Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Midnight flashed with silver light each time it moved. It reflected the moonlight before falling onto the body of its enemy.

The first to attack Alex was a man from the Bullhorn tribe. His weapon was a sickle, carved from the bones of a beast with similar physiology.

The bone sickles were sharp and strong, and yet they felt dull and weak to Alex when his sword cut it in half, along with the arms of the man that attacked him.

Alex\'s arms moved again and the sword cut off the man\'s head this time.

Then, he dashed forward, arriving next to a woman as he ducked to dodge her bone spear. He quickly pushed upward, hitting the woman on the chest with his own shoulders while at the same time spinning to cut her in half.

He grabbed the bone spear from the dead woman\'s hands and rammed it behind him onto the man that tried to attack him from the back.

The spear went in through his jaw and come out of his head. Alex slowly turned around and let the man\'s head slowly slide down the spear that remained standing in the sand.

An arrow came flying towards him and hit him in the chest, but it could do nothing more than scratch the leather of the shirt he wore.

"No way!" the woman who had shot the arrow said.

"Who are you? Why are you killing us?" another man from the Tumbleweed tribe asked.

"I\'m only doing to you, what you\'ve been doing to these innocents tribe for the past however many times," Alex said. "And you killed someone that I held dear. For that, you will all die here."

"You crazy bas--"

A sword slash cut down 6 different people at once, leaving the rest in a state so stunned that they didn\'t know what to do afterward.

Alex moved and started cutting more of them in their moment of weakness.

The more he killed them, the more his rage manifested itself on his face. He cut and he killed as that was the only way he could think of to deal with the grief he felt.

He cut another one, a woman with the Arrowhead tribe\'s tattoo on her body. Seeing her fall, the last remaining 10 or so people saw no way out of this alive, so they decided to run.

However, the first person that turned around to run fell down to the ground with no wounds on his body at all.

"I told you, you all will die here today," Alex said as he stabbed the man that was unconscious.

The remaining people cried for help, but it all fell on empty ears. One after another, they too died.

All 40 of them died.

Alex breathed heavily as his rage finally calmed a little. He was still angry, but he had his logical mind back.

He took a deep breath to finally let go of the rage, and as it went away, sorrow filled him once again as he cried amidst the sand and blood, mourning for the one whose life could have been saved so easily.

It wasn\'t until after minutes that Alex found the strength to stand back again. Seeing the dead bodies around him reminded him of Li Yun\'s death, and while that brought back some rage and hate, it wasn\'t to the point where he had to go kill someone.

He collected the corpses and jumped onto one of the beasts that were there while making his way west.

A few hours later, he arrived at the Bonehead tribe, where the people were working to fix their village this late into the night.

He quickly arrived by the man named Han and asked him for the young man who he had left here.

Han lead Alex into the Hall of sacred flames where the young man was still unconscious.

Alex kicked the kid in the chest. "Wake up!" he shouted at him. Han stood by the side and watched with an angry face that wanted to kill the young man, but couldn\'t.

The young man slowly gained his consciousness back as he looked around. He was dazed for a few seconds, but once he remembered what happened, he quickly moved away in fear and started screaming.

"Shut up, or I will kill you," Alex said.

The young man swiftly shut up and looked at Alex with a dreadful look in his eyes.

Alex slowly crouched next to the young man and asked, "I have killed some of the people from your tribes that were out here routing beasts towards the various tribes. You will now tell me exactly how many people were involved in this."

"Tell me the truth and I will give you a swift death," Alex said. "Lie to me, and I will hand you over to him so you can feel the pain that hundreds of people felt right here on these grounds where they died."

"Your choice."

The man named Han was surprised and a vicious look appeared on his face. He was looking forward to killing the young man who was partly responsible for the death of the majority of his tribe members.

"You... you will kill me?" the young man asked.

"Your death is certain, that much I will tell you. You can die a horrible death while remaining loyal to your tribe, or you can die an easy death while betraying your tribe. Now, what do you choose?"

"I..." the young man\'s eyes moved around fiercely, looking for a way out. However, there was none. Still, his eyes grew resolute at the last moment, and he looked back at Alex.

"I won\'t tell you anything. Just kill me," he said.

"Very well, then I shall leave you," Alex said. "Before I go, however, I will let you know just who you have lost."

Alex said as he brought out the 40 heads of the men and women he had killed.

"No... mother!" the young man looked broken when he saw one of the heads.

Alex looked at the young man and then towards the woman\'s head with eyes wide open. However, he found it hard to empathize with the young man.

In his eyes, everything happening at the moment was well deserved. He could tell that it was rage that was stunting the rest of his emotions, but at the moment, he was happy they were.

He did not want to pity the death of either of them.

"These are the people responsible for the death of your family and friends. Live in peace, knowing that they are dead," Alex said to the man named Han before taking back the heads.

"You killed them? Are these really all of them?" the man asked.

Alex paused. "I\'m not sure," he said. "You can ask for that information from him if you can make him speak," he said.

"What about the Arrowhead tribe in the Blueheart Oasis? And the other tribes that conspired to destroy our tribe?" he asked. "Are you going to attack them next?"

Alex shook his head. "I\'ve killed the ones I had a grudge with. As for the rest, they weren\'t directly involved with this, so I do not plan on getting any revenge on them," he said.

"But they are our true enemy," the man said. "They are the ones that most likely gave the orders to these men to send the beasts towards us."

"They most likely did," Alex agreed.

"Then? Do you not want to kill them? Do you not feel the anger?" the man asked.

"I do feel the anger," Alex said. "But it was never directed at the people that did not come here. I do not wish to redirect this hatred towards the others that weren\'t involved in what happened tonight."

"But we have to fight them. They attacked us, so we have to fight back," the man said.

"Yes, you should," Alex said. "But I have no part in that battle."

He finally sighed as the anger he felt slowly bled out of him. "I was dragged into this battle and I\'ve killed the ones that dragged me in. Now, I can only wash my hands off of this anger and hatred."

"If you wish to fight the tribes in the Blueheart Oasis, then do so. That is your right. but, let me give you some advice. These people I killed were much stronger than anyone I have seen between the two tribes I have been to. It is likely you will never beat them. Still, try it if that\'s how you can calm your heart. As for me, I\'m leaving."

Alex turned around and left the man named Han, who in his hatred began beating up the young man inside for answers. Or maybe it was simply to put the rage inside him somewhere.

Alex heard the young man\'s cries, everyone did, but he did not have the heart to care. He got back on the beast he had come to the tribe in and left.

Alex arrived at the Stepstones tribe just as the morning sun was rising. The chief looked at him gloomily and Alex dropped off the 40 heads.

"These were the men and women responsible for your daughter\'s death," Alex said. "I know that this won\'t bring her back, or even get rid of the sorrow in your heart. I only hope that Li Yun\'s soul can be happy in the afterlife, knowing that her death has been avenged."