Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Chapter 3222 Unbearable Pain

The more pearl took on the pain, the more flexible his soul became. The more flexible his soul was, the easier it would be on his father to influence his soul through Soul Confluence.

And the easier it was for his father, the better his chances of survival.

That was really all the reason Pearl had to take on so much pain. Even when it was unbearable, he gritted his teeth and bore it.

The next batch of blood came, and with it agony beyond imagination. His body ached at every part. He felt as if his skin was on fire, his muscles being ripped string by string, his bones crushed to powder, all the while he was forced to feel everything a hundred times over.

Pearl thought he knew the meaning of unbearable before, but now he wondered if he knew anything at all. How could he have been so confident that he could take this pain? What gave him the audacity to think he could fight against this?

It would be so much better if he just-

'No!' Pearl thought with an inner voice that resounded throughout his mind. 'I'm not going down. You're not taking me!

He met the pain head on and delivered the equivalent of a headbutt through sheer will. He opened his eyes, blood dripping down the side like red tear marks.

Everyone's eyes were fixated on Pearl, all of them worried.

Alex got out of his stupor. "Do it. Now."

Qing Tianchui started immediately, reaching into his beast soul and seeking to form a Soul Confluence with Pearl's soul. At the same time, Alex took out three pills from his Soul Space that he had prepared for this very moment.

He ate two of the pills. One of them helped condense his spiritual energy to become incredibly strong, allowing him to do things he

couldn't normally with it should he need to.

The other one was a pill that helped him take in everything that happened around him with extreme efficiency, at the same time helping him understand and react to it all in record time.

It was the same pill he had eaten back during the final Alchemy competition, the one that helped him form his Axiom.

Even though it was quite rare, just in case it was needed, he ate it once again.

The third pill was for Pearl. He fed Pearl the pill, letting him swallow it with some difficulty. This was the pill Alex had prepared especially for this situation, one which made someone's soul more malleable than it was on the regular.

Combined with Pearl's current situation, the pill would help him even

more.

A strange vibration formed around Qing Tianchui's blood and sun body as he began Soul Confluence. Alex could sense the effect of the confluence landing on Pearl.

This was an important moment. Whether Qing Tianchui would be helpful or not for Pearl would finally be known now.

The answer wasn't immediate. Pearl was still in pain, grunting and growling as he tried to handle it, but everyone clearly saw just how impossibly difficult this task was. Pearl had gone a step beyond his own pain threshold, which wasn't something he could come back so easily from.

They all waited with hopeful looks. Seconds at first. Then minutes. And then, around 5 minutes in, they finally saw the result.

Pearl relaxed considerably. The pain hadn't lowered a whole lot, but any decrease from what he had been feeling was a god-sent miracle. "It's working!" Alex said with no small amount of relief upon seeing Pearl's relaxed state. He took in a deep breath and focused on his task.

He kept an eye out on Qing Tianchui, making sure to not let him use up all of his powers without him knowing it.

Alex could transfer a significant portion of his blood aura into his blood beasts, so should that be needed, he had to be prepared. For now, it didn't look like it was needed.

In the corner, Scarlet's body sagged as she relaxed. "Looks like we have nothing to worry about. It worked."

Whisker narrowed his eyes a little. Had it worked? Something had definitely happened, but something was wrong. His whiskers could sense it. The impression he got from Pearl's father's soul was not the same as he got from Pearl in that moment.

There was definitely a Soul Confluence, but...

Alex sensed it almost at the same time. "They're not resonating!"

His words took the others by surprise. Bai Jingshen tried sensing what Alex had said and found it to be true. It was almost fully resonating, but there was a part missing. Like two copies of an image placed on top of one another, they were supposed to be a perfect replica, only the smallest shift to the images made the stacking completely worthless.

There was a chasm's worth of difference between a perfectly resonating Soul Confluence and one that nearly did.

Alex's mind was already racing at a breakneck pace, partially thanks to the pill he had eaten. Since he had noticed the issue, he first thought

of why it was happening.

Was it because Qing Tianchui was a blood beast? Jungwen was a

blood beast too, and he had hardly failed.

Then was it because Pearl had a White Tiger's bloodline just as much

as the Azure Dragons' bloodline?

Alex immediately summoned Jungwen, the White Tiger blood beast appearing before them all. "Form a Soul Confluence," he ordered

immediately, pointing toward Pearl.

Now, there were two blood beasts, each of them from one of Pearl's different bloodlines, attempting to form a hybrid Soul Confluence to

help him survive.

Pearl was still in indescribable amounts of pain. The sole reason he hadn't died yet was his perseverance. However, one could only last so much with perseverance alone. Sooner or later, the pain would knock him out, and at that point, with Pearl's cultivation stopping, there would be nothing any of them could do.

Whisker spoke just then.

"It's still not working."