Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

The Nine Yang Divine Tree's roots devoured any things that contained energy of any sort. Alex sent in talismans, spirit stones, pills, and useless herbs as well, and it devoured everything that got close.

That was surprising, but he wondered if that alone was good. "Surely it needs actual nutrients," he thought. 'I'll have to get some later.'

He ignored the location of the seeds for now. They had handled themselves on their own for the past 25 years they had been by themselves, so they could handle some time on their own.

Alex did think of throwing in some large pieces of land into his Soul Space to help the seeds take proper root, but he would have to wait until he went to more verdant locations than the Gold Kingdom.

He moved his senses away from the place, leaving to check where his Blood God's Manual was. It ended up being in a remote location, which he took it away from and placed it alongside the other items he had gathered up.

Then, he placed his other items in his storage ring into his Soul Space as well. Once he was done, he had a massive pile of items all ranging from extremely necessary to absolutely unneeded. 

Just for the sake of safety, he took away the items, placing them further from the sprouts so that the roots didn't accidentally snatch them away. He wouldn't like it if he lost his stash of ingredients and Saint spirit stones.

After taking them aside, he started separating them based on their importance and what they were. He first separated them based on whether they were Alchemy-related or not. 

Everything not related went to one pile, and the rest in another. He put cauldrons on the part that did not belong to Alchemy as it was easier to keep the cauldrons along with the other artifacts.

Then, he started separating them for what they were. Artifacts, talismans, formations, paintings, spirit stones, and anything else that wasn't a pill or an ingredient was separated into their own section.

He made some smaller separations as well, but that was just for the swords and cauldrons for now. He had to separate them to call them out easily when he could, but except that, he didn't find the will to separate the rest. 

He thought of doing that when he was next bored, but not before that. He also only separated the alchemy items into pills and ingredients and stopped after that. Separating them further would take such a longer time and he didn't want to do that right now.

After he was done with just the superfluous sorting of his items, he left his soul space, deciding to check on his Nascent soul. However, he didn't find the need to do so. The moment he thought about it, he would already be looking at things from the Soul's eyes.

He was the Soul and the Soul was he. There wasn't much need to learn about the soul on his own, and the elders would most likely give him a better understanding.

He finally stood up, unsure just how long he had stayed here. He took a look at the Voidsand Hourglass in his Soul Space and saw that only 3 days had passed since he had come out of the Painting trial.

He said 'only' because it had felt like he had spent so much time trying to understand what his soul space was like. However, every person on the outside would definitely think that he had stayed in there for far too long.

"Your Majesty," Liang Shufen spoke in surprise. "You're out, finally."

"Ah, I must've made you two wait on me," he said. "I should have notified you before  that I would be taking some time."

"That is alright, your majesty," Yao Ning answered. "Were there any complications on your breakthrough?"

"No, everything went fine this time around," Alex said.

"Then congratulations are in order," the old woman said with a bow. "Congratulations on reaching the Saint Soul realm, Your Majesty."

"I pray that you will reach the Saint Transformation realm soon as well, and then the Immortal realm not long after that," Liang Shufen said.

"Thank you," Alex said with a hint of a smile on his face. He asked them about their experience when they broke through to the Saint Soul realm and how a Nascent Soul affected him.

"It's no different really," Liang Shufen said. "You might think that that you are two different people right now since you have only just started, but soon enough the thought won't even cross your mind."

Alex thought for a moment. He did think he and the soul were two different people, at least at first glance. It was only when he started paying attention that the soul and he thought the same.

"Another thing is that you have to be very careful about your Soul, your majesty," Yao Ning said. "Since your soul had been taken away from your body and given a new form, it can be easily damaged. You will have to train yourself to switch between your body and soul instantly in case of danger."

"I see," Alex said, thinking to himself. There was a period of time in which his body still thought when he meant to transfer the thought to the Soul. It didn't feel much, but Alex was sure this period could be dangerous for him.

He had to be careful and practice to switch between body and soul when he had the chance.

"Your soul is vulnerable," Yao Ning continued. "Throughout Saint Soul realm, you will strengthen your soul, but it won't be enough at all. You will need talismans and other defenses constantly active."

Alex was surprised at how careful they were. He nodded still. "I will do just that," he said. He wondered if he should tell them about his Soul Space, but decided not to do it right now. He would tell them when they got suspicious.

"So," he decided to change the topic. "Is the trial over?"

"It's almost over," Liang Shufen answered. "Most of our Alchemists that did well in the 2 chances they had have given up as the queue to enter was too long. As for the ones that failed later in the trial, they have given up. If we can get about 4 more to give up, we won't have anything to worry about."

"Let them take their test," Alex said. "They can do whatever they want."

"We thought so too," Liang Shufen said. "Still we had to wait for your permission."

Alex nodded.

"Oh and your name is spread far and wide, again," Liang Shufen said.

"It's died down a little, but for the first day, every single newsboard did nothing but show your achievement here in the Trial," Yao Ning added.

"Oh!" Alex said in surprise. "And it's over now?"

"By a lot margin, but some would still do anything to get answers from you," Yao Ning answered. "Speaking of someone trying to do something to get answers, the Golden King had come to visit you multiple times in the last 2 days. Should we let him know that you're awake?"

"No," Alex said. "I will meet him myself."