Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Chapter 3414: Old Man and Change

Battlesage was more than curious enough to see what Alex was talking about immediately. After making sure no one else was looking into his room, he flew into Alex’s Soul Space, arriving inside the Demon Realm.

As soon as Battlesage arrived inside of Alex’s Soul Space, his first instinct was to check what exactly had changed. When he did so, he found himself unable to notice anything.

Not because nothing had changed, but because his Spiritual Sense wasn’t able to pierce through the fog of unrecognizable aura that permeated the entirety of this land. He could get some things through his senses, but most of it was blocked by the aura.

"What’s going on?" Battlesage asked with a strange look on his face. "What did you do to your realm?"

He could hear Alex’s laughter at that moment.

"You might want to fly up and use your eyes. Relying on your senses might make it difficult at the moment."

Battlesage raised an eyebrow and slowly flew into the air just as Alex asked. As he did, he saw beyond just the mountains that surrounded him. His eyes immediately widened at what he next saw.

The island had grown wildly in the time he was gone. It had just been two decades, and somehow, there was now more land added to this one, stretching dozens of kilometers in all directions. He could see large patches of vibrant trees, pockets of ponds in many other locations, and enough land to make one’s own small empire.

Alex had been right. He would have to see this to fully understand what had changed. And Battlesage doubted he understood even half of it.

He looked around, searching for individuals inside the Soul Space that he knew would be there. He saw the older Alex and Emily by the massive World Tree, which in itself looked bigger than usual.

"Wait, are they okay? I thought we couldn’t go there without our lives being in danger," Battlesage said with a hint of worry.

"It’s alright," Alex told the old man. "The World Tree is now fully conscious and is listening to me. It won’t attack anyone I deem friendly."

"Oh! Just like the tree back in Hell, huh?"

"Just like it."

Battlesage turned around, looking at the other tree, which too had grown. The Nine Yang Divine Tree was immensely blinding, so the man couldn’t see much of it. Still, he was certain he saw something flash inside the tree just then. He blinked, unaware of what he saw, only for the flash of light to appear right next to him.

The man turned around to find a small bird flying next to him, made completely out of flames.

Battlesage stared at the bird with a weird expression on his face, unsure whose technique this was.

"What’s going on?" he asked Alex. "This isn’t some sort of attack, right?"

"I am no such thing, child," Ray’s booming voice exploded from his body, causing the old man’s bones to nearly jump out of his skin.

"Whoa! It talks!"

"Of course I do," Ray said. "Who are you?"

"Ray, be friendly," Alex called out from outside. "That is Battlesage. He’s a friend, and he’ll be helping set up the scripts and formations around the land to help it."

"Oh!" The bird’s attitude got milder immediately. "Welcome to my master’s Soul Space."

"Master?" Battlesage’s eyes widened in surprise. He looked up toward the sky. "You created him?"

Alex couldn’t help but let out a small chortle. "No," he said. "Remember the tiger we met inside the center of Hell that guarded the tree?"

The old man narrowed his eyes. "Yes..." he said in a skeptical tone, as though he already knew he couldn’t believe what Alex was going to say next.

"Ray here is the same, and I bonded with him."

The old man let out a nervous laugh. "No, no, no. Wait a second. Wasn’t the Guardian Tiger meant to be some rare and powerful beast of the past? A Primordial, you called it. Are you saying he is the same?"

"Exactly the same," Alex said. "He is the Spirit formed out of the beast core of the Three-Legged Crow, a Primordial beast known for having the strongest flame of all."

The old man stared at Ray with wide eyes for a while before slowly bowing. "It’s great to meet you, senior."

"Call me Ray," the bird said.

The old man nodded.

"Ray, can you help senior here with the aura around the place? Let him use his Spiritual Sense."

"As you say, Master."

As soon as the bird spoke, Battlesage felt a sense of pure relief as the aura that was constantly clouding his senses was suddenly thinned. It wasn’t gone, far from it, but it let his senses ease through as he could finally see the world he was in through more than just his eyes.

He immediately noticed Pearl as well as Scarlet, whom he didn’t recognize, cultivating in a somewhat barren land far away, next to a water stream. On the completely opposite end, Whisker was in the process of creating more water channels through the land, going at it slowly.

The moment they noticed his Spiritual Sense, all three of them turned around, staring toward his direction. Finally, one after another, they flew out of where they were cultivating to meet the old man.

Pearl greeted the old man simply, as he hadn’t spent much time with him. Comparatively, Whisker was much more enthusiastic about the old man’s arrival, as he had worked with him for decades and was far more of a friend to him.

The old man was also happy to meet Whisker again after a decade.

Scarlet introduced herself, and only then did the old man realize this was the Phoenix Alex had talked about getting from the Beast Realm.

The old man visited the other two humans and stayed around the World Tree for a while, talking about his adventures. Once he felt like he had talked enough, it was time for him to get to work.