Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

The Mirror of Barren Truth was surprisingly big. It was nearly a meter tall and half a meter wide. The mirror itself was smaller than that as a thick, golden frame made up a third of the entire thing.

At a glance, the mirror looked normal, but using his Demon Eyes, Alex could see the fine lines that were barely visible across the mirror itself.

Qi lines.

He held the mirror, not as heavy as he had expected, and felt the energy inside of it. There was barely any at all.

He was fascinated by the marvelous design and the talent that went into making such a thing. The auctioneer hadn't mentioned who had made this, and that was clear from looking at it too.

It was such an old item that barely anyone would've remembered who made it. It was even possible that this thing had lasted longer than many of the sects in the Eastern Continent.

Alex wondered if he could one day reach this level with his artifact-making skill as well. Not one where he copied what the others did, but made one for himself, with his own knowledge.

Like he made the various pills.

That was most likely going to take a lot of effort on his end. The effort he wasn't sure he wasn't to distribute onto artifacts.

He moved the mirror around on his hand and wondered if he should attack. Probably not. It didn't have any energy to reflect back his attack.

He stared at the mirror for a while longer, remembering that it too was decently expensive as well. Although, the one-time usage of it made it not so expensive.

He handed it over to Yao Ning, who stood there with a confused look on her face, not taking the mirror at all.

"Your Majesty, I have my own Reflection Dao," she said. "I don't need it."

"Oh, this isn't for you," Alex said. "I was simply hoping you would put some of your Qi in here. Make it strong for me."

"Oh, yes I will do that," Yao Ning said and quickly took the mirror. She looked at it carefully, and the others looked at it with her.

A defensive object that not only stopped an attack but also returned it to the enemy was quite the item after all.

As they were focused on the Mirror, Alex pulled out the final item in his storage bag.

The Mountain Crushing Artifact.

The Mountain Crushing Artifact was not its real name. Its real name had been lost to time, and would most likely remain lost for ages to come. Unless there was an immortal out there that recognized this item, this artifact would remain nameless.

He pulled out the artifact while the others were distracted and placed it on the ground with a heavy thud.

"Woah!" he couldn't help but say in surprise. The artifact was certainly very strong. As soon as the artifact was out, everyone stopped paying attention to the mirror and brought their focus to it.

They moved around it, touching the gold and silver outside, peering into the inside, and feeling the overall sturdiness of the artifact.

This was an immortal artifact and they were more than excited to view it.

They had seen Immortal artifacts before, of course. Alex's Blood God's Manual was it, and even his crown was one, albeit a very weak one. But, the elders weren't allowed to use any of it.

They could only look at him using it from afar. One, however, they were hopeful that they would get a chance to use it.

Alex had no intention of forming a bond with the artifact, so everyone could use it.

"Should we give it a go?" Liang Shufen asked excitedly. She somehow wanted to be the first to try, but at the same time was a bit too anxious to try it. After all, it did cost a bit too much.

"Who should start?" Alex asked.

"You should be the one, Your Majesty," the Elders said, but Alex didn't believe he should be the one. He would rather it not be him as he had other plans for himself.

Also, they would have to stop midway through, which he would not like. He looked at the Elders and thought if either of them would be good enough to go inside.

Yao Ning was old, so he didn't want to put her in. As for Liang Shufen, he felt that she should get some longer time with it.

Pearl didn't even need it, so he was out of the question. So in the end, his eyes fell on just one other being in the room.

Whisker.

Whisker looked at Alex for the briefest moment when he realized what was happening. He did not like it.

He immediately turned into a white light, trying to return to his beast space when Alex caught him halfway through.

As Whisker's master in the master-servant relationship they had, Alex could force Whisker to stay out if he wanted to. It would be impossible to do the same with Pearl as he could go in and out even when Alex forbade it.

As such, Whisker was stuck on Alex's hands with his large whiskers that quivered as he feared what was coming. Pain.

"Please don't put me in there, brother," Whisker said. "I don't want to get hurt."

"It is for you to get stronger. You're not being tortured," Alex told him.

"But it hurts," Whisker said.

"You will get used to it," Alex said.

"But why me? I don't have to fight," he said.

"It's so you don't die easily. We're also just testing," Alex said. "We won't use strong materials. Now, become as large as you can so that we can start."

Whisker wanted to continue grumbling, but he saw that he had no choice. In the end, he was forced to jump into the large artifact.

Alex had the elders collect enough rocks from the garden and other places before placing them in around Whisker.

Once everything was ready, Alex put a little over 1000 Saint Spirit stones and activated the artifact.