Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

There was a crowd before Alex, each person within it seemingly excited about his presence. They talked in hushed whispers, pointing toward him from time to time, sometimes even laughing.

Alex stood by the gate, still quite stunned at the fact that they had been expecting him. Even more than that, they had hoped for his arrival. He was still not fully certain this all was real until the sect leader of the sect itself came out with an awed look on her face.

“Are you really him?” she asked.

“Am I…”

“The person who gives Elixir in exchange for battles,” the woman said quickly.

“That is me,” Alex said. “But I only give Elixir if you win. I won’t give it just because you fight me.”

“Of course,” the woman said. “I have been hoping you would come to our sect for a while now. I am honored that you did so quickly.”

Alex felt strange about all of this. Becoming popular had never been a part of why he had done this. But, now that he had become popular, he planned on using it to the fullest.

He brought out his sword and pointed toward the sect leader. “If you’ve heard about me, then you should know that you have to go at it right from the start.”

“Of course,” the woman said as she brought out her own weapon. “My elders and disciples are ready. We shall show you the might of the flowing spear.”

Many of the gathered individuals quickly formed a battle array, empowering the woman in front of them. Then, she began the fight.

Her movements were erratic and yet smooth. Her spear seemed to be both a spear and a river at the same time. She moved like a river as well, not just with the motions but also the strength.

Her spear was not a small creek in the back of one’s house. It was a raging stream of water that dragged in everything that tried to step into it.

The battle formation of this sect seemed to be one where it gave its fighter pure momentum. Momentum that could not be blocked at all. And with the woman’s talent in using a spear on top of that, this was certainly one of the strongest warriors Alex had yet to fight where he was not the one that was the target.

Alex hadn’t fought in many weeks now, so he was more than happy to get a chance to fight someone so strong. His sword moved, with not the same level of momentum, but definitely the same level of intensity.

From the very start, Alex realized just how difficult it was to fight the woman. Meanwhile, the woman was shocked to see Alex continuing to fight without showing much sign of losing despite the fact that he had not used any sort of technique or battle formation.

She was excited to fight this person before just because he had Elixir that he willingly gave to the sects that fought him. She had heard he was strong, but a great many things could be exaggerated in such hearsay.

Now that she had met him and was fighting him, Alex was much better than she could have ever imagined. She had fought him for the Elixir, but now she kept fighting him for the battle itself.

Alex was equally surprised by all of this. The difference between sects further north and here was enormous. Maybe it was just this woman, but she was stronger than many he had fought before.

She was so much stronger that Alex could not possibly keep fighting with his current level of strength. As a result, he had to bring out his Sword Qi on top of Sword Intent as well.

It had been a while since he did so. He had hoped to keep fighting with Sword Intent until it had grown as much as it could, but he needed to make the change now. It was fine anyway. He was beginning to see how much slower his Sword Intent was growing as it was dragged behind by his trailing Sword Qi, Aura, and Domain.

Slowly, he would have to elevate all of them in order to give his Sword Intent more room to grow.

With the addition of Sword Qi, Alex became stronger. Each one of his attacks had more force behind it, and the nature of his Sword Qi, which also had its own momentum, was a great contender against this woman.

The battle was one that helped improve Alex slowly over the course of the 2 hours they fought. Not a single time did the woman make a mistake or show signs of being tired. She fought on and on without slowing down in the least, her people supporting her all throughout the battle.

Everyone found it incredible just how long the battle lasted for. Even though they were fighting in the same way, using very little variation in their attack patterns, neither managed to go beyond the other’s guard at all.

The fight closed in on being nearly 3 hours long when the woman finally started showing signs of fatigue. As strong as she was, she couldn’t continue forever. That sign of fatigue was a slippery slope that Alex managed to push her into.

The woman slowly lost her advantage as the situation got worse and worse for her until she could not keep fighting any longer.

Alex broke through her attack and struck the spear away from her hand.

The woman froze in panic and awe while her chest rose and fell with each long breath. She looked back toward Alex, surprised.

Alex took a few deep breaths as well before bringing his sword down.

“You really are incredible,” the woman said with a hint of reverence in her voice.

“Thanks,” Alex said. “You were not bad yourself.”

He brought out his storage bag and handed it over to the woman.

“Huh? But I—”

“It’s for being a worthy opponent. So keep it,” Alex said. “Now that we’re done, would you mind telling me where the next strongest sect is?”