428 Challenge

Alex walked up the mountain towards his master's manor but didn't go there. Instead, when he reached the top of the mountain, he took a left.

He searched for the house and didn't take long to notice it. This house looked remarkably better than the one he was living in, almost to the same level as his senior sister.

He walked up to the door and knocked on it.

KNOCK KNOCK

He waited for a while and finally heard the door click open. Slowly, the door opened and a young man stepped out of the house. He had a lean and stoic body with a handsome face that was underused thanks to his usual emotionless face.

"Hello bother Yuhan, do you have some time?" Alex asked.

Du Yuhan looked at Alex with a weird look on his face. "I heard you were alive. Congrats," he said. "Say quickly what do you want?"

Alex gave an awkward smile when he saw how on point Du Yuhan's conversations were. He really wasn't one for the small talks.

"I was hoping you could teach me the ways of the sword," Alex said.

"… Just ask your teacher," Du Yuhan said and closed the door, leaving Alex alone.

KNOCK KNOCK

He knocked on the door again, and Du Yuhan opened it again. "What?" he asked.

"Master can't help me. I need to learn about the Sword Intent," Alex said. "You are the only person I know that is farthest in their understanding of the sword," Alex said.

"… you want to learn Sword Intent?" he asked.

"Yes," Alex said.

"What makes you think you can learn it?" he asked.

"I already have some achievement in it, but it's at a rudimentary level," Alex said.

This caught Du Yuhan's attention for sure. "You know Sword Intent?" he asked.

"Yes," Alex said happily. It seemed he was about to get what he wanted.

"Then you are already on your way. Learn on your own," Du Yuhan closed the door once again and disappeared. This time, no matter how much Alex knocked, he did not open the door.

In the end, Alex had to leave with no result. He went to his master and trained for another 3 to 4 hours. Even Pearl joined in on this fight.

His skills which he improved over the course of the month-long entrapment were definitely getting refined so that they didn't have glaring problems he might have missed here and there, but his Sword Intent wasn't getting improved at all.

Wen Cheng tried his best, but he didn't know Sword Intent like people who had grasped it did.

Alex really did need Du Yuhan's help. So, he decided to ask for it tomorrow.

He left for the night and cultivated the entire night. He also gave Pearl a monster core to break through fast and help him get a stronger body.

When Alex woke up in the morning, he saw that the plan was working. Pearl was now at Organ Tempering 6th realm in cultivation base, which meant his body cultivation was the same too.

He smiled and logged out. He had breakfast with the ladies and went to his classes with Emily. His assignments were done, so he only had to wait for the exams now. After that, he would move on to the 2nd semester of the 1st year.

Alex returned back home and had his afternoon lunch with Emily. They talked for a while and decided to go to the amusement park soon on a romantic outing.

Alex was glad that his obsession with the game hadn't hindered his budding relationship with Emily. He was super grateful for her to be so understanding of him.

After lunch, he returned back to the game and logged in. Once he was up, he decided to go ask Du Yuhan once again.

He trekked up the mountain again and reached the place with Du Yuhan's house. He walked up to it and knocked on it.

Du Yuhan opened the door and frowned when he saw that it was Alex.

"Stop bothering me," he said.

"Teach me about Sword Intent and I won't bother you again," Alex said.

"Go learn on your own. I'm not teaching you," Du Yuhan said and closed the door. Alex tried knocking again, but it didn't work.

"Sigh, do I really have to do that?" Alex said lightly and walked away from the house. Instead of going back to his home or up to his master's house, he walked to the crater.

Once he reached there, he walked over to the fighting hall and got in the queue. People were surprised when they saw him there. By now, his name was one of the most popular amongst the disciples.

Alex waited until it was his turn and debated whether he should do this or not. However, he couldn't think of any other way, so when it was his turn to register the fight, he made up his mind.

"I would like to register a fight with Du Yuhan, Rank 2," Alex said.

The elder that was about to register the fight stopped. He looked back up towards Alex and asked, "Did you just say Du Yuhan?" he asked.

"Yes, Du Yuhan Rank 2," he said as he handed his badge up to the elder.

"Disciple I want to confirm one last time, do you really mean the 2nd ranked disciple, the direct disciple of the first elder, that Du Yuhan?" the elder asked.

"Yes, Elder," Alex said.

The elder didn't say anything else, but his eyes said everything that needed to be said. He certainly thought that Alex might have gone crazy after his win against Huo Tu.

Alex took his badge and went over to Stage 1 to wait for the battle to finish, and Du Yuhan to come. Alex waited for a while and a few matches went by, but Du Yuhan didn't show up.

However, Alex wasn't worried. If Du Yuhan didn't come here by 9 pm, he would lose his status as the 2nd Ranked disciple. And while he might not care much about it, his Master would lose his status as the 2nd in command of the sect, and he certainly wouldn't let that happen.

