938 Alchemy; Bad

"Greetings, seniors." Alex cupped his hands as he bowed a little toward the two men in front of him.

"I hear that you're disciple Li's nephew, is that true?" the sect leader asked.

"That is indeed true, sect master Bai," Alex replied.

"Then… you must be quite young. Disciple Li herself is very young, not even 65 years old, and already a Saint Condensation 3rd realm cultivator. I suppose you are much younger than her?" the Sect Leader asked.

Alex frowned a little. He didn't think they would realize his age so quickly. He had wanted to not draw any attention to that. But then, they would've tested his aunt, and using their relationship, it was easy to figure out he was young.

"Yes, I am," Alex replied seeing as there was no reason to lie anymore.

"Would you mind telling us how young you are?" the grand elder asked.

"Hmm… time's hard to keep track of right now, but I should be about 35 years old," Alex said.

"My god! 35 years old and you've already entered the Saint realm," the sect leader said. "Would you mind telling us how you cultivated so fast?"

"Lots and lots of pills," Alex said. If the old woman had delivered any information, then the fact that he was from the western continent would definitely be it.

"Pills? They can help you grow that much?" the Sect master asked. He seemed genuinely curious.

"Yes," Alex said. "Once you stop caring about your foundation and start munching on them, yes. I was lucky that someone stopped me early on, or I would've ruined my cultivation. Still, by that time I was quite far ahead, and stayed that way."

"I see, pills can help you so much huh," the sect master fell into thought. He seemed to be quite interested in them.

"Pills are bad, sect master," the grand elder said from the side. "You cannot think just about the good things that will come with it. You have to think about the bad things too."

"You keep saying that but you never tell me what's so bad about it," the sect master asked. "It's been a decade since I took station, so as a Sect Master I should be privy to these things, no?"

The grand elder and the old woman sighed. "You will find out soon enough, sect master," the old woman said. "You will learn soon enough why Alchemy is the bane of our society."

Alex wanted to ask why that was too, but if it was so serious that even the sect master himself wouldn't know why, then there was no way they were going to tell him at all.

The sect master turned back towards him and said, "anyway, I hear you left the Frozen Heart sect. Is that true?"

"Yes," he said.

However, before he could continue, the sect master asked, "Then you surely have no reason to refuse to join our sect, do you?"

"I do have a reason, sect master," Alex said. "I simply don't want to. That was the reason I left the Frozen Heart sect as well. I didn't want to remain in a sect."

"Do you hate sects?" the old grand elder asked.

"Hmm… Hate is not the right word, I suppose. It's more like I don't like being tied down by duty and responsibilities. At least ones I don't want to take on for myself. Besides, I have too many other things to worry about than worrying about the sect," Alex said.

"But the benefits you get from being in a sect is unimaginable, young man," the old woman said. "All the free cultivation techniques, skills, elders' knowledge, and the various resources you get are simply too great to miss out on."

"I don't think that's true," Alex said. "At least, not from my experience. You can do quite well as a rogue cultivator so long as you are talented enough."

"If you join, we will give you unlimited access to our sect's library. You can learn any techniques you want, including our prized body cultivation technique. We will also include free resources for you to use for body cultivation," the sect master said.

"I'm sorry, sect master. I will have to refuse." Alex's response left the three elders confused. They were sure that after seeing the body cultivation of the other elder, he would have been more than happy to join them, but it seemed they were wrong.

"Do you really not want to become a body cultivator?" the old woman asked. "Our sect has the best body cultivation method in the entire continent."

"I hear that, and I suppose that it is true, but I'm still underwhelmed," Alex said.

"You don't understand, young man," the grand elder said. "You only felt the elder's body cultivation. If he were to attack using both his cultivation base and his body, he would beat anyone above his own realm."

"Can he beat me?" Alex asked.

"That's…" the 3 fell into thought. There was no way to come up with a 'yes' as an answer to this question. After all, what sort of person could possibly fight against someone with 10 different Daos, and a Sword Aura?

Not to mention, they had heard of him being able to fight incredibly high above his own realm.

"No, I suppose no," the sect master said.

"I thank seniors for their intentions, but I have no reason or interest in joining any sect. And if you are worried about me joining the other sects, then you can stop fearing about that as well, as I truly have no need from any of the other two sects either."

"I neither need any knowledge about how to take better care of my own beasts nor do I want to learn any more about poisons than I already do," Alex said. "And I'm perfectly contented with my current cultivation speed."

"I… I see," the sect master said. "Then I suppose there is no reason to keep asking you. Although, I hope you will stay in the sect for a while, enjoy our hospitality."

"I will," Alex said. "I thank you for that, sect master."