Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex casually made his way through the Royal School of Alchemy, wearing on his chest a metallic '6' to denote his Level of alchemy, which he had made just to infiltrate this place.

As everyone walked around with a level on their chest, walking around with one of his own helped him not stick out in the school.

He kept his head down, one that still burned with pain, as he walked past many of the students. None of the students there turned to look at him at all. He crossed the many buildings on the way and arrived at the other side of the school where his alchemists were kept.

Arriving close to that area, Alex slowed down and became less casual. He started being more careful who he came across and searched to see if his alchemists were around at all.

As he got closer to the building, he slowly pulled out Yang aura from within him and encased himself with it to hide himself from anyone's senses.

Then, he directly teleported into the building in the distance where his alchemists would be kept.

Alex arrived in an abandoned building and looked around. He checked his surroundings and realized this place had long since been empty.

His alchemists weren't here at all. He spread his senses to the other rooms and found those all completely empty as well. There weren't even any formations running in any of the rooms at all.

'They're not here,' Alex thought. He frowned a little as he understood the situation.

'They've been moved,' he thought. 'But to where?'

Alex didn't know about any prisons in the Dragon Capital where they could be.

If they were in some other

Whisker flew out of his Beast Space and stood in front of Alex on the ground.

"Can you help me search if the alchemists are kept in some other area in this school? They're not in their regular place," Alex said. "And hurry, the Emperor knows that I'm not there now, so he should already be searching for me everywhere."

"Okay," Whisker said and ran away from Alex, melding into the walls and disappearing away.

Alex rubbed his head as the pain continued to increase. How much longer could he hold?

He sneaked out of the front door and walked away from the building, acting as though nothing was wrong. He wanted to check the other buildings before he left, so he made his way to the opposite side of the land.

He went to 3 different classes, checked the faculty room, and entered the library to check for his alchemists, but it was certain now that they weren't there.

It was already close to being half an hour since he last talked to the Emperor, so he couldn't delay it any longer. 'Dammit!' Alex thought.

Just as he thought of leaving the school, he saw an image from Whisker who was looking at a young man in the middle of a library, seemingly reading up on some books.

"Good job!" Alex said as a bright smile appeared on his face. He quickly made his way toward where Whisker was and found the young man who was reading in the library.

"Wu Shun!" he called out to him hurriedly, while in a whisper and sat opposite to the young man.

The young man quickly looked up and frowned as he saw a face he did not recognize at all. "Who… might you b—"

"It's me, Alex," Alex quickly said. "Are you alone?"

Wu Shun's eyes widened. "You… Your Majesty, is that really you?" the young man asked.

"Yes," Alex said. "Where are the other alchemists? I couldn't find them."

"You came to save them?" Wu Shun asked. "They were taken away. I believe they are in the Palace right now."

"Taken away to the palace?" Alex frowned. It seemed he was going to sneak into the palace. Was that even possible? "How did you survive?"

"They didn't take me as I wasn't part of the group of alchemists that arrived with you, Your Majesty," the young man said. "They don't realize that I was taught by you as well."

"Good," Alex said. "I'll go now. I have to save them. I'll see you later."

"Yes, Your Majesty," Wu Shun said quickly. The young man looked with an expression of awe as Alex left. He couldn't believe that the King of another Continent, who was known to be a criminal for stealing Empire treasure and running away had somehow managed to sneak all the way into the capital itself.

"Incredible," the young man thought. Realizing that some big things were going to happen next, he closed the books. Just as he was about to leave, he heard a loud voice spread through the entire sky.

"King of the Southern Continent!" the voice spoke with massive intensity. "If you want your alchemists alive and well, you will present the sword that belongs to the Royal Family right now."

Alex stood in the middle of the meadow as he was walking out and looked toward the eastern sky where the Emperor hung in the air with a few dozen men behind him, and his Alchemists, all of whom seemed very docile at the moment.

Alex frowned.

He noticed that it wasn't just the Emperor who was speaking, but also there were newsboards all around spreading the same message throughout the continent.

"You have 15 minutes to make yourself known to any of my soldiers. If you do not, I will kill all of your alchemists."

'Dammit!' Alex thought. It seemed that was all he could do sneaking around. 'I should be happy part of the plan went well at least.'

He slowly walked out of the school, taking his time as he thought of a new plan with a mind that constantly felt as though on fire.

* * * * *

"Father, are you sure he is even here?" Long Fangyu asked his father. He looked back at the 20 Saint realm alchemists who were only of half-mind at the moment, clearly given some sort of poison or pill to make them half-conscious.

"He is here," the Emperor said. "I do not know what he is planning, but he is here. He couldn't have talked through that talisman otherwise. And he definitely used his Dragon Medallion. I do not believe he was using someone else to mess with me."

Long Fangyu said nothing to that. There wasn't anything he could say. He only hoped that if someone did come with Alex, he hoped that it was not his brother.

"Your Majesty," a woman from the Head Legion moved forward. "We know where the medallion was used."

"You found out? Where was it?" the Emperor asked.

"He used it to authorize an immediate teleportation to the Brightfall city in the Emerald Kingdom."

The Emperor frowned. "The Brightfalls city?" he asked. "Did he not want to directly teleport here, in case we ended up meeting him?"

"We can't be certain of his motives," the woman answered.

"At least it is confirmed that someone did come here with the medallion. He won't be far away either," the Emperor said. "Pass along my message to everywhere. I won't be played with anymore. Either he arrived in the next 12 minutes, or they will die."