1609 Familiar

Alex wasn't sure when his sword was out, or when he initiated an attack. By the time he was done, his sword slash flew toward Zhao Boqin, who had to quickly swerve to defend himself.

The attack he had been about to release flew off somewhere else and did not hit the woman cultivating on the mountaintop.

Everyone stared at Alex, not a few with swords in their hand ready to do the same. Alex had only done it quicker.

Zhao Boqin's glaring eyes landed on Alex, his face slowly twisting in anger. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded. He did not care who he demanded it of.

A few people moved backward out of their fear of the man as his aura flared a little.

Alex stood where he was and looked at the man unblinkingly. "You were about to attack a person that was in the middle of a breakthrough," Alex said. "Not just anyone but someone from your battalion. Don't you see what is wrong with that?"

The man grumbled to himself. He understood what he was doing was wrong. There was no way he wouldn't. But he found it hard to bring himself to speak of it. His anger also made it hard for him to see why it was so wrong in the first place.

"Step out of my way. I will do what I must do for myself," the man said, hefting his spear for another attack.

"No," Alex moved in front of him. "You are trying to destroy someone's cultivation base just because you are inconvenienced by it. I won't allow that to happen."

"You'll stop me?" the man asked, a hint of disgust on his face. "You don't have what it takes to stop me."

"Is that so?" Alex said, hesitating a moment before pulling something out from his storage ring, and showing it to the man. The dragon medallion.

"I command you to stop," Alex said.

Everyone looked at Alex in shock, the medallion in his hand surprising them more than the fact that he stood before Zhao Boqin, who was without a doubt one of the strongest men here.

Zhao Boqin nearly stumbled at the sight of the Dragon Medallion, flustered that he was ordered by someone who had authority only less than the Dragon Emperor and the crown prince.

"How did you…" he couldn't finish the sentence. He wasn't sure if he even had the right to ask that. He gulped a little, getting ready to obey when he remembered something.

A small frown appeared on his face, his mind working hard to remember something that they were told over a decade ago.

"No…" the man said slowly. "No!"

His voice got fiercer at the end. He slammed the tail end of the spear on the ground, standing resolutely. "That will not stop me, and neither will you. Stand aside."

Alex grimaced. He knew this was going to happen, but he had hoped the man wouldn't know more than that. At least, he hoped he didn't know that the legions were not his to command even with the Dragon Medallion.

But it seemed his luck wasn't as good. 

"Step aside," the man said again. "I won't say it again."

Alex had only one choice now. The worst choice he could make, but one he had to if he wanted to give the girl any chance at all.

'I must be going mad,' he thought. He had talked about what was right and how it was the right thing to do to let a cultivator safely break through, but he didn't believe that.

If his enemy were ever breaking through, he wouldn't stand aside and wait for them to be done. He would attack them.

It wasn't that serious right now, but still, he had little need to fight for her.

But he did. 

'Dammit!' he thought. 'Why does she have to look so familiar!'

That was the feeling Alex had been having ever since he looked at the girl, and he didn't know why. Her face seemed familiar enough but he had no memories of ever meeting her.

He had never even seen her before.

He wondered if the girl was using some sort of technique to make him protect her. That couldn't be the case though, as he sensed nothing. And surely his body wouldn't listen to her so easily while no one else did anything as drastic.

'Screw it,' he thought. 'I'll protect her and then get my answers.'

It was the time to make this desperate choice.

"Zhao Boqin," he called out to the man with no hint of respect remaining in his voice either. "I challenge you to a duel."

The man's eyes widened when he sensed his talisman buzz once and then buzz once again. The challenge had been made, and even without his intention, it had been accepted.

He couldn't reject a challenge.

And this was the first match of the day.

"You…" he growled with a low but heavy voice. The aura of a Saint Transformation 5th realm cultivation base gathering around Alex.

'Stupid!' Alex cursed himself, but it was too late. He brought out Midnight and prepared for a fight.

Zhao Boqin ignored him for a second, wanting to attack the girl regardless while he was in a duel, but he suddenly found a necklace deep in his clothes buzzing with a low sound.

It had blocked a mental attack.

He quickly turned his head toward Alex. "Fine! If you want a fight, here is one."

His spear charged with water Qi all of a sudden, producing an aura that made everyone around him shiver from just sensing it.

Alex frowned as well, and couldn't help but feel scared at the sight of the attack. That wasn't the attack of a Saint Transformation 5th realm cultivator at all.

What he was going to use was the attack of an Immortal.

Through a spear filled with Immortal Qi, the man used his technique. A blue dragon crawled out of the spear, charging its way toward Alex at an inconceivable speed.

Alex knew he had to dodge it or else he would die. He just had to teleport and he would be fine. 

But he didn't want to. Not right now. Not while the man was consumed by anger. This was the best chance to beat him.

Mao Yingkong, Fang Yimu, Teng Xuegang, and a few others looked at him with worry. Some were even certain he was going to die. They couldn't even shout for him to dodge as the attack was just too fast.

And Alex remained where he was, but something appeared on his hand.

The attack landed on him and out of nowhere it turned around, charging back to Zhao Boqin who had attacked him.

The man panicked. 

He had used all of his Immortal Qi in this one attack and he couldn't protect himself from it.

The blue dragon struck him, destroying a few of his defenses before landing on him. The talisman activated, protecting him and teleporting him away from the location before the man could be hurt even more.

It took a while for people to notice him on the ground nearly a kilometer away. Sprawling on the ground, he bled from all over his body, clearly too hurt to move.

It didn't even dawn on him that he had lost the match.