So, after an hour and a half of waiting, Du Yuhan came to the sect crater.

"Number 2 and Number 50," the elder himself was very surprised when he announced the number on the stage.

Alex walked up to the stage and so did Du Yuhan, only he looked considerably pissed off. It seemed he didn't like being called to battle so suddenly.

Alex and Du Yuhan walked to the opposite end of the stage and waited for the referee to signal the start.

"Begin!" the elder shouted.

Du Yuhan slowly brought out the garbage-looking common sword. As if copying him, Alex brought out his too. "Please help me learn," Alex said and bowed to Du Yuhan.

Then, he dashed forward and slashed horizontally. Du Yuhan casually brought up his sword to block the attack, but when he felt the impact travel to his arm, he realized that Alex didn't have the same strength as what he was showing.

'He's still hiding his strength?' Du Yuhan thought. The damage he felt was nowhere near the 8th Realm of Meridian Tempering.

Alex on the other hand cursed at himself. Due to being too excited to learn, he couldn't control himself enough to use his Sword Intent.

'This time I will do it,' he thought and attacked vertically this time.

'CUT'

Du Yuhan brought up his sword to block the attack. He knew exactly what damage he was going to get, so he didn't strengthen his hands any further. However, when he saw the slight light on Alex's sword, he immediately got alert and increased his guard.

CLANG

A loud sound was released from the two's clash that did not seem to match the current cultivation base of Alex.

"You really do know Sword Intent," Du Yuhan finally spoke, a little amazement in his eyes. "However, that won't mean I will teach you. It only means that I now have one more rival to fight in the sect."

Immediately, Du Yuhan's sword started lighting up as he slashed towards Alex. Alex dashed backward, but that wasn't enough. As he left, a white slash escaped Du Yuhan's sword and flew towards Alex.

Alex wanted to use only Sword Intent to fight, but that wasn't possible right now. Immediately, his sword turned golden as the metal Qi was pushed into the sword.

"HAH!" he shouted as he used the Smiting blade on the incoming slash.

BOOM

A massive explosion rang out, along with an audible sound of metal dropping to the ground. When the visibility returned, everyone could see Alex on the ground his half of his sword missing.

'Dammit, that was too strong. His attacks are nearly as strong as senior sister's,' Alex thought. He tried to stand up, but suddenly a cold feeling appeared from his neck.

He looked up to see Du Yuhan standing in front of him and his sword on his neck. "You lose," Du Yuhan said. "Don't bother me now."

" I will challenge you when I improve a little," Alex promised.

Du Yuhan stopped for a moment and said, "I felt your strength, and it's not bad. If you want to learn from me, come find me once you reach a similar rank as mine."

"I-I understand," Alex said with a grunt. Du Yuhan took his badge and left. Alex was left there on the ground looking at the crowd awkwardly.

He stood up and walked over to the elder to get his badge. However, he didn't return back to his house once he got it. Instead, he went over to the Fighting hall.

Since Du Yuhan had promised him to teach him once he reached a similar rank as him, Alex now had a clear goal in mind. 'I will need to beat Yang Ma as soon as possible,' he thought.

Alex remembered the red-haired disciple that was the third ranked disciple of this sect and had a Superior Fire spirit root. After losing to Wan Li, his pride had taken quite a hit, and Alex was sure that he would do anything to win against a Hong Wu sect disciple.

So, he would have to fight him sooner or later. Alex hoped it would be sooner since he wanted to learn from Du Yuhan. 'That means, I will have to now rank up like crazy,' he thought.

Alex walked over to the elder in charge of the registration for the fight looked at Alex weirdly and asked, "You want to fight him again? You should know repeat challenges daily are not allowed."

"No, this time I want the person at rank 45," Alex said.

The elder nodded and quickly registered the fight. Alex took his badge and went to stage 15 to wait. After about 20 minutes, a man wearing a core disciple robe appeared.

Alex looked at the man and his cultivation base and snickered a little. There wasn't going to be a problem for a while now.

Once their number was called, Alex and the other disciple walked up to the stage and handed the elder their badges.

The disciple seemed a little scared right now when he saw who his opponent was. The number of disciples that saw his match against Huo Tu wasn't small.

So, by now, everyone knew to avoid Alex if they saw him. The two of them walked over to the opposite side of the stage.

"Begin!" the elder said.

Not missing a beat, the other disciple spoke loudly as well. "I concede."

Alex was a little surprised that there wasn't any fight, but he understood what had happened. He took back the new badge and walked over to the Fighting hall to queue up once again.

As long as he had any energy in his body, he would continue fighting the higher-ranked disciples.