When Alex arrived next to the tree on the slope, he focused more on the tree itself rather than the fox that slept underneath it.
From what Alex could sense, the fox was around True Lord 7th realm. While that was something that would be hard for him to fight against using only Sword Intent and his physical body, if he added Qi, he would easily win against that beast.
So, he ignored the fox and looked at the tree. The tree looked like a hurricane had passed through here and had stripped it of its leaves.
However, Alex could tell from how smooth the branches were that there were no leaves here in the first place.
What fascinated Alex about this tree were its roots. From what he could tell, they were incredible Saint rank treasures of Wood and Earth energy.
His senses told him it was also an Alchemy ingredient, but without any recipes, these roots would be useless to him in that aspect. As a treasure, however, they would be priceless.
Pearl strolled forward in his tiny form, but as he got closer to the fox, his size grew.
He was now half the size of the fox and ready to fight.
The fox opened its eyes as well and sensed Pearl's cultivation base. At 2 realms below its own, the fox should have thought it would win, but it still stood up to give its all to this fight.
At double the size of Pearl, the fox towered over him, but Pearl looked straight at it with no fear in its eyes.
The fox had fur brown and white.
"Meow!" Pearl cried towards the fox.
"Awooo!" the fox cried in the night.
With not a single second wasted, the two started fighting each other.
The fox tried to bite Pearl who knocked its head aside with a single paw attack. The fox returned a paw attack of its own that landed on Pearl, but with a golden light on its body, it took the attack without moving an inch.
The fox's eyes shined brown in the night as it jumped towards Pearl. Pearl tried to move aside, but for some reason, his movement got rather sluggish all of a sudden.
Alex's heart skipped a beat, thinking Pearl was in danger, but Pearl took the second attack with his golden body. With how much defense it provided, there was likely nothing the fox did that Pearl could take damage from.
'What was that before,' Alex thought about the time when Pearl had gotten sluggish. He had never seen this type of beast on the outside, so he couldn't know what it was either.
It was likely a beast that had grown to become something else by now, or the attack it had just done didn't pass along with the bloodline.
Maybe that was a power it came up on its own as well.
Alex couldn't be sure, but he would have to ask Pearl after this. He spread out his spiritual sense once more to see if the fox would use that technique again, but instead, he noticed someone approaching him from behind.
The man who was coming made no sound at all, giving Alex the understanding that he wasn't here for a good cause.
When Alex sensed his cultivation base, he frowned. True Lord 4th realm.
This was one of the stronger people he had met until now. What was someone like this doing here? Sneaking no less.
Still, True Lord 4th realm wasn't that special to him. He sighed as he grasped his left arm which was just a stump.
2 years ago, he had lost this to that woman whose cultivation base was about the same as his now. Had they waited to attack for 2 more years, Alex would have likely been the one to kill her instead.
He put the thought aside to watch Pearl's match while keeping an eye on the man that had stopped now to watch the fight as well.
Pearl fought hard, but not very hard. Even though the Fox was strong it couldn't produce enough force to hurt Pearl at all.
Pearl still fumbled from time to time when the sluggishness returned, but aside from that, there was nothing that could stop Pearl.
Towards the end of the fight, the fox realized that it couldn't beat Pearl no matter what, so it chose to escape away.
Pearl tried to go after it, but a message from Alex stopped him in his tracks.
'Act like you are tired.'
Pearl didn't know why that was as he had been very focused on his battle, so he decided to sit down and take a few breaths. He was actually a little tired, so this wasn't all that bad.
As expected, after the battle finished, the man rushed out of the shadows and swung a hammer at Alex's head.
Alex saw the attack coming, so he jumped ahead and landed a distance away.
"Tsk, I was hoping to kill you right there while your beast was tired," the new man said.
Alex's eyes raged with hidden fury. He hadn't thought that the man would be so vicious as to sneak behind him with a fatal attack.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Let's forget about introductions, shall we? I'll get straight to the point. I like your beast, so give it to me," the man said.
Alex stared at the man more intently. His cultivation base suggested that he was one of the better younger generation members. The red and green robe with the emblem of a bird perched on top of a deer's antler suggested he was likely from a sect.
Now the only thing Alex wondered was if that sect was big or not. If he attacked him here, would he bring back stronger people?
'Not if he dies first,' Alex thought. He gave no answer to the man's question and instead brought out the normal True rank sword that he had been using for more than 2 years in the forest.
He was used to that sword and could bring out the best Sword Intent with that. After all, the closer you were to a sword, the better your Sword Intent was.
"I see that is your choice," the man said. "But don't think your single beast will be able to defeat me or anything."
The back of his hand, his chest, and the right side of his stomach all shone at once as 3 beasts appeared in front of him.
A Golden Armed Ape of True Lord 5th realm cultivation base.
A Silver String spider of True Lord 6th realm cultivation base.
And finally, a Blue Scaled Lizard of True Lord 6th realm cultivation base.
Along with the man, the 4 of them looked quite terrifying to fight against. If someone normal were here in Alex's place, they would likely run away.
But this was Alex, he yearned for this fight more than he feared it.
"Meow!" Pearl said he wanted to help, but Alex shook his head.
"This is my fight."
Seeing Alex slowly walk ahead with his sword in hand, the young man frowned. He had been sure that Alex would give up on his beast after seeing his beasts, but to think that he would instead come after him.
The man frowned with discernible anger as he shouted, "If you want to die, then Die!"
The Golden Armed ape jumped at Alex from its high ground with both of its hands in the air.
As it fell, it slammed its hands on top of Alex. Alex dashed to the right as the Ape fell and after it slammed the empty ground, he dashed back towards the Ape with his legs that were clad with golden light.
With a single kick, Alex hit the beast so hard that he rattled its brain. The Ape fell to the side, completely unconscious.
"What?" the man cried out in shock.
The spider sent out a white projectile that opened to become a fully formed spider web that would trap him.
A small tongue of fire appeared in front of Alex that exploded with just enough damage to not hurt him. The force of the explosion instead knocked the spider web off its path to elsewhere.
Alex took the opportunity to appear behind the Blue Scaled Lizard and before it could even use any poison on him, Alex kicked the beast with his gold-clad legs.
The lizard flew towards the spider, giving it no opening to attack Alex.
Then, Alex turned toward the man.
In mere seconds since the battle had started, the man had learned that he chose the wrong opponent.
"Y-You… why are you so strong?" the man shouted.
Alex didn't bother giving a reply. His sword shone with a white outline that sprayed white ember from time to time.
Golden light filled the sword in no time as well. Once it was done, he dashed towards the man.
When Alex's sword landed on the man, Alex realized with a shock that he had been blocked.
But it wasn't the man who had blocked him, but rather a barrier that appeared from a talisman.
"No!" the man cried out, but even as he did a silver-white light engulfed him all over.
Alex went back for a second attack to kill this man for sure when he noticed the barrier disappearing, but even as he did, the man vanished in thin air.
Alex looked around in shock as he found no sign of that man anymore.
"Did he… get teleported nearby… or was he sent out of the secret realm without his beasts?"
