Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"I can't tell what either of them are doing," one of the men watching the battle said.

"Sister Hongxi's Dao is quite unique, isn't it? I haven't seen many people with a Dao like hers."

"Did you see what the King did though? I can't tell if I missed the attack or what."

"Me neither. I thought he attacked, but then there was nothing."

"Something did destroy that girl's attack though."

"In the first place, I can't believe they are equal. Is His Majesty hiding his cultivation base?"

In the sky, the fight resumed. Both of them used weaker but quick attacks to try and tire each other, neither daring to let the other have enough time to use a particularly strong technique.

Sarah especially didn't want to let him use the technique that she couldn't see at all. She feared what would happen if he used it and she was too slow to stop it.

Vines sprung forward out of nowhere, flying toward Alex as if to capture him. At the same time, Sarah used her Dao of Swiftness to increase her speed so she was in another location before she used her spear to send another attack flying toward Alex.

A vortex of energy appeared in front of Alex, defending him easily. At the same time, a single swing of his sword destroyed the other attacks that were coming from the side.

Alex quickly spun, sending another sword slash in her direction, one that carried Fire with it. Sarah tried to attack it, but before she could, the sword slash exploded in front of her, sending a shockwave that hit her hard.

She flew back a couple of paces, feeling a low pain all over her body from the explosion. When she looked back up, a bolt of lightning was already flying in her direction.

She barely managed to throw out her own bolt of lightning, and fortunately managed to block the attack. It was a good thing the attack hadn't held much power. She let go of those thoughts before going back into battle.

She knew what wasn't working, so it was time to try out new things.

Wood Qi coalesced around Sarah, grouping together in a few different locations around her. The energy seemed to manifest physically just then, turning into flower buds that had barely blossomed.

5 such buds formed around Sarah, which quickly flew toward Alex upon her command. The attack was fast, but not fast enough for Alex to stumble over them. He quickly attacked them, destroying each one before it came even close, but that was just what Sarah wanted.

Sarah immediately controlled the Wind, sending a gentle breeze toward Alex along the path where the flower buds were destroyed. When the breeze touched Alex, he felt a peculiar smell on it that was almost pleasant to smell.

But of course, he understood it couldn't be anything good if it came from his attacker. Although, he couldn't tell what it was. He took a deep breath to smell it all and got a vague hint of an idea of what it could be.

From what he could tell, it was an imitation of a flower he hadn't seen in this world, but one that existed in his mind. It was a poisonous flower that went by the name of Twilight Rose. It gained its name from its purple and orange colors.

It was a pretty flower with a very beautiful smell. But the smell was the worst part of it. It wasn't poisonous, but it did hinder someone's ability to keep a straight mind. It hindered their ability to pay attention.

That was to say, it was a poisonous flower, primarily used to make drugs that incapacitated even Immortals.

And Sarah was using a technique that was creating an imitation of it.

"Not bad," he couldn't help but say out loud, causing Sarah to give a perplexed look in his direction.

She quickly shot out a few spear attacks, sending spear-shaped wood attacks in his direction, but Alex destroyed each one easily as he had all this time. The girl frowned.

Alex thought he knew what she was thinking about. 'She probably thinks I ate a pill beforehand.' She wouldn't have been wrong to think so, as Alex had presented such a pill during the previous Golden Auction.

Not that he had. His body destroyed all the poison and toxins that entered his system. Even Immortal poisons wouldn't do him much harm right now. However, he wasn't sure what Divine and Celestial-grade poisons would do to him.

Was he strong enough to stop those?

"Did you use this move against him too?" Alex asked. There was no need to clarify who 'he' was.

"A more subtle version of this," Sarah said, her eyes still not moving away from him. "Must be nice being an alchemist."

Alex simply smiled.

They went back into battle, both of them attacking each other in a fervorous frenzy. Colorful attacks marred the sky where they fought, and most of the time, Alex could feel the space shatter where the clash had happened.

During the entire time, Alex kept track of the attacks Sarah used. She has used 4 types of attacks right now.

Plant, Wind, Lightning, and finally Smell. If Alex wasn't mistaken, all of these techniques, while seemingly being different from each other, belonged to the Wood element.

He hadn't known about Smell, but it made sense it would be. He didn't have the time to think about any aura he missed back in the Enlightenment domain.

'All wood,' he thought. He was starting to believe that she even had Supreme Wood Spiritual Root. It surely felt like it.

As he was thinking that, Alex's ears perked up a little, hearing a tone in the air that caused his mind to spiritual sea to roil. He quickly looked up and saw Sarah doing nothing but slowly move about her hands. There was no instrument about her, but she was creating some music.

And it was quite incredible with even just that.

'A mental attack,' he thought. 'And that too with music.'

His purple eyes glowed softly and he could see a hint of Wood energy constantly pulsing around the girl, in tune with the music.

'Hell! Even the music is Wood energy,' he thought. 

Wood was without a doubt the most versatile element out of all the elements, including Yin and Yang, having so many seemingly different types of sub-elements within it.

And to his surprise, the girl was using all of it. Even ones he wasn't sure about before.

Music by itself didn't fall under Wood energy, but Sound did. And the girl was making proper use of it all in the fight.

Alex quickly surrounded his mind with spiritual energy, fighting off the sounds that dared to try and daze him. 

It was a simple technique he acquired from the Fu Clan ancestor he killed back in the Demon realm. It wasn't very strong, but for the purposes he was using it for right now, it was good enough.

If it became stronger, he had the Spiritual Providence technique.

Having fended off both attacks through Sound and Scent, he rushed back into the fight, this time becoming more serious than ever.

The girl realized that too, and fought hard. Her spear gleamed in the midday sun, flashing all around her as multiple attacks left for Alex. Spears, lightning, vines, wind, everything.

Alex fought it all back, striking each attack precisely, destroying them before it could get close. As he went along, he felt a stiffness around him, making it slightly difficult for him to move around.

When viewing the surroundings with his Demon Eyes, he saw the area around him green with Wood energy that seemed to be stationary. It was very rare he got to see an aura that was stationary.

'Another Dao,' he thought, fighting against the stiffness in the air that refused to move along even when he pushed it. Fighting under such conditions would be very difficult if he couldn't do much.

Fortunately, he found himself able to move quite easily once he started applying the movement technique that caused friction all around him to disappear all at once.

Sarah was taken aback to see him move as if the Dao of Stagnation she had used did not affect him. Dao of Swiftness took overall, and she started moving around quickly as well, fighting.

The battle continued once again, and both Alex and Sarah realized that they were going to have to continue the fight until either one of them ran out of Qi or got brave enough to take a risk and use a strong technique.

Alex decided that he had already received what he came here to get, which was an answer to a burning question he had of whether he was stronger than a Saint Transformation 5th realm cultivator.

He was good enough for most.

So, it was time to end it.

Alex destroyed a vine rushing toward him and stepped back. "I think we should end this," he said out loud, making Sarah stop as well.

Sarah looked at him and gave a grim look. "I don't think I have anything sort of Immortal Qi to defeat you," she said. "I should call my loss, shouldn't I?"

Alex thought for a bit and shook his head. "No, use it," he said. "I would like to see how strong my technique is too."

The girl gave a startled look. "Are you sure? It's Immortal Qi," she said.

"Yes," Alex said as he concentrated on Midnight in preparation for his technique.

Sarah saw his resolution and didn't question it anymore. She watched him prepare, and when she thought he was ready, she shot a lightning bolt toward him carrying the might of an Immortal.