Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex took the 550 thousand Saint Spirit stones that were handed to him not long after walking into the gathering of the monarchs.

All 6 monarchs were there, and none looked very happy to be handing away the money, not that anyone would be.

"You cheated, Your Majesty," Mao Yingtai, the Silver Queen said with a pout. "If I had known you could set up your own little system in the secret realm, I would've never bet against you."

It seemed the woman had switched once again, going from a serious woman to a happy little girl.

Alex couldn't hide his grin at all at the situation. He had momentarily forgotten about the bet, so when he was given the money, that was a surprise on top of what he had been given to him by the elders just days ago.

"It's not cheating, Queen Mao. His Majesty just did something we hadn't thought of," the Emerald King spoke. "We should have put some clause in the bet, but alas we didn't."

"It sucks having to give away money in a bet," the Ivory Queen said with a deep sigh. "Would you have considered teaching for that much money instead of it being through a bet?"

Alex thought for a bit and shrugged. "It would've been enough to make me consider. As for if I would, that would depend on my mood and free time," he said.

"You all made me lose 150 thousand in total," the Azure king said. "Do you want to force me to fork out more or what?"

The others gave a grim smile.

"Would you mind just doing it out of pity, Your Majesty?" the Gold King asked. He held a rueful smile and was clear that he had no hopes of Alex accepting.

"I don't know," Alex said. "I might give a lesson or two if I find the time. It will have to be close to when I leave. I don't want to waste my upcoming free time on anything but cultivation."

"Will you not be taking part in the competition?" the Silver Queen asked with an awkward look. "I had been meaning to ask you this question for a while."

"Take part in the competition?" Alex asked with a chuckle. "I killed the strongest man in the secret realm. I don't think I can get much out of the competition, now can I?"

"But you earned the most points, so you would be highest seeded in the competition," the girl said. "If you won't take part then…"

She sighed as she realized there was more job to do now. It was a good thing she hadn't set it all up yet before asking Alex, but things were in motion that would have to be diverted. And it was so close to the competition too.

"You won't take part in the competition?" the Ebony King asked. "It is a good place to showcase your skills if that is what you wish."

"I don't want to," Alex said. "Honestly, I don't even want to go to the competition, but I suppose I will have to. I'll watch a few matches. I want to see how far a few of them will go."

A thought came to him. "Oh right, do those outside the secret realm also join?" he asked.

"You have to meet one of two requirements to join the competition," the Silver Queen said. "You must be no older than 2 thousand years of age, or you must have been one of the last 2000 people to come out of the secret realm."

"Can the one that fails the second requirement join using the first one?" Alex asked.

"They can, which is a problem," the girl couldn't help but sigh as she said. "There are too many this time around. I don't know why, but there are nearly 5 thousand of them. And most of them seem to want to join just for the sake of joining."

"Too many players," the Gold King grumbled. "The next century is going to be difficult with the players slowly edging out everyone with their incredible talents or techniques."

He quickly glanced at Alex before realizing what he had been saying. "My apologies if that offends you, Your Majesty," he quickly added.

"It doesn't," Alex said. "I can understand your frustration with players. I'm a king too, so I have to go through something similar once I go back in 4 years."

An awkward silence drifted through the room as everyone came to realize that Alex wasn't going to remain here for much longer.

"4 years," the Ebony King said with some thought. "Wait, does that mean you won't be taking part in our Secret realm?" 

"The Harmonious Balance Haven?" Alex asked. "I heard it was after the competition. Has the date of when it opens been determined?"

"It should open in about 3 years from now and last… well, that one lasts as long as the last treasure is found," the Ebony King said with a sigh. "I need to start going around gathering treasures as soon as the competition is over. That will be a pain."

Alex knew some things about the final secret realm. He knew that everyone there was suppressed to have the same cultivation base, and the objective was to gather treasures inside. He hadn't known that the treasures had to be first gathered outside to send in.

"How do you select who can go in?" Alex asked curiously.

"It depends on the treasures that are sent by the various sects or clans. Depending on the value of the treasures they hand over, they are given a certain amount of tickets to enter the secret realm," the Ebony King said.

"How many tickets do you have in total?" Alex asked.

"Depends on the number of treasures we have, but usually we have no more than 5 thousand entrants," the man said.

"That's fewer than I would've expected," Alex said. Even the Sundering Sanctum took more than that.

"It has to be few," the Silver Queen said. "The formation there uses up a lot of energy to suppress everyone's power. If there are too many, it won't work properly."

"I see," Alex said. That did make sense now.

"If you wish for me to save a ticket for you, I will," the Ebony King said. "But with the secret realm opening on… what? Your final year here. I don't know if you will want to go in. You can come out at any time, but it wouldn't be fun if you had to give up halfway through."

"That would suck," Alex said. "I'll think about whether I want to join or not later. Since I still have 3 years, there is no point in fretting about it now. I will be spending some time in the Ebony Kingdom as a tourist, so I will give you my answer then."

"You must tour the Silver Kingdom too, Your Majesty," the Silver Queen said. "If you don't, I'll get angry. You visited everyone else's kingdom."

Alex smiled and nodded. "I will, I will," he said. "I have nothing else to do after all."

With the Silver Queen appeased, the group of monarchs went on to talk about a few other matters, but soon enough there was nothing more to talk about.

Alex returned to his room and then spent the next few weeks waiting for the start of the Continental Tournament.