*Huff*
...
*Huff!*
...
"Ahhh!! I give up! I give up!" Struck on his solar plexus, Gwon felt his insides churning, his battered flesh unable to take much more.
'Master! Help me please! I can't do anything, how can someone cancel their martial arts so often without backlash?!!'
Panicking as well, the woman's soul remnant had tried to intervene, but Alexander's battle experience proved too much for her to even dream of hindering.
'I... I can't! I just can't! It's as if every time I intend to help that man predicts all possible outcomes and prepare for a counter... I just can't do anything! I would not be able to stop him for even a second!' Intensely tugging at her hair, the woman felt useless, while her disciple felt hopeless.
Smirking at the one sided beatdown, Alexander had quite a lot of fun beating this sandbag called Gwon.
"Take this!" Cancelling two martial arts in a row, Alexander then used a right kick to hit Gwon's abdomen, sending him flying into the distance, coughing blood like a fountain.
His figure blurring, Alexander reappeared above Gwon when he had reached the end of his momentum, sending a drop kick toward his head, ending in a clean hit cracking both the earth and skull below.
*Cough!*
Blood everywhere, Gwon's clouded eyes had already lost their luster long ago.
Exhaling powerfully from his nostrils, Alexander felt his enjoyment diminish considerably.
"It's getting boring..."
Hearing these words, Gwon felt terrified, immediately doing his best to protest and plead when his vision turned dark.
A single punch from Alexander enough to obliterate Gwon's head, exploding like a watermelon, his headless body fell to the ground with a thump.
'Eeeek!!' Gnashing her teeth, her mouth starting to emit a clattering sound, the young woman in white clothes, behind the only small tree available, watched in horror as her young master Gwon was utterly dominated by a man with a lower cultivation base, or so she concluded.
'Young master Gwon was a second stage Primordial Harmonization Realm powerhouse, even the city lord wouldn't dare offend him for no reason! And such a powerful talent died... just like that?!'
Aware of the spying woman long ago, Alexander secretly sent tendrils of Celestial Qi underground.
'Huh?' Feeling a faint rumble from below, the woman first knelt, then laid down on the ground, before placing her ear on the grass.
Not even enough time for her to scream, her head was impaled by multiple tendrils of Celestial Qi.
These same tendrils snatching her space ring, they headed back to Alexander, who was currently holding a beautiful woman's soul remnant with his bare hand.
Chocking her, he did not beat around the bush.
And as he was about to question her, was enlightened to much better idea.
Feeling the ominous premonition, the woman tried to extirpate herself with fervor, but had her head suddenly grabbed by Alexander's hand.
"N...Noooo!!" Crying, she could not stop Alexander's [Hive Mind Demonic Legion Technique], a purple glow engulfing the woman, soon turning into a viscous goo.
Her screams of despair muffled by the purple goo, it managed to turn her into a puppet.
'I hesitated between this and a normal soul searching technique... but I'm more proficient in this one.'
Releasing the woman's soul, Alexander only had to start posing questions.
"Who are you?" Wanting to check her background for possible threats, he obtained a rather satisfactory answer.
"I am Julia Demerit, an outcast from the Demerit Clan."
"Alright... so no one would really take her death seriously, perfect! Then tell me, what cultivation realm were you in?" Expecting her to be a former expert, he was not surprised at her cryptic answer.
"I was a second stage Greater Existence Realm powerhouse."
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"How did you end up like this?"
"I was betrayed by my best friends, they backstabbed me when I was using the World Tribulation Fruit to breakthrough my bottleneck."
Her eyes still empty husks, her tone deadbeat, Alexander did not mind.
"Who are they, where are they and how much would I gain from handing over your soul remnant to them?"
Noticing her hesitation, Alexander clicked his tongue before increasing the control.
"..."
"They are Jonathan Valros and Jade Ghelmon, both are inside the Central Heart Continent and would reward you handsomely for handing me over, if you are stronger than them. Otherwise they will just kill you."
"Hmm~, and how strong are they?"
"... They are both at the Greater Existence Realm at the very least."
"So nothing specific... then tell me more about cultivation stages from the Primordial Harmonization Realm onward."
"..."
"..."
Frowning, Alexander exhaled his worsening mood, increasing his control even further.
'This bitch has quite the powerful soul! But a soul remnant is just that!'
Julia's soul remnant twitching uncontrollably before convulsing greatly under the brighter glow, she somehow managed to continue.
"The Primordial Harmonization Realm has six stages, namely the Soul Tempering Stage, Celestial Soul Tempering Stage, Nascent Celestial Soul Forming Stage, Nascent Celestial Soul Condensation Stage, Nascent Celestial Soul Stabilization Stage and Perfect Nascent Celestial Soul."
