Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex looked down below at the vibrant, prismatic fog that covered the ever so colorful valley that was the Poison swamp.

Having been blind the last time he was here, Alex barely knew what only a little of it looked like. Seeing so much of it at once made it look like a place he would want to own.

Of course, that was what most poisonous and venomous plants and animals had as their main trait: Colors that would lure someone to them and then poison them.

The ship lowered down to the top of a large mountain, and even here Alex could smell the familiar acrid smell of the valley waft up through the mountain.

A barrier appeared around the ship, protecting them from the poison down below.

"It's a miracle the plants and beasts in this region haven't escaped and started taking over the other regions of this area," Han Daiyu said.

Alex looked at the nearly 40 kilometers wide swamp and said, "the plants that grow here are ones that can only grow on a swamp. They don't do well on solid land. Since most beasts need to be near such plants, you won't see them move out of here at all."

"Alright girls, take out your protective gears," Han Hongqi said, and within a second both Han Daiyu and Liang Qiu brought out some cylindrical formation-like discs that Alex recognized to be poison evading artifacts.

They were easily available in the markets and cost just a bit more than a Heaven grade True ranked immunity pill that would keep one immune to poisons and such for about a day.

Seeing Alex eat the pill, the other two Saint experts nodded. Of course, Alex didn't eat the pill they thought he did. He just ate a random pill in his storage bag, which he then immediately turned into Qi.

His naval area felt a little fuller than it already was. 'I need to spend some of it and breakthrough,' he thought.

He had come here to train, or at least that was his plan, but from the looks of it, he wouldn't get the chance at all.

"Everyone ready?" Shangguan Quan asked.

"Yes, Master," Liang Qiu answered.

"Good, now go down. We'll look after you from up here," Quan said.

"Oh, are you not coming senior?" Alex asked, clearly surprised.

"No, it's your adventure. We are here to simply make sure you don't die. Everything else is for you to do," Quan said.

Alex's face immediately brightened when he heard that. Maybe he would get a chance to train.

All 3 of them jumped down from the ship and started trekking down the mountain. Within moments, they reached the area where the poison fog started getting more than just visible.

It started affecting them too. At the same time, a small flimsy barrier appeared around the two girls, while Alex simply walked without the need for one.

"We have to be careful," the girls said. "While the barrier may protect us from the fog, anything that touches or attacks us will cause serious trouble."

Alex nodded.

"So, Alchemist Yu. Which way?" Liang Qiu asked.

Alex stopped to look at the nearly 1300 square kilometers of expanse in front of him and gave an embarrassed look as he answered, "I don't know."

"What?" the girls asked.

"I'm sorry, I don't even remember which way I entered from the last time I was here 4 years ago, let alone where the tree is which I saw after many days of travel," Alex said.

"You came here alone?" Liang Qiu gave a puzzled look.

"No, no. I had a senior look after me, just like right now," Alex said.

The girls nodded and said, "Well I guess we should start somewhere then."

Alex nodded and took the way.

As soon as his feet touched the wetland, he started floating on top of it, instead of sinking in it. He was used to this, after all, he had spent a year in this area, and it had only been 3 months since he left.

Alex looked at the thick, colorful fog and frowned at the fact that he couldn't use his spiritual sense to see through it.

He could feel Liang Qiu's spiritual sense looking around them for sneak attacks, but that wouldn't help him look at things.

In the end, he decided to give up on one of his aces in his sleeves for an easier time.

So, without any prompting, he let go of his spiritual sense which immediately flew all around him, and started looking at things as well.

"Woah!" Liang Qiu gave a shocked expression which surprised Han Daiyu.

"What? What is it?" she asked.

Liang Qiu ignored Han Daiyu and turned to Alex to ask," Alchemist Yu, you have spiritual sense?"

"Ah, yes," Alex said nonchalantly as if he hadn't debated about showing it for a while now. "It's something I acquired a few years ago."

"Wow, you must have been really lucky then," Liang Qiu said.

"Yes, I was lucky," Alex said. "But I wouldn't call it really lucky."

"No way, you are very lucky. Look at Daiyu, she's from a big family and even she doesn't have her spiritual sense unlocked yet," Liang Qiu said.

"Uh, I guess I'm really lucky then," Alex said. "Let's go find this tree now."

Alex didn't let them ask any more questions that would lead him to talk about how he got the lily and instead started looking for the tree.

He kept his spiritual sense at 50 meters at most and did not go further than that. Liang Qiu might not find any problems if he did, but the two Saints up above would definitely notice it.

He didn't want to be questioned right now.

Suddenly, a sword appeared in his hand at the same time a spear appeared in Liang Qiu's.

Han Daiyu looked at the both of them and belatedly took out a hammer on her own.

Alex sensed the beast and found out it was a True Lord 6th realm beast. The exact same cultivation as his body.

Liang Qiu was about to attack when Alex put his hand out to stop her. "Please, let me handle this," he said as a circular shield appeared from his storage bag and started hovering around him.

"Are you sure? Your cultivation is a little…" Liang Qiu said.

"It's fine. You can help me if it looks like I won't win," Alex said and slowly walked forward.

Not even 10 meters away from him was a black salamander with yellow patches of skin all over it.

It was nearly as tall as him and almost 3 meters long without even counting its tail which was another 3 meters long.

It brought out its deep purple, forked tongue and stared at Alex with its slitted, yellow eyes.

Alex knew it had seen him as an enemy after that.

Without hesitation, he dashed forward as the best shot out its tongue at incredible speed.

Alex could dodge out of the way, but he didn't feel like it. Suddenly, the shield appeared in front of him and with a 'DENG' sound, it blocked the attack.

Alex tried to slash at the forked tongue, but the salamander was too quick at retracting it.

When Alex got close, the beast immediately scampered backward and suddenly a wave of the swamp water came toward him like an ocean wave.

Alex sent out a wind slash and cleared the water from hitting him. At the same time, he saw yellow energy light up from deep beneath him as chunks of wet rock started flying in his direction.

Alex immediately employed the shield to move all around him, carefully blocking each and every piece of rock.

Every single one of those rocks felt like a full-blown attack of a True Lord 4th realm expert. With each hit, Alex felt his Qi drain, but it was so small that he could simply get it back while he was fighting.

It would only get problematic if the beast attacked him with something more—

Alex watched as the salamander spewed out purple liquid from it's mouth directly onto him. The area it covered was so wide that Alex would get caught up in it even if he tried to run away.

What he would usually do was teleport away from this location and attack the salamander. But that didn't seem like an option right now.

Not with the girls and the saints watching him. If he teleported, that would be one more technique he would be questioned about and might even try to force him to take it out.

So, he decided to stick with something that was already established as him having it.

As the girls watched, Alex was devoured by the poison shot. Han Daiyu couldn't help but gasp in shock, but Liang Qiu could see everything, so she wasn't worried at all.

"He's fine," she said to Daiyu with a bit of annoyance in her voice. "Why are you afraid for him when you gave him the shield?"

"Uh… he's safe?" she asked and looked at Alex as the purple poison fell onto the swamp water and mixed together with the rest of the poison already on it.

When it was finally off, she saw a brown barrier appear around the shield that fully protected Alex from all the poison.

The moment the poison was gone, Alex put away the barrier and moved his shield to the side in preparation for what the beast's next attack was going to be, and what he was going to do next.