Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex stood in front of the black stele, looking at it again to try and read it.

From what he knew, from what his mother had told him, the information on the stele was not complete. Or rather, what he could see was not complete.

Alex went around the black stele with an iridescent hue to see if there was something he didn't quite catch. Of course, there was nothing on the back half of the stele, meaning whatever remaining information about the technique was here, it was likely underground.

Alex did think of pulling the stele out, but just the fear of the owner's intent to assault him kept him away.

He went back to the front and prepared himself. He calmed himself and slowly sent out his spiritual sense to 'read' the stele.

Of course, he couldn't actually read it, as being able to read the stele would most likely destroy his spirit. That was why he hadn't even learned to read the human language yet.

He was afraid of the strength of the intent on the stele if he could actually read it.

Since he was only going to scan it with his spiritual sense and depend on his mind to translate it for some reason, he decided to begin.

He closed his eyes and reached the stele with his senses. The moment he did, he could feel the intent carved into the stone itself.

Since he knew what he was up against and what would happen if he lingered on it too much, Alex quickly skipped through the upper part of the stele and reached underground.

Spiritual sense didn't work as well underground as it did overground. The lump of dirt on the ground worked in some ways to resist a spiritual sense.

Normally, if one just let their spiritual sense wander around, it wouldn't even penetrate the ground. However, when one was actually focused on the ground itself, the resistance was surprisingly too easy to fight against.

Even though there was some pushback on his spiritual sense, it reduced its effectiveness by maybe 5% at best, so Alex quickly read through it.

Of course, it would be entirely different if strong formations were laid on the ground or there were spirit veins not very deep in the ground.

Right now, there was nothing to stop Alex's spiritual sense, so it helped Alex see the actual size of the Stele.

He looked in surprise as he realized that it was actually nearly 3 times bigger than what it appeared to be.

Like an iceberg, the bigger part of the stele was hidden from view.

Once Alex got over his surprise, he decided to start scanning the rest of the stele.

He looked over at the very first word that was hidden below the surface and realized he could read it.

Back when his mother was learning the human language, they had realized that the words had to be read backward in the human language to make sense.

To find that information, Alex had to inevitably read a few of the words. One of those words was the word 'Heaven'.

Alex saw that word on the stele at this very moment.

Immediately, an intense pain grew in his mind as he screamed in agony. The spiritual sea's water sloshed around as his entire mental world felt like it was collapsing.

The artifact spirit woke up from its sleep and started scolding Alex for doing whatever it was doing.

In fact, even the silver mountain shuddered under the force of the intent that was entering his mind.

Alex quickly retracted his senses from the stele and went into his own mind.

Yellow fog erupted from all around him that tried to fight off the intent of the owner of the stele.

The intent wasn't something solid or even visible. It was something Alex could feel it in the surrounding, slowly trying to corrupt him.

Alex released the yellow fog to every corner of his spiritual world, but it did nothing from what he could see.

He couldn't help but frown as the intent continued bearing down on his spiritual world while Alex had no idea what he could do to protect himself.

This was the first time the yellow fog that could consume everything was useless.

"What do I do?" he thought worriedly.

Off to the side, Godslayer stared towards the sky. It was just a crystal ball with a small black fire in the middle, but anyone could tell that it was staring into the sky.

Alex didn't see the artifact spirit at first, but he did notice it once he heard the deep growling coming from it.

He turned to look at it and saw a crimson black flame erupt at its center. Alex somehow could feel what it was feeling even without being connected to it in any way.

The spirit's very existence was giving off emotions that were influencing Alex as well. So, he could tell what it was feeling.

Hatred.

"Screw Off!" A deep regal voice, like that born from an emperor, came from the artifact spirit. It wasn't something Alex had ever heard from the Godslayer.

It was as if he was getting a glimpse into the past when the spirit was at its peak. Or perhaps… from even further back.

Alex wanted to think more about the artifact spirit's voice, but the instant relief he felt in his mind immediately took away his attention.

"I'm… free?" he thought.

The intent that was coming to attack him was no longer there.

"You can't fight off someone's intent with that devour technique of yours. The only way to fight one's intent is through your own intent." The spirit's voice had returned to normal, no longer the same regal voice Alex had just heard.

"In a clash of intent, whichever one is stronger, is the one that manages to survive," the artifact spirit spoke.

"You… managed to destroy it?" Alex asked.

"It was just a part of the real intent, whittled down through centuries. If you knew what you had to do, you could also fight against it," the spirit said. "Of course, you won't make it out without harm."

Alex nodded. Having just read a single word in the stele was enough for the intent to nearly destroy his mind. That made Alex wonder just what would happen if he did know the entire language.

He decided not to think about it and looked towards Godslayer. "You… you were angry at the intent. Is there a reason?" he asked.

"Yes," the sword spirit said. "That intent very likely belongs to one of my mortal enemies."

"Your mortal enemy? You mean the gods?" Alex asked.

"Yes… and no," the spirit said as it continued staring into the sky. "It is most likely a god whose intent that is, but… this hatred I feel, it feels more personal. I don't know why."

Alex wanted to ask some more, but he didn't know what to ask. The Godslayer's fire suddenly waned as it got weaker.

"I… I used a bit of energy to use my intent there. I overexerted myself. Would you mind getting me something to eat?" the sword spirit asked.

What the spirit ate in his mind was the remnant spirit of the beasts that remained in their beast core after they died. Whenever Alex ate a core to cultivate, the artifact spirit would be the first to feast on it.

Alex nodded when he heard the spirit wanted something to eat. Since it had helped Alex survive, he wouldn't deny it.

Besides, he was getting closer and closer to a breakthrough. It was about time to eat some of them anyway.

He came back outside and found a group of people hovering around him, worried about him as he had screamed and apparently fell unconscious.

Alex got back up and thanked them for coming to his aid. After telling them he was okay, he left.

Alex felt thankful that he had Godslayer to help him. He was happy that in what could be considered his wisest choice yet, he didn't read the human language.

He had been planning to teach it to his masters and others here, but if he were to do that, he would need to first cover up the stele completely.

He decided to do exactly that and went to talk with the Sect master about it.