976 No Way Out

"If I help him, there's a likelihood that I die. Is that it?" Alex thought. Surely the only way to get out of this alive was not to help the man.

But who in their right mind would refuse to do anything for the madman that had just killed 120 alchemists because they didn't give him what he wanted?

'I need to escape somehow,' Alex thought. 'But how?'

He knew there was no way he could beat someone that was once at the cusp of immortality, so he needed to think of some other way.

Unless his sword skills improved to the point where it was on the next stage, it was unlikely he was going to be able to beat him.

Even if he did, how was he supposed to wield such power with his tiny cultivation base and body strength? He was sure to struggle to wield such strength.

Godslayer couldn't help him and he had nothing on him that could help him either.

'Dammit, why is the space here so weird? It feels like I'm stuck in a secret realm or something,' Alex thought as he felt around.

He wondered if an escape talisman could help him get out of here, but then, what was he going to do after leaving? Given how fast the madman was, he was sure to catch up to him in just a few minutes.

'Can I feed him poison?' Alex wondered, but how was he going to make poison in the first place? Saint-ranked ingredients wouldn't work on him and Immortal rank ingredients were impossible to find.

'Besides, it looks like he knows a lot about alchemy to know what Pill Cloud is while I don't,' Alex thought. 'It will be impossible to dupe him.'

"Godslayer, do you have any ideas?" Alex asked.

Godslayer moved his attention towards Alex's words but remained quiet for a while. "I need to know more about the situation to even understand what is going on. However, what I can tell you is that there is no way you can beat him in direct combat. You will have to use some underhanded means."

"I can't think of any," Alex said.

"Neither can I," Godslayer said. "I might need some more time to think of something. Try and get as much information out of him as you can, I will try to see what I can come up with in the meantime."

Godslayer went back to ignoring the outside, and Alex was once again left alone. He thought of calling out Pearl and Whisker, but in this situation, it just didn't feel right.

He didn't want to give any way for the madman to find leverage over him. After all, Pearl and Whisker being hostage would be the last thing he would want.

Not long after, the old man walked into the room and went up to Alex with a face full of smiles.

"Hehe, I'm back with the ingredients. This is what I've gathered for the last thousands of years, so it will be enough for you to make pills out of them," he said.

The old man had many storage bags, but he only handed over one to Alex. "There is a recipe and a few ingredients in there. Try and make a pill in front of me," he said.

Alex took the bag and looked inside it. The healing pill recipe in there was one he had already improved, so it wouldn't take much time for him to get 100% again.

But should he do that?

'No,' Alex thought. Still, he had to do better than what the people that had died already had done, so he brought out one of the many True rank cauldrons he owned and started.

The False Immortal sat a bit far away and watched Alex start making the pill.

Alex started putting in the ingredients and refining them as he made the pill. He used the best recipe, the best control, and the best single pill-forming skill out there.

The cauldron he was using wasn't the best. It was finding a very hard time retaining heat without melting. Alex had to use his Dao of melting to stop it from doing so, and it was quite annoying.

Still, he ended up with a pill that had 92% Harmony.

Before he could even do anything, the madman pulled the hot cauldron and opened it to pull out the pill. He placed it on a formation, which showed that the pill had 92% harmony in it.

"That's far better than what all of these idiots made before," the man said. "But it is still not enough. You have got to do better."

"I don't know how I did what I did before," Alex said.

"Doesn't matter. I will be keeping this pill. I can use it to heal you later," the man said.

Alex's eyes widened. "Heal me?" he asked.

"You have 1 month to bring back the Pill cloud again. If you don't, then I will beat you until you are half dead," the man said and left before Alex could say anything else.

A formation appeared all around the room as soon as the old man left. Now, Alex couldn't even leave just this room anymore.

Alex sat in the room, stunned at what he had just heard.

'Fuck!' he thought. 'I'm going to get beat up if I don't create a pill cloud?'

Alex couldn't help but frown at the situation. What was he going to do now?

'I don't have a choice,' he thought. 'I'm going to have to make that pill cloud.'

Alex couldn't sense any spiritual sense in him, but he doubted he could sense the Spiritual sense of an Immortal level figure, so he could only work under the assumption that he was under his supervision at all times.

He would have to be very careful regarding what he did.

Alex took a few minutes of rest and started making the pills once again. For a while, he was going to have to make pills that weren't so good. Still, with his skill, every pill would be over 90%.

After making about 10 pills in a row over the next 10 hours, Alex stopped to cultivate. He used the time to think of how he was going to escape, but there was simply no way in his mind.

Unless he got help from the outside, he was stuck in this room for the foreseeable future.

Aside from cultivation, Alex had no choice but to continue making pills. For the first 2 weeks, he did what he could to get just over 90%, but after that, he needed to think of a way to bring forth the cloud.

He was going to be beaten up if he didn't, so Alex prepared for it.

To not arise suspicion at the fact that he could make some of the best pills on demand simply by using the best ingredients, he spent improving the ingredients two ingredients a day.

The 12 different ingredients for the pill needed 12 days before he was ready.

On the 13th day, with only 3 more days to go before the month ended, Alex began making the pills.

He had perfected two of each ingredient, so it was going to be two pills that he was making. Unfortunately for him, there was no other way but to show off his Pill Splitting Qi if he wanted to bring the Pill Clouds.

Alex tried his best once again. He had everything perfect, bar the cauldron, but he could work with that.

He sent the ingredients into the cauldron directly using his Dao of Teleportation and started refining it.

Halfway through the process, Alex started worrying that he might end up not doing a very good job as he might've miscalculated on the ingredients.

However, when he sent the Pill-Splitting Qi into the cauldron, and it split the pill into two, he heard the storm clouds ringing loud on top of him.

With that, he knew he had done it right.

He looked up to see the cloud floating indoors once more, reading to strike down with a strong lightning bolt.

Seeing that, Alex couldn't help but wonder. "Now what?"

The False Immortal had told him to make a pill cloud, but he had never told him what he should do once he did make it.

"Do I move away and hope for the best?" he wondered. He knew he couldn't interfere in the tribulation of the others, so he thought it was the same in this case as well.

Just then, the formations around Alex's room suddenly disappeared as the old man walked in with a stunned look.

"You really did it," he spoke softly as he looked to the sky. Then, he looked down at Alex and saw that he was standing further away from the cauldron.

"What are you doing?" he shouted. "Stay by the cauldron."

Alex's eyes narrowed when he heard that. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Quick! You need to protect your pill from the lightning," the man said. "Sit by your cauldron."

Alex didn't know what he meant exactly, but he was the only one he could believe at the moment.

"How do I protect it?" he asked. "Do I fight off the lightning?"

"No, use the full power of your cultivation base to cover up your pill so it doesn't take damage from the lightning strike," the old man said.

"Oh," Alex said and quickly sat by his cauldron.

'Full power of my cultivation base, huh?' he thought. 'I will definitely use the full power of my Saint Condensation 2nd realm cultivation base then.'