Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex sat in the grass, facing the morning sunlight that fell on his face. Beside him was Pearl, who lay on his stomach with his eyes closed. Close to them was Bai Jingshen who remained in a stance not that different from Pearl. Only, he didn't have his eyes closed.

They had just finished the Azure Dragon's funeral on this side, making a grave for him right next to where Pearl's mother lay.

Now that they were done with that, they were enjoying what was left of the morning.

"What do you have left to do?" Bai Jingshen asked. "You should focus on just breaking through to Immortality from this moment onward, shouldn't you?"

"I have a few more things I still have to do," Alex said. "I feel they are a little important, but I can't be very sure without doing it."

"What sort of things?" Bai Jingshen asked.

"I want to learn a few more Dao. At least Water and Wood Dao if nothing else. I have to go to the Northern Continent for a small task, and then there is the matter of finding land for the trees to grow on. There are a lot more things to do now that I'm thinking about it," Alex said with a sigh.

"How is your cultivation coming along?" Bai Jingshen asked. "Are you doing it as fast as you can or are you taking time?"

"I'm taking my time. I see no reason to hurry up, and I want to make my body reach nigh Immortal realm before reaching there with my Qi," Alex said.

"A Body and Qi of the same strength before reaching the Immortal realm will help you a lot in the Immortal realm certainly," Bai Jingshen said.

Alex nodded. There was also the matter of improving his spiritual strength and his blood aura, but he didn't mention that. That didn't have much to do with Immortality.

"I suppose I'm still thinking of what I need to do before I become an Immortal," Alex said. "And the more I think, the more things end up becoming apparent to me. I fear I haven't even thought of half the things I need to do."

"You do realize that you don't have to do all the things before becoming an Immortal. Some you can do after becoming an Immortal," Bai Jingshen said.

"Yes, but I'll have to leave this world at that time, and that is what I'm worried about mostly," Alex said. "Once I leave, coming back would be… difficult. That is if I even decide to come back."

Bai Jingshen nodded. "What does Senior Yang say?" he asked. "Have you asked if he's okay with you waiting a long time before reaching Immortality?"

"I actually haven't been to him since the war," Alex said. "I need to go, but I've been very busy lately. I should head there soon."

"You do that," Bai Jingshen said. "Also, regarding your Dao. How many Dao do you know right now?"

"My Dao?" Alex asked, quickly counting through things. "Either 23 or 16, depending on if my True Fire Dao counts as a single Dao or multiple Dao. I think they count as single."

Bai Jingshen's face was one of incredulity. He knew Alex had a lot of Dao he had learned, but to think he had learned 16 of them, with one of them being a True Dao. That was simply incredible.

"You're going to have a very difficult time breaking through as it is without learning any more Dao," he said with a bit of a chuckle in his voice. "But given how strong your Immortal Qi is, maybe you can afford to do just that."

"Can I?" Alex asked. "Wouldn't learning more cause the lightning bolts to become stronger?"

"They both get stronger with each new one and are strong proportionally to the strength of the Dao you learned. So if you have 16 dao, by the time you get to the True Fire Dao's lightning bolt, it will be very strong."

Alex frowned. That was not what he had wanted to hear. "What do I do then?" he asked. "I cannot just die when trying to break through. After all this, it wouldn't be good."

"No," Bai Jingshen said. "But I do have an idea to make it a little easier."

"What sort?" Alex asked excitedly.

"Instead of making the True Fire Dao your 16th bolt of lightning, have it be at a lower number. Don't your tribulation to grow in power by that much," Bai Jingshen suggested.

"I'm not sure I follow," Alex replied. "Are you saying I can choose when to fight a tribulation lightning? Is it not something the Heavens decide."

"I did not say you can choose. I said you should lower how many lightning bolts you get in general," Bai Jingshen said.

Alex was a little confused. He could tell that the White Tiger was trying to get at something, but he wasn't sure exactly what.

"Lower the amount of lightning bolts… that means I have to lower the amount of Dao…" Alex said softly.

Bai Jingshen smiled. "Do you have 23 Dao or 16?" he asked.

Alex looked up and was about to answer when he realized finally what the White Tiger was talking about.

"You want me to combine my Dao?" he asked.

"You finally understood," Bai Jingshen said. "If you can lower the amount of Dao you have by combining a few, you can certainly have room to learn a few more and still have a viable chance at becoming an Immortal."

"I can combine Dao?" he asked before smacking his own forehead. "Of course, I can do that. I think the only one I can combine right now is the Metal Dao?"

"You have the Supreme Metal Root, don't you? What Metal Dao do you have left to learn? Try and focus everything on that for now, and lower your number by a bit. If there are more that you can combine, that would be great as well."

Alex quickly listed the Metal Dao he had learned.

Dao of Metal

Dao of Sharpness

Dao of Ductility

Dao of Malleability

Dao of Cutting

"Five, huh? I'm sure you can learn the remaining 5," the White Tiger said. He told Alex what the rest were.

Dao of Conduction

Dao of Reflection

Dao of Rust

Dao of Magnetism

Dao of Alloy

"I already have Heat Conduction, so I should learn Dao of Lightning Conduction, and I can mix the two to make Dao of Conduction. As for the other four, I will have to try," Alex said.

"You have the Supreme Metal Root and a talent I have never before seen. If anyone can learn them all, it is you," Bai Jingshen said.

Alex nodded.

"I will try my best," he said. If he could successfully learn those, he could reduce the number of Dao lightning by an entire 4 bolts. That would make a massive difference in his survivability.

"That makes me a lot less worried about the future, brother Shen. Thank you," Alex said.

"No worries," the White Tiger said with a hint of a secretive smile. "Seeing you grow strong makes me a lot less worried about the future as well."