Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"I'm assuming what sensed you are not beasts?" Alex asked.

The old man frowned, pulling up his medallion. "I don't want to risk spreading my spirit sense to see if they're beasts and humans," he said. "None of my formations returned warned me of any human or ships flying over us, so it couldn't be…"

He slowed down a bit, his face darkening even further. "Dammit!" he cried out all of a sudden.

"W-what?" Alex asked. He was slightly scared by the old man's outburst.

"Two of my warning formations are down on the other side," the old man said.

"You don't get notified when they're down?" Alex asked the old man.

"I'm supposed to, but I didn't receive any. It happens from time to time." The old man sighed and turned toward Alex. "What do we do now? Fight?"

"Are you sure they're coming this way?" Alex asked.

The old man checked the medallion again.

"Yes, they're coming this way," he said. "In fact, they're close enough that they won't have to strain their spiritual sense too. And if we run away, they'll alert the others, I fear. We can't be chased."

Alex nodded. He thought for a bit, worried. "I need to do something about my face," he said softly. "They'll recognize me."

"But I have nothing for that," the old man said.

"The blue flower with the red dots I got a few days ago," Alex said quickly. "I called it the Redspot Tiger Daisy. Bring it out."

The old man nodded, bringing out the flower as said. Alex took the flower, and immediately chewed on it, eating it.

He felt a heat bubble up in his stomach once he swallowed it, a burning sensation from the toxins that were in the poison. It would soon show its effects.

"What did you eat?" the old man asked.

"A mild poison. It messes with your face, turning it purple and swollen. I think it can hide my—"

Alex's face paled, but not because of the poison. The poison in his body was suddenly broken down and converted to its most basic essence, Qi. That Qi then went through his blood vessels directly into his meridians, and before he knew it, it entered his Dantian.

And since Alex's Dandian was still broken, it very quickly flowed out of his Dantian, leaving nothing behind.

Alex felt hollow all of a sudden. It was good news that his body was still fighting against poison, protecting him when he could not. Healing plants and other such plants were allowed to affect his body, but poisons were blocked.

But the timing couldn't be anymore unfortunate.

Alex could only grimace in the end. "It didn't work," he said softly. "I don't know what else to do."

"This is bad," the old man said and turned toward the ocean. He could sense the two figures coming closer even from far away. Their aura was easy to distinguish as they were making a show of it flying there quickly.

"Screw it! There's no need to panic. I'll do something. I'll fight them if it comes to that. In the meantime, you should—"

The old man turned toward Alex and paused as shock filled him. Alex was no longer there at all. He wanted to shout out for Alex, but the two human's spiritual senses covered him.

He couldn't speak and instead returned to looking toward the people who approached. As they got closer, the old man released his spiritual sense and saw the two people as well.

The two people, one man, and one woman were both in the late Saint Soul realm, with the man being in the 9th realm and the woman in the 8th.

They were both typically good-looking, but nothing extraordinary, except maybe for the woman's outlandishly bright green hair. It was a rather rare color for a hair, and probably meant she had more to her bloodline than regular humans.

The old man stood where he was until the two arrived in front of him.

"Who are you and why have you made a show of your arrival?" the old man asked.

"We are legionnaires of the Scale Legion of the Eastern Continent," the man said. "Who are you, old man?"

Zhou Linfan hid a look of pleasant surprise from his face. 'If they are not being hostile… then they don't know about me,' he thought.

During his time in the oceans, he had come to learn that there were 2 types of soldiers he would meet. One that would immediately recognize him and one that wouldn't.

Since he so very rarely went out to cause trouble, his infamy hadn't spread just yet. However, he would've still assumed them to know about him, but they didn't. That meant that someone, most likely the Dragon Emperor, was suppressing his presence here.

The Emperor feared about what Zhou Linfan might end up revealing

This meant, against these 2 soldiers, he didn't immediately have to fight.

"Fellow Daoists, I am called Hao Fangling," the old man said. "I am an elder of the Desolate Mountain sect in the Northern Continent."

"An elder from the Northern Continent? What is an old man like you doing here?" the man demanded. The old man had managed to present himself as someone weaker than the two and thus made the two more arrogant here.

"That's exactly the thing, fellow Daoist," the old man said. "I am not old. I am merely 2 thousand years old."

"What?" the man asked.

"That's right," Zhou Linfan answered. "I'm only 2 thousand years old, but as you can see, my body has somehow aged many more times than it should have. So, I'm here to find a cure for my problem. An alchemist told me to find a flower called the Dawn Fade Camelia, which would help me get rid of this old age."

"Okay, but why are you here on this island?" the woman asked. "Did nobody tell you to get away from this place right now?"

"Leave this place? But I only just arrived," the old man said. "I used a teleportation talisman to try and make my way to the Eastern Continent, but it must have been weak. I arrived about 2 islands that way. I wanted to go to the Eastern Continent directly, but I instead found this wonderful island and am trying to find the plant here."

The two frowned and conversed with each other in secret. After a brief moment, they seemed to come to a decision. "The Eastern Continent is off-limit to any outsiders. We shall allow you to search for what you want on this island for a single day. By tomorrow, when we come to search here again, you must be gone. Understood?"

"The Eastern Continent is off-limit?" the old man asked. "Why is that—"

"You don't need to know," the woman snapped back. "Do as we tell you to or we'll capture you and take you there as a prisoner."

"No, no, I'll do as you say," the old man said. "I'll search this place right away and leave for the north."

"Good," the man said. "You better stick to your word. We'll come check tomorrow."

"Of course," the old man's aid quickly. "You don't have to worry."

The two soldiers nodded and flew away, leaving the old man alone on the island, wondering where Alex had disappeared to.