Blowing some air, Alexander was not sure what to think.
'I mean... it's straightforward... but it's also too fucking long! Nascent bla bla bla stage... I'll just say first stage and so on.' Still recording everything he heard on both paper and memory jades he still retained, meant for recording memories, he continued.
"For each stage, tell me how much resources are required for a perfect breakthrough."
"Soul Tempering-"
"Just say first stage, second stage and so on!" Interrupting her, Alexander did not want to run out of patience.
"The first stage requires 250 thousand Marrahva Crystals and one soul crystal."
'That I already knew.' Preparing himself to record everything, he was not too surprised at the ridiculous demand on resources.
"The second stage requires one million Marrahva Crystals and four soul crystals, the third stage requires four million Marrahva Crystals and eight soul crystals, the fourth stage requires sixteen million Marrahva Crystals and thirty-two soul crystals, the fifth stage requires sixty-four million Marrahva Crystals and 128 soul crystals and the sixth stage requires 256 million Marrahva Crystals and 512 soul crystals."
'So basically four times the last stage... Well that's kind of expensive! I don't know if the entire Southern Demonic Continent even has that much!'
Pushing Julia's soul further, he prompted for her to continue.
"After the Primordial Harmonization Realm comes the Immortal Sky Realm, divided into four stages, namely the Sky Shattering Stage, Sky Assimilating Stage, Cloud Ruling Stage and Sky Metamorphosis Stage."
"Nice, now tell me about the requirements!"
"The first stage requires one World Seed-"
"Hold on a minute! What's that? I heard your slave or whatever talk about it, what is it?"
Interrupting the woman causing her to convulse, Alexander had to increase the control once more.
"A World Seed is a small marquise shaped green gem emanating multiple Heavenly Laws-" Immediately taking out the green crystal he had obtained, Alexander showed it to her.
"Are you talking about this?"
"..." The woman's mind frying once more, Alexander was really running out on patience.
"Oh fucking hell, I said, is this it?" Placing his hand on her face once again, he increased the control even more.
"..."
"...It..."
"It is a World Seed."
Sigh
"Great! Then continue with the explanation."
"..."
"The explanation about the Immortal Sky Realm's resources requirement!"
"The first stage requires one World Seed, the second stage requires three World Seeds, the third stage requires nine World Seeds and the fourth stage requires twenty-seven World Seeds."
'Hmm~... So three times the last stage. Very easy to remember!'
"What are you waiting for, go on!" Waving his hand at her, he waited, still recording everything heard on multiple platforms, to avoid a lacking backup.
"Above the Immortal Sky Realm is the Greater Existence Realm composed of three stages. Namely the World Dominator Stage, Inner World Expanding Stage and Inner World Tribulation Stage."
"What about the requirements! Stop wasting my time you retard!"
"The first stage requires 243 World Seeds, the second stage requires 2187 World Seeds and the last stage requires 19 683 World Seeds."
"Are you kidding me right now? Isn't it like nine times the previous stage each time?! In World Seeds to boot, not Marrahva Crystals or whatever?!"
"... Yes."
Holding himself back from punching her out of frustration, Alexander continued.
"What is after that?"
"..."
"..."
"I asked, what is after the Greater Existence Realm?"
"I... I don't know."
"What do you mean you don't fucking know?"
Julia's soul remnant, as if retaining some sanity, began shivering in fright, feeling Alexander's anger.
"T-The Greater Existence Realm is the highest cultivation stage to my knowledge."
"Well you're fucking knowledge is shallow you dumbass!" Clicking his tongue, he could only give up. And as he was about to store her soul remnant in a jar, he saw it crack.
"And~ she's dead... well goodbye potential rewards!"
Julia's soul remnant crumbling in a pale blue light, her soul's fragments disappeared as if melted by the world.
Alexander's purple goo falling on the ground, he destroyed it.
'No need to leave any evidence.' His figure blurring, he flew high above the clouds before coming back down in front of the city gates a few hours later, the night having already fallen.
'I obtained quite the useful information, I should use this technique more often in the future. I don't get why everyone else said I was a monster for using this, it's so useful! What a bunch of clowns.'
Back to his usual routine in search of wealth, Alexander could tell that gathering so many Marrahva Crystals and soul crystals would take him either extremely long or barely a few days.
'So I either stay in safe areas and farm crystals for years on end, or I go to a much stronger zone and hopefully not die... Wasting my time here, knowing I'm probably not immortal anymore is actually a worse idea than going for much stronger places. But it's not like I, Alexander, don't have any tricks up my sleeve!' Laughing out loud, scaring the passersby, Alexander walked under the moonlight, surrounded by a bustling atmosphere.
'Next on my list is the Demonic Land Region!'