Alex sat down on his seat in the participant viewing area while the next two fighters made their way down to the stage.
However, Alex didn't watch them at all. Instead, his eyes shifted to the figure that walked up to him and sat beside him.
"You really did make it to the top 128 huh? I'm proud of you, brother Yu," He Liwei spoke up. "That's not bad at all for someone like you. You should be the only True King in the Top 128 at this rate."
"I plan on going further, of course," Alex said as he turned towards the man.
"Oh, and how will you be doing that if I may ask?" He Liwei asked. "You know I'm not going to make way for you just because we're both from the other world. I will fight you to defeat you."
"I know," Alex said as he stared at the man directly. "I will fight you too, and I will defeat you."
He Liwei suddenly started laughing out loud, catching the attention of a few of the others that were sitting around him.
"You shouldn't overestimate yourself, brother Yu. Just because you beat a puppeteer by overwhelming her with your beast doesn't mean you can do the same to me you know," He Liwei said.
"We'll see." Alex turned around to check the fight that was starting on stage and ignored He Liwei for the most part.
The day soon ended and everyone returned back to their rooms to cultivate. Most didn't waste time with the facilities that were provided but some were still too confident to worry about that.
The next day marked the end of Top 256 and the crowd now knew the top 128 best members of the young generation.
Surprisingly, that included a person in the True King realm. However, since they had seen a True Emperor beast with him, they dismissed him as a True Emperor as well.
That meant, that not a single person that didn't have a True Emperor cultivation base to aid them had not passed the third round of the competition.
The Top 128 started the next day with the first 64 people fighting on the very first day.
Guo Chiang and Song Shing were their group's two most prominent fighters that easily won each battle with a single attack.
Half of those times, their opponents had to be saved by the referees. The battle concluded with 32 people passing on to the next round.
Alex watched those fights with not much interest as he knew who would make it out from there. The seeded fighters were way too strong.
Still, there was a chance someone would win against them so he still watched it.
The group all returned back to their rooms and half of them prepared for their next battle.
Alex sat in his room cultivating when he suddenly heard a knock on the door.
He opened his eyes, his body full of cuts due to Pearl cultivating next to him. He asked Pearl to stop and get back into his body for the moment.
After he was gone, Alex opened the door.
"Sister Liang, what are you doing here?" he looked at Liang Qiu with a confused expression as she stood outside his door.
Liang Qiu spread her spiritual sense around to see if anyone was watching and asked, "can I come in?"
"Um…" Alex looked around. "Sure, come in."
Liang Qiu walked into his room and went straight to sit on his bed. Then, she looked back at him standing by the door and asked, "You're not giving up tomorrow's match, are you?"
"Of course not," Alex said.
Liang Qiu sighed. "I thought so. But you have no way of winning, do you?" she asked.
"I will try my best," Alex said.
"I don't think you would be this confident for no reason, so I can only assume you have a plan. Will you be using your Sword Intent tomorrow? Or maybe even your Sword Qi?" she asked.
Alex's eyes narrowed. "Why do you say so?" he asked.
"I remembered seeing you fight all those years ago in the poison valley, and I saw you fight the puppets a few days ago. None of your attacks had the slightest hint of intent to it," She said.
"So?" Alex asked.
"It is impossible for anyone with such a grasp of the sword to not have any intent to it. Most of the fighters that watched you have already realized that you are hiding your sword intent," she said.
"Is that so?" Alex asked with an awkward smile on his face. "Did me hiding my sword intent backfire on me?"
"Yes, but not necessarily. Sword Intent can only take you so far in the True Realm. It's not very helpful," she said.
"I see," Alex said. "So… why exactly are you here?"
"Do you know anything about He Liwei?" she asked.
Alex thought for a moment. Aside from the few techniques he saw him use in the 3 fights before this, there wasn't much information on him.
"Not really," he said.
"And I don't suppose anyone is passing in information for you from the outside?" she asked.
Alex shook his head. "Sect master Qin might've done it, but I don't think he's allowed to come to visit me given that I put my affiliation as nothing. It would have been helpful if some of the sect's disciples passed, but they've already failed," he said.
"I thought so," Liang Qiu said. "Since you were so adamant about fighting He Liwei, I thought you would need some information on his to make whatever plans to win against him."
"That would in fact be helpful," Alex said.
"Good. The first and most important fact about He Liwei is that while his cultivation base is at True Emperor 6th realm, his real fighting power should be around the 7th realm," Liang Qiu said.
Alex's eyes widened. "He can skip levels like me?" he asked.
"Exactly," Liang Qiu said. "You surprised me there, but I guess there wasn't much to be surprised by.
"What else?" Alex asked. "What's his weapon of choice? I haven't seen him use anything."
"He uses swords and sabers, but I wouldn't call him a weapons master necessarily. He only uses them to send out his powerful attacks that come from his strong spiritual roots. That brings me to another crucial information."
"While it is only speculations based on what we've observed, He Liwei seems to have 3 Superior spiritual roots. Mainly Earth, Wood, and Fire," she said.
'Earth, Wood, and Fire,' Alex thought to himself. Fortunately, there was only one Empowering combination of Spiritual roots in him. Had it been Metal, Wood, and Fire, Alex would've been in some trouble.
"Anything else I should know?" Alex asked.
Liang Qiu shook her head. "That's the most information I have to give you. Since he's not one of the people I will be fighting, my master hasn't provided me with much information," she said.
"I see. Still, this is very much valuable. Knowing how strong he can get will help me remain vigilant and not underestimate him in the battle tomorrow. Thank you, sister Liang," Alex bowed.
Liang Qiu nodded. "Good luck," she said and left the room, leaving Alex to prepare for his fight tomorrow.
