Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex looked at the many stairs that needed to be climbed to reach the top of the mountain wherein lay the gate to go to the south.

From what he had come to learn, there was a natural mountain range that separated the north from the south, and every location of it was guarded by people.

The one he was approaching was but one of the many gates that led into the non-wasteland side of the Southern Continent.

Alex was wearing fresh, blue robes and looked nothing like a barbarian anymore, and with his fair skin, it would be impossible for anyone to think of him as a barbarian.

He saw many other people who either quickly ran past him or flew through the air to go in. Seeing the people, he was getting excited as well.

Finally, more than 2 months later, he was going to be able to cultivate Qi again. He could only imagine how quickly he will be able to search for his father after that.

Alex arrived at the top of the stairs and got in a line. He looked around the place, seeing the giant metal gate that acted more like a formation flag than anything. So many meters below behind him was the grand bazaar he left behind.

Scarlet was still on his shoulder, but she seemed tame enough to not stand out. Compared to the many people with various beasts in cages or items on their person, she managed not to stand out much.

After a few minutes, it was finally Alex's turn, so he walked forward to enter. He proceeded to bring out a few Spirit stones, like everyone before him.

He handed the spirit stones and walked in. However, just as he touched the barrier that everyone passed through, he was sent back flying.

Alex crashed onto the ground a few meters behind and got up in a daze. "What the hell was that?" he asked.

When he looked back up, there were guards that were already next to him, pointing their spears at him.

"Woah, what's going on? Why are you pointing your spears at me?" Alex asked.

A man quickly arrived outside the gate not even a few moments later. "Who dares to try and sneak out of the wasteland?" he asked.

The young, but fully bearded man arrived next to the guards after seeing them next to Alex. "Is it him that tried to sneak in?"

"I did not try to sneak in," Alex said. "I paid my fee and tried to walk in. Damn, why the hell did that barrier stop me?"

The man looked at Alex with a small smile on his face. "I've never seen barbarians trying to enter the south through the gate. You're quite the bold one," the man said.

"Barbarian? If you mean the people from the tribes, then I'm not one of them. You should be able to tell that from my skin, shouldn't you?" Alex asked.

"Yes," the man said. "But I can't really just judge things based on skin. Who knows what you barbarians are up to? You will do anything to find a place that will make your Phoenix fire better."

Alex took a second to gather it all in and shook his head. "I'm not someone from the wasteland. I only came here two months ago. I'm a Saint realm cultivator looking to go south of here," he said while revealing his spiritual sense.

The man took a step back in surprise. He gestured for the guards to put their spears down.

"My apologies, senior. I was mistaken about your identity. Please let me call someone who is better suited to handle your presence," the young man said and pulled out a talisman before communicating with someone.

Quickly, an older person with an equally gruff beard flew out at an incredible speed.

"Where's the Saint realm cultivator?" he asked as he looked around before his eyes fell on Alex.

"Oh, it must be you, brother," the man said. "May I know your name?"

"Yu Ming," Alex said as he got up and looked at the man carefully.

He looked at the blue robe, which seemed not that different from the robe the young man was wearing. He wondered if they were whether from the same family or not.

"Where did you come from?" the man asked.

Alex dusted himself off and looked at the full-bearded men in front of him as he wondered if he should be saying anything. In the end, he needed to go in.

"From the Northern Continent," Alex said.

"From the Northern continent? Why did you come from the north then?" the old man asked. "You should have flown through the eastern regions into the south."

"I did not come by my own wishes," Alex said. "I came here because of a teleportation accident. I was never supposed to be here."

"Oh, sound terrible," the man said. "Anything we can do to help?"

"Of course," Alex said. "You can let me in."

"Hmm?" the man turned towards the gate. "Oh wait, you can't enter, can you? Of course. Your Qi hasn't been recorded by the formation."

Alex was thankful that the conversation wasn't going in any weird direction where they stuck to thinking he was from the tribes. He was worried how he was going to prove about his cultivation base if they thought his spiritual sense was just a random result from accidentally using a Spirit Cleansing lily or something.

"Can you do something so I can enter?" Alex asked expectantly. However, when he looked at their face, he realized something was going on.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked.

"Well, I'm afraid we cannot help you," the old man said. "I'm not saying I don't want to, but we truly cannot help you."

Alex frowned.

"Let me explain," he said quickly. "We need to record your Qi to let you in. But at the same time, we can't record your Qi without taking you in. Do you see the dilemma we are facing?"

"Wait… are you saying that I cannot record my Qi because there is no record of my Qi? What sort of stupid system is that?" Alex asked.

"As I said, brother. No one comes from here. Everyone that is allowed inside is already supposed to be inside. We make everyone register before leaving," he said.

"Dammit, so there's no way for me to go inside?" Alex asked.

"Not from here, I'm afraid," the man said.

"Why do you even have this barrier? Why stop the tribal folks from going in? This young man said something about Phoenix fire?" Alex asked.

"Oh right, there have been instances where the barbarians have gone in and destroyed cities by lighting things on phoenix flames because that's what they are used to. Every barbarian wants to live around the phoenix flames to improve themselves, and they are too stubborn to understand that they aren't allowed to do that."

"Since then, the seniors from the Sunborn Sanctuary simply decided to add a layer of defense to the barrier by not allowing the barbarians from entering," he said.

"I see…" Alex sighed. "So I really don't have any choice."

"I mean… I don't really see the problem here, brother," the man said. "All you have to do is go east from here. When you arrive at the sea, go onto a random mountain to get your Qi back. Once you're done, you can fly over the ocean toward the end of this mountain range. Once you are there, there will no longer be any barrier to stop you."

"Oh… I see," Alex said as he thought for a bit. That was not a bad idea. It only delayed his journey by maybe a month or two at best anyway.

"I should do that," Alex said. "Is the ocean towards the east closer?"

"Yes," the man said.

"Do you perhaps have a map of some sort I can borrow?" Alex asked. "I wish to learn a bit about the Southern continent. The tribal folks had no such thing."

"Ah, wait," the man looked into his storage bag and pulled out a scroll. "Here you go. You can keep it."

Alex unfurled the map to look at it once before closing it. "Thank you," he said.

He decided to leave the place now. He turned around to go back down the stairs but stopped. He looked over his own shoulders and remembered something was missing.

"Scarlet?" he turned around to look. The two men that were watching him leave got confused for a second.

"Brother?" the man asked.

Alex didn't respond and tried to feel scarlet. "Scarlet!" he said once more, but the bird didn't respond. He closed his eyes to try and feel the direction of where scarlet was and quickly found her.

His eyes turned around to look at the barrier. He didn't see just the barrier, but rather far beyond it inside.

Scarlet was inside, and continuously going further and further.

"Scarlet, what are you doing?" he asked through his bond. At the same time, he asked the men outside. "Can beasts go in there without recording their aura?"

"Of course," the man said. "We only have qualms against barbarians after all. Anyone and anything that is not it can easily go inside."

"I see," Alex said.

At the same time, Scarlet spoke from the inside. "Thank you for bringing me to the south. I will return back to my place and start cultivating again. You don't need to search for me," the bird's message said.

Alex stood there stunned for a few minutes as he realized that his newly bonded bird had left him.