The crowd went deathly silent, and Alex understood why. It had been remarkable enough when he just seemed to survive every fight by some miracle, dodging countless lethal blows by a hairsbreadth, constantly forging himself against his foe’s killing intent, using his enemies’ hate to hone his Gold tier art to exquisite perfection.

Even the impossibly fast speed cultivator he had only bested by getting the fool to over-extend, and at great, almost fatal cost to himself.

His last fight before this one had been his greatest challenge yet. Had he not had access to the waters of oblivion, the smart money would have been on the Deep Gold. Even if by some miracle he had managed to synergize Wood on top of Water and Steel when unleashing Black Swan, perfectly playing against his foes weakness, even with Silver Wing deflecting at least one Deep Silver Pristine Avalanche and Meteor attacks that could have obliterated him… a single mistake and the game would have been over.

For good.

It was only by forbidden techniques, exquisite timing, and the most fortuitous advantages that Alex had actually managed to survive that match against a Deep Gold.

So it was a shock to everyone, perhaps the Red Prince most of all, that the final match-up had been so spectacularly bad… for Alex’s enemies. Because if there was one thing Golden Swan and the specialized skills Alex had so deeply tied to that art were good at, it was piercing the wards and slipping past the spells of countless enemy Wujen. And if there was one element to his movement skills he made sure never to show before now, it was that he could Bullrush far more than twenty feet across the sands, and he could do it far more often than once a minute.

He could, in fact, chain 80 foot Bullrushes multiple times in the blink of an eye.

In any direction.

The perfect counter for any flying wujen, who themselves had no counter for Dark-Qi covered blades wielded by a Gold Tier 2 strength monster with 15 effective Silver Ranks in a killing art and multiple techniques focused on rupturing wards and finding weaknesses in the blink of an eye.

The results had been exactly what one would expect, sending mages against what was effectively a mage killer build. And Dongfang Hong was a fool not to have at least considered that Alex had been holding back, considering all the flying Wujen he had already taken out. Assuming the Red Prince even knew. Assuming those working under him didn’t fear the gravest of repercussions, pinning so many deaths and missing soldiers on one man. Far better to blame it on fog of war and stubborn holdout Silvers and Golds peppering the Province. And who knew how many innocent lives that bit of cowardice might have cost?

Of course, it had been at the cost of so many of Alex’s own secrets. And had he not been so willing to make use of his gates, his ultimate trump card that now imperiled him even to approach, those hideous beams of light could have ended his life in a heartbeat.

But at the end of the final match, Alex was alive, and multiple Gold tier foes were not.

And it was so damned clear from the bulging eyes and beet red countenance filled with inhuman fury that Dongfang Hong knew he had slipped up. He had made a mistake. HE knew it. He knew that Alex knew it. And that alone galled perhaps just as much as the fact that one obnoxious monkey of a Ruidian had removed so many pieces from his board.

Alex furrowed his brow, surprised to see something besides Arrogance and contempt in the Red Prince’s features. Emotions that seemed utterly alien to the saturnine-featured monster forcing a rictus of a smile before Alex. What was that he sensed?

Ah yes.

Fear.

Fear sufficient for the half dozen cultivators covered in lamellar armor that crackled with Gold tier wards and killing power to abruptly step forward when Alex dared to approach, each of them wielding guandao the very air shrieked and bled in contact with. Men who did absolutely nothing but pin Alex with eyes promising instant death.

And Alex believed them.

No matter that Dongfang Hong himself, trying to slip into the role of magnanimous headmaster, had lazily waved him forward.

As if this had been a fair and just contest, and Alex an admirable victor. Not someone that the bastard prince had tried to have killed at every turn, wasting so many precious lives in his asinine attempts.

But Alex didn’t need the awful twisting in his belly, or Jidihu’s sharp hiss of warning whispered in his ear using techniques the kistune infiltrator and assassin had never dared before to make it clear that Dongfang Hong had also been holding back.

No matter how fearsome the battles Alex had fought and survived… it had, to an extent, been amateur hour.

Because Alex wasn’t facing the master of a single city, who might have one Rank 1 Gold or the equivalent fighting under his banner.

He was daring to pit himself against a man who was the master of a nation the size of Earth. A nation with at least a hundred sacred cities. A man who had access to countless newly forged Golds and monsters that were so far beyond them that there really was no comparison. Like the Deep Gold Alex had faced that very day.

And if Alex had thought Wei Gang a monster, the six Deep Golds serving as Dongfang Hong’s honor guard were radiating spiritual currents just as potent. But unlike Wei Gang, these monsters happily wielded guandao crackling with sharpness every bit as potent as the Gold tier artifact Alex had claimed from the speed cultivator less than two hours before. Worse, all six of them kitted in armor so infused with enchantments that Alex sensed even Piercing Strike would be hard pressed to penetrate them. Even Dark Qi might avail him little, outside the netherworld where that element reigned supreme. As far as the incredibly dense ore making up the alloyed metal itself… could even Tier 2 Gold Strength hope to penetrate the armor?

He really didn’t know.

He only knew the horrific threat they signified.

And how utterly intimidating Dongfang Hong’s elite bodyguard were.

