Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Chapter 842 Understanding Death

　　”Before we start, make sure to read up everything on the wall. Demon Eyes is one of the best skills passed down throughout our history. You will have to remember these so you can pass them along.”

Alex read the words on the wall again. The Demon Eyes skill did seem impressive, but unfortunately, this man had forgotten to leave behind the recipe for the paste that would be required to cleanse one’s eyes.

”It shouldn’t take you a long time to memorize it. If it is taking you such a long time, then I can only imagine that you haven’t entered the Saint realm and haven’t opened up your spiritual sea yet.”

”In that case, use a talisman to record it all. But then, if you truly haven’t entered the saint realm then… may the moon bless your soul.”

Alex worried a bit when he heard that. Was it going to be a dangerous endeavor? Did he need to be Saint realm to do this? It didn’t sound like he had to, but it still sounded dangerous either way.

He took a deep breath. ‘I am already here, aren’t I? And I’ve been through pain since the beginning of my cultivation. This can’t be any worse,’ he told himself and got ready.

”If you are ready, take off everything you are wearing or you own. In fact, it will be better if you take them away from this mountain.”

Alex gave a surprised look. ‘Take my items away?’ he thought. He did what the Undying God said and took off his clothes and put everything he owned on it, and took them outside. 

Since the Undying God had said it, he quickly flew off to the closest peak and placed everything there before quickly flying back.

”You have returned,” the illusory voice said. “Sit here.”

The Undying God’s illusion pointed at the medallion. Alex nodded and went on to sit on the warm floor.

”Let us begin.”

The ground shuddered, and Alex felt vibrations from the wall.

”Undying means to never die,” the Undying God started speaking.

”It means to be immortal, perpetual, and deathless.”

”To be Undying is to become one with eternity itself. To become Eternal.”

The ground started shaking even harder and Alex saw the walls and ceiling start to crack. 

Then, they broke open and Alex saw something red and orange flow down from all sides. 

Lava was flowing into the room.

Alex put his arms up to protect himself from the falling lava, but before the lava hit him, it struck an invisible wall around him, that was protecting him from it.

An oval-shaped barrier kept the lava out, but as the Lava flowed in from all sides, it was quickly submerging him.

”What the hell? Am I sitting on a volcano?” he thought to himself.

”However,” The Undying God’s voice came from outside. “Before one understands what it means to be Undying, one must first understand what death is.”

”One must understand what death is many, many times.”

Suddenly, the barrier that was protecting Alex collapsed and the lava fell into him.

Alex immediately tried to use a technique to protect himself, but something didn’t let him use any skills at all. It was as if there was some sort of script running that stopped him from using techniques.

However, that did not stop him from invoking the Dao. 

Qi left his body involuntarily, as Alex reduced the temperature of the lava around him by several hundreds of degrees in a single instant.

The lava turned to rock, but it was still being heated by the even hotter lava outside.

Alex struggled to keep the lava off of him, but suddenly, he couldn’t struggle anymore as intense mental pressure fell on him.

His mind felt like it was split apart as something started messing with his spirit itself.

”Do not struggle,” the Undying God’s voice said. “You will feel pain, but that is all that will happen to you here today.”

”Accept the pain and do not lose your mind to it. The most important part of being an Undying is to have an undying will.” 

”For that, you will have to experience death many times.”

Alex struggled to even listen to what the voice was saying as he really did feel something influencing his spirit in a very harmful way.

”Let go of your struggles. It is for your own good,” the voice said.

Alex wanted to believe that, but his instinct for survival couldn’t let him do that.

”You need a strong will. Let go,” the voice said.

Alex took a deep breath, prepared himself, and let go.

Instantly, the lava consumed him, while whatever was destroying his spirit continued doing that.

Alex screamed as both pains hit his mind simultaneously, and he slowly started to dissolve in the lava.

Before he could know what was happening, he died while being consumed by the lava.

His body died and the lava slowly destroyed it all. It was quite surprising how slow it was, however. Even after death, his physical body was strong enough to survive the lava.

Just before the lava was getting to his brain, the lava separated and something that was etched onto Alex’s soul instantly started healing him. In fact, it even revived him.

Alex’s body slowly grew from where it was destroyed and was reinstated back to how it was before he was dead.

He suddenly sucked in a deep breath and spread his spiritual sense. “How… how am I alive? I… didn’t I die?” 

His mind reeled from the experience he had just gone through. 

Death.

How many people in this world could possibly go through it and live to tell the tale?

”The first stage of the Undying God Physique lets you heal cuts and bruises on your body without needing external assistance, as long as you have Qi and Spirit in your body. The stronger your Qi and spirit, the faster you will get healed.”

The moment the words ended, lava returned back and consumed Alex. He cried inside the lava, but his voice wouldn’t make it out as it would get trapped in the dense, molten rock.

Once again, he died.

Alex sucked in a deep breath when he came back to life again. And even as he was gathering up his thoughts on his death, lava consumed him again and he died once more.

Again and again. He died and came back to life nearly 10 times before he got a bit of a break and the Undying God spoke again.

”The second stage of the Undying God Physique lets you heal from dismemberment and amputations, so long as you still have Qi and Spirit in your body. The stronger your Qi and Spirit, the faster it will heal.”

The moment the words finished, Alex died again.

Alex was too busy dying to realize this, but slowly the Undying God’s illusory figure was turning even more transparent.

Not only that, an entire Saint spirit vein underneath the mountain was being used up incredibly fast just to power up the rune in his spirit that brought him back from the dead.

He was being spent on an incredible amount of resources just to help him understand the concept of death.