Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Chapter 2260  True Time

Alex knew of a few types of Time Aura. He didn't know it, only knew of it. Having an Aunt whose entire physique made her the greatest person at understanding Time by default was quite helpful in learning a bit more about Time.

There were a few different Daos of time.

There was the regular Time Dao, the Dao of Temporal Stagnation, the Dao of Temporal Swiftness, the Dao of Temporal Stillness, and the Dao of Temporal Reversal.

Those were the Daos his Aunt had learned even before she had left the lower realm. And if nothing, at the very least, Alex could tell that these were none of those aura. This was something entirely different that he had to figure out.

And that was going to take some time.

He stayed in the same spot for hours, and even as night fell, he remained still, understanding what the aura was about.

Momo started getting worried, but the others assured her that it was alright. Now that she had such a cultivation base, she needed to get used to the idea of possibly cultivating outside.

Momo's fears didn't go away, but she continued cultivating. She found cultivating in this spot to be quite effective due to how strong Qi was there.

By the time the morning sun came, she was just that much closer to breaking through to the Meridian Tempering realm.

"I think I'll reach the Meridian Tempering realm in the next 2 days," Momo said excitedly.

Pearl and Whisker congratulated her, while Alex continued to focus on the plant. As the three waited for Alex, a man approached them.

Pearl looked around and saw the older man standing behind them, wearing the medallion. The man looked at the three first, then at Alex, and finally at the plant.

"You two together or separate?" the man asked.

"Together," Pearl answered.

"Who's the alchemist? Actually, don't answer. It's clearly him," the man said. "What is he trying to do? Stake out until the rose grows? That's a stupid idea, you know. They will kick you out of here if you stay here too long."

"We are aware," Pearl said.

"Good, just wanted to let you all know in case you didn't," the man said. "You should get up and leave. Waiting here is useless."

"Thank you for the advice," Pearl said with a small smile.

The man looked at him and grumbled something about not appreciating help and walked away.

Pearl breathed out a sigh.

"Well, that was weird," Alex said, turning around to look at Pearl.

"Brother! Are you done?" Pearl asked.

"Well, done as in I am done recognizing this aura. Still have to figure out what it means though," Alex said.

"What is this aura then?" Pearl asked.

"I believe it is called the Dao of Temporal Awareness. If I break open the Voidsand Hourglass, I bet this is the same aura I would find in there too," Alex said.

"Okay… what does that mean though?" Pearl asked.

"It means this plant is aware of the fact that time is passing, and can even recognize when time has been sped up or slowed down so that it is always on time," Alex explained.

Pearl nodded for a moment before a question formed in his head. "Huh? But it's not always on time."

"That's right, brother," Whisker said from the side. "Didn't you mention that it misses a day or two every year? Doesn't that mean this plant isn't so perfect despite it being aware of how much time passes?"

"Or… it is so perfect that it transcends the time of this world," Alex said, fascinated by his own thoughts. "What if it is aware of the difference in how much time passes on a universal scale?"

Pearl stared with a blank look. "I'm not following, brother," Whisker said. Momo didn't even know if she was part of the conversation or not. The things they were saying was just so very weird to her.

"Okay listen to this," Alex said. "Did I tell you guys about what my master and senior Grimsight told me? About all of the realms moving at a different rate of time. They are all slower or faster than others by a few hours to a few days every year."

Pearl nodded. "You said that," he said.

"OH!" Whisker understood it. "So… so… you think this flower is not responding to the time of this realm, but of some other time?"

"Yes," Alex said.

"Why would this plant follow another realm's time?" Pearl asked. "It's growing in this realm. Or was it taken here from some other place?"

"Could be," Alex said. "That would make sense, but I don't think that is the reason. Given that it's giving off the aura of a Dao, it has to be something that is the same in every world. And as far as I know, every world is connected only through the Heavens."

"So, there could just be a single True flow of time throughout every world, and the only way to figure out which is which is to use this Dao," Alex said.

"Woah! Is that true?" Whisker asked, amazed by Alex's conclusion.

"Could be," Alex said. "I feel like I'm missing something still with this explanation, but I can't figure out what exactly."

"Do you think you're wrong?" Pearl asked.

"No, I think I'm a step behind the truth. There's something else I am not thinking about. What am I not thinking about?" Alex wondered.

The beasts couldn't be of much help, and Momo certainly wasn't going to give him any answer there, so he went back to focusing on the aura once again.

Now that he knew what the aura was, he could use it to hopefully find some other information.

Alex sat by the plant for another whole day before coming up with absolutely nothing at all. "I… give up," he said. "I don't think there is anything for me to find out from sitting here. The aura is only there to keep time. There is nothing there to tell me when it will blossom."

"So… did we waste time?" Momo asked worriedly.

"Oh no," Alex said quickly. "This was anything but a waste of time. I have found some very valuable information. It will only be a waste of time if we continue to stay here as we will gain nothing else."

Alex got up and so did the rest.

"So what now?" Whisker asked.

"Now, we go and find more of these plants and see where they are located," Alex said.

The three left, roaming around the rose garden, looking at various flowers. Alex returned to teaching Momo about the plants and quizzed her on what she had learned.

They found another plant for the Seven-Colored Angel Rose where Alex sat for just a few minutes before standing up.

"That first plant wasn't unique. They are all capable of telling the correct time," Alex explained. This was an excellent discovery he had made which would go along quite well with his competition requirement.

During the next 2 days of travel through the garden, they found 4 more of these plants. By the 5th day, they had a total of 7 plants, all of which they had the location for.

Now that they were done, it was time to leave.