2077 Silvermist
Blackfrost arrived back at the guild having let Alex return to his store. The entire way back, he still couldn't believe what had transpired. The duel, which was meant to be something to save their store, had now turned into something to get approval for a Supreme Immortal Alchemist exam.
Blackfrost hadn't seen the switch coming.
'Poor Yanwei,' he thought. He wasn't worried about Alex at all. Being a disciple of the Blue Silk sect, there was no doubt he would be fine. Similarly, the other workers in Alex's store could just leave for another store to work in or come to the guild.
But Wang Yanwei would alone be the victim in all of this should Alex fail. Hell, even if he somehow miraculously won, there was nothing that said that their store was going to be saved.
'Stupid child,' he thought and sighed.
He arrived back at the guild and thought to go meet the two others. Their conversation had come to an abrupt end earlier, so he wanted to apologize for that.
He knocked on the door and walked in.
Silvermist, the tall and muscular man, sat on the bed with his eyes closed. Grimsight sat on a chair close by, balancing a single spear Qi on his index finger.
It vanished when he saw Blackfrost walk in.
"My apologies for making you two leave earlier," he said. "Have the two of you come to any decisions regarding your departure?"
Grimsight said nothing and turned his one eye over to the man who sat on the bed. Silvermist opened his eyes and said, "Since we didn't find what we were looking for, we've decided to go check the Spring Grass continent. We'll go there and then to the Rosesteel continent and search around there. Hopefully, by the time Snowleaf returns from Godkiller's tomb, we'll have found what we're looking for."
"I see," Blackfrost said. "Will you be leaving right away or wait around for a while?"
"I think we'll leave," Silvermist said. "I see no reason to stick around here anymore."
"Well, stay around until the Duel in 5 days then," Blackfrost said. "That kid from earlier, Dawnblade, went ahead and agreed to some stupid terms, so at the very least, you should watch something entertaining before you leave."
"Dawnblade?" Silvermist asked, confused. "Is that the girl or the boy we saw?"
"I don't know, boss. Sister Yanwei brings up many good points. Your record isn't good enough to win against her, and she lost in her duel."
"But I will win," Alex said. He turned toward Yanwei and the others and said, "Remember to bet on me. We need to earn as much as possible from this since I changed the duel terms."
"That was a stupid choice and now you're asking me to make some more stupid choice," Wang Yanwei said with a scornful look. "You're just making us lose more money."
"Trust me, we're not losing anything," Alex said. "If you lose your money at the end, I'll give you the shield I got from my sect. You can sell it to get your money back."
"Can I get your cauldron, boss?" Rocksoul asked.
"No, but I do have metal shards that went into making that cauldron, which I will give you should you lose your money too."
Rocksoul smiled happily.
Fang Yuxie shrugged. "I trust you'll do it. I got no worries in betting, but are you sure you want me to bet so much of your money?" she asked.
Alex had handed her close to 400 thousand spirit stones, which was just asking for trouble. He hadn't told her that he had kept the majority of it for himself. "Yes, all of it," Alex said. He was about to say something else when the door to the store opened.
"We're closed this morning. Please visit another—"
"Dawnblade!" the voice cut through Fang Yuxie's words, stunning her.
Alex turned around, curious to see who it was that had come, and was genuinely surprised to see Ninerise standing by the door.
"Brother Ninerise, what are you doing here?" he asked.
"I finally found you!" the young man said with a deep sigh of relief. "You left so abruptly that I didn't think I'd get to see you again. I'm glad you didn't stay in your sect or I would've never found you again."
"Find me? Why would you want to find me?" Alex asked.
"I want a duel as well," the young man said. "I hear you do that. You're doing one today, aren't you? You and me, we fight. Whoever wins, tells the other person the truth."
Alex was a little stunned. "What truth are we telling each other?"