Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"What are you doing here, brother? Are you looking to avenge your parents? Please don't risk your lives and come back to the sect," Alex said.

"You… won't understand," Wan Li said softly and ran further in.

'Where is he going? Does he know the way?' Alex wondered as he followed Wan Li.

"Oi kid, leave the old man behind. You don't have to follow him," the woman and 3 other men were following behind but stopped.

"Kid, we are leaving with or without you. The bandit is gone and we need to leave before he informs his boss," the woman said, but Alex didn't listen.

He continued following behind Wan Li as he went deeper into the forest.

"Senior, what do we do now?" one of the men asked.

"Let's go back. We need to move soon or the Black Venom himself will come to find us," the woman said.

"And that kid?" another man asked.

"Forget about that kid or even the old man. If they went in deep, they are sure to die. We need to save our hide for now," the woman said and started running backward.

The men followed her and they soon reached the road again.

"You guys are back," Zhang Xie said and looked around. "Where's the little brother? And that old man?"

"They followed deep after the man; they didn't want to come back," the woman said.

"Oh no, we need to get them," Zhang Xie said.

"No, we can't. We need to leave now before the Black Venom realizes we've killed his people," the woman said.

"But… but the little brother, we need to get him at least," Zhang Xie said.

"Do you want to risk the lives of everyone here for a feisty kid that won't listen to us and goes in looking for danger?" the woman asked.

"But—"

"Mister! If we don't leave now, you will die," the woman said.

Zhang Xie finally came to his sense and softly said, "I'm sorry brother Wen, your disciple brought this on himself."

"Alright people," he then loudly shouted. "Move! We need to leave this area right now," he said.

The caravan started back up and the carriages moved hastily. They left the area as fast as they could and moved along.

* * * * *

The leader ran through the forest at incredible speed while going through thick trees using his movement technique that worked best in the trees.

He used his wood-related movement techniques to quickly lose the guards behind, but he was losing a ton of blood.

'I… I need to find the boss soon,' he thought. 'Those bastards need to die. They dare kill members of our group?'

He huffed and puffed and made his way further in. Finally, after finding a relatively secure place in the forest, he placed his spear on the tree and sat down.

He quietened down and listened to the people, trying to feel the people's aura.

"I should be safe. Ugh… that bastard cut through my waist. Shit!" the man said to himself.

His vision was starting to get hazy and he could feel himself falling unconscious.

He tried to reach his storage bag, but his left arm was hurt too. Still, he looked for his storage bag to take out a pill to heal himself now that he was relatively safe.

"Huh? Where's my storage bag?" he worriedly checked his cloth, but it wasn't there.

'Shit, did it fall out of my robes?' he wondered.

He patted himself left and right with his right hand, but couldn't find the storage bag anywhere.

"Shit! Where the fuck did I drop my storage bag? this wound is so big and I need medication. I hope I don't die not even 2 months into the—"

Suddenly a fireball flew right to his head and smacked him across the face.

"Fuck!" he got scared and stood up to run, but he realized the fireball barely stung.

He looked around and checked the person who just attacked him.

"Mind Tempering realm? Fuck you man, why the fuck are you scaring me for nothing?" he shouted.

Wan Li had made it up to him and had attacked. He took out his sword and started sending out fire slashes towards the man.

"Goddammit! Die," he shouted and tried to jump forward to hit, but his feet just wouldn't move like they needed to.

He still took out his spear and slashed around, sending out attacks. They were very dangerous for Wan Li, but the man was wounded and slow, so he could dodge pretty easily.

The man suddenly placed his hands on the ground and roots started propping out from the ground.

They were very fast and were closing in on Wan Li.

Wan Li too dropped down and touched the ground to quickly turn it into lava and sent it forward to stop the roots.

The roots were mostly elemental with little Qi, so no matter how strong they were, they couldn't survive the lava.

"Shit! man, just go back or I will kill you," he said.

"15 months ago, a caravan ride passed through here. It was the caravan of the merchant group Night Soul. You were the ones that killed them, weren't you?" Wan Li demanded.

"Fuck you, kid. Just die," the man slashed the spear with both of his hands and grunted at the pain from his right hand.

Wan Li pulled up the part of the earth in front of him and blocked the attack. But mere rocks couldn't stop the attack of a True realm cultivator.

