Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

The feeling Alex got that seemed to surround him was… familiar? He wasn't sure if he was correct in thinking that or not, but it did feel that way. At the very least, it wasn't a hostile feeling.

He didn't move. People would start congratulating him and whatnot, so he stayed there like he was still in a trance. As long as they didn't bother him right away, he was okay with this.

Godslayer spoke in his mind though, telling him to focus on his guard and whatnot, but Alex ignored him as well, focusing only on the feeling to see what it was.

He had started feeling this when he had climbed past the point of flight and it had grown stronger. Now, he was feeling it even better.

No, it was his body that seemed to feel it. A vague impression of something softly resonated in the back of his head, and finally Alex realized what it was that he sensed.

Intent.

He was sensing Intent. The Intent wasn't directed at him or the other people, so it was barely a feeling. "Elder Yao, can you feel any outside Intent around you?" he asked the old woman.

Yao Ning heard the message that was sent through Spiritual sense and quickly started concentrating on her. At the height they were, Spiritual sense was highly restrictive, so she couldn't fully use it, but just covering the plateau alone was no problem.

She closed her eyes and concentrated, but no matter how much she did that, there was nothing she could feel. In the first place, could you even feel Intent that wasn't directed at you?

"I feel nothing, Your Majesty," she said. "Are you feeling something?"

Alex said nothing. He was confused enough by himself to make others feel the same. He was feeling Intent that was not being directed at him. Intent with no aura.

That should have been impossible, or at least if it was possible, he had never experienced it before.

But he did feel it now, resonating in the back of his head. Intent that surrounded him. The question now was… whose Intent?

There was nothing around him. Could it be that it was not 'who' but rather 'what'? What's Intent was he feeling?

A thought came to him, almost too profound to be there, almost too… impossible. The feeling had become stronger after he had learned his Dao. Two things had happened right then, and either one could be a possibility.

The first was that he had successfully learned the Dao of Yang, and the Intent had something to do with Yang. As someone with Sun God's Celestial Yang body, it could be that he was sensing some Intent that was left behind by something full of Yang.

That was the lesser possibility though.

The greater possibility in his mind was that what he was feeling had to do with him learning the Dao right here. Or more accurately, him bringing forth the Worldly laws here.

If the remnants of the Worldly laws were what he was feeling, then could the Intent belong to… the Heavens?

That was a scary thought to think. How could the heavens have Intent? Was it really the case of a 'what' and not a 'who' then?

'Heavens have Intent!'

The thought was enough to make everyone weep from fright. Everyone who knew enough thought of the heavens as something real. But at the same time, it was something abstract, and something distant.

But if the heavens had Intent, if heavens could enforce Intent, then didn't that mean the heavens were intelligent enough to be sentient?

Heavenly Judgment, Worldly Laws, Tribulation Lightning, Pill Clouds, and so many more things relied on the heavens. If the Heavens were to suddenly find intelligence and do what they wanted on their own accord… that was a dangerous thought.

"Godslayer," Alex called him. The fear of what he thought he had found out wracked his brain and the thoughts were distracted and slow.

"Are you hearing me, boy? Keep the Yang—" Godslayer had been talking to Alex when Alex's voice cut through him. "What?"

Alex gulped and did his best to not sound scared. "Do… do the Heavens have Intent? Are the Heavens… intelligent?" he asked.

Godslayer said nothing. The floating clear crystal in the Spiritual sea could be angry, surprised, happy or all 3, and Alex wouldn't know what he was feeling at the moment.

Godslayer took his time, and when he finally spoke again, it was a question. "What… makes you ask that, boy?" he said.

"I… I can feel an Intent around me, and I think it was left behind when the Worldly laws came here earlier. It is much stronger than the last time," Alex answered.

Godslayer remained silent for a while longer this time, and Alex got a suspicion that he was hiding something.

"Tell me!" Alex demanded before catching himself doing so. "Please," he added quickly.

Godslayer sighed. "You're too weak for this to be of much concern to you. I don't know how you could find out while being so weak, but forget about what you learned. Many people are known to have created Inner Demons that destroyed them just by learning this fact."

Alex felt a pang of fear go through him. But it was done, wasn't it? He had already learned the truth.

It was indeed scary to learn that the Heavens had intent and could thus currently be or in the future form intelligence at any time. But was it that scary that you would create Inner Demons out of that knowledge?

Alex didn't believe he would.

"That's alright," Alex said. "Your response was an answer on its own. Haha, I won't have to despair in the future since I now know that the Heavens are intelligent too."

Alex felt slightly better and was about to stand up when Godslayer's voice stopped him.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"About what?" Alex asked. "That the Heavens have intelligence? Or might have in the future. I don't know which one of that is true currently, but neither will frighten me."

Godslayer wanted to leave the talks at that, but he found himself wanting to continue. No, he had to continue.

"If you think that misconception is truth, then the shock truly might hurt you in the future," he said, catching Alex's attention.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Alex asked. "Was I wrong?"

"Yes, you're wrong," Godslayer said. "Goddammit, I shouldn't be telling you this."

"What? Tell me!" Alex wanted to know.

He couldn't believe how he could be wrong. There was Intent around him, and it had come along with the Worldly laws. Unless his previous assumption of Yang being the answer was true. But Godslayer acted as if he had the right of it until he didn't.

"The Heavens aren't intelligent, kid," Godslayer said.

"But I can feel the Intent," Alex said. So there had to be a chance it could be intelligent in the future.

"You can, I don't doubt it," Godslayer said. "Even Immortals should be hard-pressed to sense it, but you do and I don't know why, but you have the wrong idea of what is going on."

"Then what is going on?" Alex demanded.

"The Heavens don't have Intent," Godslayer answered, his words thundering in his mind.

"The Intent is the Heavens."

Alex was stupefied.

"…what?"