379 Sword King

"Boom!"

"Fire Phoenix Art, First Stage. Phoenix Summon."

"Seven Stars Cut."

It made a huge shockwave when the phoenix collided with the sword wave. Alex had been fighting him for a few minutes. It was an intense clash, but Alex could feel that Elder Dolf was not using his full power.

Alex gritted his teeth as he finally steeled his heart.

He was wondering which trump card he would reveal to defeat Elder Dolf. He got a few trump cards.

First, he could use his array to defeat him. Second, he could fuse both of his intents to make a stronger intent. It should let him fight Dolf Kolk on equal ground. However, it was already weird enough to have two intents, and if he fused it in front of him...

When Alex was thinking about that, Elder Dolf spoke. "I don't mean to stop you on your path. I just want to test you whether you are worthy of being one of the people that will represent our sect in the Grand Tournament or not.

"After seeing you like this, you are indeed equal to 9-Star Martial Lord elders if not stronger." Elder Dolf contemplated for a while before he said, "Well, I will give you one challenge. If you can surprise me, I will leave this place and let you get the token."

"Surprise you?" Alex narrowed his eyes.

"Yes. You can surprise me with whatever you got. After all, I still feel you are holding back, and I don't like it. Even with my strength, I am not one of the top ten in this Grand Tournament. So, with your cultivation speed, you should be able to advance another star which can make us equal in strength.

"But, you still could not handle the people that are stronger than me. That's why show me! Show me the strength that is capable of toppling those people! I know you have that strength, you just don't want to show it.

"I don't know why you hide that, but I assume you want to win the Grand Tournament, right?"

Alex furrowed his eyebrows as he said, "Yes."

"Then, show me! If you are afraid I will blabber this to anyone, then I can assure you I won't! Even with Heavenly Oath, I can still find a way to tell the others. I, Dolf Kolk, assure you with my deceased parents' names, I won't tell anyone about it. I don't care about Heavenly Oath as I find this is the highest level of promise that I will ever have in my life!" Dolf Kolk said with a serious expression.

Alex even felt goosebumps when he heard that. He felt that what he said was true. But Alex was still contemplating as he did not know whether he should do it or not.

He could certainly surprise him with his array or his 'Twin Intent.' but it was too ridiculous. It was already hard enough to reach his level in domains alone. Coupled with his Alchemy Talent, if Alex showed it to him... Alex was gritting his teeth as he remembered that only the sect master and the first elder that knew about his Array.

"Domain?" Alex realized something. It was about his domain. He gulped down as he thought about something that was less surprising than the other two, albeit only a little bit. He was planning to change the shape of one of his domains.

It should be surprising enough. And with the fact that Alex had an extraordinary talent in the sword, he should not question that much. Elder Dolf would think that it was possible because of him. After all, he also could use Spear Art with his sword.

Alex also remembered that the sect also had a Sword King as their founder. There should be any record about this in the sect. And as someone as powerful as him, he should know about it. He was currently half-step to Sword King, so if he showed this, he should be qualified.

It was a bit frustrating that he could not do anything other than show him something like this. If only he had more time, he would be able to beat this old man without relying on something like this.

He took a deep breath before canceling his Spear Domain.

Dolf Kolk was frowning when he saw that. He did not understand why Alex suddenly recalled his Spear Domain. But suddenly, his jaw dropped when he saw Alex domain changed its shape from a sphere to a cube.

"Wha-!" He never expected that Alex could change the shape of his domain.

"Did I pass?" Alex looked at him while narrowing his eyes.

"Ye-!" Just before he said 'yes.' Dolf Kolk bit his tongue and said, "No!"

"What?" This time, it was Alex's turn to be surprised. He was clearly surprised by his domain, but this old man still said no.

"This is not enough to beat those old monsters!" Dolf Kolk roared.

Alex's emotion was already on the edge as he was frustrated about the fact he could not do anything. If it were the past him, he would just think it was normal he could not do anything. But Alex managed to reform himself.

Alex wanted to be angry, but it only showed that he did not think it through. He still had many other trump cards, so he could not get work up just because of that.

"Not enough? Ha...ha...haha… Are you really clueless as to what I just did?" Alex let out a small laugh as he clenched his sword. Suddenly his domain started shrinking.

"!!!" Dolf Kolk was confused by this. He thought Alex must have given up. After all, even though what Alex did surprised him, he really felt it was nowhere enough to defeat the top ten contenders for the Grand Tournament. But he was wondering why Alex said he was clueless. He thought it was only for show and had no meaning but Alex's word kept lingering in his mind.

The domain continued shrinking.

50 meter…

30 meter…

10 meter…

5 meter…

When the domain shrank to one meter, it shrank a little bit more before moving toward Alex's sword like a liquid. Alex gritted his teeth as he felt a numb sensation in his hand, but he still managed to swing his sword once.

