Alex was swarmed by people, asking him how he was so strong. They understood that he had been training with his sword, but this was a bit too strong still.
He was challenged by people too. Now that he and Fang Yimu had fought, they could use them to clear their first battles of the day.
"Sure, but I won't give out a pill if you win," Alex said. "Unless you want to make it an actual fight with you having a chance to lose."
Nobody wanted that.
Alex still didn't hold back much, using as much Sword Intent as he could. Fighting these strong people was an incredible chance he wasn't gonna give up just to give them a win.
He did give them a win in the end though, as that was what he had promised. And no one complained about him fighting seriously either as he used nothing more than Sword Intent.
If he had been seriously fighting, there were many other ways for him to make it hard for them to win, but he hadn't.
By the time Alex fought 5 different people, the rest of them had finished their fights with Fang Yimu and there were no more people to challenge Alex. So, they all returned to the valley and sat around.
Alex only talked with them for a little longer before he found his own separate space to cultivate in. He used a formation to make his separate space and let Pearl and Whisker cultivate with him.
He cultivated the whole night and only stopped the next day when his talisman reset once again. He walked out of his formation and went up to the small group that had gathered around Zhao Boqin.
He managed to catch some tail end of the conversation, where the man talked about them having to be careful and taking the long way around. He wondered where these people were being sent to.
Four of them nodded. One of them was Mao Yingkong, and the other 3 people he wasn't close enough to yet.
They stopped talking for a moment when they saw Alex close in and then stopped talking after a brief sentence. The group separated after that.
"What is happening?" Alex asked Zhao Boqin.
"Planning for a hunt," the man said. "We send out a small group each day to fight and come back to let everyone else fight as well. Those 4 are to go out today."
Alex nodded silently. "I heard you talk about a location earlier they had to go to," he said. "It seems you already know where to go to."
The man nodded. "There's a weaker group of fighters toward the river in the east," he said. "They are going there to fight them."
"Do you expect trouble?" Alex asked.
"It would be stupid if we didn't," the man replied. "Together with us here, they will fear a bit to attack us directly with my presence. But with just the four of them, they're a much better target.
Alex gave a puzzled look. He understood that they would be a target, but then why was he still sending them?
"Why don't you go with them?" Alex asked.
"If I do, then we will definitely be attacked," the man said. "Hongxi won't let me be out there for even a moment if she finds out about it."
Alex nodded thoughtfully and frowned a bit. "But you're strong now. You should be able to go out without worry, shouldn't you?"
The man gave a surprised look as if he hadn't thought of that himself before shaking his head. "I get nothing from it," he said, shrugging as he did so. "There is no glory in winning against someone weaker than me."
"But you can protect all of them when they go out, can't you?" Alex asked.
"I can," the man said. "But why should I? They're not my problem. They chose to gather around me. They can do whatever they want."
Alex was a little surprised to hear the lack of responsibility in the man's voice. He had thought this man to be a leader of this group. But from what he said right now, he sounded more like a man burdened with others who couldn't wait to get rid of it.
'He's too strong,' Alex thought. He doesn't care if someone challenges him, as long as it is not Hongxi.' He was sure that was the truth.
The group of four left around the afternoon and returned to the valley after sunset. They had managed to gain a win, so everyone else gained a win too.
No one said anything when Alex got himself a win as well. They had more or less accepted Alex into the group.
Some of them fought Alex from time to time, mostly to get a chance to win a pill or two from Alex. When they found out that he was still doing that after all these months, they were more than excited.
Sounds of battles rang the sky outside the valley day and night, and Alex fought to the best of his abilities, using Sword Intent, Sword Qi, and sometimes even Qi. Although the times he used Qi were rare he focused more on the sword.
Days passed slowly, months gone without anyone noticing.
They would wait until the group that left to get a win returned, and after that people would challenge Alex to get a pill from him. Winning also gave them points, so they were more or less happy with it.
The only interesting parts of the days were when the group that went out returned and told them that they had been attacked. Hearing how they had been attacked and if they won or not was quite fun to listen to.
Those were one of the few days that wasn't monotonous for Alex.
He spent some of his days making pills or painting stuff, but nothing really filled him as much. At least the training was going alright, so he was happy about that.
He had been painting Fairy Gao one day, per her request when suddenly he heard Zhao Boqin's angry shouts.
"God dammit!" he cried out loud. "That goddamn…"
Alex wondered why he was so angry for the briefest of moments before he sensed it as well. Another breakthrough, and a strong one at that.
'Is that… Hongxi?' Alex wondered, looking in the direction where the girl was breaking through. She had surprisingly decided to do it out in the open for everyone else to see.
"She's outside," one of the Saint Transformation realm cultivators shouted. "We should go and wait next to her. Once she's done, we should immediately attack her. Give her a Loss."
"It's close to reset," another one said. "We should be able to make it."
"I'll have to ask you to continue this later, Your Majesty," Fairy Gao said with a soothing voice. "It appears we will have a bit of a showdown."
"Let's go!" Zhao Boqin's hoarse voice took everyone's attention, and people started pouring out of the valley.
Alex took back his items and followed as well.
It had been a while since he had come outside. Most of his days were spent inside the valley, and the only time he did come outside was still on the periphery of the valley to fight with others.
He could've gone outside multiple times by now, had anyone in the valley actually allowed him to accompany them to the various locations they went to hunt for their first fights of the day.
They did not want to inconvenience a King, so Alex had to sit back. Alex couldn't help but wonder at times if they were truly looking after him, or if they were trying to hide where they gained their points from.
The latter seemed much more likely.
The group flew not for long and arrived next to a mountain surrounded by dead trees and broken ground. It was another place, devastated by the battles that seemed to happen every day now.
Alex landed some distance away from the mountain itself where most of the people had stopped. Everyone looked at the mountaintop, where they could see a figure in blue trying her best to break through.
The process had only started less than an hour ago, and this far in, it most certainly took longer than just an hour.
Since she was in the Saint Transformation realm, she had to worry about her spirit growing larger and adapting to her physical body.
Alex wondered how large her spirit was now.
"There's nobody here," one of the people spoke, catching Alex's attention. Alex looked around as well. There truly was no one there, not a single soul.
'Had she come alone?' Alex wondered. Her group was supposed to have been around her. Why was she alone? Or was she the same as Zhao Boqin who cared little for the group that were around them?
Alex found it hard to be concerned with such a matter when Zhao Boqin suddenly spoke up.
"We can't let her breakthrough," he said.
Alex frowned a little when he heard that.
"Brother Zhao," one of them spoke. "You can't attack someone when they're breaking through. The girl might end up going through Qi deviation."
"I don't care," Zhao Boqin said. "She can spend years healing for all I care. It will make me feel easier."
He pulled out a spear, intending to attack. Alex realized he was being serious about it.
"Brother Zhao," he shouted. "Stop! What are you doing?"
But speak as he might, his words did nothing. Zhao Boqin filled his spear with blue Qi and attacked.
