Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy
chapter-2056

Alex watched the group that arrived, quickly counting them. There were no more than 60 people in that group.

Everyone readied to fight, but looking at the stronger ones in the group, he realized it wasn't going to go into battle immediately. Several people landed close by and it appeared they wanted to talk.

Alex looked around at the group, searching for the three that he had been told so much about, but didn't notice them at all. He didn't know what they looked like, so all he had to go off was cultivation and their uniform, but none matched.

He did notice the Spring Grass sect disciple that had welcomed him into the graveyard on the other side, proudly standing toward the front.

He didn't seem to notice him, not that he would've done anything by noticing. Alex searched for the stronger people among the group who were leading it. Two people stood out to him, but not enough to catch his attention.

Their cultivation base was not even at the max it could be within this realm, so he could only wonder how strong they were really.

They walked a few steps to the front and the one in pink robes spoke first.

"We are here to challenge you all to a duel," the man said. "We give you two choices. Either everyone present here fights, or 3 one-on-one battles, of which whoever wins 2 of the battles wins what the other group holds."

A strong silence lasted for several seconds after the man spoke as everyone took in the challenge they were given.

Alex frowned hearing the choices. It felt so obvious which choice they were to take that taking the choice seemed like the wrong option.

Taking a one-on-one fight was asking for trouble. Given how strong their 3 fighters were, they would lose, no doubt. Even if Alex found a way to win, if the other two lost, he would lose as well.

And given the oath he had spoken, that would stop him from joining the other group as well. He couldn't let that happen. They had to choose the other, easier option, which was clearly the trap here.

"Did you say only the ones present here will be fighting?" Tong Fanguan asked. It was something everyone had heard and was thinking about.

"Yes," the man replied. "I will swear an oath to heaven that only the 62 people in our group, and the people within your group will fight. Whoever wins will take what the other group holds."

Everyone clearly felt the oath settle onto the man, shocking them all. Were these people morons who were going to fight a group of 120 men with just 60 people? That too without their strongest 3 that he had heard so much about.

Were they that confident?

"What's the trap here?" Maio Wupeng asked the group with his spiritual sense. "There is something wrong here."

Alex nodded alongside the man, thinking.

"What about the one-on-one battles? Will only your group be taking part there too?" someone asked.

"No, you know who will be fighting in those battles, so if you want to choose that, you can choose so as well," the other person in that group said.

The choice was clear here, and that made things worrisome.

"Why are we waiting?" Primrose asked after some thought. "We were already preparing for the worst, weren't we? Let's see what tricks they hold up their sleeves."

Her words brought a sense of relief to the group. Even though there was some sort of trap there, they were ready for it.

"Alright, let's finish this now," Tong Fanguan said as a strong aura of water Dao emanated from her. "We shall be the only group remaining by the end of the day."

She charged and everyone else followed.

Alex pulled out his sword, ready to charge as well, but something still felt odd about the entire situation. Those groups clearly hadn't come unplanned. They were up to something.

'But he spoke an oath,' Alex thought. 'And the oath…'

He paused as he thought about the wording of the oath. 'Only the people in their current group and within our group will be fighting,' he thought. The man had promised as much.

'Within our group…' Alex thought. 'Betrayers?'

That wasn't possible at all. The oaths they spoke didn't allow betraying the group in the slightest. So if there weren't betrayers within their group that would turn on them, then who were there?

Alex quickly scanned the people that were remaining behind, and his eyes landed on a young man whose face was still pale and haggard looking. Beads of sweat rolled around on his forehead while he turned his face to look at Alex.

It was the scout. What had the scout done?

Alex's eyes flashed purple and immediately he saw a load of aura coming from the man's body, something that was not possible for a regular person unless they were actively doing something.

Alex did not hesitate and began to swing his sword toward the young man. Even as he did, he could feel the lack of pain in his chest that should come from the oath as he wasn't allowed to betray his group.

Which meant… this young man was not from this group.

Many of the people had flown toward the battle, only only 2 dozen or so trailed behind. And not a single one of them saw the next event coming.

Alex's sword strike struck the young man, but he seemed to have pulled something out of his Soul Space right before the attack landed, most likely a defensive treasure.

Before Alex could figure out what it was, 3 sword slashes, 2 spear attacks, and a host of other attacks came for him, all at once.

Alex was too weak to stop these attacks just by himself. He pulled out his shield, quickly using it to stop the attacks. The shield glowed a dull orange as it absorbed the attacks, using up a portion of the Qi reserve within it.

He put the shield aside and immediately felt several teleportation aura surround him, the number so high that he couldn't even count immediately. "Shit!" he cried out.

People had teleported there, but that was not the only source of the teleportation aura. While people had arrived, many also left. He saw the few dozen people that had lagged behind begin to disappear. They were all attacked, and not a single one had managed to protect themselves from the onslaught.

Alex kept the shield in front of him, looking at the young scout he had attacked. The young man wasn't there at all. 80 different people were there, and not a single one of them looked like the young scout.

He noticed 3 strong individuals immediately, dressed in pink, light green, and dark blue. The 3 strong people they had talked out.

Alex saw someone at the back pick up something from the ground. They had used some sort of treasure to get in there.

"Go help our friends," one of them said, and nearly all of them flew toward the group, attacking them from the back, trapping them.

This was horrible.