Upon Alex's command, hundreds of people charged toward the Emperor and his subordinates, beginning the war.
"Fight!" the Emperor shouted at once as well. He had understood what had just happened. A war had been declared and the enemy had infiltrated into their midst.
The two sides clashed in the middle, and an explosion of discordant lights and sounds filled the skies of the Dragon Capital, sending the entire capital into a frenzy.
Many soldiers of the empire flew up to defend their empire, but a few remained behind, unsure if they should help at all.
They had heard the crimes that their Emperor had apparently done, and while they could ignore most of it for the sake of the empire, they could not ignore the one that claimed that the Azure Dragon was dead, and the Emperor had been responsible for it.
If that was indeed the truth, then… they would have to think about which side of the battle they had to fight on.
However, as it was, they most likely had to go help the Emperor just for the sake of the Empire.
Alex stood in the middle of the battlefield, somewhat surrounded by the other army. As the leader of the war, he had to lead these men into battle and thus joined the battle himself.
Bodies fell left and right around him, blood-curdling screams sounding every other moment. Death filled the air around him at each second as more fighters joined the war.
Alex thoughtlessly swung his sword to the side, killing a middle-aged soldier who was coming for him. The man had been in the late Saint Soul realm and had most likely expected to kill Alex with a sneak attack.
That was just not happening with how strong Alex was now.
Alex strode forward toward the Dragon Emperor.
5 strong enemies surrounded him as he approached closer, each one of whom seemed to stand in front of him with the barest hint of hesitation as to whether they would kill him or not.
They all knew there was one final trade of some sort remaining that Alex had to be alive during so that their Emperor could get something, but that did not matter to them mostly at the moment.
A war had been declared, so priorities were different now. They needed to deal with threats before caring about any sort of trade.
They intended to kill Alex.
One of the people came for Alex, swinging a hefty axe down on Alex.
Alex looked at the man with a single glance, giving no more response than that.
A hammer appeared out of nowhere as Qiu Jianhong slammed it against the man's axe, neither of the two gaining any advantage over the other.
"If you're going to go for our King, you have to go through us!" Qiu Jianhong said with a loud harrumph.
A blast of ice-cold water in the form of a raging snake landed on another man who was trying to attack Alex with an arrow.
The man was forced to redirect his attack at the last moment to protect himself.
Ren Guanting floated beyond Alex to open a path for him.
Gong Liuxian got into a sword fight with another of the people who had been targeting Alex, easily fending off the person.
Huang Chen arrived closely behind, stopping another person in their tracks with a barrage of many earthen Qi attacks.
Hou Xinya took a shield to block a bolt of lightning that came Alex's way, taking on the final of the 5 individuals that were surrounding Alex.
"Go ahead, Your Majesty," Liang Shufen arrived behind him, sending a stray attack in the distance at another soldier who had joined the fray. "We will handle the rest."
Alex nodded and slowly made his way toward the Emperor, who stood with a few old people who had yet to join the battle. As members of the Head Legion, they needed to manage the battle as well as stand in defense of the Emperor.
These old men had brought out their talismans at some point and were furiously sending messages to their Legions to come at once. They needed more people right away.
Alex stood in front of these people, ignoring them and looking directly at the Dragon Emperor.
The Emperor's face was black with fury and hatred. His eyes were bloodshot since long ago, and he had been barely holding himself back from slaughtering every single person in front of him.
The only reason he hadn't was because a hint of fear stopped him from doing so. If they had come for him, then there was a reason they were confident.
He had to figure that out before he joined in blindly.
"You have it, don't you?" he asked. "You took it already."
Alex gave a mocking smile. "Whatever could you be talking about."
"You know damn well, you brat!" the Emperor spoke in anger. "Hand it back right now."
Alex shrugged. He reached into his storage ring to take out a talisman, which disappeared from his hands the moment it appeared. In the next instant, it arrived in front of the Emperor, surprising the group of old men who were to protect him.
They acted immediately, but the Emperor had been faster than them. He took the talisman from the air and looked at what it was. It was a recording talisman and it recorded something.
He dug his senses into it and read what was recorded inside of it. He took a moment to read it all, his look of anger and hatred fading for a moment to show signs of shock and absolute disbelief.
He wanted to learn more about what was recorded there, but he was unable to. His oath compelled him to not learn what was inside the talisman before he was done with the trade.
"How is this possible?" the Emperor said softly. "A—"
The Oath forced him to stop speaking about whatever it was that he had read in the talisman.
Alex smiled.
The Emperor took a moment to recollect himself and spoke again.
"So this is what you offer for the last trade," the Emperor said. "You have been keeping this from me for all this time."
"You keep the best for the last, don't you?" Alex asked. "Let's you enjoy it all the more."
The Emperor looked down at the talisman and then at Alex. "I understand better now why you are so good at making pill clouds consistently. This… could even be considered cheating."
"I have given you what you asked for," Alex said, feeling the knot in his chest slowly disappear.
It was as though he had been drowning for a long time, and someone had finally pulled him out of the water. He could finally remember what breathing was like.
"Now, what will you give me in return?" Alex said. "And remember, it has to be double the worth of it in return."
The Emperor was way too stunned to think of anything. How was any of this possible at all?
A technique that could perfectly create a pill to its highest potential Harmony. A technique that could do the same, but with two pills at once. And finally, a technique to improve ingredients to become the best they can be prior to being used.
All three of the techniques that Alex had given to the Emperor were something that had left the man speechless.
However, the thing that left him the most shocked was the fact that every single one of these techniques had come from the first man to have ever reached the peak of Alchemy.
The Alchemy God.
That simple knowledge made the techniques be worth many times more valuable than anything Alex could have ever made it be.
It became so valuable that the Immortal treasures that Alex had stolen from the Azure Dragon started looking as if nothing more than something a child would play with.
This was realms higher than any Immortal treasures he could imagine. Perhaps, it was comparable to a Divine treasure.
'I need this anyway I can,' he thought and looked at Alex.
"What do you want in return for this?" he asked.
"What can you offer that is double what this is worth?" Alex asked the man.
The men surrounding the Emperor were surprised at what was happening. People were dying left and right in the battle behind Alex, and yet they were there just talking.
The Emperor wondered what it was that he could offer for something like this. If he was being honest, there was really just one answer.
He looked back up and threw the talisman back at Alex.
Alex took it without any surprise. He had expected this to happen from the very beginning.
"So you give up," he said. "Our trade is over."
"No," the Emperor said. "Not just yet. I will pay you what that thing is worth, but you'll have to wait a while longer."
The Emperor pulled out his spear. "Until then, let me give you the battle you so desire," he said. "Men, prepare to fight."
Alex shook his head. "This was out of my expectations," he said. "But it is a good thing I came well prepared."
Two people appeared out of his Soul Space in a flash, standing next to him on either side.
Hannah stood to Alex's left, and to his right stood Zhou Linfan.
Zhou Linfan looked at the Emperor and his eyes blazed with fury.
"Finally," he spoke in a low, growling voice. "I have the chance to kill you."
