Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Chapter 2266  Descendent

"Do you want pills too, Rosemist?" Alex asked. "I can get you some."

"Pills are useless for me," Rosemist said. "Since I do not cultivate in the first place."

"You do not cultivate?" Alex asked. "Can I ask why, or is that getting too close to the questions I cannot ask?"

"There's nothing to hide really," Rosemist said. "I can't cultivate since I don't really have a real body."

"Oh! I meant to ask you this earlier. If you are a spirit, why do you have a physical body?" he asked.

"Because I'm more than just a spirit," Rosemist said. "I can not have a body, but I like having one, so I made one for myself."

"I see," Alex said.

The beast-turned-man tossed the pills back to the rat. "You are blessed, young one. Go and rest. Prepare your eyes during these few days of rest and come back with them at your own pace. Do not hurry."

"Thank you, senior Lin," the rat said, flying away. Alex watched the rat leave and then looked down at his own palms. He was still holding the slimy eyes of the rat. He quickly took out an empty wooden box and placed the eyes into it, wiping his hands afterward.

"Shall we continue?"

They climbed up into where their feet dug into snow knee-deep. The sun had moved to the other side of the mountains, so it was all in the shade now.

Momo began saying a few things now, no longer staying quiet like she previously was. She commented on how cold the temperature was and how she was going to need clothes.

She wasn't strong enough just yet to go up a mountain like this one in her flimsy clothing. Whisker and Pearl talked a little too, but it was clear that they were still very hesitant about some things.

Alex tried to ask what the issue was through his bonds, but neither of them seemed like they wanted to speak about it just yet. "I'm sorry I couldn't get the rest of what you needed," Rosemist said. "As you may have noticed, most plants just don't grow here, and those two other beasts don't live in these mountains."

"Thank you for your help regardless. This saves me one less trouble I will have to deal with later," he said. "Although, I am curious why most plants don't grow in these mountains."

"It's because the soil here just doesn't have much energy for those plants to thrive," Rosemist said.

"There's no Qi in the soil?" Alex asked, confused. "That shouldn't be the case."

"Well, it is," Rosemist said. "And it's my fault sadly."

"Your fault?" Alex asked.

"It's not your fault," the man in the back said. "You know that. Don't blame yourself."

Rosemist thought for a bit and nodded. "I suppose Little Lin is right. It's not my fault precisely, but I still am to blame."

Alex felt whatever she was talking about had to do with being a 'Child of Heaven' so he didn't pursue the topic any further. All he needed to know was that no plants grew in this mountain and she was related to the issue somehow.

He turned toward the beast-turned-man who had spoken and asked, "Forgive me senior if I am overextending with my question here, but I have been curious as to who you are exactly."

"I am simply called Lin," the beast said. "I live in this mountain and have been since… forever."

Alex nodded. "Senior Lin, do you mind if I ask what you are?" he asked. "It's just that I am an Alchemist and part of my job is to know about all of the beasts that exist in this world. And yet, I cannot begin to understand what you are." n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

The beast grunted a little, taking a moment to speak. "It can be forgiven should you not know what I am. There are only a handful of people who would see me and recognize me at first sight," the beast said. Alex waited for more, but the beast didn't seem like he wanted to answer the question. Not wanting to anger a Divine beast, Alex let it be.

However, it seemed Rosemist wasn't going to just let go of it.

"Why do you think I call him Little Lin?" she asked Alex.

Alex paused for a second and shook his head. "I do not know. Why?" he asked.

"It's part of the name of the species of beasts he is a descendant of," Rosemist said. "Can you guess which?"

Alex thought for a bit, thinking of beasts with 'lin' in their name. Yet, nothing he could think of linked to what the beast actually was— a deer-headed, horse-like beast with a snake tail. He shook his head as an answer.

"He's the descendant of a Qilin," the woman said.

"A Qilin?" Alex asked. Had he ever heard of a Qilin before? Something about that word poke him in the back of his mind. Where was it?

Rosemist looked at Alex. "Hmm, you do not know what a Qilin is? Have you ever heard of a—"

"PRIMORDIAL!" Alex said, suddenly remembering where he had heard that word first. He quickly turned around, looking at the man who stared directly back at him. "Senior, are you a… a… Primordial?"

The man clicked his tongue. "Of course I'm not," he said. "All Primordials are dead, their bodies rotting all across the universe. I am but a descendant."

"Little Lin undersells himself," Rosemist said. "He's a very close descendant of the real Qilin."

"How close?" Alex asked, turning around. "My sect has an elder who is a Two-tailed fox, someone with the bloodline of the Primordial, Nine-tailed Fox."

"It is difficult to describe since the two Primordials are so very different from each other," Rosemist said. "But for comparison's sake, Little Lin would be closer to a Six or Seven-Tailed Fox."

Alex was stunned. That was so close to being a Primordial.

"You seem shocked," Rosemist said.

"Of course," Alex said. "I didn't imagine I would ever meet such a close descendant of a Primordial." Rosemist was confused at Alex's words. "Why do you say that?" she asked. "When you actively travel with a descendant of a Primordial yourself."