Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Both Hannah and Zhou Linfan stared at Alex with curious looks on their faces.

"What are you talking about?" Zhou Linfan asked. "Do you have something we can use? Did the Immortals give you something?"

"They didn't give me anything," Alex said. "I made it myself."

Alex brought out a small ceramic bottle from his Soul Space and presented it to the two of them.

"Inside this is a pill that can temporarily grant you the power of an Immortal," he said

Both Hannah and Zhou Linfan narrowed their eyes as they didn't trust Alex's words.

"I'm sorry, the power of an Immortal?" Hannah asked.

Alex nodded.

"Is that… different from Immortal Qi we've been using all this time?" Zhou Linfan asked. He imagined it was different but failed to see how at the moment.

"It's different, very different," Alex said. "After all, the Immortal Qi you use cannot be compared to that of a true Immortal."

Zhou Linfan thought for a bit and nodded. He could tell just how weak he was compared to Scarlet back when she had just broken through to the Immortal realm.

Her Immortal Qi had been so much more vigorous than his own.

"My Immortal Qi should be stronger than the Emperor's right now," Hannah said. "But I can't do anything with it against him. I think he's being empowered with Dao that stumps any advantage I have over him, leveling the playing field."

"Your Immortal Qi is stronger?" Alex asked with a surprised look on his face. He thought for a bit and saw some truth in that.

'She can skip realms,' Alex thought. That was most certainly the reason why her Immortal Qi was so much stronger.

"But you can't win against him, can you?" Alex asked.

Hannah reluctantly shook her head. "My lack of any sort of Dao is holding me back," she said.

Alex sighed. "I'm sure you'll learn some one day," he said. "We have plenty of pills for you to try later on."

"Let's forget about Dao for now," Zhou Linfan said. "What about that pill? Are you telling me that pill can bring forth the power of a True Immortal?"

Alex nodded. "Fully," he said. "Maybe even past just a newly ascended Immortal, given that I made this pill with 9 pill veins. It's at a level that even Immortals could eat and find some tiny benefit from it."

"The closest a Saint pill can come to comparing to an Immortal Pill, was it?" Hannah murmured.

"Then it's a good pill," Zhou Linfan said. "But I sense your reluctance in using it. What's wrong with it?"

"It's a forbidden pill in a way. Its downsides are many times worse than what it offers. It is bad," Alex said. "Maybe… maybe even fatal."

Both Hannah and Zhou Linfan gave a grim look when they heard Alex speak.

"Fatal, you say," Zhou Linfan asked, looking out at the battle between the Emperor and Yan Yating.

The rest of the war was slowing down.

Hannah's killing of Long Huogang had disrupted the enemy formation and the enemy was being picked off one by one. Many were changing sides mid-battle, screaming oaths to stop fighting at the top of their lungs.

As their numbers dwindled, Alex's army became stronger and stronger in comparison and the war was moving very much in their favor.

Unfortunately, victory required them to kill the Dragon Emperor and until he drew the final breath, the war would continue.

"Are you sure it is fatal?" Hannah asked.

"The soul of the Dragon that taught me this pill recipe told me that whoever ate this pill would gain the power of an immortal temporarily, but they would also end up damaging their body in the process."

"The closer you are to Immortality the less damage you take, is what the Dragon Soul told me," Alex said. "But I fear that might have been for a normal pill. For a 9-veined pill, even close to Immortality, it would do irreversible damage at the very least. Hence why I call it fatal."

"If we have no choice in the end, I will eat this and fight him," Alex said. "Hopefully, I am strong enough that whatever it drains from me to make me immortal, I will stay alive in the end."

"How many of those pills do you have?"

"One," Alex said.

"One?"

"The pill requires part of a Fire Coral to make, which is extremely difficult to find. I only found one on accident when I was in the ocean with you," Alex said. "So, there is only one pill. Not that I thought I would need more since I alone would be taking it."

"But you aren't even Saint Transformation realm yet," Hannah said. "To make you an Immortal, the pill would have to draw out a lot from you. Let me eat it instead."

"No," Alex said.

"I have the highest cultivation base," Hannah said. "I am the most fit out of anyone here."

"No," Alex shook his head vigorously. "You might have a higher cultivation base, but I have more strengths for the pill to draw from. My Spiritual energy, Blood aura, Qi, and even my physical body, all of them together make me stronger than a normal Saint Transformation 9th realm cultivator. I should be the one to eat it."

"But I have Immortal Qi. If it draws from my Immortal Qi to give me strength, then I will—"

"Sister, I'm not giving this to you. You lived with a ruined body for 70 years. I'm not letting you go through something like that again," Alex said.

Hannah knew that she did not want to go through the same either, but she also didn't want Alex to eat the pill. She didn't know what to say or do.

"I'll eat the pill," Zhou Linfan said.

Alex turned toward the man and quickly shook his head. "You're even weaker than me, senior," he said. "I'm the only one who has the highest chance of survival after eating this pill."

"I don't care about surviving," Zhou Linfan said. "All I care, all I've ever cared about is killing that man there. If I have to give my life to do it, I'll happily do so."

Alex was about to refuse when Zhou Linfan spoke again.

"How old are you right now? 80? 90? You're not even 100 years old," he said. "Meanwhile I've lived for 6 thousand years at this point. 6 thousand years, working toward a single goal of revenge. Do not deprive me of this now."

Alex hesitated. "But senior, you're already so weak. If you eat this, I'm afraid…" he let the words hang.

Zhou Linfan nodded. "You said yourself that the power it gives will be the same for anyone," he said.

He then extended his hand forward. "Give it to me. You know you don't want to eat it. Deep down, you know this is not where you want to die. You have so much to live for, both of you."

Alex remained silent.

"I'm going back to fight that man one way or another," Zhou Linfan said. "At least give me this power to kill him."

Alex stared into the man's eyes and saw the resolve he had prepared for himself. So, he hesitated no longer.

He handed Zhou Linfan to temporarily become an Immortal.