Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

The Whole Rose Garden barely had any other participants from the tournament, so Aethersage was going to have a much easier time finding the Lotus. While he was busy doing that, Alex went to meet Rosemist in the mountains.

"You returned rather quickly," Rosemist said as she appeared before Alex. "I thought you were going to take much longer than this."

"It ended earlier than I thought," Alex said. "So I could come here early."

Rosemist smiled. "Welcome back."

They talked for a bit with Alex mentioning what he did in the tournament. "Honestly, having the information I have now if I redid it, I could probably get over 9 thousand points," Alex said. "Especially with the fact that I can slow down time, albeit just a little bit."

"What you did is still amazing," Rosemist said. "Although, I can't really say how amazing since I don't know much about alchemy and pills at all."

Alex smiled. "I could probably teach you about it when I have the time. Just the basics," he said. "That reminds me though, I need to meet with Senior Snake."

"You need to meet little Sword?" Rosemist asked.

"Yes," Alex said. "It's for a friend of mine."

They traveled to the other side of the mountain where Alex met up with the Sword Snake. He then explained what he was there for.

"You want to meet more of my kind?" the woman asked.

"Yes," Alex said. "A friend of mine needs the blood of a Five-Tailed Sword Snake, so I was wondering if you knew where I could find one."

"You don't plan on killing them, do you?" the snake asked.

"No, absolutely not," Alex said. "We just need about a vial of blood. Not even blood essence, just the blood."

The snake nodded slowly. "I understand," she said. "But sadly, I do not know where any other of my kind live. I do not even know if there are any other."

"Is that so?" Alex asked, a little dejected. Aethersage would have to find the snake on his own then.

"You should try large forests where men don't wander in so easily," the snake suggested.

"That is probably what my friend will need to do," Alex said. "Thank you anyway, senior."

"So that's it?" Rosemist asked, surprised that nothing came of the meeting.

"Yes," Alex said. "Senior can't help me, so there's nothing I can do."

"Can't she give you her blood? Can't you make use of that?" she asked.

"Her blood is Divine grade," Alex said. "It's too strong for what my friend needs."

"You can dilute it," Rosemist said. "Won't that help?"

Alex shook his head. "That's not how ingredients work, sadly," he said. "Even if I dilute it, the blood still remains at Divine grade, just less together."

"Is that so?" Rosemist asked. "I don't really understand how that works."

"You know how God Qi broke down into Celestial Qi long ago?" Alex asked. "It's like that. Unless the Divine grade blood breaks down on its own to become Immortal grade, it can't be used." ʀа𝐍Ο𝐛Èȿ

"How does that work? Can you speed up the breakdown yourself if you just diluted it by putting some water in it?" Rosemist asked.

Alex thought for a bit. "I can't use water to dilute it because all of the blood itself is material for the pill. The blood has to become weak without having something else added to it. Maybe there are formations we could use, or I can ask for my friend to make one."

"So there is nothing you can do?" Rosemist asked.

"No, I don't think so," Alex said. "If I was stronger, I could try and use my intent to strip away the energy from the blood, but as strong as it is in the Divine grade, I fear what my mind would go through having to fight something that strong."

"Hmm," Rosemist thought for a bit. "I haven't ever done something like this, but maybe I can help. I could help remove the blood's energy from it, and make it weaker overall."

"I don't think making it weaker is the right thing to do," Alex said. "If there is a correct thing to do, it would be to strip away a large portion of the energy in the blood and let the remaining energy break down and fill it again. That is the only… hmm…"

"What? What's wrong?" Rosemist asked.

"Just a thought," Alex said. He turned toward the snake. "Senior, would you mind giving me some of your blood? As much as you can without harming yourself."

"Sure," the snake said and took a large cauldron from Alex which she filled halfway through. At her size, the cauldron half-full of blood was barely anything at all. She gladly gave that blood to him.

"Thank you, senior," Alex said and put the cauldron away.

"What are you planning to do with the blood?" Rosemist asked.

"Absorb most of it," Alex said. "Absorb?" Rosemist asked.

Alex nodded. "I will take away a bit of the blood and put it aside. Then I will absorb all of what remains after that so that I am left with a cauldron full of blood that has absolutely no energy."

"I thought you said it wouldn't work to just make it weaker," Rosemist said.

"Yes, but that's where the blood I kept aside earlier comes into play," Alex said. "I will mix that back into the weak blood. I am technically diluting the blood at this point, without diluting it from a physical sense. What remains in the end is still just the blood."

"Maybe at that point, the blood can begin breaking down on its own," Alex said. "Even if I fail at that point, I will still have a lot of blood to work with."

Rosemist didn't fully understand what Alex was talking about, but seeing his sudden change in enthusiasm, she couldn't help but find it exciting.

"Alright," she said with an amused look. "Let's see what you are going to do."

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