Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy
chapter-2175

Alex could not understand why Grimsight would say such a thing. It was clear he was not joking, but then did his sword seriously have an issue?

"Why do you say that, senior?" Alex asked. "Is my sword not good enough? I believed it didn't matter what material a weapon was made up of as long as it grew along with the cultivator. The metal I used is no worse than the Rosesteel everyone uses back in the Myriad Spirit realm, is it?"

Grimsight sighed. "Starforged Tungsten… is not a bad metal. I would even say it is better than Rosesteel under most circumstances. However, the issue here doesn't stem from the metal used for your sword, but rather you."

Alex was taken aback. "Me? Why would I be the issue?" he asked.

"Do you know much about Weapon spirits? How do they form?" Grimsight asked.

"Master just told me about my cauldron spirit. If weapon spirits are anything like them, then it has to do something with the nascent spirit consuming energy somehow to grow stronger and stronger until the spirit evolves, right?" Alex asked.

"Close enough," Grimsight said. "It is exactly that, except for weapon spirits, you don't feed it anything external. Everything it consumes comes from inside of you."

"It can't consume anything else?" Alex asked.

"It's not that it can't consume anything else, but that it shouldn't. Unlike a cauldron which you are going to use to make pills of various sorts of energy, a sword is a weapon only for you to use. The more external energy it consumes, the more departed the spirit gets from your own philosophy of sword, its Dao."

"That is not to say that doing so won't be beneficial for the sword itself. In fact, it is very beneficial for the sword if it does consume external energy. After all, it can grow its spirit faster."

"However, should you do that, because your sword is now so different from your philosophy of Sword, it becomes harder for you to create your Sword Heart, to reach the state known as being One with the Sword."

"If the sword was just a weapon for you to attack with and nothing else, I would suggest that you do that. But since you are also a Sword practitioner, you need a sword that understands your way of sword to help you reach the peak of sword mastery."

The knowledge Grimsight imparted to Alex was not one he had been expecting to learn today. After going to the Twin Saber sect's secret realm, he understood there was something called a Saber Heart, which Sixghost had reached within the secret realm.

As such, Alex understood there had to be something called Sword Heart as well. But he had never heard of something called One with the Sword. Were they different?

"So if I want to reach this Sword Heart and this One with the Sword realm of sword mastery, I need to refine my sword by myself with no external assistance?" Alex asked.

"Yes," Grimsight said.

Alex thought for a moment and nodded. "Okay, I will do that. But that does not answer why I must change my sword, senior. What is wrong with it right now is that it needs changing. Or rather, what is wrong with me that I need to change my sword?"

"The thing that is wrong with you is the thing that is right with you," Grimsight said. "And that is the fact that you are too talented."

"Too… talented?" Alex asked. What did that have to do with his sword? "I don't see how that is bad, senior."

"You would think so, but there is one problem that you will soon face with your talent," Grimsight said. "How old are you right now?"

Alex paused for a moment, not sure if he wanted to answer. Grimsight noticed that.

"You don't have to answer me, just keep in mind that you are young," Grimsight said.

Alex nodded.

"Now, take a guess how long it will take you to reach the Divine realm?" Grimsight asked. "A thousand years? 2 thousand years? 5 thousand years?"

Alex remained silent.

"You haven't even cultivated for half a century right now, and in another half a century, you will no doubt be at the precipice of reaching the Immortal Origin realm. That is fast. Even if you slow down, I do not see you taking more than a millennium to reach the Divine realm, let alone 5 thousand years," Grimsight said.

Alex couldn't help but nod. He was cultivating quickly, so he should reach the Divine realm quickly as well. Still, he didn't understand what that had to do with anything.

"A thousand years may be enough for you to reach the Divine realm, but do you think it is enough for you to create a Sword Spirit?" Grimsight asked. "It takes someone reaching high Immortal realm or Divine realm to even begin to form a nascent spirit normally, and then it takes generations for them to evolve it to a regular spirit."

"No matter how quickly you can cultivate, you cannot force your sword to do the same. Especially, not one that when seen from a Divinity's perspective is made of a rather weak metal."

"Imagine yourself, a Divinity, fighting against other Divinities that will be much stronger than you, no doubt. Can your sword sustain you through that fight? Is your sword, before it forms a spirit in many thousand years, good enough to have you spend all your time on it? I say it is not."

Alex remained silent, understanding the weight of the situation. He stared at Midnight, feeling the small bond with the nascent spirit inside of it. Unlike other cultivators who cultivated slowly and had their weapons grow with them, Alex could not do that.

His cultivation speed was so quick that he would leave behind his sword. And the level he would be would have his sword be much weaker by comparison. Any enemy he came across that was a bit too strong would destroy his sword. That was not something he could handle. Not after spending so much time trying to improve his sword. If after he was a Divinity, he had to change his sword once again, he would have to redo the entire process once again.

Alex did not know what to say. Did he… really have to give up on Midnight?

"Is there no other way?" Alex asked.

"I'm afraid not," Grimsight explained. "You only have three options. Either give up on the sword, slow down your own cultivation base to match your sword's level, or never use your sword in a serious battle."

Alex shook his head. None of these three were good options. He did not want to give up on Midnight.

Grimsight tilted his head for a moment. "Actually, there is a fourth option too now that I think about it," he said. "It's only possible because your sword is Blood Refined."

Alex was hopeful. "What is the option, senior?" he asked. So long as he didn't have to give up on Midnight, he would take on this option.

"It is simple," Grimsight said. "Find some better material, and reforge your sword."