Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Chapter 574 Equilibrium

Alex’s face turned cold when he saw that location. Just one more step and he would be on his way to save Pearl. 

However, Alex couldn’t do that right now. He needed to wait like he had promised. If he tried to force himself in, he could very well be attacked by them for trying to ruin their chances of survival.

He looked at the group of 6, of which Fu Zemin and Rei Mixie were the most surprising ones.

It seemed that they were going to leave the Crimson Empire to go roam the rest of the continent together. They already had no responsibilities whether it be to their children, to the family or to the empire.

They were free spirits, bored out of their minds, which was one of the reason why Rei Mixie had went out exploring so long ago and had found the raw Divine Devil fruit that made her unconscious for months.

”So this is the platform huh?” she said. “Last time during the expedition, I had gone way further from here. If only we knew at the time that there was a saint grade formation laid around that place.”

”At least we know now,” Fu Zemin said.

”Are you two absolutely sure you want to go?” The Emperor asked. 

”Yes, brother,” Fu Zemin said.

”You guys really don’t want to wait for your grandchildren to be born?” the Emperor asked.

The couple hesitated for a moment and then shook their head. “I’m sure we will be back soon to meet our grandchildren,” Rei Mixie said.

”If you say so, sister-in-law,” the Emperor said.

”Young brother, come here. I will show you how its done,” Fu Tao said as he called Alex to the formation. 

Alex went up to him and looked at the formation. He still wasn’t sure how one was supposed to run this formation without it having a metal base.

Alex looked at the formation and based on the number of strokes, it seemed to be a simple True rank formation.

”You’ve used normal formations, right?” Fu Tao asked.

”Yes, I have,” Alex said.

”Good, then it will be a little easier to explain. You see, in normal formations, there is always a metal plate in it. In a metal, we can pour however much Qi we want and it will bring it to an equilibrium once all of these dividends are filled.”

”However, this one is different. Since there is no metal plate to bring your energy to an equilibrium, if you want to run such a formation, you need to bring equilibrium to it yourself,” Fu Tai said.

’Equilibrium…’ Alex thought. He understood this idea quite well.

Fu Tao walked on top of the formation bringing Alex with him. “You see these end points where all the lines gather? What you need to do is give a specific amount of Qi into it. Then, you immediately give the next one a different amount of Qi, followed by the next one and so on until all the end points have energy in them.”

”As for how much energy you have to put in, take a moderate amount, and multiply that by the number of lines per end point,” Fu Tao said.

Alex didn’t need to hear Fu Tao anymore. He already understood the concept and was surprised that it was so easy. Especially since he had already used the same concept last time to improve his skin alone.

’Right, equilibrium. That formation was based on the Yang jades, which defused the energy onto the formation, instead of a user. Maybe I could’ve done it too if I had the same level of yang Qi,’ Alex thought.

’So, while that formation used the yang jades as an energy source, I can use myself as one for this one. In a similar concept, all the nodes need to have the same amount of energy so that they spread through the stroke at an equal rate.’ 

Alex felt enlightened. It was such an easy concept he had already put to use, but he was only understanding how it worked. ‘So metals automatically bring energy to equilibrium, huh?’ he thought.

As he continued contemplating on the matter, a curious case of confusion came before him. 

”Brother Tao, do these formations not need an energy source?” he asked.

”No,” Fu Tao shook his head. “Since it is a one-time use formation, it doesn’t need an energy source, only enough energy to run it once.”

”Ah,” Alex understood. ‘Right, once they’re teleported, the formation would have no use if it keeps on running. I never thought about that.’

”You are quite talented in the matters of formation,” Alex said while thinking, ‘even though you can’t use words like stroke and nodes.’

”Haha, it’s not me who is smart. It’s just that my grandfather is a formation expert. It was him who came up with the knowledge to run this formation,” Fu Tao proudly said.

”Ah, I see. Are there many people in the Luminance empire with such high knowledge?” Alex asked. 

He was quite surprised to think that he had never learned about such things from the internet. 

”No,” Fu Tao said. “Only my grandfather knows of it. Which is why only my Granduncle knew how to open it, and why now only I know how to open it.”

”Ah I see,” Alex said. “He must be an exceptional genius in the ways of formations then.”

”Haha, not really. He just found a book that talked about formations from the meteor shower,” Fu Tao said with a slight smile.

”Meteor shower?” Alex’s eyes suddenly narrowed. “Um, brother, can you tell me a little more about this Meteor shower?” 

”Um… sure,” Fu Tao said. “About 1200 or so years ago, there was a meteor shower that dropped quite a few things onto the western continent. Some got spirit stones, some got weapons, some got unreadable techniques.”

”My grandfather got a book that taught about formations. I don’t know how many of those there are out there, but my grandfather is certainly one of the luckier ones since his book could be read.”

”I see,” Alex said. “Thank you for teaching me all of that.”

”It’s alright. You’ve been quite a bit of help for us too,” Fu Tao said.

”Are we ready to go?” Lu Yan came up to him and asked.

”Yes,” Fu Tao turned around. “Cousins, come. We should leave now.”

”Yes,” Fu Zemin and Rei Mixie walked up to the formation platform, while Alex got off it.

”Say your goodbyes now,” Fu Tao said while releasing his energy to the different nodes at the same time.

”Goodbye brother,” Fu Zemin said. 

”Go, and don’t worry about your children. They are already old enough to take care of themselves,” the Emperor said.

”Good luck on getting your cat, young man,” lady Rei said to Alex.

”Thank you,” Alex responded.

Soon, the energy on the platform reached an equilibrium and everything started shining in bright white light.

Alex closed his eyes as the light got very bright at once point, and then it disappeared. 

When he reopened his eyes, the 4 people on top of the platform were gone.