Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

\'Well, we\'ll see about that in the future,\' Alex thought and forgot about the matter.

"So, did I arrive where you died?" Alex asked. "I always assumed the crater that formed was because of me, but I also knew that wasn\'t possible at all since I teleported here, instead of flying in."

"I don\'t think you arrived there, actually," Scarlet said. "I somewhat remember flying around and noticing your arrival somewhere not far away from there. I had to drag you back to where I was reborn since that was the only place with fire."

"Oh," Alex said, slightly surprised. "I have always assumed it was my Qi that healed me, but now that I think about it, I suppose the fire healing me makes more sense."

Scarlet nodded.

"Anyway, what are your plans on the Phoenix flames that are spread all throughout the Wasteland?" Alex asked.

"What do you mean?" Scarlet asked.

"I was wondering if you\'ll get rid of it all now that you\'re back," Alex said. "Get rid of the fire, get the continent back to how it was."

"Uh… no, I don\'t think that will be necessary," Scarlet said. "The people of the Wasteland have already gotten used to living that way, so we will let them be. However, we will give them the option to turn their land into a place that can sustain cultivation."

"I see," Alex said. "Then you\'ll have to go around and survey the people a bit."

"I guess," Scarlet said. "Nothing to worry about. I have people that will do it for me."

Alex chuckled. "I suppose that benefit comes with being a ruler of the entire continent," he said. "Question, how does the Azure Dragon rule his continent? He doesn\'t rule it at all, right?"

"Huh? Uh… yeah, he lets the little human rule it," Scarlet said. "Why?"

"That means of all the four different beasts, you are the only one that actually rules the continent you were sent to rule," Alex said. "I suppose it\'s better to say you did since none of you are around to help."

"The White Tiger is dead, the Tortoise is in hiding because he is hurt and is afraid the Heavenly Judgment will kill him, the Dragon is in hiding too, you were going through a rebirth, and who knows where the snake is," Alex said.

"You really know a lot more than you should, don\'t you?" Scarlet asked.

"I suppose I\'m just that much more curious," Alex said. "The only thing that fascinates me more than learning about the continent rulers, is finding out who created the game that sent us all here."

"Does that mean we\'ll jump on your list of curious topics if you know where to find this game creator?" Scarlet asked.

"Oh, I know where to find him. It\'s just impossible to go there as I am," he said.

"Where?" Scarlet asked curiously.

Alex looked around and saw the faces of the elders and sighed. "I\'m afraid I don\'t want to say it out in the open," he said. "I will tell you once we are alone."

"Fine," Scarlet said.

Alex felt the first rays of sun hit the back of his head and glow the deck bright. At the same time, he looked in the distance and saw the massive shoreline of the continent.

"We\'re here," Alex said softly and everyone turned around to look in the distance.

The slaves in the back started cheering and crying as the fact that they were saved became more real for them with the sun out. Alex walked back to his father, who also was getting emotional with everyone else.

"We are finally free," someone shouted, and everyone shouted after him.

"Where… where are we going next?" Graham asked.

"Uhh… probably the capital at the center of the continent. That… should take about half a day at least," Alex said as he judged the speed of the ship.

"Although…" just as he said that, the ship started slowing down. It fully came to a stop once it was on land, on top of a city.

"Let\'s go down. We\'ll find a place for everyone to stay for now. They\'ll probably have to set up a tent," Yao Ning said and was the first to go down.

The rest of the elders followed suit and the boat slowly started lowering. Scarlet moved to the edge of the ship and looked down at the open ground where the ship was landing.

Not far away from there, people were starting to gather up as they were curious about exactly what was happening. When they saw Scarlet on top of the ship, everyone started wondering the same question.

Had the Phoenixes finally come out of their closed cultivation?

Alex quickly jumped off the ship and met with one of the elders. "We\'re stopping here?" he asked. It was so far away from the capital that it just didn\'t feel right for him.

"We\'ll have to give them all a place to stay for now. We\'ll get them to rest while we deal with more pressing matters," the elder said while gesturing toward Scarlet.

Alex nodded. He had hoped they would all be taken back to the Sunborn Sanctuary, but that wasn\'t going to happen. He should have guessed that much at least.

A few people gathered, people in the Saint realm, and the elders gave them the orders to look after these groups of people.

When they heard the orders being given by the 10 council members, while in the presence of the noble phoenix, they were more than happy to comply.

Within minutes, people were bringing out massive tents and setting up formations to help them.

The tribal folks came off the ship one by one as they looked at the massive city with tall buildings with wide eyes. They had spent the majority of their lives living in small huts and then spent another large chunk working in the mines. So, seeing such a city was truly glorious for them.

Once the tents had started being placed, the elders decided to leave. "Let\'s go. We will teleport directly to the capital," one of the elders said.

"Can my father come?" Alex asked.

"Uhh…" the elders hesitated a bit. "His Qi isn\'t recorded in the capital\'s formation, so…"

"Qi? Look at him, he has no cultivation base at all," Alex said.

"Oh, right," the elders realized. "Weird, not even a single realm."

"There was never any Qi anywhere he went," Alex said.

"Then, yeah, he can come," the elders said. "Mortals don\'t have to be on the list to get in."

Alex nodded and brought his father along with him.

Graham wanted to stay behind with his friends, but he also wanted to go with Alex. So, he was a little conflicted at the moment.

"Don\'t worry," Alex said. "Once we\'re done with Scarlet, we will return back here. I still need to make their pills, which I will need ingredients from some other place."

"We\'re coming back?" Graham asked. "Well, then I suppose I can go with you."

The elders walked slowly at the front, surrounding Scarlet who was in her largest form possible. She was nearly 3 meters tall and everywhere she walked, the people bent their knee in respect.

There were cheers in the city, and news of the phoenix\'s return would spread throughout the continent at any moment now.

Alex watched the people who were happy, surprised, shocked, and feeling every other feeling in between. These people really were waiting for the Phoenix to return for a very long time.

The group reached the teleportation formation and left the city they were in. All 13 of them arrived in the Sunborn Sanctuary at once and walked out.

Everyone there too was surprised and started cheering for Scarlet\'s return.

Scarlet smiled and walked through the crowd once more, going back towards the palace. Since the palace was so far away, they flew back through the city and arrived at the palace not long after.

"Oh, the palace is still here," Scarlet said as she remembered the place.

"We\'ve kept everything as is," the elders said.

Scarlet nodded. "I can see that," she said. Her spiritual sense was all around the palace. "Wait, what\'s up with the pigs at the back?"

"Pigs?" the elders were confused for a moment. "Oh wait, those are pill swine. He was making pills and needed it to test the pills."

"Oh, what sort of pills?" Scarlet asked.

"Ones that will improve your Earth and Water spiritual roots," Alex said.

Scarlet looked back at him with a surprised look on her face. "You never mentioned you were working on those," she said.

"I wanted to forget about it. It took me over a year to find the perfect ingredients to make it," Alex said. "You don\'t want it, right?"

"Nah, it\'s useless for me," Scarlet said.

"Of course," Alex said. Heavenly beasts always only had a single type of spiritual root in them after all.

Scarlet walked around a bit and turned to Alex. "Go get your father settled. I will enter the dome soon, and I want you to come with me. I want those answers you\'ve been teasing me about."