Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

The 8th day made its way into the 9th, and the 3 still continued.

Each one of them was more or less struggling, with signs of exhaustion beginning to become visible on their faces. While Fang Xianhai and Han Yifei both used Divine Qi, the constant increase in the strength of the suppressive aura made it drain faster, allowing the pressure to start pushing down on each one of them.

Alex was the same as the other two, though it was his physical body that was being suppressed at the moment by the aura. It pushed down on him, but mostly because he didn’t try to fight back at all. With his body cultivation, there was simply no point in doing so.

The crowd watched throughout the day, more or less stunned by the performance of the three. As the previous group had given up merely halfway into the 8th day, the fact that these people had survived it entirely and were now surviving the 9th day made them excited.

They had expected Fang Xianhai and Han Yifei to do this. However, the presence of a completely foreign individual surprised them all even more.

Though Alex could not hear or sense anything that was happening outside, he could see everyone and understood the emotions they were all feeling in that moment.

The constant increase in pressure from the aura meant that the two’s Divine Qi was constantly increasing in how much of it was being used. By the time the 9th day was close to passing, the woman showed great struggle to hold on.

Her face had long since gone red, her hair and collar drenched in sweat that dripped down her forehead. The muscles around her neck and cheeks bulged as she did the most she could to continue holding on.

And yet, she could not even hold out through the entire 9th day. On the 22nd hour of the 9th day, Han Yifei could hold on no longer and collapsed onto the ground, losing.

She gasped for breath after losing, relief filling her entirely as the pressure completely vanished from her body. She looked around for a moment, looking at Alex, who showed almost no emotion at all aside from a slight hint of struggle.

She appeared to want to say something to him, but she bit her lip and kept the words to herself, moving out of the platform not long after.

Now, only Alex and Fang Xianhai remained.

Fang Xianhai showed no emotion other than pure focus, as his time too was coming. Two more hours passed, and the 10th day began.

Even as it did, Fang Xianhai was already entering the same state the woman had been in before she had lost. Despite having a higher cultivation base than the woman, just 2 hours was enough to reduce him to the same state as her.

He looked nowhere at all and gritted his teeth as he did as much as he could to survive through the hour. And yet, the more he did it, the slower time seemed to move. He could feel every struggle of his, every slight tensing of his muscles, every bead of sweat that rolled down his forehead, every drop that rolled down his back.

He was hypervigilant of everything, and yet at the same time, he was completely removed from the world. The pressure kept building and building, pushing him with a force strong enough to crack bones and tear muscles.

And yet, Fang Xianhai did his very best to hold on. Then, after what felt like an eternity had passed, he could hold on no longer.

The man was finally knocked out, dropping to the ground. He regained himself once the pressure faded away, allowing him to feel the exhaustion he had truly acquired throughout the last week and a half, while at the same time allowing him to feel energized as power returned to him.

He let out a deep breath and slowly stood up.

He wasn’t sure if he had lasted the longest or not. Once Han Yifei had lost, he had been entirely focused on himself after all. He turned, trying to see if Alex was still there. To his surprise, he found Alex staring right back at him.

Alex seemed to be struggling a lot, but he had enough agency to let his focus stray for the moment.

Fang Xianhai’s mind went blank. How was it possible for a man of his strength to be allowed in here? In what world would someone this strong not be made a Sentinel before coming in?

Alex gave a hint of a smile through his struggling expression and placed both his palms on the ground. The action was indicative of him falling down and losing, a way to give up instantly.

The pressure vanished, and Alex let out the breath he had been holding on to.

”Phew!” he made a rather exaggerated sound before getting up.

Fang Xianhai could only stare at Alex with widened eyes. ”How? What?”

”Hmm?” Alex waited for the man to speak.

”Why... why did you give up?” he asked.

”Oh! I never really took part to do my best. I was only staying here until it made sense to leave,” Alex said. He looked toward the crowd. ”There are so many individuals here. I can’t hog this entire thing to myself, can I?”

Fang Xianhai didn’t know what to say in the slightest. He could only watch with slack-jawed disbelief as Alex stood up.

”Shall we leave?” Alex asked as he took his stars of over 220 stars, walking away.

Fang Xianhai quickly followed behind. ”You could have gone much longer, right?” he asked.

”Yes, for some time,” Alex answered.

”How much longer?” the man asked.

”I’m not sure. But a while, no doubt,” Alex answered.

”How... how could you do it?” the man asked. ”If it’s not too much to answer. Especially since your cultivation base is so weak.”

”Well, I’m not doing it because of my cultivation base,” Alex answered. ”While my Qi cultivation is in fact weak, I have a very strong body cultivation. That’s how I did it.”