Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex did as the voice said. He sat down on the cold stone floor, taking a glance at the shattered space for a brief moment before closing his eyes to start cultivating.

He wondered if he was being judged on the usage of his cultivation method, but that didn't sound very fair at all.

Or maybe the floor was trying to judge just how long he could go on cultivating without taking a break. That would be fair.

The spirit had said that this floor took the longest for each person, so Alex was almost certain that was what was happening here.

'I can continue for months,' he thought. 'I wonder if I will pass as long as I cultivate for a f—'

"What a worthless cultivation base!" a voice that sounded like his own spoke in his ears.

Alex nearly stopped cultivating, wondering if there was someone here, but he caught himself in time and stopped.

He softly released his spiritual sense, but no one else was on the floor.

"What a pitiful spiritual sense!" the voice spoke again.

Alex could swear it came from inside of himself like his mind was playing tricks on him. 'I must be hallucinating then.'

"Your parents must despite having you as their son," the voice said.

"Can you keep quiet, please? I'm trying to cultivate," Alex spoke. He didn't know what else to do. His body didn't seem to be cleansing whatever hallucination this was, so he had to deal with it himself.

"No girl will ever love you. They could never love a pitiful man like you," the voice said.

'Is that meant to rile me up?' he wondered. The voice spoke to him, but Alex ignored it as much as he could. He tried to talk to it sometimes just to alleviate his own boredom, but the voice seemed only to be interested in insulting him.

So, Alex let it speak.

He could tell his mind was muddled slightly, but he could think clearly enough that he could tell the time that was passing. He was also sure that he now knew what the purpose of this challenge was.

"You will never have any of your hopes and dreams come true," the voice said.

"And you…" Alex replied. "Are a pitiful excuse for an Inner Demon. So, can you keep quiet, please? I'm trying to cultivate here."

The voice didn't stop, but Alex wasn't bothered in the slightest. Sometime later, the voice said something else.

"You pass."

Then, Alex was teleported to the next floor.

"That was simple," he thought. He wondered if it was because he had been through so many of these already that a fake Inner Demon didn't even do him anything.

He arrived on the 43rd floor with cracks everywhere near the wall, and some of them even held small holes that showed the void that lay beyond.

"Prepare yourself for your tribulation!" the voice spoke.

"Tribulation?" Alex asked as he looked towards the ceiling. He was most definitely sure what was coming next.

He wondered how strong the lightning strikes were going to be, but since he had no idea, he prepared for the worst.

The first lightning strike came a moment later and struck him in the chest. Surprisingly, it did nothing at all.

'That's so weak,' he thought. The lighting wasn't even as strong as his cultivation base, which was far weaker than what he was capable of.

The 2nd lightning bolt dropped and struck him. It was a little stronger, but not as much. For a normal person though, this would've been the point where they would start getting serious about their defense.

The 3rd strike was stronger than his cultivation base by a small amount and the 4th one nearly reached the next cultivation realm.

The 5th one was definitely stronger than his cultivation base, but that didn't really mean anything to Alex.

'My real tribulation somehow knew what my Qi was capable of and always reached that amount in just 9 lightning strikes. This thing probably can't do that, can it?' he thought.

The next few lightning strikes weren't anything serious either so he easily passed the rest of the tribulation.

When it ended, he was made to go up the floor again. He arrived on the 44th floor, the floor where he had killed those three girls just days ago.

There was not a single hint of damage anywhere at all, except for the gaping holes of the shattering space in the distance.

Alex looked around, wondering what his next challenge was. If he was not wrong, this was his final challenge.

'It's all been so easy since I reached the 40th floor,' he thought. 'Dao, Inner Demon, the tribulation. I'm sure many have passed that already as well. So why haven't they passed this final trial?'

Just as he asked that himself, something appeared in front of him.

A puppet.

Alex waited for the voice to say anything at all, but he was surprised when the puppet started speaking instead.

"I'm glad you've finally made it to your last hurdle, Master White Tiger." The spirit's voice came from the puppet. "But, that does not mean you've succeeded just yet."

"Spirit?" Alex asked. "What's the challenge?"

"It's simple," the spirit said. "You have to fight me."

"I see," Alex said. He had expected something like that after seeing the puppet. "And many people fail here?"

"Almost everyone fails here," the spirit said.

Alex frowned slightly. "Alright, let's see what I have to deal with then," he said.

"Please beware, master White Tiger," the spirit said. "I will not be holding back at all."

Alex nodded and readied himself. He got on guard, ready to fight. Then, the spirit made the first move.

The move itself was very simple. It was a simple Qi projectile thrown from its fist. It had no elaborate form or effect, but even then Alex couldn't help but frown.

Because the power behind the attack was at Saint Soul 4th realm, which was beyond what he could reach with the strongest skills he could use right now.

Alex did not hesitate to dodge at all and the attack hit the wall behind him. "Are you trying to kill me or what?" he asked. "You're using quite a strong skill there."

"I've seen how you fight, master White Tiger. I have seen how everyone who enters the tower fights. I see how strong they are, what they are capable of," the spirit said.

"You can make your way up the other floors by relying on your overwhelming ability, but you can't rely on that in here. My power has been attuned exactly to the level that you have never reached, and unless you can overcome that, you will not be going past this floor."

Alex frowned when he heard that. "So, I can only go past you once I've beaten you?" he asked.

"You cannot beat me," the spirit said.

"Then how do you expect me to pass?" he asked.

"By fighting me," the spirit said.

"How long do I have to fight you then?" Alex asked.

"Until you give up," the spirit said. "That's enough talk, master White Tiger. Let's begin our battle."