Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"Your Majesty, we are ready to leave," Hou Xinya of the 10 Elders reported to Scarlet.

Scarlet nodded. "Take your time with the job," she said. "And look after Alex. Make sure he understands he is royalty now."

"Yes, your Majesty," the man said and retreated away from the throne room.

Scarlet slumped on the throne with 4 more of the 10 elders around her. "I'm sure I was sending 4 of you to the North. Where are the other 2?" she asked.

"Sister Ren is in the east following his Majesty's order to provide the pills he had made to the people he saved. As for brother Kang, he is busy dealing with the death in his family. Given the situation of the Kang family, I'm sure he would be away for a while," one of them answered.

"I see," Scarlet said. "Let him have as much time as he needs."

The group nodded.

"Now, for the matter, I gathered you all here," Scarlet said. "I never thought it would be possible, but it seems there are people in this realm crazy enough to go attack another continent. So, for safety reasons, I want you guys to start recruiting strong individuals that can help maintain peace during peaceful times, and go to war during warring times."

"I want to build an army."

* * * * *

Whisker sat on top of Graham's shoulders, looking over the people that were gathered in front of them.

Ren Guanting was by their side, but she was staying a step behind Graham as he was a person with more authority than her in this situation, due to him being a royal.

While she had a say in stuff, she would have to normally stay out of what Graham would say and do.

Fortunately for her, Graham didn't care much about power and authority. As long as he was free, he would want others to be free from having stayed under someone else.

"Are you guys doing well?" Graham asked his friends he had been with for the longest of times.

"We haven't been better," they answered.

"Leader, we heard the news, is it true that your son became the ruler of this land?" one of them asked.

Graham gave a smile and nodded. "That's true," he said.

"Woah! You must be really proud then," the people said with wide smiles on their faces too.

Graham couldn't hide the smug look on his face that every parent got when others talked about their children's success. "I'm very proud," he said.

"What about me?" Whisker asked.

"Haha, I'm proud of you too, Whisker," Graham said as he pet the mouse with a finger.

"And brother Pearl too?" Whisker asked.

"Yes, I'm proud of everyone," Graham said. "Alright, it's time for you guys to take your pills."

Graham turned around and nodded to Ren Guanting who had been waiting for this. She walked forward, with the dozen or so people that had come with her and started handing out the antidote pill.

Once that was done, she would start handing over the pill that would make them sweat. Alex had mentioned to her how that pill could most likely work due to the strength of these body cultivators, and if something bad happened by chance, she was to let him know immediately.

* * * * *

"Deactivate the barrier," Alex ordered.

"Yes, your Majesty," the 4 elders spoke, standing next to many others that were here with them to aid them.

The massive barrier in front of them shined for a split second before dispersing slowly like a popped bubble. The motes of light drifted in the air for a few seconds before disappearing completely.

Alex watched as the wall dividing the Wasteland and the Mainland of the Southern Continent finally disappeared.

"There will be voices of concerns and worries everywhere. Make sure to let everyone know exactly what it is we are doing," Alex said.

"Yes, your Majesty," the others responded.

"Make sure the notice goes to the Wasteland too. Make sure to let them know that they are welcome to come to the mainland if they so please too," Alex said. "But also make sure they know that there is no sacred flame for them to easily find here."

"Understood, your Majesty," they said.

"Alright, let us begin harvesting the spirit veins. Do elders remember which ones belong to us, and which ones don't?" Alex asked.

"We do, your Majesty," the 4 elders answer.

"Go ahead, show me," Alex said.

One of the elders flew toward one of the mountains on the mountain range in front of them. They closed their eyes and used only their sense to see everything. After a few seconds, they managed to locate the first Spirit veins.

"Here I go," the elder said and put their hand in front of them in the air as if grabbing something illusory in front of them.

The entire mountain shuddered and started shedding rocks and dirt on top of it. The trees toppled, and many nearby humans most likely sensed some earthquakes as well.

The elder clenched their fist even harder and gestured to pull something out.

Alex looked down and saw something white pop out of the ground. A 3-meter wide strip of crystalline concentrated Qi started floating into the air, and with it, the rest of it showed up as well.

Alex remembered seeing a spirit vein back in the Beast realm, where the palace was built below one that had the capability to hide immortals. It was the glowing crystal stalactite when viewed from close up, but from far away, it looked like a long glowing worm.

As the elder pulled more out, Alex saw the worm start to branch out into multiple directions that then branched into more directions. It was like the root of a tree, where there was a primary root, and from the primary root came secondary and tertiary roots.

Or more accurately, it was like the veins in a human body, that split from the main veins into multiple smaller veins.

'Ah, no wonder it's called a Spirit vein,' Alex thought. He continued watching as the spirit vein was pulled more and more, and Alex could see that the main vein was multiple kilometers long. The only reason it took not so much land here was that it was coiled around in the ground, most likely placed that way.

"Spirit veins are extremely delicate, your Majesty," one of the elders explained. "They are resilient to stress and can handle any attack that even a Saint Transformation realm cultivator could send its way, but they are brittle and the slightest bit of bend beyond a certain degree could snap them instantly."

Alex nodded as he heard that. "What happens if that happens?" he asked. "Does the spirit vein become useless? Does it turn to Spirit stones?"

"Yes, but not immediately," the elder said. "To turn into spirit stones, a spirit vein must stop growing and evolving. Only after not doing anything for a long time can the spirit vein turn to spirit stones."

"Then?" Alex asked.

"If you snap a spirit vein in half, not counting the thousands of small shards of crystals that would drop from it, the two main halves of the spirit vein will become fundamentally different from the original one," the elder said.

"Fundamentally different? Can you elaborate?" Alex asked.

"I mean to say that the spirit veins no longer have the same energy or aura as the original one. They don't have the same concentration of Qi, so—"

"So, the formations and scripts made with the original Spirit vein stop working, is that it?" Alex asked.

"Yes," the elder said. "You would have to start all over again, and that is just so you can use the few dozen years you have with the broken spirit veins before they turn into spirit stones."

"I see," Alex said. "So we have to be careful when pulling it out of the ground huh."

"Yes, but only the main vein. It won't matter much if the branches break off," the elder said.

Alex nodded. "I wish to try one for myself," he said.

"Let me find you one after this vein is pulled, your Majesty," the elder said.

Alex nodded and watched the elder finish pulling the entirety of the spirit vein into the air.

Everyone in the area immediately found the air growing thick with Saint Qi. The spirit vein diffused slowly when underground, but in the air, it was very fast.

Alex's eyes glowed purple for a moment as he used his Demon eyes to see what was happening exactly with the Qi in the air. When he did, he was surprised that he wasn't seeing exactly what he thought he would.

The multicolored Qi was being pumped out from the spirit vein, but about a third of the Qi that was being pumped out was going back into the spirit vein, along the Qi in the air.

Alex was surprised to see a field of Qi that circled back on itself in the air. 'Spirit vein absorbs Qi and evolves,' Alex thought as he recalled what he learned. 'If it didn't absorb the Qi, it wouldn't grow. So, I shouldn't be surprised seeing this.'

Even though he thought that he had assumed a spirit vein to only be pumping out Qi, so he was a little surprised for sure.

The elder sent out a spiritual bag toward on end of the spirit vein. Immediately it landed on the end of the main vein and started swallowing the spirit vein.

Within a minute, the entirety of the spirit vein in the air was swallowed into the storage bag.

Alex looked at the storage bag and nodded. "Let's continue with the rest."