Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy
chapter-2083

The announcement of Alex's victory was a shock to all but just Alex himself. Not a single soul among the people that had gathered had believed he would be winning at all.

"How… how is this possible?" someone asked, finally breaking the silence.

"No, no. Wait, I've been to his store. He's made pills for me before. How?"

"99%… that's… that is basically a perfect pill, isn't it?"

The shock changed to surprise, which continued transforming. One man even asked, "Do you think he will put that pill up for sale? I want to buy it."

Immediately, people began asking all sorts of questions from all around the audience.

Fang Yuxie, Wang Yanwei, and Rocksoul, who had been watching together from a close distance were purely in shock at what they had just witnessed.

"How… did the boss do that?" Rocksoul asked. He turned around, looking at the other two. He doubted Alex did that in the first place and wondered if he used some sort of trick that he hadn't noticed.

"He did that for real," Wang Yanwei said, unable to hide the shock from her face. She had taken part in the Duel before, and there had been many before her. With two Divine realm cultivators constantly keeping watch on her, there was no way she could've cheated. Similarly, there was no way Alex could've cheated as well.

"He… actually did this. He made a pill… with 99% Harmony," she said to herself, still unable to believe it. Then, she thought back to the past weeks when he told her he would win on multiple occasions.

"He could always do this," she thought, her shock reaching newer heights. "He was just hiding his skills."

"That's just like him," Fang Yuxie said. She knew a bit more about Alex's prowess in other sectors and knew he had been hiding them as well. Still, she hadn't known Alex was this good in Alchemy as well.

"I should have known this," she said with a sigh. "He's been teaching me alchemy for the past few years, and I've steadily improved. I was confused when everyone said I was improving rapidly, but I thought everyone was just exaggerating. Turns out, I had a monster of a teacher."

Wang Yanwei turned to look at Fang Yuxie, only now realizing that fact as well. "Does he teach anything special?" she asked, curious.

"I don't know. We can ask him when he leaves," Fang Yuxie said. "Leaves…"

Her words triggered something in her mind at that very moment. "Oh… shit!" she cried out suddenly.

"What?" Wang Yanwei asked. "What is it? What did you remember?"

"Hahahah!" Fang Yuxie began laughing maniacally. "We're rich! We're filthy rich."

"Rich? …OH!"

Only now did they remember about the bets they had made as per Alex's instruction. Because Alex had been deemed a confirmed loser of the duel, the reward for betting on him was much higher than usual, nearly 8 times.

Which meant, the 400 thousand Immortal spirit stones they had bet, had suddenly grown to over 3 million in a single instant.

Even the others had bet a few thousand themselves, getting their earnings in the quintuple digits.

They were, in fact, filthy rich.

* * * * * * *

Pang Mihua, the storeowner of the Moonlight Alchemy store which supplied ingredients to Alex's store, was sitting in a small tea shop. She had been watching the duel along with a few other members of the Pang family.

Because of her, all relations between her store and the Bluehorn Alchemy guild had been severed. While it was her grandfather's decision, in the end, she was still held responsible.

While that hadn't mattered until now, but because Alex's store was about to go under, many in the family claimed that she wasn't fit for the job and wanted her out of the store. Many in the family wanted to see her downfall.

She had been sitting here, worrying for the better part of the past hour. And somehow, within minutes, the atmosphere had changed completely. She was no longer worried, instead her heart swelled with glee.

Everything she'd worked for, all the decisions she had made, today she knew that she was right.

She turned to look at the members of her family who refused to look her in the eyes. And with that, she knew, she had won.

* * * * * * * * Silvermist stared at the sky, the rising sun marking it azure. A few specks of white cloud gathered in the sky, but no more than usual. It was a bright day of summer after all. "He's incredible," Grimsight said from the side. "I didn't realize how good he was. We should get him."

Silvermist chuckled. "Do you think he's incredible?" he asked.

Grimsight frowned. "I just said he was. Did I make a mistake? I didn't see him cheat."

"Oh, he cheated alright," the man said. "He cheated everyone but you. And sadly, you didn't realize it."

Grimsight had no clue what the man was talking about. "You aren't speaking in riddles again, are you?" he asked. "I didn't see him cheat."

"But you did. And you told me too, remember?" Silvermist said. "The energy in his cauldron reduced when he was making the pill."

"Yes, I did say that. What…" Grimsight spun his head back toward the center of the dueling ground, now completely aware of what Silvermist was thinking of.

"But… but he's only… he's a new Immortal. How could he?" Grimsight asked.

"I do not know," Silvermist said. "But he deliberately stopped the pill from being perfect."

"Do you think he did it because he was scared?" Grimsight asked.

"Maybe. Or maybe he just wanted to not show more than what he had to in this duel," Silvermist said. "Either way, my friend, we've found who we've been looking for."

"We found our champion."

* * * * * * * *

Alex took back Memory into his Soul Space and walked over to Bluehorn to get back his pill.

"You bastard!" Ming Longxin shouted at the same time, pointing at Alex. "You cheated! I know you cheated somehow. How did you get that pill?"

Alex turned toward him. "Senior Ming, are you that self-absorbed that you can't imagine someone other than you making a pill better than you?" He shook his head. "You should change that habit of yours."

"You dare lecture me?" Ming Longxin said, storming toward Alex with a clear intention to harm him. An illusory tongue of blue flame appeared behind his back, burning with great intensity.

Before he could arrive next to Alex, three waves of invisible force slammed onto him, immediately buckling him onto the ground.

Bluehorn turned toward Blackfrost and Alchemist Han. "Don't butt in, let me take care of my alchemist."

"Go ahead," Blackfrost said. "I was only protecting mine." He withdrew his Qi, and so did Alchemist Han.

Bluehorn shoved the pill toward Alex. "Congratulations, you won."

"Thank you," Alex said, smiling widely. There was no better way to mock the man than that.

Bluehorn grunted and turned around.

"And senior," he called out before the man could get too far away.

"What?" Bluehorn asked, turning around.

"Thank you both for approving me for the test," he said. "Thanks to you two, I am now one step closer to becoming a Supreme Alchemist."