Alex arrived at the stands around noon and sat down. He was worried about his match, but the worry didn't help him win, so he was ignoring his thoughts.
The crowd was riled up as they were ready to have some of the most spectacular fights out there.
The Emperor and the other heads were up in the tower, looking down on the stage, waiting for the fights to begin.
"We really need to speak with that kid today," one of the old men said.
"Why? The emperor told us not to approach him. Didn't you hear that he has a strong backing?" Xue Mufan asked.
"What backing? We keep hearing he has a backing, but we never really see it, do we?" the male sect leader of the Glory's Edge sect said.
"Apparently that kid can use the traits of Sword Aura even while he only has Sword Qi. I need to learn how that is possible. What sort of insights he couldn't possibly get into his own self," the Jin clan leader said.
The Han clan leader leaned forward. "I don't know if it is true or not, but I believe that kid has a very strong physical body," he said.
"Oh, you noticed that too?" a woman in a blue robe asked. "In yesterday's fight with the Tengfei boy, he was weaker when he fought from the distance, and stronger when he got close. He must have an amazing physique skill."
"Just the fact that he can fight against people 7 realms above his own should be reason enough for us to ask him questions," the female sect leader of the Glory's Edge sect. "Also, I have special information about him that might interest you all."
"Oh, what is it?" the people around the room started getting curious.
"Apparently, that kid is actually one of those people known as the players," the woman said.
"How do you know?" the people asked with a surprised look. While players weren't that good for cultivation normally due to their botched understanding of how to do it, when given the right training, they would go further than anyone.
"My disciple told me," the woman said. "He is a player too."
That was information that these people didn't have. However, given that He Liwei had in fact arrived out of nowhere in the last 12 years, it was obvious in retrospect.
"You know," Zhou Tianqiu suddenly spoke, "if he really is a player, he might have acquired his Alchemy knowledge from there. Do you not want that?"
He turned to look at Xue Mufan, who grumbled to himself. He remembered how serious the Emperor had been regarding the matter of how Alex had been appointed as the Royal alchemist back then. He was certain these people were playing with fire.
"He has spiritual sense," one of them spoke up, and all of them nodded. That was pretty obvious by now.
They started talking about Alex's skills and how unique they were. His ability to go invisible, his ability to teleport, etc.
As they continued talking about Alex's achievement, the first match of the day started down at the stage.
Lu Yan and Fu Tao walked onto the stage and got ready to battle. The moment the referee gave them the go, a violent round of fights began.
Lu Yan fought with wood, air, and lightning, while Fu Tao fought with fire, formations, and mental attacks.
None of Fu Tao's attacks could reach Lu Yan due to her violent wind attacks as well as violent roots that sprung up to block all attacks.
As for Fu Tao, he remained safe behind the formation barrier he had put up. The battle lasted for a while as neither side could get a clear advantage.
It was obvious that Fu Tao wasn't fighting with his all, but it was only making a more enjoyable fight so the crowd forgave him.
In the end, Lu Yan ran out of more Qi to attack with and as such ended up losing.
Next up were Liang Qiu and Han Daiyu. Their fights were perhaps more spectacular than anything else.
The fight was simple, mostly kept to close combat. However, the hammer striking against the spear gave the crowd an exhilaration that could only ever come from the shockwaves of two amazing fights clashing.
Using her physique, Han Daiyu was surprisingly keeping up with Liang Qiu despite the difference in their cultivation base.
However, as time passed, Han Daiyu's saint Qi slowly depleted to nothing as she had to use it for both her body and her skill. As a result, the battle ended up in Liang Qiu's favor, which she subsequently won.
Once the battle ended, Alex started feeling anxious. After all, the next fight was going to be his, against Song Shing. It was pretty much guaranteed that he was going to lose, he simply didn't want to lose in an embarrassing way.
Most of all, he wanted to stay in the battle long enough that people didn't think he lost immediately.
He stood on the edge of the stage and he made sure his earrings were in place. Song Shing most definitely had spiritual sense, so Alex couldn't ignore the possibility that he could have some spiritual attacks.
Aside from that, he also had the armor he was wearing. The previous day, he had sent his mother to buy the best armor she could find that wasn't a Saint-grade artifact.
The blue armor he was wearing beneath his robes was the one she came back with. It was True Heaven grade armor, capable of stopping attacks from True Emperor cultivators up to True Emperor 6th or 7th realm.
Alex didn't know how much that would help when it came to stopping attacks from Song Shing, but it was better than nothing at least.
Alex brought out a sword from his storage bag. Unfortunately for him, the actual sword that he had refined for over 2 weeks now had been destroyed in the last fight.
And since he couldn't use the poison sword, he was forced to fight with either an entirely new sword or the sword that had no grade.
Given the fight he was up against, it was an obvious choice on which sword he could use.
Alex held the thin sword with the silver blade and white handle as he stood in front of Song Shing.
Song Shing brought out a vial of blood and held it in his hand as he got ready as well.
Alex closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he got ready for the fight to begin. His spiritual sense slowly emerged from him, spreading around the arena.
He sensed Song Shing's spiritual sense, which was about 100 meters away from him, while Song Shing sensed his with wide eyes. He realized how big Alex's spiritual sense was and prepared for it accordingly.
When the referee saw that the two of them were both ready to fight, he raised his arm and began the fight.