Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

　　Alex was left alone for the most part by everyone. Even Zhou Ren who would annoyingly talk with him from time to time never came close after he beat He Liwei.

Not even Liang Qiu or Han Daiyu came to talk with him aside from a few words here and there.

However, Alex understood that they weren’t ignoring him or trying to keep their distance from him, but rather they were way too focused on their own battle to think about.

The cultivation base amongst the fighters was so high now that it was no longer a fight between True Qi users. 

It was a fight between Saint Qi users.

Alex was the only one that did not fight with Saint Qi.

After a night of cultivation, Alex returned to the arena on his own and sat on an empty seat in the finalist’s quarters.

He looked at the giant display that had the name of all the winners of the 16 different groups.

As Alex read through their name, he understood why the seeds were who they were. Aside from He Liwei and Shen Hua, all the other 14 seeded individuals had made their way to the top 16.

He Liwei only lost because he was up against Alex. As for Shen Hua, she was never a fighter to begin with. She was also a bit too young to be here. This was supposed to be her sister’s fight, but unfortunately, she had died over a decade ago. 

Still, with her True Emperor 5th realm cultivation base, she had managed to be seeded. But a healer could rarely beat a warrior.

That was the only reason she lost. Because she was not a fighter.

That truly went to show that the ones that did make it through weren’t popular for no reason.

Alex looked through the names in pairs and stopped on 11 and 12. Lin Shun and Yu Ming. His next opponent was to be one of the rogue cultivators.

’At least it isn’t the man that was that raided a sect by himself,’ Alex thought. He watched the stairs and after a few people walked through, saw the man named Lin Shun walk on.

’True Emperor 7th realm? That should be doable,’ Alex thought to himself. He had already beat He Liwei who had about the same cultivation base and the girl from yesterday that had that same cultivation base.

So long as the man didn’t have any weird skills that Alex couldn’t understand, he would win no matter what. He had that much confidence in himself.

As everyone arrived and it was time to start. 

The host started welcoming everyone to the Top 16. Alex waited for the formalities to end so that the fights may begin. 

However, he was instead surprised by the host.

”Will all 16 of the finalists please come on to the stage?” 

Alex was surprised, certainly, but he thought nothing strange of it. As far as he was concerned, the host was showing the 16 finalists on stage.

However, when he reached the stage, a group of staff members brought out a large box and placed it in the center of the stage.

”Winner of Group 1, please come and pick out something from the box,” the host said.

Fu Tao looked with a weird face, confused as to what was happening, but he still went on to pick something out from the box.

”Please keep it closed for now,” the host said and called the next person.

One by one, they all walked over to the box and picked out a wooden box. Those who could use spiritual sense used it on theirs, but to their surprise, they couldn’t see through the box.

”Please open it,” the host spoke.

Everyone simultaneously opened their box to see what it was. Alex opened his and found a single card inside that said the number 6.

”Huh?” he looked confused.

”3?” Liang Qiu looked around with a confused look.

”5,” Song Shing said.

”I got 1,” Fu tao spoke up.

”Everyone, please quiet down,” the host spoke up. He waited for the people to stop talking and asked, “who got 1?” 

Fu Tao raised his hand and so did Zhou Ren.

Suddenly, a massive screen hovered in the air as a tournament bracket appeared on it. The moment the people saw that they realized what it was.

’Our next opponent,’ Alex thought.

”Who got 2?” the host asked again.

This time, Lu Yan raised her hand and so did the rogue cultivator that was said to have fought the entire mid-tier sect.

The 3rd pair ended up being Liang Qiu against Xue Meirong. 

The 4th pair was Han Daiyu against the girl that defeated the lady from the Shen family to be here.

The 5th pair was Song Shing against one of the two rogue female cultivators that were seeded in the battle.

The 6th pair was the one Alex was in. When the number was called out, Alex raised his hand and showed himself.

At the same time, another hand was raised near him, one that had a yellow sleeve on it with criss-cross patterns on it.

’Jin Tenfei?’ Alex looked in surprise. 

However, the host didn’t wait for him and continued on. 

The 7th pair was the prince against the other rogue female cultivator.

Finally, the two remaining people, Guo Chiang and Lin Shun ended up as the 8th pair in the competition today.

Alex looked at the bracket in visible shock. His next opponent was Jin Tengfei. 

While Jin Tengfei only had a cultivation base of True Emperor 7th realm, he was most likely the strongest swordsman in the competition.

10 years ago, he had already mastered the Sword Qi while Alex hadn’t even discovered his own at the time. 

Who knew how strong he was at the moment. He was certainly strong enough to get through the rounds without revealing much swordsmanship after all.

The bracket truly scared Alex, but it wasn’t just because of Jin Tengei. Say he won against Jin Tengfei and entered the top 8. That was certainly hard, but not impossible. But after that, he would most likely come face to face with Song Shing, a True Emperor 9th realm cultivator.

  He was one of the 4 people that everyone was betting on to win the whole competition.

If Alex found some heaven-sent powers and managed to defeat him, he would then have to go up against Guo Chiang, another one of the 4 people everyone was betting on. A True Emperor 9th realm cultivator.

If by some dumb luck he managed to win that too, he would have to go against either Fu Tao or Liang Qiu, another 2 that were almost guaranteed to win the whole thing. Both of them were at True Emperor 9th realm after all.

Alex felt scared of the upcoming matches as any one of them could be his final one. 

It wasn’t just Alex that felt scared. Every single one of the finalists could see just how dire the situation was. 

4 different True Emperor 9th realm cultivators, by luck or intentional orchestration, had managed to fall on the four quadrants of the bracket.

Whether it was this round or the next one, everyone single one of them would have to face one of them, and nothing could be scarier than that.