Shan Wangjiu's excitement didn't lower even as he returned to the fight. He fought, giving his all to the battle, and tried his best to win.
In the end, the cultivation base disparity between him and his opponent made it a little difficult for him to do so. He lost in the end, not because he couldn't fight anymore, but because the talisman he wore deemed that he had lost in the match between the two.
After the girl got used to his tricks, she rarely managed to let him get close, and the barrage of attacks that came afterward sealed his fate.
The group of 4 quickly left before Alex challenged them in revenge or just for point, leaving the rest of them behind.
"Are you alright?" Alex asked Shan Wangjiu who slowly walked back toward him.
"I'm fine," Wangjiu said, wiping the ashes from his clothes. "Did you see that, master? My sword used the technique on its own."
"That I did," Alex said with a hint of a smile forming on his face. "I've had Midnight for a while now, and even it hasn't done something like that, not that I can think of an opportunity for it to."
Wangjiu started paying attention to his sword again, happily speaking to it.
"How many more Losses?" Alex asked him.
"Don't worry, Master. I will—"
"How many?" Alex asked again, this time his voice stern.
The young man paused, realizing the seriousness of his question. He sighed in the end, taking out his talisman before answering.
"1 more."
Alex nodded silently. "I don't have much to teach you anymore," he said. "But since you followed me all this time to learn about my nameless technique, I will do you the honor of giving you your final Loss tomorrow."
"I will be showing you the technique I created. Make sure to do your best to learn what you can from it," Alex said.
The young man's face turned firm, all forms of excitement melting away from him as only grim expression remained. "Tomorrow?" he asked for a moment before shaking his head. "No matter. I will learn what I can."
Alex nodded back.
He turned around to look at the group of 20 that were together on the ashfallen ground, all of whom were still filled with nervousness and anxiety regarding what had just happened that day.
Seeing Alex turn to them, their panic returned in full fury and a few of them began bracing them for a battle.
Alex's eyes went to the girl with the Saint Soul 2nd realm cultivation base.
"Do you mind if we spend the night with you all here?" he asked them. "Just until noon tomorrow."
The girl frowned a bit and Alex quickly added.
"We will leave before the reset happens."
The girl could only sigh. "We can refuse your request just as much as we can reject your challenge, Your Majesty," she said softly. "Please stay. We will consider it our honor."
Alex smiled and sat close by where everyone was gathered.
Shan Wangjiu sat too but away from Alex to focus on the last day he had in this secret realm. At least for the next 30 years.
Alex talked to the girl, trying to learn a bit more about the group, and how people that were not aligned with each other were together here at all.
"We don't belong to the same sect or family, Your Majesty," the girl answered. "But we do have the same goal, which is why we stick together."
"And what goal is that, if I may ask."
The girl shrugged. "To stay in here as long as you can," she said.
Alex was a little stumped. He gave a weird look before trying to think of what that meant. "But you don't fight to gain points, do you?" he asked.
"No, we don't care about points," the girl answered. "Just how long we stay in here."
"But the ranking outside is with points unless I'm mistaken somehow," Alex said. He didn't believe he was wrong, but what would he know? He was an outsider.
"The ranking outside indeed considers points as the system of ranking, Your Majesty," the girl answered. "But not our sects. Not our houses."
Alex's eyes narrowed before widening in understanding. "Ah, I see," he said. "Is there some sort of ranking back in your sect based on how long you last?"
"For some, yes," the girl answers. "Each one's situation is different, you see Your Majesty. In my instance, my Nine Rings sect has promised to give us rewards depending on how long we last inside the secret realm."
"So, I plan on lasting for as many days as I can," the girl answered. "The longer I can last, the best the reward I can get."
"I see," Alex said. "I wish you luck."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," the girl replied. "I will need it."
The girl went on to tell him how hard it had been for them to stay for long. Those 4 that came during the afternoon weren't the only ones that were hunting for groups like theirs.
They went around searching for them as they were weaker and they liked hunting weaker ones as they would last longer because of that. Their group had been hunted like that nearly 20 different times.
Their group had initially consisted of nearly 30, but after so many targeted attacks, they had dropped to 20. And they were constantly lowering in number.
"Most stop after getting a single victory, since that is all that they want," the girl said. "But there are some, like the ones that we saw today who like to get rid of us as fast as they can. They just like attacking us regardless of whether that would help them or not."
Alex nodded vaguely. He talked for a bit longer and in that time 3 more people came to their group to challenge them.
The people only challenged some of the weaker fighters, who no longer had any reason to reject their challenges.
The fight lasted not for long, but the people who came did nothing more after winning and left.
The morning sun shone through the sky, the volcanic clouds already disappearing to almost nothing. The sky still seemed to be filled with smoke, but it mattered little for Alex and the others.
Alex cultivated the entire night and cultivated even as the sun moved up on the horizon. As it got closer and closer to noon, the girl and the others started looking at Alex and Shan Wangjiu warily.
Alex sighed in the end, knowing he couldn't stay there any longer.
"We should be leaving," he said as he stood up.
The girl said nothing else but a small farewell as she bowed toward him. Then the two men flew away, leaving the group by themselves.
"Where do you want to go?" Alex asked Shan Wangjiu.
The young man looked from the sky and saw an open grassland in the distance next to a giant chasm. They landed there and waited for the reset.
"Have you truly taught me everything, master?" the young man asked.
"Everything I can teach as a namesake master," Alex said. "You're not my direct disciple, so I have no reason to pass you everything."
The young man chuckled. "Would be nice though," he said. "What are you still holding back, if I may ask."
Alex thought for a moment and nodded. "You have the Wood, Fire, and Water Spiritual roots, so of those I have taught you everything I know or is useful. But of the techniques that are from other elements or have no need for an element, I have taught you nothing."
Alex pulled out Midnight, which shined with golden light. Alex rotated his wrist around him, moving the sword in an arch, like the hands of a clock.
5 golden swords formed like images left behind by midnight. "This is a technique I couldn't teach you, even though I wanted to," Alex said. The Pente-Sword technique flew out past the young man, flying into the chasm where it struck something with a damning boom at the bottom.
Alex snapped his finger and 74 different swords flew out around him, forming an array of swords circling above him.
Alex let go of Midnight and it flew up to the front, becoming the spearhead of the formation.
"This is a technique that you simply cannot learn because you do not have enough swords to learn it," Alex said. "Although I might end up providing you its weaker version."
The swords all flew back into Alex's storage. All but one.
Midnight remained, and Alex grasped it again.
The young man looked forward to what he was going to see next. An Earth-based sword technique? A Metal-based sword technique? Or a special sword maneuvering skill?
All such thoughts left the man's mind immediately as he saw what Alex did next.
Alex covered the sword in another type of energy, but it was not one that he had ever seen being used like this.
The sword glowed a light white as Spiritual energy covered the sword, forming its shape like a glove to a hand.
"This is one you can learn," Alex said. "But I will not teach you. Consider this my greed to be the only one to use it."
The spiritual energy dissipated from the sword, forcing the young man to gulp at the impossibility of it all. He couldn't imagine such a thing was even possible.
Both of their talismans buzzed at once as the reset was there.
"Finally, there is my new nameless technique," Alex said. "I won't teach it to you, but learn what you can from it."
The young man nodded furiously.
"Your final hour in this secret realm is here," Alex said. "We shall begin."
