Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

Alex had met the Staff God back in the Red Heaven Realm. And there too, she had worn the exact same necklace as she had right now. Combining that with her current alias, her absence during the last tournament, and her small show of familiarity throughout the tournament, it was clear to him who she was.

She hadn’t been to the Sky God’s palace until now either, which was likely because she had been waiting for this tournament.

His father had always said this woman was strong, and it made sense now why. How could a God not be strong?

Fascinated, he returned his focus to the battle that had just started.

Graham was brute force, while Halfspear was one who liked to fight with counters. Alex had seen her fight earlier, and she hadn’t been this defensive during any of her fights at all, which meant that she understood his father’s strength and was doing her best not to get hit directly.

’Wait, so Father does have a chance to win,’ Alex thought.

She could only be so cautious for a reason, which gave Alex hope.

Graham was agile in his attacks. He punched and kicked as quickly as he could, but that meant nothing to the fighting style his opponent had adopted. She redirected his attacks each time, minimizing the force she was hit with.

He was strong, but that ended up meaning little when most of his attacks couldn’t hit as well as he needed them to.

The audience could immediately see that Halfspear was winning.

She was far more nimble than Graham in the way she fought, allowing her to parry most of the attacks that came her way. She diverted Graham’s attacks and countered with an attack of her own each time, leading to a steady stream of attacks that fell his way.

Despite that, however, Graham wasn’t anywhere close to losing.

Victory in this battle meant forcing one’s opponent to give up or beating them until they were unable to even do so. That was how most people won, though another way to win was to get their opponent to strike the barrier at the edge of the arena.

Being thrown out of the arena was another way to lose as well, and in this situation, Halfspear had only that as her option.

She tried multiple times to strike Graham in a way that would throw him toward the barrier, but somehow he kept holding his ground, defending against her attacks without being pushed back more than a couple of steps.

And slowly, even that began to change.

Graham learned from Halfspear’s fighting style and slowly changed his own way of fighting to adapt to his opponent. He wasn’t as forceful with his attacks anymore. He began adding more feints to his attacks to catch his opponent off guard.

The change was slow, but it was quick enough that Halfspear noticed it.

She tried changing her own method of fighting, but she ended up failing in one of those moments when Graham made a right swing as a feint, only to deliver a kick to her chest when she ducked.

Halfspear immediately moved her palms to catch the kick and dampen its force, but all she managed to do was keep her arms from breaking. She was still tossed into the air, flying directly toward the outer barrier.

Graham was certain he had won, but just in case she fell short of reaching the edge, he immediately dashed forward in order to attack her as she landed. While midair, she would have no way of dodging his attack, after all.

Or so he thought.

At the last moment, Halfspear opened her robe as wide as it could go and quickly spun, using the air resistance to slow herself down. She still fell toward the ground, but as she did, she turned toward it and clapped. The force of her clap created a shockwave that reflected back off the ground, pushing her back into the air just enough so that she dodged Graham’s punch.

”WHAT?!”

Long Huan let out a shout of surprise.

Everyone else reacted the same, which was followed by a massive cheer.

Graham looked astonished at what he had witnessed as well. Never in his life would he have expected the result there to be that.

”You’re really good,” Halfspear said, speaking for the first time since he could remember.

”Thank you,” Graham said. ”You too.”

”That’s not true at all,” Halfspear said. ”At least, not after I step it up a notch.”

Halfspear moved, arriving before Graham in a quick burst of speed. Graham crossed his arms to block the attack, but Halfspear’s punch slid past his chest and grabbed his arm from behind. She pulled on him, destabilizing his stance.

Graham quickly stepped forward to balance himself, but Halfspear was already moving her leg, swiping it across Graham’s feet to make him stumble even further.

Graham tried to reach for her arm, but even when he did grip it, her slender arm slid right out of his grip before both her hands grabbed his robes at both shoulders. She then jumped over him, flipping behind him before using that momentum to pull him directly and throw him with all of her strength.

Graham failed to do anything else in that moment and was tossed through the air, unable to stop himself. He attempted to do the same thing Halfspear had done and clapped toward the barrier when he came upon it, but the barrier simply glowed golden, dampening the shockwave and reflecting nothing back.

Graham struck the barrier hard and fell back to the ground.

He still wasn’t hurt in the slightest and could easily go on, but since he had touched the barrier, the match was over.

Graham had lost.

The referee stepped in immediately, raising their hand to signal the end of the match.

”The match is over. Halfspear is the victor of this battle, and thus the overall winner of the Physical Tournament of Group 50.”