Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Zhao Boqin went on to explain how due to the lack of rejection, his subordinate named Hongxi had been constantly trying to challenge him to see who was stronger of the two.

While doing so, she had ended up revealing the the truth about Saint Transformation realm cultivators not being able to reject, which made group after group go after them.

To save themselves from such groups, the cultivators had to group up themselves to fight back against the load of people who wanted to win against them.

Not being able to challenge Saint Transformation cultivators, those groups then went to target weaker cultivators who also found safety in numbers.

In the same way, players were also forced to find a group and with Hongxi leading the charge, many of them had ended up going along with her to become a part of her group.

As such, the Player and the ones that were not have ended up having to become separate groups and enemies at this point.

It was a bit to take in, but Alex did it quickly. "Are you sure their group is all Players?" he asked.

"I cannot guarantee it, but if they weren't, they would have come here already," Zhao Boqin said. "As for the ones here, it's easy to tell who is a player and who is not, and they run away. Not that we are targeting them exactly. We just need points."

Alex nodded. It made a lot more sense now. 

"Still, to think there was such a hidden rule," Alex said. "Are there any other such hidden rules that I can learn about?"

"None that I know of," Zhao Boqin said as he looked around at his group to see if anyone else knew of something. The rest of them shook their head as well.

"There are tricks and ways to bend the rules without cheating, but none additional ones that only a select few know of," Fang Yimu said from the side. "If there are any, we don't know them."

"My sister would've told you if there were any that were important enough for you to know, Your Majesty," Mao Yingkong said. "Since you don't know any, there isn't any."

"I was just curious," Alex said and turned back to Zhao Boqin. "How many times has Hongxi challenged you by now?"

"A couple dozen times. More than 50 certainly," the man said.

"And is it alright if I ask how many times you've won?" Alex asked.

The man's face flinched a little when he heard that question and sighed. "Around 20? No, close to 30 times. I haven't kept count, but she wins just as much as me. Maybe I win a few more, but it cannot be a lot more."

Alex was surprised. "I didn't expect you to lose so many times," he said. "I have sensed her cultivation base. It was no more than Saint Transformation 2nd realm, was it not?"

Everyone looked at him awkwardly, and Teng Xuegang told Alex something he already knew about.

"That girl can fight 2 realms above her own cultivation base," he said. "She is a menace for sure."

"She is," another one concurred. 

"The main problem with her is her movement technique. She's like a slippery eel. Every time you try to catch her, she slips right through you. I can barely ever catch her off guard," he said. "If it wasn't for that, I would have won every single time."

"Now that I have broken through to the Saint Transformation 5th realm, she will not be able to win against me," the man said. "Even if she can fight 2 realms above her, damn her."

Fang Yimu quickly turned toward Alex, a thoughtful and curious look on her face.

"Can't you do the same, Your Majesty?" she asked. "I've heard about you defeating people stronger than you. Although the rumors never made it clear if you were using your cultivation base or your sword."

"I have only just recently started using my Qi after people got harder to deal with. Everyone that remains is too strong for just my sword, so I have to use both of them," Alex said.

"Right," Zhao Boqin said. "You were practicing your Sword Intent the last time I fought you, Your Majesty. How is that going?"

"Pretty well," Alex said. "I've improved a bit but due to people having to go look after their sect and clan members, I was forced to stop what I was doing. Since then the improvement has slowed down a bit."

"Slow progress is progress still," the old white-haired royal man spoke from the side while nodding to himself.

"Do you mind showing me how far you've come along?" Fang Yimu asked. "We did say we were going to fight seriously once you got stronger, didn't we?" 

"We did say that," Alex said. "But are you sure you are up for it?"

The girl smiled as she saw through Alex's plot to taunt her. "Let us see which one of us is stronger now, Your Majesty."

The rest of the people in the area looked at the two of them, a few exchanging glances with their peers. A few of them were curious too, and wanted to see just how far Alex had improved. They had thought it weird back when they fought Alex and he refused to use any sort of technique.

Alex and Fang Yimu left the valley, with a few other people following them outside to a location further away from their base. Since this was going to be a somewhat serious battle, they didn't want to destroy the formations and barriers that were necessary for them to stay there.

Nearly 15 people followed them out to see Alex fight, the remaining not bothering to care for him. They had seen thousands of battles, had been in thousands of battles by now, and the prospect of watching another one with a relatively weaker group of fighters didn't make it fun for them.

Fang Yimu limbered up and pulled out her sword. A thin green blade that was always strapped to her waist was pulled out from its sheath. She never liked keeping her sword inside a storage bag.

She pointed the sword toward Alex in the distance, her sword shining white with the power of Sword Qi.

Alex knew she had Sword Qi, and wondered if she had made it stronger as well. She did a lot of time to improve on it.

Midnight flew out into Alex's hand, the black sword pointed toward Fang Yimu. Alex was about to open his mouth when Fang Yimu cut him off.

"Your Majesty, have you fought the first battle of the day already?" she asked him curiously.

Alex pointed to the sky where the sun was a small distance away from the zenith. A sane man wouldn't even call it afternoon yet.

"I've had no chance to fight anyone," he said.

"Neither have I," Fang Yimu said. "Would you mind if we fight despite that? Let there be a stake in this fight."

Alex nodded. "I agree," he said. "That would make it fun."

"It will," Fang Yimu answered. "Then, shall we fight?"

Alex felt his talisman buzz and he gave a nod.