"What are you talking about?" Alex asked. "We don't have much time."
"No, I truly cannot leave with you, young man," the old woman said. "Unless all 10 of us make the decision, I cannot leave the Southern Continent. That is an oath we spoke."
"What?" Alex was angered by this absurd oath. "Are you saying you can't go with me to the Sunless lands?"
"No," the old woman said with a saddened face.
"Fine," Alex said. "Then I will go on my own."
He was about to leave when he thought of something and turned towards the man that was on the floor. "Did Zhu Shaofan come here earlier?" he asked.
"I... I do not know who that is," the man said.
"Did anyone come to meet your patriarch?" Alex asked.
"Oh, yes. Someone did," the man said.
"Where is that man?" Alex asked.
"I... I don't know. He was with the patriarch until he was not," the man said.
Alex frowned for a second and turned towards the old woman. "He can't leave the continent either right?" he asked.
The old woman frowned. "No, his oath does not include that. There is a chance that he will have left as well," she said.
Alex frowned. If that man was there as well, he would definitely kill Alex once again. "Then I will have to hope that he didn't," he said. "I'm leaving."
Alex shot off without saying anything any longer and flew toward the east as fast as he could.
The sun was starting to set by this point and the night sky was almost visible to the east with the moon showing up on the horizon.
Using a general estimation of where he was supposed to go, Alex started flying as fast as he could.
His speed was fast, but not as fast as a Saint Soul realm cultivator. Given that the patriarch of the Kang family was most likely one, or maybe even owned a boat artifact that could reach a very fast speed, he had to give it his all.
While his speed wasn't fast, Alex could reach the Sunless lands faster by simply lowering the distance he needed to fly.
The best way for that was to constantly teleport as he flew.
Alex blinked out of existence and appeared some 700 meters away, from where he continued flying. His speed never dropped, but he did manage to skip over 500 meters of distance every single time.
He did so multiple times and could feel the strain of using Dao multiple times. The usage of Intent strained his mind, so he had to put some gap in between the jumps.
As he got close to the ocean, Alex started worrying about Zhu Shaofan. Even without him, it would be him alone, fighting against a bona fide Saint Soul realm cultivator. If he was any strong, Alex would be in serious trouble.
He thought for a moment and brought out something from his storage ring.
A talisman.
He quickly passed on a message telling the recipient exactly what was happening and what he was doing.
"Come help me if you can."
He put away the talisman and focused completely on the task in front of him. He teleported multiple times and felt the burden of the dao on him, but he didn't let that stop him at all.
His spiritual sense spread wide as he continued flying through the dark waters, while his cultivation base disappeared as he hid as well as he could so that the aquatic beasts didn't find him right now.
Alex didn't know how much further he had to fly. The Sunless lands were far enough from the continent that the elders didn't consider them to be part of the continent.
Alex wondered if he could even make it in time. He was starting to doubt himself.
Then, he sensed something. A group of people was flying on a boat rather leisurely as they made their way towards the Sunless lands as well.
Alex saw the group with his spiritual sense, but it took a while before someone from the group noticed him due to his concealed cultivation base.
Alex saw the 10 or so people that were on the boat, each one of who had a cultivation base that was well in the upper Saint Core realm, or even in the Saint Soul realm.
Alex sensed the strongest person there, a Saint Soul 6th realm cultivator, who looked at him through the boat that had gotten close.
His eyes went wide when he saw who it was.
A voice reverberated in his head, but it was one that came from a woman, rather than a man.
"You little bastard!" she shouted. "You killed my son. I will have my revenge."
Alex was surprised for a second and understood. Given that he had killed the Patriarch's nephew, she was most likely his sister or his sister-in-law.
"Just you wait," she continued speaking. "I will have you watch as we kill your father."
"Men, capture him!" the woman shouted.
The boat slowed down to intercept Alex and 7 people flew out of the ship.
Alex looked at the number of people and frowned. 7 people wouldn't be a problem for him if it wasn't on top of the ocean.
Any sort of battle here would not only slow him down to reach his father, but it would also alert the sea beasts, which would cost him even more time.
Alex frowned, but he didn't stop. He flew directly toward the people and saw them bring out weapons one after another.
As he got close, Alex lit a small fire in his and sent it flying forward. The people got ready to attack it, but before they could, Alex poured as much energy into it as he could.
'Explode!'
The ball of fire suddenly exploded into a brilliant ball of light that struck all 7 of the cultivators and even rocked the boat slightly.
Alex dodged the shockwave from the explosion on this side and teleported to the other side where he was hit by it. Using the shockwave as a push, he continued flying, forgetting about the people behind him for now.
He hoped the beasts would delay them for a while so he could get to his father as soon as he could.
He flew some more, nearly 2 more hours at his current speed with the constant teleportation before he saw something in the distance.
The moon had disappeared long ago from the horizon, hidden behind the relentless clouds that covered this part of the ocean.
Thunder and lightning sounded from even this far away and Alex could already feel some raindrops hit him even this far away.
As he got closer, the rain got just that furious. That let him know that he had just about reached the Sunless lands.
The Sunless lands were a group of 9 islands with a few smaller islands that were almost always covered with clouds. It didn't always rain, but that wasn't a rare sight either.
As the lands rarely saw the sun, they were named as such.
The Kang family owned most of these islands, and the mines in it were theirs to excavate.
Alex wasn't sure which one of the 9 mainlands his father would be in, so he had to search for each one. His spiritual sense reached the maximum distance it could, and even then it could hardly cover any part of the islands.
Finding his father would be hard if he wanted to do it in time.
Alex had to think of some other way to find him, especially since he probably didn't have a cultivation base.
Alex thought for a bit and came up with an idea. It was obvious that his father and anyone else that would be in those mines was not there legally. They were enslaved and that is what the Kang Patriarch was trying to hide.
Also, the Blood-tainted lead was better mined by people with stronger bodies so that the toxin didn't ruin it so quickly.
Using these two facts, Alex could understand that whoever was in charge of guarding these people had to be both very close and reliable for the Patriarch to use and at the same time strong enough to put a bunch of angry slaves in their place.
'Reliable and strong,' Alex thought. 'I'm looking for a strong cultivator from the Kang family.'
With his search requirement shifted to finding cultivators, it was a much easier task for Alex. Immediately, his spiritual sense searched the lands before him as he found people with a strong cultivation base.
Saint realms were somewhere he could start from, but he needed someone stronger, at least in the Foundation realm if not the Core realm.
He moved from one island to another, and by the third island, he noticed something. On the edge of one of the islands, there was a small set of tents and crude houses built.
Near there was someone with a cultivation base that was midway through the Saint Core realm. He didn't look like a guard but the head of security.
Alex wondered if this was the person he was looking for when he saw something on the person.
A ring was prominently on his finger, one that Alex could never forget.
"That's the bastard!" Alex thought. His father was most certainly on this island, most likely amongst the group of people that were in another tent.
Before Alex could search for him, however, the man looked in his direction and brought out a spear from his storage.
He pointed it toward a man that was next to him that Alex had missed.
Alex saw the man and his eyes narrowed with murderous intent.
"Get your weapon off of my father."