"Seven Stars Cut!"

"!!!" Dolf Kolk was surprised by this sudden move. He thought Alex had given up the moment he recalled his Sword Domain. But he suddenly realized that Alex did not recall his sword domain. Instead, he compressed it.

He realized what just happened. He understood the reason why Alex said he was clueless when he showed he could change the shape of his domain.

As one of the oldest elders in the sect, he already read many books about swords. And it happened when he read an ancient book. It said, 'He, who does not hold a sword, but still wields a sword, shall cut down all of his enemies with the blessing of the sword. For he, is the King of Sword.'

"Seven Stars Cut." He also used the Seven Stars Cut to destroy Alex's sword wave. He realized it too late. He never knew what that sentence meant, especially with the part about the blessing of the sword.

After watching Alex, he finally realized. The blessing of the sword meant Sword Domain. Dolf Kolk watched the clash between their Seven Stars Cuts, but the result was already clear.

Alex's Seven Stars Cut immediately cut through his sword wave and made its way toward him. He immediately swung his sword to challenge this Sword Wave.

"!!!" He felt how strong Alex's Seven Stars Cut was. He used every ounce of his strength as he roared, "HHaaaa!!!"

"Boom!"

When Alex watched his Seven Stars Cut explode, his legs finally gave up. He never thought that what Dolf Kolk did, triggered him into using that move. In his practice, he could change his domain, but whenever he compressed it, he could not channel it to his sword.

He did not know why, but he clearly succeeded in doing that. With this, he officially became a Sword King.

He fell to the ground as he completely used all of his energy. He could not even lift his sword again, let alone have another fight. So, what will happen next, he did not care about it.

He looked at the smoke that appeared because of the explosion of his sword wave. He was trying to see through the smoke to see what happened to Elder Dolf.

After a few more seconds, the smoke was finally cleared away, and Alex could see Dolf Kolk's figure with a big wound on his chest. Even his sword was broken.

However, his body twitched a bit before he looked at Alex. "Bahaha, I never thought you are really a Sword King."

He walked toward the token and looked at it a bit. He then turned to Alex and tossed the token to him.

Alex caught the token while looking at him. "Are you not going to participate in the Grand Tournament?"

"Don't joke. There is no way I won't participate in this kind of event. I will just search for another token after this. Hahaha… To think there is another Sword King in this sect, and he is in front of me!" Dolf was laughing wholeheartedly.

"Don't worry, I won't say anything about this. In fact, If you just decided to show it in the tournament… Ugh, I am really looking forward to it. Those people will cower as we have a new Sword King after more than a thousand years! Right, don't worry about the others, I had checked our surroundings before we fought, so there should be no one that will bother you. So, take your time and recover your energy." He then left after he said that.

Alex looked at him and shook his head. He was tired after using all of his energy. Sherry and Kyle were also not with him, so he was alone.

Alex focused on recovering his energy. At least, after he checked his surroundings with his Spirit Eyes, there was no sign of monsters or people around him, so he should be fine.

He was wondering what kind of opponents he would face in the Grand Tournament. Elder Dolf alone was already that strong. Although he had his confidence in beating all of them after a bit more training in these three months, he was still curious.

After all, he might need to reveal his power if the opponent was stronger than Elder Dolf even after he reached 7-Star or 8-Star Martial Lord. However, at the very least, he already dealt with the Southern Kingdom.

Even if they came to participate in the Grand Tournament, he thought they would not have a single 10-Star Martial Lord since Bima had died. After all, he remembered that each kingdom would only have one 10-Star Martial Lord.

Zhou Kingdom aside, Alex did not know whether one of the top ten in Elder Dolf's mouth was the 10-Star Martial Lord in the kingdoms.

And it seemed that he was not the strongest in the sect. Assuming he was the weakest 10-Star Martial Lord and the other sects would have the same number, then there should be more than ten people he needed to wary. Of course, it did not mean he was afraid of them. He just wanted to make sure he knew about them first and made a plan to win.

After a while, he decided to go back since he already waited for more than thirty minutes. He needed to go back and show the token, so the sect master approved him.

When he reached the initial location, he was surprised as he could see Charya there, and she seemed to have passed the test. When she saw him with his current state, she was surprised. "Say, who did you fight?"

Alex pointed at the seventh elder and Silvia.

"Eh? But they have been here for a while."

"I fought Elder Dolf." Alex sighed as he handed his token to the sect master.

"..." Charya was surprised and could not say anymore. Even the sect master, Elder Conn, and Silvia were shocked.

"That ruthless old man that doesn't know how to hold back?!" All of them screamed like they just got the shock of their lives.