Alex understood something from his current exchange. His body was way too weak to fight against the girl on its own. If he wanted to win this match, he needed to help his body just a little bit. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶 He started using some Qi to improve his speed and defense. As for overall strength, he was okay with not doing much damage to the girl. After all, there was an alternate way to win for him. Alex stepped back and let the girl get ready again, and once she was back up, he attacked. The girl pulled her bowstring, only to realize that Alex was so much faster now. She could keep up, but it was definitely harder this time around. Alex moved through the stage in a weird pattern to throw her off her aim, but the girl was way too good of an archer to get thrown off by something like that. She let go of her bowstring and a fiery arrow came flying toward him. Alex struck it to parry it, but the girl used this opportunity to move as well. She flew backward while sending a gust of air toward him. As soon as Alex diverted the arrow, he was hit with an unbelievably strong gust of wind which made it hard to move forward. The woman now had a barrier created in front of her and was readying her next attack behind it. Alex saw that and got ready to intercept it. Another lightning arrow left her bow, but this time it turned into a snake that flew through the air toward him. Alex was ready to stop it, but the snake split into 5 different snakes that fell all around him. The moment they landed, they formed a sort of cage that imprisoned him. "Huh? Not bad," he said to himself after seeing that attack. He struck the cage with a single strike and broke free. He dashed back toward the woman and dodged another attack before landing a strike on the barrier in front of her. The barrier was sturdy, but Alex's attack was strong for just that moment and easily broke apart the barrier. The girl yelped in surprise, but Alex's sword was already on top of her, hitting her shoulder while she wasn't ready to protect herself. Alex stopped and moved back. "That's two," he said, reminding the girl. The girl couldn't help but get slightly annoyed and immediately shot out more arrows toward him, sending a barrage of attacks to keep him occupied. Alex blocked and dodged through the many attacks to go hit the girl again. By now, he was starting to get a hang of the fight's dynamics and he understood when he could hit the girl and when he could not. With both speed and defense on his side, he easily overwhelmed the girl for the rest of the match. After he landed the final hit on the girl, he stepped back and smiled. "You lost," he said. "Please destroy the talisman." The girl frowned and pulled out her talisman. However, before she could crush it, she stopped and looked toward Alex. "First tell me, why did you not use your skills in our fight?" she asked. "I just didn't want to. This was just training for me," he said. "Are you saying that I'm so weak that you can win without giving it your all?" she asked. "Unfortunately, that is what I'm saying," Alex said. "I can understand if that offends you, I will ask the staff to find stronger opponents for me." The girl thought for a bit and said, "Attack me normally. I want to see how strong you are," she said. Alex paused for a bit. "Are you not going to follow through on our rules?" he asked. "I will after I understand why you decided to not use everything you had on me," she said. Alex shrugged. "Fine," he said. Suddenly, his swords glowed white with sword Aura rising from all around him. The girl was shocked to see Sword Aura as Alex had only been using Sword Intent a few times throughout their match. Alex casually swung his sword and let the Sword Aura fly through the stage toward the girl at a moderate speed. The girl felt the oncoming attack and was beyond terrified when she sensed just how strong it was. "Saint Foundation 6th realm!" she shouted and got out of the way quickly to dodge the attack. The Sword slash struck the wall behind her, making a loud sound in the process. "You ready to give up now?" Alex asked. The girl quickly nodded and crushed the talisman she had. Alex bowed a little. "Thank you for fighting with me. If you can, please tell the staff that I am too strong for someone like you so I can be matched up with someone stronger," he said. The girl mindlessly nodded and the two staff from before walked into the arena. "Congratulations on your win, brother Yu. Please come with me," Ren Jurong said and took Alex away. Alex walked with him to the room he had been in previously and sat down. "Here is what you have managed to earn from today's battle," He said as he handed the storage bag to him. Alex looked at the money inside and gave no more thought to it, since it was just the deposit he and the girl had to make before the fight. "Would you like to rest for the next few days, or would you like to fight again?" the man asked. "I would like to fight again," Alex said. "But please find someone stronger, much stronger. It would be best if the person is a Saint Core realm cultivator." "The Battle Hall chooses what opponent you will be fighting at its own discretion," the man said. "But your suggestion will be considered as well." Alex nodded and stood up. "Please notify me when my next match is. I will return for now," he said and walked away. He left the Battle Hall and went back to his place of temporary residence where he cultivated for 2 more days before his next match was finalized. Alex arrived on the day of the match and was once again taken to a waiting room by the staff that seemed to have been assigned to him. "Who's my opponent this time?" Alex asked. "Zi Zenping," the man said. "Is he strong?" Alex asked. "I'm afraid I cannot tell you that right now," the man said. "I hope the person is strong so I can have a proper fight," Alex said. He was given the offer to bid on the battle, but Alex refused again. After all, he wasn't here for the money. After waiting for a while, Alex went to the fighting arena where he saw his next opponent. His opponent was an older man with Saint Foundation 1st realm cultivation base. "Wait, he's weak. I thought I would be matched with someone stronger," Alex said to the man next to him. "As I said, brother Yu. The matches are set by the Hall. You cannot ask for one and get it," he said. "I thought my suggestions were heard," Alex said. "They are, but the fighters are usually biased or wrong about their own strength, so we set the matches on our own," the man said. "If you do keep on winning, we will set you up with stronger opponents. For now, here is your talisman." Alex was slightly annoyed, but he said nothing. He waited for the other two to leave and fought his opponent again. The man used a sword and had a rather elusive fighting style. Alex found this a much better opponent than his last one, so he fought to his heart's content. However, even then, it didn't feel right to fight without giving it his all. He started wondering if fighting beasts really was the only way to scratch that itch. He won against the man rather easily in the end and walked away with another sum of money he didn't care about and a request for a stronger opponent. Preferably one that was in the Saint Core realm. The staff assigned to him gave the same answer again. Alex left with frustration and went back to his place to cultivate while waiting for his next fight. It was getting close to the time when he had to go back to make his pills again as it had already been nearly 3 months since the last time. So, at best, he had about 2 more battles to go through before he had to return. He was starting to believe now that it was a mistake to have joined here. He shouldn't have been so hopeful of a place like this at all. "No, I still have one card to play," Alex thought. A day later, he was notified of his next match. Alex went to the Battle Hall 30 minutes prior to his match and was taken to the room where he waited. His next opponent was mentioned to him and Alex sighed. He had done some research in the last two days and he knew how strong this man was supposed to be. And it was not Saint Core realm. "You will be able to fight any minute now," the staff told him. "Good," Alex said. "I want to bid on myself this time." "Oh, sure," the staff said excitedly. "How much would you like to big?" Alex took out a storage bag and handed it to the man. "11.5 Million True Spirit stones," he said. "You will double it if I win, right?"