The impact tore apart the rocks and threw Wan Li flying back as well.

"Ughh…" Wan Li said as he felt the pain.

"You think a mere Mind Tempering realm cultivator can beat me? I'm already at True Disciple 3rd realm. I can beat you with half my body dead," the man said.

'Fuck those bastards who said this was a good way to earn money. There's nothing easy about this. I really hope I don't die. Let me kill this kid first and see if he has any loot,' he thought.

The man walked forward towards Wan Li and was about to slash when he suddenly lost his consciousness.

The spear he had propped up to attack nearly dropped out of his hands as he too fell along with it.

"Brother Li, what are you doing? Come on! He'll wake up soon, we need to leave. We can't fight a True realm cultivator right now," Alex said.

"Ugh, my chest," Wan Li said.

Alex quickly took out a healing pill and shoved it into Wan Li's mouth. Wan Li immediately felt better and stood up.

Then, he saw the unconscious body of the man. "I can kill him," he thought with red eyes and propped up his sword to swing.

Just then, the man woke up and dodged the sword just as the swing was coming down.

"Shit! What happened? Why was I out?" he asked. "Oh shit! Mental attacks."

The man suddenly started using a cultivation technique. White light appeared around his body as his whole body started glowing slightly.

He then tightly held his spear and stabbed it towards Wan Li. The attack was fast and Wan Li couldn't dodge it in time.

Suddenly, Alex appeared between the two and took the attack to the chest. His armor blocked the damage, but the force still sent him flying backward with Wan Li.

Alex quickly got his footing and looked up only to see the man right about to stab him with the spear.

Just then, Alex disappeared once again and appeared a little behind. His spiritual sense churned as he let out another Heaven's impact while the man hit empty land.

The man lost consciousness for a second but immediately woke up.

"What? Why is he not affected like the last time?" Alex thought.

The man turned around and looked towards Alex's silhouette. With most of his vision running hazy due to his lack of blood, he couldn't see Wan Li who was hidden a little further away from him.

"Damn you!" he shouted and ran towards Alex and swung his spear around. The spear was fast, but as long as Alex teleported someplace else, he couldn't touch him.

Alex tried luring the man away from Wan Li, while Wan Li healed and ran away. At least, he was hoping that was the case.

However, just after Wan Li stood up, he came back charging.

Alex could probably play around with this weak True Realm cultivator, but not if Wan Li kept intruding.

The man heard Wan li approaching and turned around to slash towards him. The sword and the spear clashed, making a rather loud ringing sound.

The man suddenly sprouted roots from the ground and caught Wan Li. However, Wan Li too started creating lava under his feet. Since the Lava was made up of mostly Earth energy that was empowered using Fire energy, it was particularly powerful.

The roots started crushing Wan Li's legs but they were also getting destroyed. But since Wan li wasn't resistant to heat, he was starting to take damage from the lava too.

Alex teleported right next to him and hacked away the roots before pulling him out. He pulled out another pill to feed Wan Li, but the man hit his arm and the pill flew into the forest.

"Ouch!" Alex cried out. There was a long gash from the bottom of his thumb to his little finger. Alex teleported away and took out another pill before eating it.

He then took out another pill and saw Wan Li rolling around to dodge the attack.

Alex teleported right next to the man and used Heaven's impact to harm him before swinging right at him.

However, he didn't feel the same force as he had imagined. 'Shit, his glow also stops physical attacks,' he thought.

He teleported out and dragged Wan Li back before giving him the pill. "Stop being so stubborn, Brother Li. We need to leave," Alex said.

Wan Li however looked at the man with nothing but anger and hatred in his eyes. "My parents were killed by the Black Venom bandits. I've been searching for them ever since they died. Now that I have finally found them, I can't leave, brother Yu. I must avenge my parents," he said.

"What? He was responsible for your parent's death?" Alex asked in surprise.

"Yes, that's why I want to kill him," Wan Li said. "Don't try to stop me. Either he dies today and I get my revenge. Or I die today and the circle of violence ends with me."

Alex tried to stop him but he couldn't.

"I have met True Disciple bandits that were stronger than you, you weakling!" Wan Li taunted. Alex got ready behind him, if Wan Li wasn't going to leave, then he would have to help him.

Alex took a deep breath. If he was to fight, he would fight with his full strength.