Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

”Sister Zi!” Alex said in a quick greeting.

”Brother Dawnblade,” the woman greeted him as well before turning toward the other women, giving them quick nods. ”I haven’t seen you all since the comprehension site. How have you all been?”

”Just the same,” Alex said. ”What about you?”

”I’m... surviving,” the woman said. ”I heard you lasted 3 months in that site. I only lasted a month, so I decided to leave early.”

Alex gave a small smile. He turned toward the South End Marker in the distance. ”I’m assuming you understand something as to what is going on here?”

The woman nodded. ”It’s Su Nian,” she said with a sigh. ”He’s created this massive community that stops anyone from approaching the center.”

”Su Nian?” Alex asked with a curious look on his face.

”You don’t know Su Nian?” the woman asked, somewhat surprised. ”He’s the Wandering Star Pavilion’s prime disciple. He’s very strong.”

”Stronger than Fang Xianhai?” Alex asked. That was the strongest non-Sentinel he had seen inside the place.

”Honestly, yes,” the woman said. ”They have the same cultivation base, but Su Nian’s Battle Power is higher. So I believe he is stronger.”

Alex nodded.

”I’m guessing these people challenge anyone who moves toward the Marker,” Alex said. ”Make it so that going there is just not worth it.”

”That’s exactly it,” Zi Mengyao said. ”I’ve created my own community to combat them, but so far, it has been useless. His people are too many and too strong.”

”Well, that certainly doesn’t sound exciting,” Alex said. ”Any idea why Su Nian would do this when he’s one of the strongest ones in here?”

”I have some guesses,” the woman said. ”We should chat somewhere else. Even this far, they tend to come out and trouble us sometimes.”

The woman led Alex and the rest a little farther away, where she had created her own community. As Alex and the rest arrived, they saw several people gathered together, some cultivating, some working, and some doing nothing at all.

There were about 40 people in total. Not a whole lot, but that was a decent amount.

Several eyes turned toward Alex as he arrived upon the community. Several people rose, looking toward Zi Mengyao.

”These are friends,” she said quickly. ”You can’t win if you challenge them, so just ignore us for now.”

Many people finally looked away, but a few eyes remained upon them.

”So,” Alex spoke up, ”what exactly is going on? You asked us to retreat.”

”Yes, because otherwise, you’ll be spending all your time fighting them, and they won’t let you leave at all,” Zi Mengyao said. ”They have close to 2 thousand people, and they will send them all after you.”

Alex shrugged a little. ”I’m okay with fighting them all.”

”A few maybe,” Zi Mengyao said. ”But not all. You would be tired after fighting a dozen or two.”

The woman considered the facts regarding Alex from the point of view of someone who knew very little about his strength. He could see why she would think he would lose after a few battles, even though she was incorrect.

Alex nodded, going along with her hypothesis.

”I’m guessing I don’t get to rest even when I’m tired,” he said.

”They send people to challenge you even when you give up,” the woman said. ”Even when you try to run away, they surround you and challenge you. And you are forced to accept each and every battle. They force you to do so only so you can give up stars for free. They have enough people that even if we take a large group to challenge them all, they will run us all dry and force us to take on never-ending challenges.”

”I see. That’s why you pulled us back,” Alex said.

The woman nodded. ”Had I gotten there later, they would’ve tired you out more, and you would’ve become a free source of stars for them.”

Alex turned toward the women. ”It seems that place won’t be a free training spot as we had previously imagined it would be,” he said. ”We’ll have to find another spot.”

After a thought, Alex looked to Zi Mengyao. ”Would you mind training with them?” he asked. ”I’m trying to give them battle experience.”

Zi Mengyao’s eyes narrowed. ”And you want them to fight me?” she asked. ”I’m sorry, but they are rather weak.”

”That’s why it’s training,” Alex said. ”It will just be three short fights.”

Zi Mengyao looked at the three women and slowly nodded after a thought. ”I can’t do three fights. I will do just one. Should we do it now or later?”

Alex could only shrug in the end. ”Now is fine. If you really can only fight one of them, then choose whoever you want.”

The woman turned toward Alex. ”I never said I would be fighting just one of them. I said I will only do one fight.”

Alex narrowed his eyes. ”How’s that any different?”

Zi Mengyao chuckled slightly. ”Are you guys not aware of it yet?” she asked before turning toward the ladies. ”Friends, I challenge you all.”

Liz, Helen, and Ronron found their stars buzzing slightly as they were all challenged at once. They looked up in surprise.

”You can do that?”

Alex was taken aback as well. ”Wait, it’s possible to challenge more than a single person at once?”

”Yes,” Zi Mengyao said. ”You are free to challenge as many people as you want. There are advantages and disadvantages to doing this, so I don’t suggest doing it all the time.”

”What sort of disadvantages?” Alex asked.

”You can’t fail,” the woman said. ”If you fail against just one, you fail against all. Then, you have to pay for it all.”

Alex supposed that was fair enough when it saved on time.

”What is the advantage then?”

Zi Mengyao smiled a little. ”Each person who is challenged has to decide on the challenge they want. I, as the challenger, get to decide which challenge I’m going to accept. And it will be the challenge that all of them will have to participate in.”