Alex cringed a little when he heard his voice. This was the one person he probably hated the most in all of the sects.

'He must've let everyone know about the battle happening right now. No wonder all of these people are here,' Alex thought and looked at the crowd.

He walked up to the elder and handed him his badge and walked back. Huo Tu did the same thing as he kept an angry eye on Alex the entire time.

The elder working as the referee was also interested to see the fight happen. Not just him, all the elders watching the fight were interested.

The one thing that had puzzled them until this day was how an Organ Tempering 3rd realm cultivator could have possibly beat a Meridian Tempering 3rd realm cultivator.

When the news had spread, everyone had wanted to see how Alex had done that, but a few days later, Alex disappeared from the sect.

It wasn't until the competition that they finally saw him again and realized the truth about him. The son of the 3rd wealthiest merchant in all of the Crimson Empire and the direct disciple of the Sect Leader of the Tiger sect.

This was a match that the people just didn't want to miss. Alex was currently giving off an aura that said he was a Meridian Tempering 3rd realm cultivator, while Huo Tu had only improved a single time and had reached the 4th realm of Meridian Temperature.

Even if that was Alex's original cultivation base, winning against Huo Tu would be a breeze, however, he needed to worry just how great he wanted his performance to be.

He looked around and noticed a few elders that were clearly high-ranked. One of them was the First Elder too. Even his senior sister was looking at him from far away, with slight concerns in her eyes.

He walked to the other end of the stage and weighed his options. 'Should I hide my abilities and use Heaven's impact once again to finish the match mysteriously like last time?' he wondered.

However, the elders were all focused on him right now. Using Heaven's impact here was basically inviting them to see that he had a mental attack. With how long it took for Huo Tu to wake up last time, they were probably already suspecting that.

'Sword Intent then?' he wondered. That was an option too. After all, during the last week or so, he had improved his sword intent to the level that he could surely beat Huo Tu right now.

"You have some sort of mental skill, don't you?

" Huo Tu asked.

Alex was surprised, but at the same time, not really. Huo Tu might look and act like an idiot, but he was also a Meridian Tempering realm disciple. One did not reach that high with simply money.

'Or maybe they did. Isn't that what all of those players are doing basically?' Alex thought. So, he couldn't put it past Huo Tu to have learned about this from somewhere else.

'Isn't his master like an elder? 7th elder or something?' Alex thought.

"You don't have to answer. I already know you use mental attacks. This time, however, you won't win,

" Huo Tu said and opened his robe a little to show the medallion he had on his neck.

"This is an artifact that can stop all-metal attacks from hurting me. Adding onto the fact that my armor still remains one of the best in the sect, You have no chance of beating me.

"

"Fall down on your knees and beg for mercy. I might end up taking you in as my lackey then,

" Huo Tu said.

The Elder waited for Alex to respond, but Alex remained unspeaking. Alex sighed when he heard Huo Tu. He doubted he had even heard such disrespect towards him even from Song Zun or Zexi.

Seeing that Alex wasn't going to speak anytime soon, the elder decided to start the match.

"Fight!

"

Immediately, black lines appeared all over Huo Tu's body as if it were a jade's pattern stamped onto his body. He was using the jade-skin technique. With this, his defense was one grade higher than normal.

Immediately, he brought out a handful of pills and a handful of talismans from his storage bag. Although he wasn't going to immediately fight with them, it was better to keep it handy.

"What? Aren't you going to attack me?

" Huo Tu asked out loud.

"Very well,

" Alex said, finally speaking after staying silent for a while.

"If it is a fight you want, then I shall give it to you.

"

Suddenly, the aura around Alex started to shift. Both the elders and the disciples alive suddenly got alert at the sudden change of it. Little by little, Alex's cultivation base started to grow larger and larger.

The First Elder as well as the various other elders that were watching Alex had their eyes go wide. Luo Mei couldn't help but block her mouth with her hand as it opened in surprise.

The disciples that were watching the fight were also surprised as well as terrified.

Even so, the aura kept increasing and increasing.

"You! You have been hiding your ability all this time. Y-You…

" Huo Tu could speak anymore as Alex's cultivation base stopped at a stable level for everyone to see.

Meridian Tempering 8th Realm.

He was strong, and there was no reason to hide it. Since there was no reason to hide it, he might as well show it for everyone to see so that they didn't have the naive idea of challenging him to waste his time.

Alex looked at the cowering Huo Tu and said,

"Come, let's fight.

"

"Die!

" Huo Tu shouted and threw a pill towards Alex. This was one of the exploding pills that Alex had a hard time dealing with last time.

However, this time, before the pill was even half the distance away from Huo Tu, it struck an invisible wall made up of Alex's Qi and exploded.

