Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"Evolve?" Alex asked with a stunned look on his face. "But... that's so dangerous. Even more so now."

"I'm afraid so," the older Alex said. "But that is the only way the senior told me about it. Maybe there are other ways, but I do not know of them yet."

Alex gave a thoughtful look. "I'll ask the senior when I see him. You guys don't need to worry about it. I alone will bear that burden," he said.

The room got a little quiet after he said that. Emily put the food on the table and sighed. "Alright, enough brooding. You can think about everything later, but for now, you need to eat," she said.

Alex shook his head and got rid of any foreign thoughts. "What did you cook?" he asked as he looked around. "I haven't eaten anything in years, so this all looks appetizing."

The couple looked at each other with weird looks on their face and back to Alex. "You don't eat that often, do you?" he asked.

"I don't really need food to survive after all. It's more of a preference on my end," he said. "I try to go out and taste a few things, but it's been so busy at the palace for the past few years that I haven't gotten the chance to eat anything at all."

"Oh, that's not very good," Emily said. "You're working in a palace right now? Poor you, they must work you to the bone. Can you not ask for lower tasks at least? You should have some free time for yourself."

"No, I'm alright. No one is forcing me to do anything. I'm doing it all of my own volition," Alex said.

"Well, I hope you're getting something out of the job to be doing it so religiously. If there's nothing to be gained, however, you should just leave the job," the older Alex said.

"Well, it's not exactly a job I can leave whenever I want," Alex said. "If I want to leave, I would have to find a good replacement first."

"Are the replacements hard to find?" Emily asked. "What do you do exactly? Pearl says you are amazing at making pills, so is your job to make pills for the royal family or something?"

Graham tried to hide his laughter, but the situation was too funny for him to be able to hold it back at all. Alex smiled a little too, confusing the couple even more.

Even Pearl looked confused as to why exactly they were laughing.

"Actually, I don't work for the royal family," Alex said. "I am the royal family."

The older Alex and Emily weren't sure they heard him correctly. "Did you say you are the royal family?" the older Alex asked.

"Yes," Alex said. "More precisely, I am the King of the Southern Continent."

"HUH?!" Pearl suddenly got up with a surprised voice. "Brother, what are you talking about?"

"Right, what are you saying? You're a king?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, it's a long story, but the gist of the matter is I happened to become the King of the Southern Continent about a decade ago," Alex said.

"No, you don't get to just tell us the gist," Emily said as she sat down on her chair as well. "You have nowhere to be, so tell us everything."

"O-okay," Alex said, a little surprised at how aggressive the old woman was. "Uh, where should I start exactly?"

"We know most of what happened until you had to escape from the Northern Continent with Pearl," the older Alex said.

"I've told them everything," Pearl said.

"Okay, so let me start with what happened after Pearl and I were separated at the Qi Barrier."

Alex started telling the story while eating the food that was laid out for them.

Everyone but Graham listened to the story with obvious curiosity. Graham on the other hand was more curious about the food on the table.

He couldn't believe how nostalgic it all tasted. 'Helen must've taught them her recipes,' he thought while happily consuming the food.

He ignored the many gasps and cries from the other 3 and finished eating everything even before Alex was halfway done with the story.

He waited for the story to end, but after realizing it was still some time away, he stood up to go grab some more food.

Emily tried to help him, but he made he sit and listen to the story while he got the food. With another serving of food, he took his time this time around and finished it just as the story ended as well.

"That was when sister Hao Ya came to the Southern Continent and asked for our help to bring everyone back. It took a week to gather everyone, and here we are," Alex said.

"Father, you suffered a lot," Pearl said.

"It's alright," Graham said. "I suffered so I can meet my family again, and look where I am."

Emily had been in tears when she heard about Graham's situation and was still wiping them. As for the older Alex, he could only feel anger.

"I'm glad they are all dead," he said. "They deserved to die. How dare they... argh."

"Are you alright?" Alex asked when he saw his clone suddenly stop speaking.

"I'm fine. My head hurts when I get angry. I've gotten too old," the older Alex said.

"Hmm, wait for a second," Alex said and looked through his storage ring to find a few pills. "Here, eat these. They will help heal any physical problems or injuries you may have."

"Aren't these precious?" the older Alex asked.

"Do you think that's something I would care about right now?" Alex asked.

"Thank you," Emily said and took the pill bottle.

Alex took out another bottle and pulled out a pill. "Here, Pearl. Eat one, just in case," he said.

Pearl nodded and took the pill. They all ate the pill, and the two older folks immediately felt an immediate change in their body.

"Argh!" the older Alex cried out as he spat out something solid from his mouth. "What the hell?"

"Is that your tooth's crown?" Emily asked with wide eyes. "Wait, my teeth. They grew back."

"Yeah, even my wisdom teeth are back, and they don't hurt anymore," the older Alex said.

"What is this?" Emily immediately closed her eyes and opened them again. "Woah! I can see even without my glasses. Honey, look, I can see clearly."

"Me too, hahaha!" the older Alex laughed as well. "I think my hearing got better too."

"I feel like I'm young again," Emily shouted.

Alex watched the two regain the proper bodily functions that they had lost with old age. His healing pills had easily brought back everything they had lost. He smiled and watched the two get more and more shocked as they found more and more of their problems gone, some of which they didn't even know were there.

"How about you guys rest for a bit? You should let your body adapt to what you just got back," Alex said. "The energy in the pill also needs to settle."

"Okay," Emily said. "What will you two be doing instead?"

"I will go look around the farm," Graham said.

"I will come with you, father," Alex said and the two of them left.