Eternal Cultivation Of Alchemy

The old man gained a youthfulness about him that was hard to describe. His back became straighter, his muscles bulging underneath his robes. He had become far stronger than before.

He looked toward Alex next and charged without another word.

He left a devastating crack behind, the force of his dash destroying the ground. The hammer was much lighter in his hand now, and he swung it at Alex with not only greater speed but also greater force.

The momentum it carried now was so much higher than before.

Alex, however, seemed unsurprised. He struck back at the hammer with an equally intense force, dissipating all of the power from the strike.

The old man’s face fell. “How—”

Alex sped up faster. His swords moved in a flurry of strikes that the old man quickly defended against. The strength in his strikes was much stronger now as well.

“You were concealing your strength?” the old man asked, but Alex gave no answer. His answer was his swings that were now much stronger.

The old man struck back from time to time, but he had lost the advantage despite the fact that he had his entire sect empowering him with their formation.

These were the formations they used when they had to kill particularly strong beasts that showed up in the desert from time to time. How was a single man going against that with such an ability?

The old man continued fighting, but as time went on, he quickly realized that there was no way for him to beat Alex at all.

In the end, he could only give up.

He dropped the hammer and raised his hands before moving back. “I give up. You win.”

Alex stopped his sword mid-swing and lowered it to the side. “Really?” he asked. “But we were just getting into it.”

The old man shook his head.

“I can’t defeat you. Just… who are you?”

Alex sighed. “Just a traveler who wants a decent battle,” he said. He looked behind. “Does anyone else want to replace this elder of yours?”

The sect leader stepped forward, giving Alex hope. However, he also took it away as soon as he opened his mouth.

“The Grand Elder is the strongest warrior in our sect. If he cannot defeat you, no one can.”

Alex was a little disheartened. “I see. In that case, I shall take my leave. Before I go, would you mind telling me what the next closest sect is here?”

“The closest sect? There are none in this city. There is the Beast Skull sect in the city upriver and the Last Extolite sect downriver.”

“Last Extolite?” Alex asked with a curious look. He hadn’t heard that word ever since he left the outer region of Hell and entered the Inner region. “Would you mind telling me what an Extolite is?”

The sect leader’s eyes narrowed. “It’s a term leftover from ages ago when we had a monarch in the desert. Extolite was the highest rank someone could achieve within his army. The Last Extolite sect is said to be formed by someone who was the last to be elevated to the rank of Extolite in that army.”

‘So that’s where that term comes from,’ Alex thought. He had heard about the Hell Emperor’s army reaching the farthest reaches of the desert, so he could only imagine how the word Extolite had changed over time out there once the conquest had ended.

“Thank you,” Alex said and left.

He had come out of nowhere, fought their strongest for over an hour, and then left without explaining why he had come here. No one dared question him as he left.

It was only after Alex disappeared in the distance that the crowd finally began dispersing.

The sect leader quickly ordered a group of disciples to rebuild the wall. He then turned toward the Grand Elder with a curious expression.

“How did you lose even with our battle formation?” the sect leader asked.

“I don’t know,” the Grand Elder said. “He was too strong. I fear he may have still been holding back.”

The sect leader didn’t know what to say.

“How did his strikes feel?” the woman by their side spoke. “Did his attacks carry Qi?”

“No,” the Grand Elder said. “There was no Qi whatsoever. I did think he may have been an Immortal, but if he was, he showed no signs of it.”

“Hmm…” the sect leader was quite curious now.

“Do you think he could have been from the Endless Night sect?” the woman asked. That was the only plausible identity of the individual that had just left.

“It makes sense…” the sect leader slowly said. The strength, the intention to hide his identity, the audacity to challenge an entire sect, and the presence of the Elixir.

Everything pointed to their attacker being someone from the Endless Night sect.

“He must have been one of their core disciples then,” the Grand Elder said.

“I’ve never heard of their disciples leaving their sect to train outside,” the woman said. “Why come here?”

“I don’t know, but do you have any other explanation that might fit the situation?”

The woman fell silent. It was hard to come up with anything more plausible, and yet even that felt wrong. She saw no reason for someone from the Endless Night sect of all to come to their place to train.

“What should we do now?” the Grand Elder asked. “Should we alert the other sects about his arrival, or…”

The sect leader shook his head. “Let them get humiliated just as we have. The more sects that are beaten, the less our loss will matter in the long run. We can’t lose our reputation as the only sect to get destroyed by a single individual.”

The Grand Elder and the woman thought for a long while and nodded. That was the only play they could do.

They had to shut up and wait for the news when they would next hear one of the two sects they named to have been beaten by their attacker as well.