789 Meeting the Elites

"Alchemist Yu, you're here," Liang Qiu and Han Daiyu walked up to meet Alex and started talking.

"I see you've already met these two," Zhou Ren said and turned to the rest. "Everyone, over here," he called out to the group.

"Come and meet the miracle Alchemist that returned from the dead just to fight in the tournament with us. This is brother Yu Ming," Zhou Ren introduced him.

"Brother Yu, it's great to see you again. I didn't think you would make it so far so quickly." Fu Tao walked in front of them all and bowed his head.

"It's a pleasure to see you here, brother Yu," Lu Yan walked in front and cupped her hands in greeting.

"Greetings, brother Tao, sister Yan." Alex cupped his hands and greeted them back as well. 'True Emperor 9th realm, True Emperor 7th realm. Both of them got quite strong, huh?'

"Huh? You two already know him?" Zhou Ren asked.

"We met each other back when we were lost in the Beast Realm. Brother Yu here comes from the empire beyond the forest in the north," Fu Tao explained.

Alex sighed. 'The cat's out of the bag. Not that there was ever in a bag to begin with,' he thought. It was only a matter of time before people learned about this.

"I heard you were in the empire and returned a few months ago, is that true?" Fu Tao asked.

"Ah, City lord Fu must've made it there safely then. Yes, I was in the empire. After my near-death experience in Icy Hell, I decided to go see my masters and fellow disciples again," Alex said.

"I see. You must have a way through the beast realm now then," Fu Tao said.

"Somewhat, yes," Alex said.

"Enough talk you two. Brother Yu needs to meet with the others too," Zhou Ren said. Zhou Ren turned toward Xue Meirong.

"You've already met Meirong right, so no need to introduce you there," Zhou Ren said.

Alex saw Meirong subtly nod at him and he nodded back in greeting.

"This is brother Guo Chiang, from the Broken Ravine sect. One of the strongest amongst us."

Alex looked at the deathly-faced man that looked bored out of his mind. He humphed a bit when Zhou Ren spoke, but other than that showed no other reaction towards them. 'True Emperor 9th realm,' Alex read his cultivation base as well.

"This is sister Shen Hua, from the Shen family."

"Hello," the blue-haired girl cheerfully greeted Alex.

"Hello," Alex greeted her back too. 'True Emperor 5th?' She was one of the weaker ones there.

"This is brother Jin Tengfei, from the Jin family."

Alex greeted the yellow-robed man and saw surprised that his cultivation base wasn't very high for some reason.

However, now that he thought about it, he never had a strong cultivation base back in the Demon realm either. What made him strong was his Sword Qi.

Now that it had been nearly 10 years, it was bound to get stronger for sure.

"And finally, this is brother Song Shing, from the Song family," Zhou Ren introduced him.

Alex greeted the tall, long-haired man in the bloody red robe and smelt iron in the air around him.

'Such strong Blood aura,' he thought. 'On top of that, he is a True Emperor 9th realm too.'

Until now, there were only 4 different people he had seen with that cultivation base. Fu Tao, Song Shing, Guo Chiang, and Liang Qiu.

"Well, I would introduce you to the prince that is one of our seeds too, but… wait, aren't I missing someone?" Zhou Ren looked around.

"Oh hey, what are you all talking about?"

A short and thin man with a mouse-like face walked up to them from somewhere.

"Ah, here he is," Zhou Ren said.

"Brother Yu, meet He Liwei, the strongest disciple of the Glory's Edge sect," Zhou Ren explained.

"Yu? As in the Alchemist Yu?" the short man turned to Alex. "Oh, it really is you. I've seen you in those talisman recordings. It's great to meet you, miracle Alchemist."

The young man walked up to Alex and shook his hand. Alex shook his hand as well and just then he realized what he had done wrong.

"Oh, you know what this is," the man said as a smile appeared on his face. "I didn't think I would find a fellow trapped man in this tournament."

"What are you talking about?" Zhou Ren asked as he couldn't make head or tail of He Liwei's words.

"Nothing, just a secret between two men," He Liwei smiled at Alex.

Alex gave a smile back as well, but in his heart, he was cursing himself for getting caught up in the moment.

'Goddammit! He's a player. I got caught up in the moment,' he thought. 'Is it bad? Will something happen if he knows I'm from the central continent? In the first place, he shouldn't know about it.'

Alex started thinking of all the things that could go bad from others knowing that he was a player, but for the most part, he couldn't come up with anything.

'Maybe I don't have to worry about it in the first place,' he thought.

Alex checked his cultivation base and realized he had a True Emperor 6th realm cultivation base.

'That's… doable. Unless he has some tricks up his sleeve,' Alex thought.

"Well, good job on making friends with the miracle alchemist Liwei, because he's in your group," Zhou Ren said.

"He's in my… what?" He Liwei turned to look at Alex. "You're in my group?"

Alex nodded. "If all goes well, we will meet in the fourth round," he said.

"Aw, that sucks man. Well, at least you'll make it to the Top 128 if that happens. That's something for an Alchemist like you," He Liwei said.

Alex felt a hint of anger boil up in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face.

"I will try and overcome my obstacle then," Alex said.

"You don't mean me right?" He Liwei's face turned into a grin.

"Not necessarily you. I meant whoever is in my path throughout the tournament. Be it you, or something that beat you and took your place," Alex said.

"No one is doing that," He Liwei shook his head while his grin turned maniacal.

Alex turned away from him and looked toward Zhou Ren. "What about the rest of the seeded people? I don't see them," he said.

"Well, I can't help you on that end. Even I don't know who they are. I believe they've been chosen from the strongest rogue cultivators, so they must have been selected somewhere else. I saw their names, but I don't recognize any of them."

"I suspect we will know them soon," Liang Qiu spoke up. "But now, it seems we have to start moving."

She gestured towards the other side of the room where the staff was beginning to pour in to gather them up.

"Everyone please gather by your group in front of your brackets," A staff asked and everyone started walking up to them.

Alex walked along with He Liwei to make up the 64 people group that would be fighting amongst themselves until a single one remained.

"Number 705 and 706, you're up."