Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex and the rest arrived and flew into the Blazing Earth sect.

Situated in a barren land, the Blazing Earth sect was a massive city-like sect surrounded by 18 different pillar-like plateaus from the outside.

Each of those plateaus was a couple of hundred meters tall, and about 3 hundred meters wide. They looked natural, but Alex wouldn't be surprised if they were man-made either.

Alex saw light on top of those plateaus and could see a bunch of disciples training on top of it.

As he went further, he finally saw the sect itself.

Like the Frozen Heart sect, the Blazing Earth sect was surrounded by walls and could be easily mistaken for a city. He guessed why the two sects would look similar, as they had once belonged to the same Super sect, but it was still surprising that they hadn't changed in the least.

The old woman flew into the walls, and despite being nighttime, Alex could see hundreds of thousands of disciples on the streets.

"How many disciples do you have?" Alex asked.

"Hmm... last I recall, we had about 350 thousand disciples, with over 250 thousand in the outer sect alone," the old woman said.

"And the core disciples?" he asked.

"About 5 thousand," the old woman said.

"Wow, that's higher than the girls from the Frozen Heart sect," Alex said.

"Of course," the old woman said. "They have a disadvantage when it comes to core disciples when compared to us. Not only do they not have as many disciples simply due to the fact that they only take females, but they also only accept core disciples from amongst those that cultivate their Frozen Heart Scripture."

"It would be scary if they had any more Core disciples than they do," she said.

"I see... that makes sense," Alex nodded. "So, are you still a disciple or an elder now, aunt?"

"I'm somewhere in between. I'm a disciple with the authority of an elder, I would say," Liz said.

'Ah, like I was,' Alex thought.

The buildings in the Blazing Earth sect were simpler than the ones in the Frozen Heart sect. They were tall with multiple stories and could house more disciples at once in a single building.

Instead of there being a massive tower in the middle, the sect facilities were different buildings with a massive building in the middle for the sect leaders and such.

Alex was sure there were more buildings underground for the Ancestors to live in, closer to the spirit vein.

"Zhumei, take your nephew around the sect. I will have to go and report to the sect master about what happened in the Dao mountain," the old woman said.

"You're going to talk about Alex?" Liz asked. Alex turned to look at her as well.

"I will have to," the old woman said. "Even if I don't, someone else will."

She then turned towards Alex and said, "I'm sorry if you wanted to live a life without much hassle, but with what you did at the Dao mountain, I'm afraid your name will be spread throughout the continent. At least the upper echelon for sure."

Alex nodded. "I understand," he said. "I was ready for it anyway."

He wasn't worried about his name being spread wide as along with the name, the thing that would be spread would be his description.

He didn't know if his black robe would be a descriptive feature, but his White Mask would definitely be something that gets spread as well.

As long as he took off his mask, he would lose his identity and would thus be able to go back to being a nobody in everyone's eyes.

After the old woman left, Alex went around the sect with his aunt, looking at the various places.

He was introduced to the Formation hall, Painting hall, Puppetry hall, Talisman hall, Artifact hall, and everything else that could be considered a profession.

Alchemy hall existed as well, but Alex only sensed the disciples inside medicinal pastes instead of pills. He searched for the ones that made pills, but he couldn't even find a formation where one could place their cauldron at.

"What's the punishment for people making pills in this state, aunt Liz?" Alex asked.

"Punishment? There is none," she said. "Only thing I would really consider being a punishment is that if you are an alchemist, you can never associate yourself with the Blazing Earth sect."

"Meaning?" Alex asked.

"Let's see... Pill makers can't join the sect, and if you're ever found out to be one, you will be expelled. The sect will do nothing to help you if you are an alchemist that makes pills, the sect won't do any business with you, or sell you ingredients," Liz said.

"Well, all in all, the sect just acts like you don't exist and lets you do whatever you want. Although that is very discouraging for people that want to become an alchemist," she said.

"That's a shame," Alex said.

"Are Alchemists prevalent in the Western Continent?" she asked.

"Yes, very," Alex said. "In fact, that is the only thing we even have. It was only a few years ago that medicinal pastes were even discovered."

"Only recently? You people exclusively made pills beforehand?" She asked in surprise. She could count on one hand the number of times she had eaten a pill since she entered the True realms.

"Yes," Alex said. "Medicinal pastes are reserved for medical problems only. Everything else is solved by pills."

"I see. It's a shame that the Northern Continent hates Alchemists so much, or we would have gotten a lot of pills too," Liz said.

"Do you know why that is?" Alex asked. He had tried asking this to many people, many times, but he had never gotten any answers.

Elder Xuan especially refused to speak of the topic at all whenever he tried to inquire about her, and the rest acted oblivious in front of him.

"Honestly, I don't know. I simply treat it as some cultural thing that causes them to hate pills. Like maybe some sort of superstition? If you make pills, a monster will come and kill you... that kind of thing," Liz said.

"Have you heard these superstitions?" Alex asked.

"No, just my guess," Liz said. "Why? Can you make pills too?"

"Somewhat," Alex said. "Don't tell anyone though. I might get in trouble."

"Oh no, I won't tell anyone," Liz said. "I don't want to lose the only family member I found."

Liz proceeded to show more of the sect as they talked. They walked around as the first light of dawn shined through the east and Alex saw people rushing out of their buildings.

"Where are they going?" he asked, seeing them in such a hurry.

"Oh, these are the body cultivators. They train themselves in the sun, so they are rushing to find themselves a spot in the plateau where they can train," she said.

"Wait, body cultivators?" Alex was a little surprised. 'That's right, this sect does have body cultivators. I forgot.'

He looked at the red-robed disciples rushing through the streets.

"Do you think I can go watch them?" he asked.

"You're interested?" Liz asked. "If so, then we have to leave at once."