The instant the giant sword had fallen on top of Alex, he teleported out of the earth constriction, and behind Trevor where his shadow was. The moment he appeared from the shadow, he immediately made a fist and started punching Trevor.

Mid punch, the golden lights appeared around him that converged onto his hands, causing it to glow the same color as well.

Trevor seemed to have noticed him and turned around to block it with his arms crossed as well.

The first landed perfectly on his bracelet, and Trevor felt the push from Alex’s punch. It was way stronger than his slash without any Qi, but that wouldn’t be enough to beat him.

However, just then, the golden light exploded as a burst of energy came forth from the punch. What felt like a strong attack at first, now seemed like an unstoppable force.

Trevor couldn’t keep his hands crossed anymore and the punch moved forward to land on his body. His entire being was thrown away from the stage as he flew out into the audience.

The entire audience was shocked beyond belief to see someone at Mind Tempering 9th realm being tossed aside like that.

Alex heard Trevor’s body dropping onto the ground far away and checked his own knuckles. Where his fist had met the bracers, the skins were split open from the impact.

‘I hit too hard,’ he thought. If it wasn’t for Trevor being unable to keep his hands to himself, he might’ve broken some bones as well.

The Elder immediately rushed to check Trevor, but his master got there before him. Trevor meekly stood up with only a look of horror on his face and a strong sensation of pain on his arm and chest.

He had lost. And it had been to someone that his master said was in the 5th Mind Tempering realm.

“How…” he asked, failing to understand the cause of his defeat.

The Fifth elder saw that he was okay and simply shook his head before leaving the place. His master did not care for him at all.

Alex didn’t stop to see that, however. Once he got his badge, he left the stage.

Luo Mei and the rest were down in the audience, looking at Alex with an awe.

“You… You didn’t use True Qi, did you?” Luo Mei asked in surprise.

“True Qi? No that was just common Qi,” Alex said.

“What?” Luo Mei cried in surprise. “Then how were your attacks so strong?”

“Don’t you remember how strong my attacks were previously? And I broke through a couple of times, so it’s much stronger. Well, there is also the fact that Trevor is weaker than any 9th Mind Tempering realm cultivator, so that’s mostly the reason why,” Alex said.

The stunned crowd let him and the others walk away.

Alex shared his victory with his sister and the other 2 for a little while before leaving for his training.

Du Yuhan was waiting for him, but it hadn’t been that long. “I heard you challenged Trevor, you won right?” he asked.

“Of course,” Alex said. “It was quite easy.”

“I thought so,” Du Yuhan said and the two of them started training. Alex was just a step away from fully learning how to use Sword Intent, and he wanted to learn it soon.

The two of them trained until late at night, and Alex finally returned back to his room. He cultivated for the rest of the night and finally stopped in the morning.

He wondered if it was okay for him to break through once more, but since he had done it just a few days ago, he decided not to.

It was a Friday, and the fighting hall gave unlimited challenges to everyone, but no one challenged Alex at all. Even Yang Ma, who he thought would come to challenge him out of stubbornness didn’t do anything at all.

So, he decided to spend the rest of the day learning more about formations. He started carving the newly bought blank formation rods and created new formations.

He had planned on doing it for the entire day. However, his day didn’t go as he planned. Around noon, he got a message from his master. Only it wasn’t from Wen Cheng, but rather Ma Rong.

It said ‘Come to the City lord’s manor right now. They want to see you again.’

“Huh? The city lord wants to see me?” Alex thought with surprise. He wouldn’t have expected the City lord to give much care to him, but it made sense since he was partly responsible for coming up with the inferior pill that would eventually lead to making a better pill for his mother’s treatment.

“Okay,” he told his master and left the house. He walked out of the sect and walked his way to the manor. The manor wasn’t very far away from the sect, so he reached there in about 10 minutes of walking distance.

Ma Rong was waiting for him outside, so she called him when she saw him.

