Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Make a circle with a 5-pointed star such that the points are touching the circle.

Make a formation to create fire and wind at the same time.

Draw a formation on the ground itself.

Draw a Saint formation in metal rods.

Link two Saint formations together.

These were the sorts of trials that Alex had to go through for his Formation trial.

The trial master here was another soul as well, but as to just what beast it was, Alex wasn't able to tell. Its name was also not something that helped him figure out its family at all.

As far as Alex could tell, the first Dragon Emperor had found someone good with formations and made a deal with them, disregarding just who they were.

As such, Alex couldn't find a way to talk with this soul at all. It was likely that he wouldn't get a chance to talk with it at all. 

The Frostfire Inkbrush worked amazingly in Alex's hands, drawing the best formations it could. However, the extent of how good the formation would be was still in Alex's hands in the end.

And in the end, he wasn't good enough.

Having to divert his attention to two formations at once, crafting them side by side was not something Alex had ever trained at. He didn't even know what use such a skill would have, but the trial asked for it and he failed.

He did manage to make somewhat of a good formation, but it was not up to par for the trial master and thus he was sent out.

Alex flew back out in a light blue light, just 2 more passes away from reaching another white. His appearance didn't cause as much of a stir at first and only seemed to do so when people recognized him after the soldiers surrounded him once more.

The king did not come to congratulate him this time around. It seemed that light blue was not as impressive as white light.

The one who did come was Whisker. The Elders hadn't realized that he had let Whisker go through the trials on his own. So, when the barely blue light teleported him outside, they were all surprised. 

Seeing a mouse come out of the trial wasn't an everyday occurrence. 

Beasts took part in the trial sometimes, especially ones from the Beast Academies. However, after the Beast Paradise had closed itself, the number of beasts that showed up to the trials was barely any.

Not to mention, they were never good enough to nearly complete the entire challenge.

"You did good," Alex said after hearing how far Whisker had made it. "So you failed on the last trial, huh? Do you want to try it again?"

Whisker shook his head. "I don't have good enough control," Whisker said. "I will need to learn it before I do it again."

"You do need to have a strong Intent," Alex said. "I'll train you sometime later. Maybe even let you learn some Fire Dao as well. You're close to learning a few, right?"

"I've seen you use it quite a bit while making pills," Whisker said.

Alex smiled. "Good," he said. "If you don't want to go through any more trials for now, I understand."

Whisker couldn't be happier to not have to do something. He quickly disappeared into his own beast space and was no longer outside. 

Once he was gone, the Elders finally stepped closer and started speaking again.

"It's a shame you didn't reach white again, your majesty," Yao Ning said. "We could've shown how incredible you were."

"Are you saying reaching light blue is not incredible?" Alex asked the elder.

"No, that is not what I meant," Yao Ning tried to explain, but Alex's laughter interrupted her. 

"I'm joking," he said quickly. "I am somewhat disappointed I failed too. If I knew what I would've had to do beforehand, I might've passed that test too, entering the final trial. Alas, I failed."

"Do you think you could pass if you went in again?" Liang Shufen asked this time around.

Alex paused for a moment. "Maybe," he answered. "I doubt I would fail at the test I just failed at. I might fail at the next one, but who can say without me going through it all."

"Right? So—"

"Not now," Alex said without pausing. "I'll go through the rest of the trials and see where I end up with them. If I have the time at the end of it, which I most likely will have, I will go back to the ones I didn't pass entirely."

"That's… understandable," Yao Ning answered. "Do what you think is best, your majesty. We will trust your decision."

Alex nodded and decided to rest for a bit before going to the next trial. He could feel the coldness in his Dantian filling up and that needed to be contained.

At the same time, Pearl and Whisker hadn't cultivated for a while, so he needed to give them some time as well. They were all close to breaking through after all.

Alex especially was close to breaking through. A moment's thought would start his breakthrough. He was that close. However, he couldn't do it just yet. Somewhere deep in his heart, he knew that there were expectations in him that he needed to squash before he tried breaking through.

He could hope for his cousin to be alive, but keeping an expectation of it was dangerous. He was sure he had gotten rid of all of the things that his Inner Demon could attack him with, but he doubted he was correct there as well.

In the end, he could only wait. After the Realm of Trial was closed, he would try again. And he hoped he wouldn't fail that time around.

Two days later, once the effects of the cultivation pill wore off, Alex walked out of his hotel room again, walking directly toward the Talisman section of the Trial area.

As soon as he arrived, he was given main priority and was immediately sent inside to take part in the Talisman Trial.