Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Alex was once again sitting with Wen Cheng. It was a little while before the competition started, so everyone was there.

"Master, I had some questions regarding yesterday's teaching, as well as some things I want you to clear up for me," Alex said.

"Sure, ask," Wen Cheng said.

"You said that Elemental Strength, Qi amount, and Qi density affect the fight between two elemental users right? But that was only if their cultivation base was the same. What about when they don't have the same cultivation base? I had some thoughts regarding this, " Alex asked.

Wen Cheng smiled and said, "Let's hear it."

"Elemental strength never changes regardless of one's cultivation base since it's related to the spiritual roots. The only thing that does is the Qi Density and amount."

"So here was my confusion. Qi Density increases as one reaches higher realm, but since Qi amount affects a battle as well, can't a lower realm cultivator just pump out more Qi and win against a higher realm cultivator's attack?" he asked.

"Hmm… technically, yes. You are correct. However, there is more than just theory in a fight. A higher realm cultivator doesn't just have a denser Qi, they also have a higher Qi quantity. So, when it comes to pumping out Qi, they won't ever lose."

"On the case, they don't pump out more Qi to fight than required, there is also the condition of Qi density being much more important to an attack than just Qi amount. So the lower realm cultivator would have to use an abnormal amount of Qi to overpower their opponent's attack," Wen Cheng said.

"Oh right," Alex said as he understood more and more.

"So, a person with a 5 elemental root like me doesn't necessarily have bad spiritual roots, right?" Alex asked.

Wen Cheng's face changed a little as he hesitatingly said, "uhh… I guess? They have an easier time fighting off the different opponents, but you have to remember, the most important aspect of an elemental battle aside from the elements themselves is the Elemental Strength. So those who had lesser elemental roots usually fare better."

'Yes, but we can offset that with Qi density. And my Qi density is one of the highest, isn't it?' Alex thought. Because of that, Alex now had an advantage against everyone fighting as long as they were around the safe cultivation realm as him. He just needed to know what element to use on the go.

"There is something else you should know," Wen Cheng suddenly spoke. "We talked about all of this yet I didn't mention one thing. That is, Not every attack is imbued with elements."

"An attack is usually either entirely an element, entirely Qi, or mostly in between. It's considered an elemental attack as long as it has the slightest hint of the element in the Qi."

"Your spiritual root is capable of changing Qi into elements, usually at not a very high amount. But when you use techniques, you can go as far as completely change Qi into a different element."

"However, at the end of the day, every person is different and every technique is different. You can never guess what attacks they may have or what spiritual roots they may have. So, having a 5 elemental does help one in adapting to every fight."

"But no matter how many hand tricks you know, a person with a strong arm can always punch you right in the face."

"Just look at your senior sister for example. She has a superior water elemental root. From what we learned, you would assume that she would be weak to Wood, clash with Fire, unresponsive to Metal and be strong against Earth elemental attacks. But at the end of the day, because she has the stronger elemental strength and a strong cultivation base, nobody can match up to her." Wen Cheng said.

Alex contemplated for a second. 'So at the end of the day, strength is what matters, huh. Just like Du Yuhan said, As long as I am strong, nothing else matters,' Alex thought.

"Thank you, Master," he thanked him.

"Haha, don't thank me. It's my job to teach you those things," Wen Cheng said.

The competition finally started. The Royal family had already come back today to watch the fights and Fu Zhen called for all the contestants to arrive onto the stage.

They were once more made to collect pieces of papers from a box. Everyone picked their and Fu Zhen said, "Number 1 and 2 pair, stay back. Everyone else can leave,"

The Singles battles were now going to reduce 128 contestants down to 64, so only 2 stages were prepared to have 32 different matches on a single stage.

"Oh, it's little Ma's turn first. His opponent isn't that strong, so it should be fine," Wen Cheng said. Alex looked down to see the red-haired Yang Ma get ready to fight with a big smile.

His opponent had around 9th Meridian Tempering realm from what he had revealed in the damage test.

Alex could suddenly see the opponent shiver slightly and his grip on his quarterstaff loosen a bit. 'Is he using his cultivation base aura again?' Alex wondered.

Yang Ma must have expected his opponent to give up and forfeit the match like his last one, but this one had more heart to him than that.

The opponent immediately tightened his grip and got into a stance with his quarterstaff. Yang Ma's smile faded for a second when he saw this before a wider one replaced it. He was happy to fight.

The opponent was a close combat fighter, so he suddenly dashed forward and slammed his staff at Yang Ma. However, just when he was about to reach him, Yang Ma suddenly threw out a fire blast that sent his opponent flying to the barrier on the other side before he plopped down on the floor.

Yang Ma had won the match and he advanced to the top 64.

A few more fighters came up to the stage and fought. Alex watched them all and saw how their attacks reacted to each other. Just from that information, he was now able to tell who probably had a higher cultivation base or a single spiritual root.

The more elements they used, the more accurate Alex's guess would become.