Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Chapter 2840: Sailing

“Is… this a leaf?”

Alex tried to sense the surface of the object he stood on, but it didn’t give him much answer.

However, it was green, and it was veiny. If this wasn’t a leaf, then he didn’t know what was.

“It does look like a leaf,” Bladedance said. “And a giant one at that. I’ve only ever seen leaves this size once before, but the shape is nothing like that at all.”

The single leaf was large enough for all three of them to stand on comfortably. At the widest, it was close to 5 meters, and from the tip to the stem, it was easily over 10 meters long.

Alex was surprised leaves could get as large as this, especially in the middle of Hell. Now, he wondered what the tree it came from looked like.

‘I can’t tell what tree this leaf is from,’ Alex thought. Was it another thing the Alchemy God had missed, or did it have something to do with Hell and it talking to Heaven?

He was excited to see.

“I would’ve never imagined there to be a sea at the center of Hell,” the old man said. “I wonder if water from the Northsword accumulates here.”

The river Northsword, which originated at the northern peaks, flowed down to the core regions of the desert. Alex didn’t know much about where it ended in the core region, but if he were to listen to the old man, then it sounded like it arrived here.

That was fascinating to consider.

The Guardian Tiger floated down, landing before them. It turned toward them and spoke.

“I will once again ask that none of you do anything to harm this place, or I will be forced to attack you. I say this not as just a threat, but also as a warning. I exist in part to fulfill my duty that is to protect this realm. I won’t be able to stop myself from attacking you, even if I do not wish to.”

“Don’t worry, Senior. We won’t act against your wishes,” Alex quickly said.

“Then you may sit. It will take a while before we reach the center.”

Alex and the rest sat on the leaf upon the Primordial’s words. The Guardian Tiger turned forward and the leaf began sailing.

The sea here was calm, with no wind or waves. So, the sailing felt quite smooth as well, with barely any ups or downs, like sliding on top of a frozen lake.

The speed of their ship’s motion was quite slow, and it didn’t feel as thought the speed was going to pick up.

Alex spent his time looking around, but in the fog there was nothing to see at all, beyond the occasional splotches of shadow that weren’t even a silhouette.

“Can we ask some questions about you, senior?” Bladedance asked. “Or would you rather I don’t?”

“You are free to ask your questions,” the cub said. “Just as I am free to not answer them.”

Bladedance nodded.

“How did the Primordials die?”

She wasted no time getting right to what she wanted to know. From what she knew, they were god-like beings in a realm beyond even the Celestial realm. So the fact that all of them were dead had to mean something.

“With grace,” the cub said. “Our time had come, so we accepted our end.”

“Your time had come?” she asked. “My apologies, but that does not sound right. Primordials were of the highest cultivation base. They should have survived for a long time.”

“And we did,” the cub said. “And then when it was time for our death, we accepted it.”

Bladedance frowned.

“How long did you live?” she asked.

“I wonder the same sometimes.”

Alex looked toward the cub, its expression hidden from him. He wanted to ask it some questions as well, but he was sure it would not answer the questions he had.

It had already ignored his earlier questions.

“I do not understand what is being talked about here, but I do have a question myself,” the old man said. “I have lived a long time myself, and you say you’ve observed me for all this time, so you must’ve lived longer. How long have you been in this world?”

“Since before its current state,” the cub said. “You remember it, do you not?”

Bladedance turned toward the old man with a confused look. “What is he talking about?”

The old man took a deep breath. “Hell was a normal world, just like every other out there. But then, Yang slowly overtook the land. Not long after, what you call Heaven vanished, and the sky shattered to become what it was. Hell was cut off from the other worlds. That… if I remember correctly… is over 800 thousand years ago. Senior Guardian is saying that he’s been here for longer than that.”

Bladedance’s eyes widened in surprise. “You… you are 800 thousand years old?” she asked.

The old man nodded slowly.

Alex was surprised as well. 800 thousand years old. He had expected the old man to have lived a long time, but not this old.

“I don’t think I’ve ever read a record of Hell being normal. That is so far back in the past that we’ve lost almost all of the records from those times. Almost everyone from that time is dead as well. The war claimed almost everyone. The Immortal Tribulation claimed the rest. You… might just be the oldest person alive in the entire world.”

“I… I am?” the old man asked with a hint of surprise.

“Yes, and now I question how old a Primordial must be,” she said.

“When we existed, the humans didn’t,” the cub answered, saying nothing more.

Alex had known that information and even then, he was still surprised to hear it from the Primordial’s mouth itself.

As they continued traveling, the land began growing darker and darker.

“What’s happening?” the old man asked.

“Night,” Alex answered. “Time moves fast here. We’ve only been here for an hour, but enough time has passed outside that the sun has begun to set.”