Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"AH!" another girl shouted, as her arm was cut at the elbows. But the glowing orange shield protected her chest.

At the same time, another man felt a clang on his barrier that threatened to shatter even when he didn't see anyone attack it.

The leader and the rest immediately sent out their Qi sense and sensed something… someone moving without being seen.

"He's invisible!" the leader shouted. Immediately, everyone started using Qi sense.

Qi sense would help them see or feel. It only gave them a vague shape of what existed wherever their Qi went through, but that was enough to catch Alex trying to attack them.

The 5 of remaining ones realized that fighting alone was not the way here. The opponent was way too tricky with his skills, so they needed to fight together, at once.

Alex huffed far away. The burning feeling in his meridians hurt him way more than he wanted to admit. Using the sun technique 3 times was already bad enough, but 4 times nearly destroyed his meridians.

If he were to do it one more time, it was very much likely that he would lose his meridians.

He had already taken a healing pill, and while his burnt skin and cut flesh had healed, the meridians remained mostly untouched.

That meant the burning feeling didn't come from his meridians being damaged, but something else.

'Did my yang and fire Qi burn through them? Can't be, they're not damaged,' he thought.

He continued keeping his attention on the 5 people flying through the air as he sensed their Qi moving towards him to sense him.

This far away, they shouldn't have been able to sense him at all, however, with nothing else in the direction, the slightest hint of something in the air would certainly make Alex be noticed to them.

'What the hell do I do?' Alex thought. 'I'm already struggling with my meridians to pump out Qi to keep flying and staying invisible. If I try to use any other skill, I will die.'

He wanted to fly far away, but the caravan was ahead in the distance. If he did, the bandits would certainly go attack them as revenge.

So, he let the Qi pass through him.

The 4 bandits and their leader rushed towards Alex with all of their skills flaring at full power.

Alex stood in the air with no other choice but to fight. He gripped his sword and looked at the figures ahead of him.

2 of them were stronger than his body cultivation by more than 2 realms, 3 of them stronger than his Qi cultivation by more than a minor realm.

Any of their attacks would hurt him. If hit properly, all of them could kill.

Still, Alex couldn't back down. He breathed deeper and deeper until his sword started glowing white, the only thing he could do. And then…

~SILENCE~

Weapons clattered down below on the ground a few seconds later.

Alex's fist that was strongly gripping his sword loosened a bit as pure terror appeared on his face.

Mists. That was all Alex could see in front of him. Red and bloody mist.

There were 5 people on their way towards him just moments ago, and now… not a single one of them remained.

"You nearly killed yourself," a voice drifted to his ear as someone appeared from the air, making himself visible.

Shen Jing reappeared.

Alex's face changed. He gritted his teeth and gripped his sword again, even harder this time.

Shen Jing chuckled a little as he waved his hands, clearing the bloody mist in front of him.

"YOU!" Alex said, with hatred in his voice. What was he up to? He had just brought Alex here to die, and yet… was he the one who just saved Alex?

As if to clear up Alex's doubts, Shen Jing said, "You're not bad when it comes to fighting. I thought I would have to save you long ago."

Shen Jing looked below at the burning flesh of the bandits.

"You said you lost your arms to bandits in your hometown. Were they much stronger than these men?" he asked.

Alex wasn't sure what was happening right now. So he was helping him?

"They weren't stronger. Only I was very much weaker," Alex said with a cold voice.

"I see," Shen Jing said. Suddenly, a wave of Qi surrounded Alex, gripping him like a fist.

"Stop flying. Stop concealing. In fact, stop doing anything that has to do with QI," Shen Jing said.

Alex tried to struggle free, but the Qi grasp was way too strong.

"Stop struggling. You will only make this worse," Shen Jing said.

"Why are you doing this? What's your purpose?" Alex asked. "Were you with the bandits?"

"Pfft! Hahaha," Shen Jing suddenly started laughing as if he had never heard of a more funny joke before. "Why would you possibly think I was with the bandits?"

"Because you brought me here for them to kill me," Alex said.

"No. I brought YOU here to kill THEM. I was testing you, a little," Shen Jing said.

"This… this is 'a little'?" Alex asked, pointing to the burning bodies to the side.

"I was planning it to be. I was expecting you to kill 2 or 3 people,  maybe even 5 before you needed my saving. However, while I noticed your particularly dense Qi, I somehow didn't notice your body."

"Had I known, I might have removed the 2 stronger ones and let you fight the rest of the 28. But then, you might have easily killed them too," Shen Jing said with his hands on his chin.

"You know what? Now that I think about it, these bandits at the edge of the empire are probably not that good of a test. They didn't have weapons or items that a normal cultivator in the more established sections of the empire would have," he said.

"Either way, you did well. You should rest after we return," Shen Jing said and suddenly dragged Alex behind him.

The speed was so fast that everything looked like a blur to him. 'Yes, that's the speed of a Saint Realm alright,' Alex thought.

He couldn't help but wonder what the hell a saint realm was doing in this remote place.

"Argh!" Alex grumbled softly, but Shen Jing still caught it.

"Don't try to use Qi. The only Qi you should be using now is during cultivation. Any other will hurt you for a while," Shen Jing said.

"Dammit, what's happening to me? Am I hurt? Is this Qi deviation" Alex asked.

"Haha, nothing like that. You did go overboard a little with that little sun stunt, but nothing enough to harm your cultivation," Shun Jing said.

"What did I do?" Alex asked.

"Basically, you made too much Qi flow through your meridians at once. Too much flow caused your meridians to stretch to a point that was way beyond what it could normally handle."

"A normal person would've likely reached your current condition on the first time, maybe second time if they are lucky," Shen Jing said.

"To have created that sun for 5 times in a row, while using so many skills in between. You, little brother, are truly amazing."