Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

For nearly two hours, Alex couldn't sleep at all. After how horrible the night had been, the feeling of being betrayed still left a bad aftertaste in him. He saw where the problem lied, he knew he was good to others. But he would have never imagined that someone could do such a horrible thing to their own savior. 

"He must've lied about how he became a criminal too," Alex thought. Nobody capable of doing such a thing could be a simple thief. 

The other thing that had horrified him was the reaction he had shown to betrayal. He had nearly killed the man. Although the man had tried to kill him too and definitely deserved it, he was still shocked that he could even think of doing such a thing. 

"At least I didn't kill him. I don't think I am capable of that right now," he thought. His master had said that he would have to kill to survive in this cruel world very soon. He didn't want the very soon to become now. 

However, if push came to shove, he wouldn't hesitate to do that either. Just like what he did today, he knew deep down, that he was capable of doing that as well. No, he had to be capable of doing that.

"You can't live a kind soul in a world of cruel ones. You end up getting even more tainted." Alex decided to forget about everything and fell asleep.

Early in the morning at around 7 am, he woke up from his sleep. He quickly freshened up and went to the kitchen for breakfast. Surprisingly, Hannah wasn't up yet. So, he decided to return the favor for her, and make some toast and eggs. 

By the time he was done, Hannah had already come out of her room. 

"Wow, I thought I smelled something nice. What are you making?" she asked. 

Alex served him and his cousin as he put the breakfast on the table and said, "Toast and Eggs. Come sit. You've been preparing me food for so long, so I decided to return the favor."

"Oh, you didn't cut your finger again right?" Hannah teased. It was either this or something about Emily that she always teased him with.

"Oh, right. I need to ask you about something," Hannah said. 

"Yeah, go ahead," Alex said inquisitively. 

"So, on upcoming Saturday, Sarah has asked me to go shopping with her for the new capsules. It will be us 4 and some of her other friends, I think. Do you think it's a good idea to throw a small celebration party of some sort afterward?" she asked. 

"Saturday? I don't know, sister. I have something important going on in the game around that time, and I don't know if I can leave that or not," he said. 

"Important?" Hannah was surprised. "How important?" she asked. 

Alex thought for a bit and said, "Depending on the time frame, I might have to skip classes that week."

Hannah was a little shocked at his response. "Skip classes? That important? What is happening in the western continent?" she asked. 

"It's just in the Crimson Empire. We have an upcoming annual competition for all the sects there. I haven't confirmed how long it will last, but I will leave for the capital city around Friday. So, I may or may not be able to do anything on Saturday," he said. 

"Although, the competition should be starting on Sunday, so maybe we might get lucky," he said. "You know what, let me confirm with my master on Friday, that should be enough time for preparation, right?" he asked.

"Yeah, that should be fine. It's just ordering some stuff online," Hannah said. Soon they finished breakfast and Alex helped Hannah prepare their lunch before they left for their classes.

Alex went back to his room and logged in to check on himself. 

He was back in the familiar grassland, laying on the ground. The sky was as clear as ever, with no signs of clouds, let alone rain. 

"Now that I think about it, has it ever rained since I got in this game?" he thought. He remembered quite a few days with clouds hanging in the sky but It never rained. 

"Urghh," he grunted as he stood up. His hand was somehow still holding the torn robe to his chest. He tried to pull it off but turned out, the blood had dried up and left the robe stuck to his chest. 

He slowly pulled it out, making sure he didn't reopen his closed-off wound. Finally, he sighed in relief once the robe was out. While his physical healing wasn't as good as his Qi one, it still was enough for him to not lose too much blood to such a small wound.

He tried to see if he was hungry, but thankfully he was not. However, given that he would have to get some food for himself later on in the day, he decided to do it now and leave later for finding the yang jades. 

He still wasn't getting anywhere close with that thing. 

He walked to the cliffs where the fruits were growing high up and reached there in about 15 minutes. "I still have more than an hour before I need to leave," he thought. 

There were more than a few people near the cliff. Some trying to climb up the side, some just throwing stones, hoping to hit the fruits. However, neither of them was successful as the fruits were over 50 meters up the cliff. 

That was a very high place for all of them to reach. Alex was also stumped for a second. He didn't want to climb the cliff, so he could only throw stones at the fruits. But at such a  height, his accuracy would suffer a lot. 

The dozens of disciples there were all either outer sect disciples or inner sect disciples. He didn't see a single core disciple. 

"That Song Zun guy was sent here too right? For 2 months I think. I wonder where he went," Alex thought, but quickly ignored it. It was time for him to get some food for himself.