Alex walked up to her and was a little surprised at how much her cold aura had disappeared. It was like she could fully control her constitution to do what it did as she wished.

“You’re finally here,” she said.

“Yes, master,” he replied. “Do you know why we’re being called?”

“I don’t know, but senior Kang specifically called for both you and me, so I called you,” Ma Rong said.

“Oh, okay,” Alex said.

The gate opened and the old man showed up. “Oh, the young man is here. Are you ready to come in, sect leader Ma?” old man Kang asked.

“Yes, senior,” Ma Rong said and walked in behind the old man. Alex walked in closely too.

They walked through the pathway in between the front lawn and made their way into the house.

Inside were a few people. 4 to be exact. Alex couldn’t see the princess or her guard, but the City lord and lady Mo were there.

Next to them was a middle-aged man with a lean body, sitting comfortably in the lounge area.

The middle-aged man had short hair that was parted on the left and had a clean-shaven face. His face had a fair complexion that stood out to his black robes.

‘Someone from the Royal Fu Academy?’ Alex wondered and finally laid his eyes on the young man that was sitting beside him.

The young man was a little on the chubbier side, but not very much, and his height made it look even less obvious.

He was wearing the same black robe as the other man, meaning that he was from the Royal Fu Academy as well.

However, when Alex saw the face, he was surprised to see that he recognized him. Even Ma Rong showed a hint of surprise when she saw him.

“Brother Huang?” Alex called out.

“Oh, brother Yu? Good to see you again,” Huang Fu said with a face of surprise. He hadn’t expected to see Alex there.

“Ah, it’s good to see you t—”

“Greetings, senior Lai. I hope you’re doing good,” Ma Rong said with a respectful bow, cutting into Alex’s conversation with the young man.

“Oh, hey Little Ma, you’re finally here,” the middle-aged man said with a jovial tone to his voice that did not suit his age at all.

‘Senior… Lai?’ Alex’s brain immediately churned out an answer and he also bowed quickly.

“Greetings, senior,” he said.

The middle-aged man looked at him with a hint of curiosity. “Hmm, I have seen you before, haven’t I?” he said with a tilt of his head.

“Master, he is Yu Ming. The one who beat me in the competition,” Huang Fu said with a hint of embarrassment on his face.

“OH! It’s you. You were the one that I met in the Alchemy hall in the capital, weren’t you?” the middle-aged man asked.

“Yes senior,” Alex said. “I’m happy that you remembered me.”

“Nonsense, there’s no way I would forget someone as talented as you,” the middle-aged man said. “Yu… Ming… so, you were the one who created the recipe for the sweating pill I got. Not bad.”

“I can’t be said to have created the pill senior, I more so stumbled onto it,” Alex said.

“All alchemy is just people stumbling on to things. If the first people didn’t stumble onto learning different plants and animals did different things, we wouldn’t have alchemy.”

“Besides, if it were so easy to stumble onto, people would’ve already stumbled onto that recipe. You deserve credit where credit is due, boy,” the middle-aged man said.

“Thank you, senior,” Alex said.

“Anyway, little Ma, come sit. I haven’t spoken to you in such a long time. It feels like I’m meeting an old friend right now,” the middle-aged man said.

“I had expected to see you in the capital 2 months ago, but you must’ve been very busy then,” Ma Rong said.

“Sigh, that’s true. Along with teaching this young disciple of mine, I also had to look into ways to cure little Wen’s mother.”

“If it weren’t for your disciple finding that pill, I would’ve no idea where to look into to do what. I was trying everything I learned from that— anyway, it’s good that your disciple got the recipe for that pill, even if he ‘stumbled’ on it,” the middle-aged man said with a smile.

Alex felt a bit bashful, seeing the Royal Alchemist tease him. He saw that the Royal Alchemist had started talking with Ma Rong, and she sat down to speak with him too.

So, he sat down beside her and started speaking with Huang Fu. He didn’t know if there was more to this for his visit today, but Alex didn’t care much for now.