Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"Don't speak for now. Wait until you are healed," he said as he walked.

Li Yun didn't say anything else for a while, but her eyes remained on Alex. When they reached the hall and Alex laid her down next to the fire, she finally spoke.

"You're so cute, you know?"

Alex was not expecting that. "Ahem, is that so?" he said.

"Yeah," Li Yun said. "You're so cute. I wish I could kiss you right now."

"Unfortunately, you can't even move your fingers at the moment," Alex said.

"Then you kiss me," she said.

"I'm sorry. You should give up on it," Alex said.

"Why? What's wrong with me?" she asked. "You keep trying to deny me for some reason. Surely its not because of our age right? I don't mind if you're too old for me. You look young enough. Or are you worried that I might turn old too fast?"

"That's not it," Alex said. "I just don't have the luxury to fall in love at the moment. There are so many things I have still to do and falling in love just… it just makes it hard for me when I have one more person to care for. Especially right now, when I'm in a situation where I feel incapable of caring for myself."

"I won't be a burden. I'm sure you can—"

"No," Alex said. "I've made up my mind and I won't change it for a while. As long as I'm not together with everyone I care about, I won't even think about getting into any sort of relationship."

"Well, whatever you say, you can't stop it when your heart says you're in love. As I've said before, I'm sure you'll come around to me," she said with an air of defiance in her voice. She did not believe that Alex could hold on to his beliefs any longer than his heart could.

"I doubt that," he said. "Especially since I plan on leaving this place in a few days."

Li Yun remained quiet after she heard that. She understood that he had many other places to go to look for whatever it was he was searching for. But that didn't make it any easier for her to hear it.

"How about a bet then?" she asked. "I say that we will kiss before you leave."

"Haha, no chance," Alex said.

"That's why it's a bet," she said.

"Okay, what do you want if you win?" he asked.

"Nothing. If I got to kiss you, then I already won," she said. "What do you want instead?"

"Nothing, I guess," Alex said.

"Okay, so the bet itself will be our prize," she said and finally turned around to heal quietly.

Alex didn't know what else to say, so he remained quiet and let her heal. He sat there for a while with her, and once her body was done being healed enough, he finally left.

Once he got outside, he met with the chief who asked him to help his body cultivate next. Alex wanted to refuse, but seeing the old man's enthusiasm for finding someone that could help him, he gave in to the old man's request and helped him.

Fortunately, he didn't have to carry the old man as he did his daughter.

Once he was done, Alex jumped down to the canyon and ran away from the tribe to look at the nearby areas while he waited for everyone back at the tribe to be done with training.

'So much empty space,' Alex thought. He walked to the top of a small hill and looked all around him, but he could see no other sign of humans at all.

He roamed the area for a while, and after the sun started going down, he finally returned to the tribe.

He was told that he could eat if he wanted, but Alex didn't find that necessary. If anything, after yesterday's meal, he wouldn't have to eat for at least 3 more days.

So, instead of eating, he was taken to the hall of sacred flames where everyone started healing. Alex spent a few minutes there and wondered what he would do in the future.

Since there didn't seem to be much to do, he decided to leave this place for a day or two from now. He needed to move on with things as Pearl most likely needed him wherever he was.

He had grown a habit of looking at his left arm from time to time just to make sure that Pearl was still alive. He wouldn't know what to do if he looked at his arm and saw that it was empty.

He sighed and thought of leaving the hall early when he saw the chief leave before him. Alex looked at him leave quietly and wondered what he was doing, leaving the hall so soon.

He let out his senses and kept track of him to see where he was going this early on. When he saw the chief taking away people who were clearly very weak away from this place, he started growing concerned.

'Wait, are they…?' he remembered something Li Yun had told him when he had just met her. If not her slave, the best thing he could be would be bait for the beasts.

Without even thinking, Alex leaped away from where he was sitting and went outside. He followed the chief and quickly arrived at the southern end of the tribe where there was a fence made up of beast bones.

"Chief, what the hell are you doing?" he asked.

"Hmm? Oh, we were thinking of getting killing some beasts today, nothing more," the chief said.

"And you're going to sacrifice these people for that?" he asked angrily.

"Sacrifice? What do you mean?" he asked.

"Aren't you going to put them in harm's way just to lure the beasts?" Alex asked.

"Uh… yeah, but what else can we do?" the chief asked.

"Why not put yourself up there?" Alex asked.

"Sigh, that doesn't work. The beasts seem to be able to tell when someone isn't strong. Maybe it is our scent or something. They will only come if we let the weaker folks be the bait," the chief said.

"And you are willing to kill these people for that?" Alex asked.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" the chief asked. "Why would these people die?"

Alex was taken aback by the response. "Aren't they going to die if you let the beasts come for them?" he asked.

"Well, yes, but we'll be right here to save them. We're only luring the beasts, not feeding them," the chief said. "Our intention is to kill the beats before they can even get close enough. Who gave you the idea that we were going to let them die?"

Alex thought for a bit and sighed. "Dammit, your daughter made it sound like becoming a bait was a horrible thing and that I should instead be her slave when we first met. I thought she was being genuine, but turns out she only wanted me to accept her condition," he said.

"Hahaha, you nearly fell for it. Were you not stronger, you would've become my son-in-law by now," the chief said.

Alex said nothing. He shook his head and forgot about it. "How long does it usually take for the beasts to come?" he asked.

"We're not sure," the chief said. "It really depends on if the beasts are nearby. If they are, with the night wind, it should carry these people's scent far enough that they can smell them and come for them."

Alex instantly let out his spiritual sense and saw over 8 kilometers around him. His spiritual sense had improved thus far after entering the 8th Saint Condensation realm.

It would've continued to improve even more if he could cultivate, or even if he could just use his mask. Unfortunately, he had lost it already, along with all the other items he had.

Alex felt sad every time he remembered that as well. He didn't care about many of the items he had lost. He didn't even care about the World Tree's seed or the seed of the Yang fruit.

He didn't care about the hammer or sword or the new cauldron he lost. If anything, he could make them again once he found a way to return to the Northern continent.

What he did care about was the broken shards of the cauldron that his master had given him.

What he did care about was the beast core that belonged to Pearl's mother, which he had been waiting for the right time to give him.

Those were the things he was truly concerned about, and yet, he had lost it all.

Alex sighed once more and enhanced his spiritual sense. He spread it beyond his limit, reaching 12 kilometers after straining a bit.

"There is a group of giant rats about 7 kilometers in that direction, a rather large snake about 10 kilometers in that direction, and there is a desert hyena pack, that is wandering aimlessly about 12 or so kilometers in that direction," Alex said. "If they truly can sense these people, then they should sense them pretty quickly."

The people around him were surprised. "How can you tell?" the chief asked with a surprised look as well.

"Spiritual sense, I explained before, remember? It allows me to— Oh," Alex's senses pulled away his attention. "The rats seem to have caught on to their senses."