Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex found Ren Wujin not far away, trying to come back to the group of weaker cultivators, probably trying to get done with her first battle of the day.

He could sense her sensing him, but that didn't stop him from flying toward her. Ren Wujin thought of flying away, but on second thought, she stood her ground.

Alex arrived there a moment later and landed in front of her and the group of 15 cultivators. He was about to challenge her when he realized that she had been waiting for him to.

'She's waiting to reject me,' Alex thought. That was certainly the only reason from what he could see.

He wondered what choice he had here. If he just challenged, she would reject and that would be it for the day. But if he didn't then there was no point in him being here.

The girl gave a slanted smile understanding Alex's predicament. He thought for a bit and nodded as he concluded.

"If I let you get done with your first match, will you fight me afterward?" he asked.

The girl frowned a bit. "You will give me that opportunity?" she asked him. 

Alex nodded. That was his best choice here from what he could see.

"What if I don't agree to this?" she asked. "Can you stop me from leaving?"

"No," Alex said truthfully. "But I will follow you until you fight me. Or you can lead me straight to your headquarters if you want to."

Alex didn't want to fight Sarah or Zhao Boqin just yet. They had Immortal Qi and fighting those became a bit too difficult. He did want to do that as soon as he broke through, however. He was so close to it.

The girl nodded. 

"Fine, I will accept Your Majesty's offer," the girl said. "Please don't go back on it though."

"I won't," Alex said as he stepped back a little to make way for the girl to fight.

It didn't take more than a few minutes for Ren Wujin to fight the man that had been selected to fight today before coming back to Alex.

The two of them flew away from the group of people where they could fight freely. 

"If you are ready, we can start, Your Majesty," the girl said. "I wish to make it quick."

"I don't," Alex said, bringing out a sword. "Let's fight."

Ren Wujin nodded in acceptance. This was going to be the first time was going to fight this girl. He wondered how good she was.

Her sword appeared in her hand. A crystalline sword with gold embedded throughout the hilt and a large ruby for the pommel. It wasn't a regular sword by any measure, but it was hard to tell if it was a treasure that could have been handed to her as her first treasure.

Alex had a suspicion that the treasure she had received after coming here was the golden fox mask that now lay on her face.

'Alright then. Let us see why the Ren family would ever want to adopt you as their daughter.'

The girl stabbed her sword, sending a blade-shaped fire attack toward Alex.

Alex, powered with only Sword Qi and Sword Intent, swung at the incoming attack. Since the girl wasn't even a Saint Soul 9th realm cultivator right now, he felt no need to fight her with anything else.

However, when the attack landed on Alex, confidence vanished from him at once as confusion and panic filled him for an instant before he controlled himself.

"That was…" he spoke slowly, mulling over what he wanted to say. "Strong."

The girl said nothing.

He looked at her, giving a knowing look. "It's close," he told her. "But if you fought a capable Saint Transformation 1st realm cultivator, like old Yang from earlier, you would've definitely lost."

The girl frowned silently before nodding. She knew she would lose, that was why she had even dared to grab his attention. Why else would she do something as stupid as shutting down the barrier that hid her and then flaring up her cultivation base?

Her sword flashed again, sending out a strong Fire slash once again. This time, Alex swung too, sending out everything he had to block her.

His Sword Intent and Sword Qi had gotten stronger, but they weren't yet strong enough to fight someone on the precipice of touching the Saint Transformation realm. But he was close to getting them there. Just a month or two more and they would be right there.

Midnight flashed this time, the black blade making a white blur in the air as Sword Qi flew out of Alex's sword, flying toward the girl.

Ren Wujin took back her sword and instead moved her left arm. An amber gem attached to some sort of golden bangles on her left arm flashed, creating a barrier in front of her like a curved shield. 

Alex showed a hint of surprise at how sturdy the barrier was as it could hold against his attack. That was surprising.

Another attack flew toward him, quickly transforming into a beautiful bright red image of a wolf.

Alex took no time to send out an attack to destroy it as well. Then, he sent out the next attack.

The two of them fought for a while, throwing out attacks and defending against ones coming for them. Alex didn't think much of it, only recognizing that she most likely had Wood, Fire, and Metal spiritual roots, and liked using Fire the most.

However, after a while, the attacks started getting stronger and stronger. Slowly, it was touching on the precipice of Saint Transformation 1st realm. It might as well be strong enough to battle someone in the Saint Transformation 1st realm with a weaker foundation.

'Oh!' Alex thought when he realized what was causing it. 'She's using Sword Intent. Was she hiding it all this time?'

Alex couldn't see what Ren Wujin looked like at the moment, her face was hidden by the golden mask she wore.

The attacks got increasingly difficult to handle as Alex fought. Her power alone was the same as him without using Qi, but once she revealed it fully, it was stronger. Alex was slowly being pushed back.

The girl looked at him in surprise, but a cold wave of energy got rid of her surprise immediately. She had to rid herself of useless emotions as there was no need for them in this battle.

'Maybe I can win this,' she thought. Whether she could or not, she did not know. But if she gave it her all, then maybe she could. 

She moved, her body moving at a sudden speed, like a fox going for a hunt.

Alex tracked her with his eyes and threw out an attack when he saw the slash coming from her direction. He sent out a few more attacks, all of which flew close by her, without ever managing to hit her.

'This is fun,' Alex thought.

He got into another battle where he threw out his attacks as quickly as he could, while Ren Wujin tried to catch him off guard from all directions. But Alex was simply too good at following movement. 

His Demon Eyes were just too good for that.

She stopped at the end after dodging one final attack and decided it was time to end the match if she could. Her sword gave a small buzz as the sword glowed in two colors, Red and Green. 

The energy mixed together but remained separate for the most part. But Alex had a feeling he could see the red color get brighter.

'Wood-Fire empowerment,' Alex thought. 'In a technique at that?'

He had seen people empower their attacks using energy from other spiritual roots, but this was the first time he had seen an attack where the two energies worked in tandem.

Ren Wujin wasted no time and swung.

The red and green energy quickly turned to an undulating arrow with no uniform shape or size. It flew across the sky, going straight for him. Even at the distance, Alex could tell the arrow was too strong for him without his Qi.

But he felt stubborn, just a little. 'I'll be fine,' he thought, and his sword blossomed into a bright white light that sent off Sword Qi flying in all directions.

Sword Aura enveloped him and the sword, and then he swung.

It was a simple slash that flew toward the simple arrow that came toward him. There were no fancy techniques, no fancy shapes. Just raw power in those attacks.

And then the two clashed.

Ren Wujin felt her heart skip a beat when she saw the Sword Aura for the first time, and then she felt her heart skip another beat when the shockwave of the two attacks clashing went past her.

The bright red and green attack struggled against the Sword Aura and was seemingly strong enough to destroy it. However, no matter how weaker the Sword Aura felt, it didn't budge an inch.

Step after step, it tore through her attack, sending her into disbelief. As she watched, the attack successfully broke past her technique and arrived for her.

She raised her hand to create a barrier, but her skin went numb when she sensed Alex behind her.

Before she could turn around, he struck her in the back, sending her flying into the sword aura in front, where she got hit once more.

After being hit one after another by the two attacks, Ren Wujin felt her mind grow numb, and then darkness took over her mind.