Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

”Incredible work, Father,” Alex said with a big and bright smile. ”You’ve reached the finals, and I’m sure you will win it overall.”

Graham held a smile as well. ”We don’t know that just yet. Anything can happen, right?”

”I think it’s safe to say that you have a high chance of winning, Uncle,” Long Huan said. ”Your recent improvement in Body Cultivation has come as a surprise to everyone. We can be certain you are going to win the finals.”

”I wouldn’t be so sure,” Graham said before turning toward the arena.

Alex looked down and saw Halfspear walking onto the stage with her opponent. It was clear to Alex that his father looked up to the woman’s strength, but from what he could see, it was her skills that made her formidable, not her strength.

Skill could only keep one from losing until a certain point before strength outdid everything else. The woman was a great fighter, and she might even last for a long time in the arena, but against his father, he wasn’t sure she could win.

Alex trusted his father to win.

As soon as the match started below, however, that trust vanished like water on a hot stove.

’Oh no!’

The fight between Halfspear and her opponent hadn’t been anything special. It was a simple back-and-forth where the woman dodged many of her opponent’s attacks while regularly landing her punches and kicks. With enough time, she was going to win.

That wasn’t what Alex had seen to suddenly lose confidence in his father, however. What he saw was something everyone saw as well, but no one truly understood.

During one of the woman’s attacks against her opponent, the opponent had countered with a punch of his own. The woman twisted her body further than normal, causing her robe to stretch, revealing a necklace she wore underneath with a yellow gem on it.

That very necklace had been what made Alex’s mood suddenly sour, for he had seen that necklace before.

Upon recognizing the necklace, Alex knew for certain that his father’s chances of victory had suddenly plummeted to near nothing. Even though he did not want to believe it fully, he could not bring himself to believe that his father could win.

Maybe there was a chance, but it was going to be a slim one.

Alex looked toward his father, seeing the fires of excitement burning within his eyes. He couldn’t tell his father. He couldn’t destroy his confidence before he even walked onto the stage.

A few moments later, the woman defeated her opponent after a long stretch of back-and-forth attacks and moved on to the finals.

There was a short break during which many people began filling the moderately empty arena. It was as if the people had been made aware of the finals happening for Group 50, so many people began coming over to watch it.

Alex could guess that the other matches were still a bit away from reaching the finals. Even if they started around the same time as Group 50’s matches did, they likely had more fighters, and the battles themselves took longer to end.

As such, they were free to come over without really missing any of the excitement in the other arenas.

After the short break was over, the referee called both Graham and Halfspear, as the final was now going to start.

”You must win this time, Uncle,” Long Huan said as he gripped Graham’s shoulders. ”You’ve lost way too many times to her. This time, you can win.”

”Yes, brother. You must do it.”

”We believe in you.”

Graham grew excited as well.

”Do your best, Father,” Alex said as well. ”We will be cheering for you.”

Graham gave a nod and stood, walking down to the stage. He arrived upon the stage, and suddenly the sound died away. All the cheering, all the jeering, everything vanished.

The only sounds that remained were his own breathing and his own heartbeat.

”Prepare yourself,” the referee said.

Graham nodded and got into a fighting stance.

Halfspear waited for half a second before getting into her stance as well, which looked quite casual to the untrained eye. But Graham could see how defensive the stance was and just how much counterattack it allowed regardless of where any attack may have come from.

”Begin!”

Both Graham and Halfspear immediately charged at each other.

Alex watched the fight begin and sucked in a deep breath. He understood how important this was for his father. He understood how many people wanted him to win.

In contrast, his opponent was someone who had always won these tournaments, and yet she had no one who wanted her to win. It was not that people hated her, but simply the fact that in Halfspear’s corner, there was no one to cheer for her. No friends. No family. She was all alone.

That was not by mistake at all.

Alex could see that she had made it happen this way exactly because she wanted it to be. The necklace she wore was not a regular necklace at all. It was an illusion artifact, capable of transforming what someone looked like.

Had she used her real face, it was unlikely she would even get a chance to participate. Her identity was way too big for simple tournaments like this.

’Halfspear,’ Alex thought with a slight chuckle when he understood what it meant.

The name was not her own. It was a made-up name, though very much on the nose. A half spear was a broken spear, which she had likely chosen because that was where she hailed from.

She was a member of the Han family of the Broken Spear Valley.

Her true name instead was Kingpillar.

Alex wasn’t sure how much the public knew her by that name at all, but he was very confident they knew her by her other title.

The Staff God.

Alex could only imagine his father’s reaction if he were aware that he was fighting a God.