Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Ningzhu waited for a moment, perhaps giving Alex some time to go back on his decision. But when he saw that Alex was resolute in the decision he had come to, he realized there was no changing his mind.

“I see,” the Phoenix said. “That’s a shame. But if that is your decision, then let it be so. Just… make sure you’re making the right decision. You can only ever have a single Creation after all.”

Alex nodded slowly. “I have made my decision. Thank you for the opportunity though. I am gladdened to know how much you care about me.”

His bow was small but sincere.

Ningzhu smiled. “Let us return then.”

They walked through the palace hallways, lined with intricate arts and crafts. Alex was lost in the sight for some time before he realized he had arrived back at Scarlet’s mother’s room.

“I shall leave you two,” Ningzhu said, walking away.

Scarlet’s mother questioned him for a bit as to where he was taken, and Alex answered without hesitation. The woman was quite surprised to realize what sort of opportunity Alex had given up.

Even more so than Ningzhu, she understood that this should have been a much easier choice for Alex. And still, he hadn’t chosen it.

“Have you already selected what you want for your 4 Creations?” she asked, still mistaken that his was the same as Pearl’s.

“No, I’m still down a few,” Alex said.

“And yet you still decided to get rid of this chance?” Scarlet’s mother asked. “Your eyes must be set quite high. I can only imagine what your Creations are going to be.”

Alex smiled, explaining no further.

They left the room finally, moving to a different location in the palace that was meant entirely for the Alchemists of the palace. Only those with the Vermilion Bird’s bloodline or a Vermilion Bird Creation could enter this region. Not even any alchemy assistants were allowed.

But Scarlet’s mother still took Alex through there, not because she was an exception, but because he was.

Alex hadn’t been told as much, but the Vermilion Bird Matriarch had lessened a lot of the restrictions around the palace when it came to him.

A lot of eyes watched as Alex was taken through the alchemy wing’s hallways, some even stopping for a second to speak up. Before they could, however, Xianhei would flash them a small metal plate with something written on it.

As soon as she did, the others would back down.

Alex tried asking what it was, but Xianhei wouldn’t answer. She only told him it was a pass for the alchemy rooms, which Alex believed was a lie from the looks of shock he saw from the passing bystanders.

They were more shocked to see the plate than they were to see him. He could only wonder what that was.

Xianhei led him to a large room, one that had scripts lining the walls of sun stone, the crystalline rock carved in invisible writing. The floor had large strokes of formations drawn onto it in a complex pattern that took Alex far too long to recognize what they did.

He sat down and looked around at the scripts. The scripts glowed faintly, the light of the sun stones dimming them in comparison. He tried reading the scripts as well, seeing what they were there for.

The formations were there mainly to help with stabilizing the energy inside cauldrons, to speed up fire and temperature. Every help one could need to make a pill, the formations provided.

The scripts were for everything else that had nothing to do with Alchemy. There were barrier scripts, hiding them not only from outside Qi but outside Divine Sense as well. Any foreign aura trying to sneak in would be immediately neutralized by the scripts. Any and all disturbances were immediately gotten rid of.

It even turned itself opaque if needed, to completely blot out the sun stones if one needed darkness in the room for better focus.

Xianhei noticed him looking around. “Have you seen those before?” she asked.

“Those?”

“The scripts,” she said. “The most the Humans stole from the Demons were talismans. They still don’t use the scripts from what I last heard.”

“You are correct in that,” Alex said. “But I have seen a lot of scripts in my time. To begin with, the world I was born in, the Spirit Realm you sent your daughter to, was previously a Demon Realm after all. Remnants of the old humanity could still be found from time to time.”

Xianhei raised an eyebrow. “Ah! I see. You have experienced both the Human and the Demon side then,” she said.

“Perhaps not as much of the Demon side,” Alex said. “I do hope to someday go to the Demon Realms, but that would be far in the future. I’m mostly acquainted with the Human side for now.”

Xianhei gave an inquisitive look. “There is a term we use for the Humans of the Spirit Realms that were previously Demon Realms but later taken over by the Humans. A hybrid. My daughter never mentioned if you were one of them or not. I would consider you not to be one.”

Alex shook his head. “I’m no hybrid.”

“Then you must fully be a Human. No wonder you are so talented,” Xianhei said.

Alex simply gave a smile and chose not to answer.

Was he a Human?

What was a Human in the first place? Sure, he didn’t have the horns and colorful eyes like that of a Demon. But did that make him a Human?

His ancestors were not born of this world. They came from a different universe, so if anything, he was a third type of being.

Neither a Human nor a Demon.

He was his own thing. As for what that was, there was no name. There likely would be no need for it either. Ronron’s generation would likely be the last pure-blooded generation of his kind.

And truthfully, he didn’t see a problem with that at all.

Xianhei noticed none of his thoughts and brought out a beautiful bronze cauldron.

“Shall we start?”