Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

However, the man surnamed Yang was beyond shocked at the sight of the book.

"Th-that's the Blood God's Manual. Where did that come from?" he asked.

"I've bonded to it, senior," Alex said. "I've been using this book to improve my blood aura and help me in battles."

"You had the Blood God's manual huh?" the man said. "But where did it come from?"

"I found it after killing some people that were after me for my blood," Alex said. "They got it from the meteor shower I assume."

"No, where did it come from?" the man asked again.

"I'm... not following you, senior," Alex said. "Was it not you who brought this book to this realm?'

"Yes, it was me," the man said. "I'm asking where did the book come from right now. You didn't bring it out from your storage ring, and I didn't see it come out from a storage bag."

"Oh, that's what you meant," Alex said and looked at the book. "I honestly don't know where this book goes when I keep it senior. I think it's in my blood, given that it has to do with the blood."

"No," the man said and frowned a bit. "How would an artifact of that size without the ability to shrink stay in your blood?"

"I don't know where else it could be then," Alex said. "I've tried following it, but I can't seem to at all."

"Hmm, come here," the man called him.

Alex walked right next to the man and sat down. The man took the book from Alex's hand and looked at it for a second. "Call it back," he said.

Alex nodded and called the book back. The book zoomed into his body, disappearing as it always did.

The man's eyes widened when he saw that. "Call it out again," he said.

Alex nodded and pulled out the book, which surprised the man again. The Snake and Pheonix were starting to notice what was happening and came close to watch as well.

The man thought for a bit and closed his eyes while placing a palm on Alex's chest. He waited for a few seconds and Alex felt spiritual sense slowly enter his body.

"Call it back again," he said.

Alex nodded and called the book back. He tried to see what the senior was looking for, so he followed the book with his sense as well.

However, after just entering his body, he lost track of the book which had seemingly vanished, like it always did.

The man's eyes opened wide as he let go of Alex.

"Unbelievable!" he said softly while his eyes found it difficult to focus on anything.

"Master? What's going on?" Hao Ya asked.

"Senior, what's happening?" Scarlet asked with a worried look on her face.

The snake got closer and looked toward the man. "Senior, that looks like... but it can't be, can it?" he asked. "He's still in the saint realm."

"He is, but he's somehow done it," the man said with a shocked expression on his face only deepening with time.

"Senior, am I alright? Is something wrong with me?" Alex asked worriedly as well.

"Alright? You are more than alright," the man said.

"Then what's going on?" he asked.

The man took a deep breath while the snake could only put on a face of incredulity. "I don't know how you managed to do it, but you have somehow opened up your Soul Space."

Scarlet gasped the moment she heard what they had said. "Bu-but how? He's not an Immortal yet," she said.

"I don't know yet," the man said. "Only he can answer that question."

Alex looked at the 3 of them, confused out of his mind as to what they were talking about. "Senior, what is this soul space you talk about? And why is it strange that I have it?" he asked.

"A soul space is a small space that exists in one's body. Everyone has it, just like everyone has a Dantian or a Spiritual sea. In the same way, there is a requirement on how one can open it as well," the man said.

"What requirement?" Alex asked.

"Your Soul Space only opens up when you reach the Immortal realm," the man said. "Given how it is open right now, however, something weird is going on."

"I have never heard of anyone opening a Soul space before entering the Immortal realm," the snake said as he thought to himself.

"I have," Scarlet said. "If we have our Soul space open before we die, we can be reborn with the ability to access it. Although, we can't really bring out anything that is already in there, and can only use a fraction of the space until we reach the Immortal realm again."

"I don't see how that is relevant here," the man said. "He's neither a phoenix nor is he an Immortal."

"Have you died before?" the snake asked.

"I have," Alex said. "But I could store and retrieve that book long before I had died."

"You've died?" Hao Ya asked with a surprised look.

"I have," Alex said.

"How are you alive then?" she asked.

"I got better," Alex said.

"We're getting sidetracked," the snake said. "Senior, have you ever heard of someone being able to open a Soul Space before entering the Immortal realm?"

The man thought for a bit, but he could only shake his head. "No, no one should be able to do that," he said.

"What about your master? Could she do it?" Scarlet asked. "I remember hearing that Sky Gods have a rather unique Soul Space."

"Even if the Sky God has the strongest understanding of space, they still have to wait until they reach the Immortal realm before they can open up their Soul Space," the man said. "It is true that they can improve it later using..."

The man paused for a moment and looked up at Alex. His mind raced a bit and he came up with a question.

"You... you know the Space dao, don't you?" he asked.

"I do," Alex said.

"How did you learn to sense Space?" the man asked.

"I... I think it was because of the Space stone I consumed," Alex said.

"I knew it!" the man shouted, before stopping. "Wait, what do you mean by 'consume'?"

"I took the space stone in somehow, and it now floats in the Spiritual space, or at least its aura," Alex said.

"Let me check," the man said, not believing Alex at all.

"NO!" Alex shouted abruptly. "Ahem, I mean, I don't feel comfortable letting someone into my mind. I'm sorry senior."

"But I need to check if you really have a space stone in your mind," the man said.

"I can promise you it is, senior. The silver color and the space aura I feel from it is without a doubt from the Space stone," he said.

"Hmm, did the space stone help open your Soul space?" the man couldn't help but ask. "Maybe it did, but the bigger question now is how were you able to consume it?"

"Maybe it was because of my body?" Alex said.

"No, that can't be," the man said as he thought to himself. 'Sun God's body has no record of being able to use space, let alone consume it. And without even unconsciously sensing space, he couldn't have taken in the Space stone. Is he lying?'

He remembered what his master had told him about using Space stone to improve one's soul space. He also remembered reading various records on this topic, so he was quite knowledgeable in that regard.

"The space stone, were there any changes before and after you consumed it?" the man asked to figure out if Alex really was talking about a space stone.

"Uhh... it grew in size after it was inside my mind," Alex said. "Like a lot. Although, it's dissipating faster and faster now and only two-thirds of the original size remain."

"Hmm, that is what a space stone is," the man said. "How big was it at the start?"

"At the start?" Alex thought for a bit and showed a size with his two hands. "Like this big? About the size of a watermelon."

"I see," the man said. "Then it must've been smaller than the one on that ring. Did it really only deplete by a third despite it being so many years?"

"Huh? Oh no," Alex said quickly. "I meant it was the size of a watermelon on the outside at the start. When it got inside my mind, it increased to the size of a massive mountain."

The man looked at him blankly for a second before screaming, "HUH?" His sudden scream scared the few that were around him.

"It was the size of a mountain? How did you find such a large space sto-- no, don't tell me..."

"It came down in the Meteor shower too, senior," Alex said.

"You absolute ... hrmm... you used a space stone that was meant to be used to run Inter realm teleportation formations for hundreds of thousands of years, just so you could open up your Soul Space?" the man asked.

"Uhh... I'm sorry?" Alex said. "I didn't know what I was doing at the time senior."

The man was about to shout again when he stopped as his face went blank. "Wait for a second, if you use that large of a space stone to unlock your Soul Space then... how big is your Soul Space right now?"