Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex stood on the sandy beach of one of the remote islands, Scarlet standing far away from her with her hands behind her back.

"Come on, try and hurt me."

Alex smiled and nodded before instantly using what little he could of Sword Domain. Hair-thin Qi flashed all around him, nearly 10 meters in all directions of him.

Scarlet stood further away than 10 meters, so she could not feel the effect of the domain. She could however see the brief lifespan of the Sword Qi that continued forming and dying one after another.

"You need to maintain them longer," she said. "And you need to spread them further away from you too."

"I know," Alex said between grunts. "This is all I can muster a the moment."

Scarlet shrugged and gestured for him to attack. Alex rushed forward to do so.

As soon as Alex appeared close enough to her, Scarlet began feeling the effect of the domain. The thin Sword Qi began cutting all around her, trying to draw blood.

Thankfully, as an immortal, Scarlet's physical body was just too strong for the Sword Qi to cut through them. Her body wasn't strong because of body cultivation, of course, simply Immortal Qi.

That was enough for her to just stand there, taking in all the attacks. A regular Immortal would've suffered quite a bit by now, of course, but she was a Heavenly Beast and thus had much stronger Qi than normal.

Alex swung next, Midnight releasing a golden arc of an attack as it moved toward her.

Scarlet moved her hands gently and illusory feathers appeared all around her, coalescing to form a shield of bright and burning feathers.

Alex's attack was stopped without much hassle, but that did not stop Alex. He continued attacking, one more after another. Each one of the attacks was different. Each one of the attacks was meant to teach him how to use his Sword Domain with every type of attack.

Alex brought out 125 swords, adding Sword Qi to all of them before sending them toward Scarlet.

Scarlet reached out with her hands, her fingers looking as though a bird's talon before she clawed at the incoming swords. The swords clattered as they dismantled from the formation, spreading every which way.

Alex grabbed Midnight from the falling swords and did a Heavenly Static Slash. Thanks to a better Wood root, he could now use Wood attacks without worrying about wasting his Qi. Even his Wood roots were as good as anyone else's now after all.

They fought for some time before Alex had to stop. He had been holding himself up through all the mental pain he suffered from keeping up the Sword Domain.

He still hadn't reached a level where he could use it without any backlash from it.

He sat on the sand, breathing heavily as he waited for the mental pain to subside. Scarlet came by his side and sat down.

"You're improving. You last much longer now despite the pain. Either your Intent is getting stronger, or you are just becoming more tolerant of the pain. Either way, it's an improvement for sure."

Alex couldn't keep his laughter inside of him. "Thanks."

"But you need more," she said, turning back to look at their battlefield.

The sand-filled beach was littered with thin cuts that were strong enough to create sharp lines of separation in the sand.

She turned back to Alex. "You need to be able to use this without getting someone you care about hurt. You need to control your Qi and hone your Intent so you only hurt who you want to hurt. Otherwise, that Sword Domain will only end up being a detriment for you."

Alex nodded. "I'm trying, of course. Let me first become able to handle it without any pain," he said.

"Of course, that's the first matter," Scarlet said before nodding. "You're right, I'm skipping steps here."

After resting for a bit longer, the two went back to fighting once again.

Scarlet was on the defense the entire fight, as she couldn't become offensive against Alex at all. She did not wish to risk Heavenly Judgment for something as simple as training after all.

Her and her fellow Heavenly Beast's oaths gave them a lot more leeway them stay in this realm despite not belonging to this world. If Scarlet was someone who did not vow to harm anyone from this world and to die if she killed them without appropriate reason, she would've died 5 times over by now since she met Alex.

She had done just too much once she became an Immortal, things she would have been very hesitant to do previously.

After training for some time, they rested once again. Alex breathed heavily, looking toward Scarlet.

"I remember something. You used a technique with 8 fire eggs during your breakthrough. Can you teach it to me? Or any other techniques you have for that matter," Alex asked.

"The Vermillion Immolation Egg technique?" Scarlet asked. "That's one of my bloodline techniques, along with many other techniques of mine that I use."

"Yes, those. Can I learn those?" Alex asked.

"I don't think you heard me correctly. Those techniques are bloodline techniques," Scarlet repeated.

Alex paused for a moment. "What are you saying? I can't learn them if I don't have the Phoenix's bloodline?" he asked. "Any of them?"

"Unfortunately, that is exactly what it means," Scarlet said. "So unless you are a Vermillion bird, you should forget about it."

"Do I need the Vermillion Bird's bloodline or just the Phoenix fire?" Alex asked.

Scarlet thought for a moment. "You will need the Vermillion Bird's bloodline. Without the bloodline, there is no Phoenix fire."

"Can't I just learn the fire?" Alex asked. "I've tried doing it a few times, and every time I do it, I find myself unable to peer through all of its mysteries."

"Well, the very first thing you need is to sense the Time aura, which I know you are capable of, but you don't know the specifics. Until you get down to the specifics, it will be difficult for you to learn Phoenix Dao in any way."

Alex sighed. He had tried learning the Phoenix Fire many different times, even drinking Scarlet's blood a few times to get her Bloodline. But each time he was stumped.

With the True Fire Dao, it should've been easy for him to copy the Phoenix Fire. Only, Phoenix Fire wasn't only made up of Time dao and True Fire Dao.

There was more going on with the Phoenix fire, but he couldn't figure it out at all, other Daos he did not recognize. Until Scarlet told him what those were, it would take him a while to recognize them all.

"I'll get it somehow, you know," Alex said. "One way or another, with your bloodline or not, I will find a way to form my very own Phoenix Fire."

Scarlet gave a wide grin. "I'll be waiting for you to do that then."

Alex got a message on his talisman as they were about to go for a third round of battle. He took out the talisman and read the information.

"Someone else died again. I need to get back," Alex said and prepared to leave.

Scarlet didn't argue. "Let's go."

VACATION NOTICE!!!