Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

The man in the golden robe lay on the ground with a deep wound across his right arm, his sword lying next to him on the ground. Alex remained standing, unhurt, as the man hadn’t managed to release his attack before Alex struck him.

The referee immediately walked in, raising his hand. ”The match is over. The results will be out in a minute.”

A few other people walked into the arena at the same time, each looking somewhat confused. Alex looked at the group.

Each victory before this had been instantly announced. This was the only one where they had to seemingly converse with each other for some reason.

Alex ignored them for a moment and walked up to the man in the golden robe. ”Are you okay, senior?”

He helped him get up.

The man rose in an awkward state, his eyes still somewhat wide from the fact that he had just lost. More than that, he wasn’t quite sure how he had lost.

Why had the sword suddenly grown longer?

One of the referees turned toward Alex and gestured for him to come over.

Alex walked up to the referee and looked between the few faces there.

”You used a technique earlier, didn’t you?” the referee asked.

”I did,” Alex answered truthfully.

”So we were correct,” someone else said. ”He should be disqualified.”

”But the formation didn’t give any sign that he was using his Qi,” another one said.

”Doesn’t matter. He confessed himself,” the previous referee replied.

Alex understood the situation instantly. ”I never said I used Qi,” he said. ”I used a technique, but it was a sword technique that has nothing to do with Qi.”

”Is it a mental technique? That’s not allowed either,” the referee said.

”No, just a sword technique,” Alex said.

The men frowned.

”I’ve never heard of a sword technique that doesn’t use Qi or Divine Energy,” one of them said.

”Is that all?” Alex asked. ”It appears that your system has already told you the truth that I didn’t cheat. If it is alright with you all, I would like to return and rest before my next match. I need to prepare.”

The referees looked at each other before having to come to the decision that since there had been no sign of him using any Qi, he had indeed won.

Alex was soon announced as the winner, and he returned to his seat along with the man in the golden robe.

The man sat beside Alex in his seat with a sigh. ”I can’t believe I lost this early. I was hoping I could reach at least the semifinals, but I failed to reach even that.”

Alex wasn’t sure if he should remain quiet at that moment or try to apologize. Neither option seemed right.

Thankfully, before he had to decide, the man stood up.

”I’m going to return to the hall and stay with the others. Good luck on your next two matches,” he said. ”Since you beat me, prove to me that you can reach the finals. That way, the loss will sit easier in my heart.”

Alex smiled. ”Do not worry, senior. I will win.”

The man nodded and left the arena, leaving Alex all by himself.

Alex watched the next match, which was between a man with a staff and a woman with a spear.

Alex recognized the family of the man who wielded the staff, at least.

The Han clan from the Broken Spear Valley.

His robe gave it away.

The man was a Divinity, though it was hard to imagine anyone else who held as much strength as him not being one. The fight between the two lasted for a while before the man with the staff came out on top.

Next up were the semifinals, but instead of immediately starting them, the man was given a few minutes to rest.

Unfortunately, he did not get much more than that, so he was brought right back into the arena alongside Alex. While Alex had gotten a few minutes more than him, it wasn’t so much that it could be said that he had an unfair advantage.

Both fighters had already shown the crowd what they were capable of, so there was no point in hiding their abilities at all.

The moment the battle started, Alex established his Sword Domain and instantly dashed toward the man.

The man did the same, a Staff Domain forming around him.

Their Domains clashed in the center, while both Alex and the man from the Han clan struck at each other with their weapons, trying to get their Weapon Aura to hit one another.

Alex parried a few of the man’s attacks, recognizing the weight behind each one.

There was a heaviness to the attacks that couldn’t just be his imagination. The man’s Staff Intent had something to do with the staff attacks carrying massive weight and force, just as Alex’s Sword Qi caused his sword attacks to be sharp and relentless.

Each person understood the other’s Weapon Intent a little better, forcing both of them to change their fighting dynamics slightly.

Both their Domains were on par with each other, so neither of them could land a hit on the other.

Their attacks were no different.

Both of them kept wasting their attacks, but neither managed to get ahead of the other.

The moment Alex realized that, he used Sword Heart Breaker once again.

The size of his sword increased at the most random of times as he struck at the man.

However, the man appeared ready for it.

He had watched the earlier fight and noticed how Alex had defeated his opponent. As a result, this entire time, he had been preparing for this.

At the very last moment, the man struck the ground with his staff and propelled himself backward, dodging the attack.

His Staff Domain vanished as well as he landed some distance away.

Alex cut through empty air, hitting nothing.

He caught himself before the attack finished its path, quickly returning to a neutral position so he could launch another attack.

Before he did, something appeared beside him.