Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"Here are your rewards."

Some of the big figures from the Alchemy guild including Xue Mufan and Zhou Zirong were present in a secluded section of the guild, along with the top 10 winners of the competition.

Everyone was handed a pile of storage bags, which included the recipes and ingredients as promised.

Alex got 15 thousand True Spirit stones, 3 Saint rank ingredients, 2 Saint rank pill recipes, a bunch of True ranked ingredients and 1 True Heaven ranked artifact.

The artifact that Alex got was a single fist-sized orb of chromatic color. Alex wondered what it was, but he didn't have to think for long as he noticed a talisman by its side that had its information.

[Poison Absorbing Pearl: Absorbs almost all poisons and venoms from the air and one's body. You can later use the orb to use the poison as an attack.]

The orb could only absorb poisons below a certain rank and it couldn't absorb a lot of it, so using it to protect yourself from the Poison swamp was useless, but it did absorb enough poison to protect you on a daily basis.

It was a useless treasure to Alex, but it would be amazingly useful for his mother so he accepted it gracefully.

Alex ignored the Hammerhead Snake's venom, and even ignored the box that contained the fruit that was the Blizzard's Rainbow core, and took out the box that contained the Blood Spirit Ginseng.

This was the ingredient he had been waiting for for a long time and finally, it was here.

Alex slowly pulled open the box and saw the ginseng. The ginseng looked like any old ginseng that one could find. It was a cylindrical body with patches of dirt that descended to multiple tendrils that looked like roots.

What made this ginseng different was its color. The ginseng was fully crimson in color.

Not only that, the moment Alex opened the box, the air smelled of iron, and everyone got alert.

Alex quickly closed the box and put it back into his storage bag. 'Holy shit!' he thought. He had never expected the ginseng to have this strong of a bloody smell.

"You can check your rewards later when you are alone," one of the elders said. "For now, the three of you, come with me."

Alex, Zhou Ren, and Xue Meirong followed the elder and went to a different room where they saw 3 items on 3 different pedestals.

One was a black and gold cauldron, another one was a crimson red whip, and finally, the last one was a giant necklace.

"These are the Saint-ranked items that you are to get. Let us start with young man Yu and see what he chooses," the elder said.

Alex nodded and looked at the reward. "May I check them?" he asked.

"Absolutely, go ahead," the elder said.

Alex walked up front and inspected the cauldron. The cauldron was sturdy and could probably be used as a blunt weapon. It was made up of a material that easily let Qi pass through and also seemed to have some sort of skill forged into it.

When Alex inquired about it, it turned out that the cauldron could keep the energy from escaping while activated.

Alex was intrigued, but he moved on to the whip. The whip was somehow extremely stiff and flexible at the same time. He poured in some Qi and suddenly the whip came to life as a fire burned all over it.

"Be careful not to burn yourself. The whip can produce an incredible amount of fire," the elder said.

"I see," Alex said and moved on.

The final item was the necklace which was a mental attack blocker for the most part, but there was also a skill that created a barrier to stop any attack below the Saint realm.

While that sounded incredible, it would be useless to Alex within a year or two, that he was sure of.

So, circling back to the whip and the cauldron, Alex thought for a moment and made his decision.

"I'll choose this," Alex said as he grabbed the item.

"The whip?" the elder was surprised. "Not the cauldron or the necklace?"

Alex shook his head. The necklace was useless to him soon anyway. As for the cauldron, while it would be useful to him, it wouldn't aid him as much since his Dao was able to cover up any shortcomings of his own cauldron.

Besides, the cauldron he had was his master's gift. He had used it for over 7 years, but he wasn't willing to give up just yet.

"I have made my choice after considerable deliberation, elder. You need not worry about my decision," Alex said.

He had decided to take the whip after realizing that he didn't have any good weapons on him other than the poison sword which wasn't very good.

The other sword was great, of course, but he couldn't use Qi in it and as such, it was pretty much useless for him when it came to real fights.

So, he had gone with the whip choice.

Zhou Ren chose the necklace as expected. Coming from an alchemy family, he had no lacking of cauldrons that he could choose from.

As such, Xue Meirong was stuck with the cauldron despite already having one of the same ranks.

Since the rewards were handed over, the competition had officially ended and they could all go on with their life now.

"Go and train for the actual competition you young folks are always excited about," the elder said as he waved them goodbye.

* * * * * *

Xue Mufan sat in front of a scarlet and green cauldron and had a serious look on his face. By his side, his daughter sat with him, watching him.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked.

Alex sat in front of him with a serious look on his face as well. He held the Blood Spirit Ginseng in his hand and learned the information that naturally flowed into his mind.

The ginseng was 216 years old, and it was a Wood elemental ingredient that was missing Fire energy and Earth Energy.

Alex remembered that, a Wood Elemental ingredient. So, the ingredient he had to find was also a Wood Elemental ingredient that was missing, from his experience, most likely the Fire energy.

Now that Alex knew it, there was another thing he needed to do. He needed to get an impression of the aura of the ginseng. Only through that could he ever learn what sort of ingredient he was supposed to search for.

He took a deep breath and nodded, knowing that whatever he was going to do was about to destroy the ingredient in his hand.

Alex took out a knife and cut the ginseng into four different parts and handed one of the parts over to Xue Mufan.

Mufan shook his head at the waste but said nothing. "Alright, watch carefully. I don't know what you are going to do, but you need to pay attention," he said.

"Yes, senior," Alex said in a monotone voice as the warning didn't register in his ear because of his concentration.

"Alright, at 2122 degrees, 18 rotations counterclockwise at half a rotation per second. Coming right up," Mufan said and tossed the ginseng into the cauldron.

Alex's heart started beating furiously as he closed his eyes and ears to the surrounding, and used his spiritual sense to look into the cauldron and felt the shift in energy.

Wood energy was released from the ginseng of a certain variety that Alex got a distinct impression of. He continued feeling the energy and tried to ignore the bloody smell in the air, but it was too strong to ignore.

Still, he managed to focus on the wood energy altogether. After a few moments, the ingredient was powdered and there was nothing for Alex to sense as the energy remained stagnant in the cauldron.

"Again, please," Alex said.

Mufan nodded and took the 2nd of the 4 ingredients and did it again. Once again, Alex was forced to power through the bloody smell and focus on the wood energy, feeling the certain parts of the wood energy that would help him find the necessary ingredient.

"Again," Alex said and the 3rd of the 4 parts were used up.

Alex did his best to feel every different aspect of the wood energy, including whatever sub-energy of wood that might be hidden in there.

When the ingredient was powdered once again, Xue Mufan looked at Alex and asked, "Again?"

"Hmm?" Alex looked up with a confused look as he didn't hear what he had just said.

"I'm asking do you want to use up the last one too?" he asked.

"Yes," Alex said and was about to hand it over when he stopped. "Actually, I would rather keep this just in case I need a reminder again."

"Suit yourself," Mufan said. "So is this all you needed me to do?"

"Yes, senior," Alex said as he kept the final part of the Blood Spirit Ginseng in his storage bag. "Thank you for agreeing to do this to me."

"It's fine. You barely took any of my time at all," Xue Mufan said. "Besides, I managed to get the recipe for the Body Rebinding pill for my daughter. She's been nagging me to ask you for it forever."

"Father!" Xue Meirong tried to hide her red face but everyone saw.

"My daughter doesn't have the best of manners, but she's not a bad person. I hope you'll be friends with her," Xue Mufan said.

"Of course, senior," Alex said.

"Anyway, I will need to leave now. I've left my sect alone for nearly 2 weeks now," Xue Mufan said as she stood up. "Good luck on whatever you endeavor next."