The force of the explosion did nothing to Alex, but the shockwaves did shake Huo Tu a little. He started to get scared.

One of the reasons he had ranked 18 previously, despite being a Meridian Tempering 3rd realm cultivator was the fact that he had many of these pills and talismans, and that nobody could really stop them.

While they weren't enough to trouble the Mind Tempering realm disciples, the Meridian Tempering realm disciples had a hard time standing up against it.

Combined with the fact that his defense was one of the best in the sect, he was a walking tank that could bulldoze his way through his opponents.

However, now that he had run into a mountain that he could not bulldoze his way through, he was starting to get scared.

"Die! Die! Die!

" he shouted and threw in more and more talismans and pills. However, they all exploded before they even reached Alex.

Huo Tu sent a talisman towards Alex and at the same time sent a pill hidden behind it. Alex stopped the talisman with his Qi, but the pill used the opening in the Qi made by the explosion to pass through and reach Alex.

BOOM

A massive explosion rang out as the pill directly hit Alex in the face.

"Haha! How's that!

" Huo Tu shouted out loud. The referee started moving in to check that Alex was okay. The elders and the disciples were a little surprised at the sudden turn of the battle.

They were about to start talking when suddenly, they saw a silhouette moving inside the smoke and dust.

"Congrats!

" a voice came from inside the smoke. A figure appeared from inside and stood in the light.

"You managed to rip my new clothes a bit.

"

"Wh-What?!

" Huo Tu said in surprise. Alex was fine. Despite taking an explosion to the face, the most that had happened to him was his robe was a bit destroyed.

Alex dusted himself a little and wondered how well he could've survived the damage if it was not for the last moment's use of the Jade-skin technique.

"How are you okay?

" Huo Tu asked, but Alex didn't answer.

Alex looked at the surroundings and once again saw the many people looking at him.

"Time to end this farce.

"

He suddenly dashed towards Huo Tu. Huo Tu who wasn't expecting him to move so quickly tried his best to use the Jade-Skin technique and put on a layer of defense on his body, other than the armor.

BOOM

The sound of Alex's fist hitting the armor alone was enough to scare the surrounding people. Even though the Armor could stop a physical attack from anyone that wasn't Mind Tempering 7th realm or above, it was still unable to stop the momentum and Huo Tu was pushed back.

Luckily for him, the armor had stopped most of the momentum and he was sent back only a little bit. Still, that was a very scary experience for him.

"Hmm, I will have to put on a bit more damage behind my attacks huh?

" Alex said and dashed forward once again. Huo Tu threw the talisman and pill in his hands, all of which directly landed on Alex.

However, that wasn't able to stop Alex. He flew past the explosion and landed another strong punch towards Huo Tu's face. Huo Tu managed to twist his body in time so that the armor was the thing that took the hit, not his body.

"Tsk,

" Alex said and started relentlessly punching at Huo Tu. Huo Tu tried to block as much as he could, but from time to time, he would mess up and Alex would end up hitting his exposed body parts. Still, till the end, he managed to block all of the hits coming to his head.

"You are lucky. You will be the first to witness the technique I am working on,

" Alex said. Suddenly, a golden aura sprang forth from his body, blinding the audience that was watching.

Suddenly, the light converged as it stuck around his right arm as if they were a metal glove for his hand. Alex had come up with this simple technique after he was able to freely control the metal Qi and energy whenever he wanted, so long as it did not have someone else controlling it already.

He had based his technique on what Pearl did with his golden paw, and also the Sword Qi that Du Yuhan used in the competition.

"I don't have a name for it yet, but here it is anyway,

" Alex said and suddenly sprang forth towards Huo Tu.

Huo Tu's skins were as marbled as they could possibly get and he crossed his fists in front of his to block the attack.

Alex reached right next to Huo Tu and punched directly onto the arms. Huo Tu's arms broke upon contact and were immediately thrown outwards, however, they were barely able to stop Alex's momentum at all.

The first landed on his armor next and that was able to block most of the damage from Alex's fist. The little momentum that was remaining would send Huo Tu flying back, but not by much.

However, just then, the golden aura on his fist exploded out as it created an attack on its own and immediately struck both the armor and the man.

The little momentum that the armor was struggling with suddenly grew to an exponential amount and Huo Tu was sent flying away, out of the stage.

Alex stood up straight as he watch Huo Tu land almost 2 stages over and smiled. His new technique was acceptable.

Everyone was shocked at what had just happened. Nobody made a single sound and kept on looking at Alex at the stage.

"Elder?

" Alex looked and the referee and reminded him.

"Ahem, You Win!

" the referee shouted.

Alex walked up to the referee and took his badge before walking down the stage amidst the gazes of everyone there.