Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex looked around, searching for the voice. He looked at everyone who stared at him from afar, seeing if they were the ones who spoke.

However, none of the people he looked at seemed like they were communicating with him. Also, there was something very weird about the voice he heard. It came from everywhere around him, instead of just coming from inside of him, which is what it usually sounded like when someone communicated in a spiritual sense.

Was this even someone speaking through their spiritual sense? Or was this more of an artifact or a talisman?

"Who is speaking?" Alex asked, releasing his spiritual sense to search for the voice, to see if he could find anything.

However, just as he did that, his spiritual sense stopped right outside of him, hardly moving beyond just the surface of his head.

Something blocked its movement so badly, and yet Alex did not feel any sort of suppression on his at all. The only thing he felt was the Time aura that surrounded him, and…

Alex suddenly realized what was happening around him. He hadn't paid attention because of the voice, but something was happening that took him by shock.

The entire world seemed to have fully frozen while he alone could move. He looked down to the side and saw that his aunt was fully frozen as well.

Alex could not believe how that was possible, especially given that he could not see who it was that did so. On top of that, his aunt being stuck in time was certainly not something he had ever thought could happen to her.

As Alex tried to calm his shocked heart, the voice spoke again.

"You do not need to understand who I am. If you are worried, I will tell you that I am not your enemy."

The voice sounded as though it belonged to a man, but Alex could not be certain. It sounded distorted enough that it could belong to a woman too.

Alex used Demon's eyes to see the surrounding aura, and couldn't see anything different at all. The person who was speaking to him was not using anything that used any sort of elemental Qi.

Was it Spiritual energy then? How come he did not sense it?

"Will you answer my question?" the voice asked again.

Alex had no reason to believe whoever was speaking was his friend, but somehow, he felt that there was nothing he could do to hide who he was.

If the person wanted to know who he was, they would.

"I am Alex, king of the Southern Continent," Alex said. "I am honored to be contacted by senior."

"Are you visiting the wells to receive a prophecy?" the voice asked.

"No," Alex answered truthfully. "I came to understand how they work."

"You should know how they work," the voice answered. "They tell you the prophecy."

"Yes," Alex said. "But they only work sometimes, and those prophecies seem vague and unimportant. Meanwhile, I and someone else received a very explicit and significant prophecy. I am trying to find out why that is the case."

There was a long silence where the person did not speak at all. And then they said, "Should I tell you?"

"Tell me?" Alex asked, confused for a second, before he realized what he meant. "Do you know the answer?"

"I do," the voice replied.

"I will appreciate if senior tells me anything," Alex quickly replied, hoping to get the person to keep talking.

"The first of the 6 wells is simple. They are created to do what they do, to show a glimpse of your past, your present, and your immediate future."

"But the last 3 are created with great care. These wells are meant to tap into the fate of a certain person, and look far into their future."

"Not only them but anyone who has their fate entwined with that person in any major way, it sees the future of those people too, telling them the prophecy as well."

Alex frowned slightly as he heard the explanation. 'Fate?' he wondered. He also wondered who this certain person was.

"Is this person you are talking about… me?" Alex asked.

The person went silent for a while before speaking again. "I cannot tell," the voice said. "There is a good chance that the person whom these wells are meant for is you. But at the same time, it could also be that you just have your fate entwined with the actual person a lot. It is difficult to tell which one is the truth."

"Or rather, there is no truth until the future has come and passed."

Alex paused for a moment. 'So… these wells were meant for me, or someone I am close to?' he thought. It seemed uncertain that the person this well was meant for was someone other than him. After all, the Dragon Emperor had a prophecy and his fate was intertwined with his.

'Or it could be Pearl too,' Alex thought, but he refused to believe it. Pearl had close to no influence on the continent, where a lot of the people had gotten some prophecies.

Alex wondered for a moment if it was his aunt, but given that she hadn't received any prophecies, it did not seem like it would be her. At the same time, that also went on to disprove that the person might be him.

Why was it all so confusing?

"What are the chances that it is me?" Alex asked in the end, wanting to know.

"If you had asked me this question over 20 years ago, I would've told you yes," the person said. "But things have changed since then, and the likelihood of that person being you is a lot less now."

"Lot less?" Alex asked. "Why?"

The person did not answer.

"Senior?" Alex called out.

"Thank you," the person said suddenly. "I am not sure what it was that you did at that time. But because of you, I don't have to suffer anymore."

Alex was way too puzzled to tell what the person was talking about. "Senior, who are you? Are you a human? A beast? A spirit? What are you? Where are you?" he asked.

"She will protect you. Give her the weapon."

"Pardon?" Alex asked.

"Blood of the kin, you must take it. That is the only way."

"Senior?"

"Lost from the world, they cannot survive for long there where the sun doesn't shine. Take them away."

Alex did not understand what was happening. Why was the voice suddenly rattling nonsense at him now?

"Ruby, Emerald, Amber, and Sapphire. Are there 3 jewels or 4? It is not the reunion you thought it would be, but it is the most important one."

The voice stopped at that point, pausing for a long time. Alex let the voice take the time.

"Goodbye, young friend. We shall meet again on the ivory steps where the gods tread."

The Time aura disappeared, and the slowed time vanished from around him. The world moved back to normal.

Alex's spiritual sense spread to over 150 kilometers instantly, but no matter how much he searched for the voice, he did not find it.

The person, if there was one, was gone.