Alex asked a few more questions regarding Soul Space while he looked through his own items to make sure they were alright.
Given how long everything had remained hidden in the darkness of his own soul space, he wondered if any of the items had gone bad.
Fortunately, aside from a few common and true rank ingredients, everything was fine.
The senior asked Alex some questions regarding how he managed to get everywhere around the world. While Pearl had given them an explanation of everything, it was still Alex that held most of the information regarding everything.
The senior was surprised to hear that he had consumed the Yin bead. It was apparently something the humans had taken from the Demons after winning the war, and due to the frigid nature of the bead had kept it contained in Pure Yin water, inside of another artifact.
It seemed that the outer artifact had broken while the teleportation, throwing the yin water and the bead into the Icy Hell region of the Western continent.
He was curious how Alex was able to survive at all, but after learning that the yang source of the Nine Yang Divine fruit was still inside of him, he finally understood.
"You got lucky," the man said. "Your body almost couldn't handle the energy inside the fruit. It could've turned nasty had you let it go for a long time."
"I feel lucky too," Alex said. He continued with his story about how he had to run away from the Western Continent and arrived in the Black Tortoise's domain. The Snake was more than happy to learn more about his brother, even though he had heard everything he needed to already.
Alex skimmed over his time in the Northern Continent, telling even less about what he had to experience in the Mad Immortal's grasp.
Then he spoke of his time in the Southern Realm, ending with how he became a king. Once he finished telling everything he thought was okay for him to tell, he stopped.
"I see," the man said. "I had hoped you would've stayed put in the city Hao Ya found you, but somehow the adventure has helped you a lot more than I could've imagined."
"Yes," Alex nodded.
"But you must be missing the Western Continent then," the man said. "You must be more than excited to go there."
"I am," Alex said. "I was hoping you would let me go with Sister Hao Ya."
"Hmm, sure. I have no problem with that," the man said. "I would actually appreciate the helping hand. I have to use the teleportation formation anyway, so the more people I can send with it, the better for me."
"Oh, then… can I go to the Northern Continent as well?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, sure," the man said. "It's in 2 days, so you have to be ready by then."
"2 days? So quick," Alex said.
"We have to be quick," the man said. "Some families need reuniting, so the faster the better."
"Ah, right. So, the Northern Continent is first, huh?" Alex said. "I suppose you're doing it by distance then? Meaning Eastern Continent is 2nd and Western Continent is the last one we will have to go to."
"No, we can't go to the Eastern Continent," Hao Ya said.
"Hm? Why?" Alex asked curiously.
"We can't access the Teleportation formation in the Eastern Continent at all," she said. "And I can't even get an audience with the damn Emperor. They keep rejecting me."
"Eastern Continent is a dense region. It will take a while before we can get to it," the senior said. "For now, we focus on the two that we can actually go to."
Alex nodded as a question formed in his head. "If you are working this hard to bring them all back, why did you send us all out to the world in the first place, senior?" he asked. "What was the reason you threw us out into the harsh cultivation world."
"Sigh, I knew this question was coming, but it doesn't make it any easier to answer," the man said. "Actually, the reason is… very simple, and actually very selfish too."
"Selfish?" Alex asked.
The man nodded. "The reason I did all this is that… I wanted to go back home," he said.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand," Alex said as he looked around to see if anyone else was as confused as him. Hao Ya and the Snake weren't looking anywhere but toward the ground, as if trying to look away from him.
Scarlet sighed as well, seemingly as if she had already learned what was happening.
"It is as I said," the man spoke again. "I wanted to go back home, back to the Sky God's realm, which was why I did what I did."
"How does sending us out into the world possibly help you with that?" Alex asked. "I can't wrap my head around this, senior."
"It doesn't work so quickly. It was something that I was prepared to wait at least a thousand years before it happened," the man said. "Before someone amongst you entered the Immortal realm."
"Immortality? That's what you were waiting for?" Alex asked. He tried to think of how one of them reaching Immortality would ever help them.
The senior answered it before Alex could realize the answer himself. "When you reach the Immortal realm, the world pushes you out of the realm when it can no longer hold you here. At that time, you can also take a few people along with you. Most people usually take their family with them if they want to," the senior said. "I intended for someone like that to take me with them when they ascended out of this realm."
Alex looked at the man with a stunned expression as he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You… You disrupted everyone's life… just so you can find one person who can take you home?" he asked.
"There's a little more to it, but that is the gist of it," the man said with a guilty expression.
"Why would you do that?" Alex asked. He started feeling agitated when he heard the actual reason behind this man's reason as to why everyone inside this small world had to go out into a world where it was kill or be killed. The reason why so many people died out there and had to suffer with a terrible body inside here.
"I… I wanted to go back. I can't spend my life here at all," the man said. "However, at the same time, I can't go back normally. With how many enemies I've made by stealing everything my master was keeping for the human race."
"If anyone knows I've returned, they'll first ask me to return what I stole from them. When I inevitably can't for many people, I will be killed in return, and I do not want to die," the man said.
Alex frowned. "How will going with an immortal help you there then?" he asked.
"It will help because people won't be looking out for Immortal ascendants to find me amongst their group. Even if they do, when an immortal ascends, they are randomly teleported to some weaker locations where they can thrive instead of being sent to a place with a lot of strong folks."
"That way, I will be able to sneak back into the Immortal realms without anyone finding me."
