back his Blood Armor before landing on a dune outside of the city. Thankfully, he hadn’t gotten into any trouble here at all. Now, he just had to wait for the old man to return.

The old man returned half an hour later, meeting up with Alex on the sand dune.

“Did you get the Sunhearts?” the old man asked.

“1000 total,” Alex said. “This should be more than enough for me to reach the depths.”

“If you think so,” the old man said. “We usually tend to use a lot more than just 1000, just to be safe.”

“Last time I had maybe a dozen or so at best,” Alex said. “1000 should be more than enough.”

The old man took Alex for his word.

“What about you?” Alex asked. “Any information on Death?”

“None that has come here, sadly,” the old man said. “We’ll have to continue our initial plan and go on the same route.”

Alex nodded. He patted the storage bag inside his robes and said, “At least it wasn’t a waste for one of us to stop by here.”

They continued their journey, visiting the next village, where they stayed for a short period. They took their rest, taught each other what they wanted, and then continued on.

The old man finished studying up all the ingredients Alex had given him, so now Alex gave him a recipe. He asked the old man to study it for a day as he would soon have to make the pill with it.

The Saint recipe was decently tough for a newcomer to make, but it felt the right level of difficulty for an old man who had lived for a long time and had experienced many things. He had even made pills before, albeit not of great quality.

In the next village, they stayed for the night, during which Alex finally tested the old man’s practical skills.

The old man received a cauldron from Whisker and began practicing on it. Alex gave him some random ingredients to test out his Qi control on. When he was ready, he handed him the recipe.

Alex stood by the old man’s side the entire time, focusing on what he did and what he failed to do. The old man followed the recipe, placing in the ingredients, but it was clear how much of a novice he was in this task.

The old man’s control of the ingredients and energy was decent, but he severely lacked precise flame control for the task at hand. The ingredients either got too hot or too cold, and the old man struggled to balance it as well.

But, this was only his first time, so it was easily forgiven.

He continued following the recipe, refining one ingredient after another, until there was but a single ingredient left.

He placed the last ingredient and finished refining it. Then, he brought it all together, turning it all into a single pill.

When he was done, he brought out the pill and tested it for himself.