Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex opened his eyes and they shined brightly with enlightenment.

He slowly moved his hands forward and the fire responded to his will. With a single thought, Qi moved out of him of its own volition, and the Qi in the air moved to the fire too.

Not even a moment late, the fire grew hotter by nearly 200 degrees. This was incredible.

Usually, no matter how fast, there was a gradual increase in temperature. With Alex, it was quite a bit fast thanks to the Flame Mastery technique and also very accurate.

However, now it was instant. The amount of time it took for the temperature to change was the same amount of time it took for the Qi in his body to leave.

For a person who had gone through Mortal Cleansing and had improved his meridians through constant training for over 2 years, releasing his Qi was everything but an instant.

Unfortunately, that didn't help him in Alchemy as much as he would have wanted it to. Having an accurately hot fire was never the problem at all.

After all, the temperature of the fire was never what mattered. It was the temperature of the cauldron rather that defined how an ingredient was going to behave.

However, the Dao of Heat didn't simply extend to fire itself. It extended to everything that existed and had heat, no matter how low.

So, when Alex tried it, he realized that even without the existence of fire itself, he could heat up the cauldron to the required temperature, and he could do it instantly.

Unfortunately, he still needed the fire. Changing temperature was one thing, but keeping it constant, however, was completely different.

The amount of focus and Qi he would require to make a pill without using fire was way too high.

So, in the end, Alex still needed the fire. Still, these two things together had already made an incredible difference for his alchemy going forward.

So, once he was done learning how to manipulate heat, he started making the pills once more.

He heated up the cauldron but that took no time at all. The moment he thought about it, the cauldron was ready for the first ingredient.

Alex put in the ingredient and started processing it. Once he was done with it, he put in the second ingredient.

Before the second ingredient even finished falling through the cauldron, both the temperature of the cauldron and the fire switched to the required amount instantly and he processed the 2nd ingredient too.

Then the third and the fourth.

After all 16 ingredients had been processed with almost no time in between them, he started forming the different combinations and soon afterward finished forming the pill.

Once the pill was ready, Alex brought it back out.

80%.

"Holy shit!" he thought to himself. This was definitely one of the best pills he had ever made.

Still, for some reason, he thought he could do better.

* * * * * *

After making about 10 more of the pills, Alex finally ran out of ingredients to make any more.

He stopped and went forward to complete the next set of steps he needed to take before passing along the pill back to the two girls.

So, he started making the True Nullifying pill.

Alex needed to be very careful with this pill as it was extremely volatile. So, he took as long as it required him to make the pill.

Right when he used the technique to form the pill, Alex took out a 75% Harmony pill from the one he made before he acquired the Dao of Heat and ate it without a second thought.

Even as the pill went down his esophagus, Alex needed to make a decision. He could either convert it into Qi or have the pill take effect.

Since he was testing the pill, he let it take effect.

Just as the pill started dissolving in his stomach, the True Nullifying pill was ready.

At the same time, Alex employed the Jade Skin technique as that was the only earth technique he could use at the moment.

Alex took the True Nullifying pill and waited a few seconds before he took it.

The moment he felt his Jade Skin technique get even the slightest bit better, he immediately at the True Nullifying pill.

Instantly, he felt hollow. As if he was a bubble that had just popped.

The energy that was in fact affecting his body was immediately destroyed and what little effect it had on his roots was also eliminated.

When it all passed away, and he started feeling normal again, he had the widest smile imaginable.

He had done it. He had not only made the pill but also made sure that it was an actual pill that improved one's Spirit roots.

It was not a harmful pill at all. He could now give it safely to the two girls that had given him the recipe.

Of course, he hadn't done the testing for those two. It did help to get on their good side, but their safety was never his concern. He could simply make them the pill and be done with it.

It was not even his own safety that made him take the True Nullifying pill's approach.

It was the thought of his mother eating this pill that made him want to test it before letting her have it.

Alex knew how great his body was. Anything his body deemed harmful, it destroyed, leaving not even a trace of it.

As such, if the pill he ate did do something bad, his body could handle it. However, his mother had no such body.

Alex had been worried from the start. What if he gave her the pill and it turned out to be a bad one? He couldn't imagine the thought of giving her some pill that he didn't know about.

That was the one and only reason he decided to test the pill.

Now that he had done it, he could happily go ahead and give it to her. So finally, after who knew how long, Alex left the alchemy room and walked out.

* * * * * * *

It was early morning when Alex returned back to his home to rest. The mental fatigue of working non-stop for a week and then comprehending a dao had left him feeling tapped out.

So, he spent the next whole day simply cultivating and resting.

The morning after that, Alex opened his eyes and brought out one of the better pills to eat and improve his spiritual root.

The moment he ate the pill, he could feel the roots getting better. He didn't know if that was some sort of placebo effect or not, but once he used the Jade Skin technique, it was perfectly clear that his Earth Spiritual root had been improved, albeit not by a lot.

At least, not when compared to the Supreme Spiritual roots that his Metal and Yang roots had become.

Once he was done, Alex left his house and went over to his mother's house to give her the same pill.

They talked for a while before Alex needed to leave. He needed to visit both the Heaven's Peak school and the Han Ancestral family home to deliver the pill.

However, just to be sure that he didn't have to do that, he went to the guild, hoping to see the two girls.

To his surprise, they were in fact there. Alex was glad he came by here first.

"Sister Liang, Sister Han, I'm glad to see the both of you," Alex said.

"Alchemist Yu, where were you? You made us wait for so long," Liang Qiu said.

"My apologies, were you waiting on me for a long time?" Alex asked.

"For you to make the pill, yes. For you to come out of the room? No," Liang Qiu said. "We got some of our junior disciples to come here and stake you out. The moment you left, they let us know and we came here first thing in the morning."

"I see, well I'm glad that you came here because you are just in time," Alex said and pulled out two pill bottles from his storage bag and handed them over.

"Your pills are ready," Alex said.

The girls opened the bottle and saw the dark brown pill. "Is it safe to eat?" Liang Qiu said.

"Yes," Alex said. "It does do what it says it does."

"I see," Liang Qiu said. "Then I hope you won't mind if I check the pill's harmony."

Alex smiled back. "Go ahead."