All without them moving a muscle.

Without in anyway breaking the covenant between guard and supplicant, as Alex presented himself before the supposed headmaster of this school, who just happened to be the crown prince of an entire nation.

Alex couldn’t suppress the dizzying rush of blood roaring through his skull, the abrupt swallow of a too dry throat, the twinge he absolutely refused to call a flinch. Yet all he had to do was look into amber eyes so like Xian Hong’s own to see the the reflection of his own fear flinching back at him.

Dongfang Hong’s momentary dismay turned to a satisfied smirk.

As if only then fully appreciating that did he wish it… he could still have Alex’s head in the blink of an eye.

Alex’s thoughts were racing as Dongfang Hong began to speak, struck by an epiphany so grand, it was almost the equal of the revelation that had flooded through him when he had felt utterly in tune with Wei Gang. A sense of connection and oneness with his environment and his opponents that had aided him in his latest fight against three Golds and, by some miracle, had yet to leave him in a mindless fugue.

A sage’s insights that filled him even now.

Because one thing he was damn sure of was that being a crafty conniver and a natural politician, Dongfang Hong was both paranoid, and knew the risks and temptations of power as well as anyone.

Alex wasn’t blind. He had seen the way even allied Golds always kept a respectful distance, happy to surround themselves with guards and lackeys of strongest Silver, but almost never Gold. And Alex could think of only one scenario where a man like the Red Prince would allow himself to be surrounded by countless Deep Golds at his back that could end him, or anyone else, in the blink of an eye.

It was all Alex could do to suppress the smile eager to burst from his lips, the Golden laughter that might prove his doom… or his salvation.

Because he suddenly thought he understood why the man wearing both golden crown and armor crackling with so many enchantments before him was so damned obsessed with Royal Phoenix Academy. And why, exactly, he had brought so many exquisitely powerful and deadly Gold and Silvers from his elite forces away from whatever battles were being fought elsewhere, away from managing an entire kingdom, in fact.

Alex recalled as well the tragedy that still broke his heart… why he had chosen to strike with such killing intent, men and women he might have loved like brothers or sisters in a previous life. Perhaps even a spouse, he had once loved more than life itself.

Because the more powerful a cultivator was, the more likely he or she was to be fanatically obsessed with growth and be corrupted for the sake of that growth, and the less penalty oath breaking would have on them. So a Cultivator’s Oath that could effortlessly bind a Bronze, or quickly destroy the foundation of a Basic, would do naught more than strain a Deep Silver, let alone a Gold. Especially when enticed by the blandishments of gods that had always hated Alex, his master, and all they stood for.

Except here.

In Royal Phoenix Academy. A school somehow linked to the very Golden Steps that led to the pillars of heaven. A school where your soul talisman’s strength would decide your future, and anyone who dared break an oath with that talisman in hand risked the absolute destruction of their foundation in seconds.

Power so terrible that even Gods had refused to violate the sanctity of those steps they had themselves ascended countless millennia ago…

Just in case.

When the prince congratulated him, Alex was surprised despite himself to see no trace of anger, outrage, or dismay. Nothing but a congratulatory smile. As if the hostility Alex had sensed from so many pawns were just the meanderings of his own overactive imagination.

“A most impressive series of fights, young contender.” The villain far more handsome than he had any right to be gave a pleased nod, eyes twinkling with unexpected warmth. “Though I regret the losses suffered, it truly is a delight, being able to witness legends being forged in the crucible of conflict.”

He then gave an offhanded wave at his half-dozen honor guard, glaring at Alex still, for all that they were now holding cushions displaying priceless treasures as opposed to weapons pointed at Alex’s throat. Including a tome that immediately called out to Alex, blood roaring in his ears as he beheld a priceless treasure that in that wondrous, glorious moment, he sensed was everything he could have hoped for.

Long Wang’s original tome. And Alex’s Nemesis card made it clear that the tome was utterly free of Shalu’s curses, gifted as it originally had been to Long Wang’s firstborn son, the founder of YanTu nation, long before he found himself at odds with his father.

Alex’s heart began hammering in his chest, hardly able to believe that this wondrous prize was actually before him.

Of course he knew it came at a cost.

That a certain hammer would be returned, the moment his trembling fingers dared to touch the pristine tome before him.

Yet somehow he knew just by the look in Dongfang Hong’s eyes that if he dared just that, to claim the book and run for the hills, no one would interfere with his or his companion’s departure. The Red Prince already had enough on his plate, trying to consolidate his holdings after Alex managed to put down or neutralize so many of his tools.

A path to freedom and finally, at along last, a happy ending to his tale was finally before him. All he had to do was take the tome and leave CuiJing Province for good, both physically and symbolically. The fate of the province and the grand game itself would then finally be out of his hands, and he would be free at last to live his own life on his own terms, with no strings of duty or obligation holding him back.

He was surprised by just how desperately a part of him clamored to do just that.

All he had to do was claim that glorious Jade tier tome, race for the High Road with mentor and disciples by his side… and forget all about Liu Li, Xian Hong, and Cheng Lei.

All he had to do was surrender their fates, and he was free.