"We're people from the Central Continent. My name is Hao Ya and I've met with your elders before on a matter. Please contact someone with authority here so we can meet them again," Hao Ya spoke up politely.
"Did she say Central continent?"
"That's a lie, right?"
"They must belong to the Eastern or the Southern continent."
"Elders, huh?" the person that had asked the question narrowed his eyes. "That might be difficult to arrange for a few days. All of our elders are over at the Alchemy Peninsula to enjoy this year's Alchemy tournament."
"Alchemy peninsula?" Alex got a little curious. "Is that what they call the lightning peninsula now? I don't remember there being any other peninsula here."
"Yes, the lightning peninsula has been renamed to the Alchemy Peninsula ever since the lightning there disappeared," the man floating in the sky said.
"I see," Alex said. "Well, since everyone seems to be there already, then let's just go there. We don't even have to gather them or anything."
"That might be the quickest then," Hao Ya said.
"You guys go there," Scarlet suddenly spoke. "I'll go check on senior Luhei."
"Oh, do you know where to go? Can you get into the secret realm without my help?" Alex asked.
"Senior Luhei already taught me how to enter, so don't worry," Scarlet said and suddenly jumped off his shoulder.
Instantly, her size grew over 10 times, and soon enough she towered over each and every person that was there.
The people that were flying in the sky were also frightened due to the sudden change and prepared to attack just in case. However, before they could hope to do so, Alex sent out Heaven's Impact for all of them, attacking everyone in the sky at once.
Everyone that was flying in the sky suddenly lost consciousness and fell to the ground. At this time, Scarlet flew away from the group, flying north toward the Domain of the Ruler.
Alex grabbed the people that had fallen and laid them on the ground gently.
"Alright, we have what we need, so let's go," he said and brought out a ship from his storage ring.
"Ooh! Is that a flying boat, father? Can we fly on it?" Ronron asked excitedly.
"Yes," Alex said. "Have you ever flown before?"
"A couple of times by myself, but it was always inside that room, so I don't know if that counts or not."
"You can fly however you like in this place," Alex said. "However, first let's go meet up with the elders. We will have enough time for you to do everything you've ever wanted in here."
Ronron quickly nodded. "Okay," he said and got onto the boat that Alex had brought out.
Graham and Hao Ya also got into the boat, and finally, Alex entered. Pearl jumped next to them as well and all of them were ready to leave.
Feeling Qi for the first time in a long time, Pearl immediately started cultivating.
"Oh yeah, the cuts you see on me are fine. They're nothing to worry about," he quickly told the group so that they didn't freak out when they saw it.
With Pealr cultivating right next to him, it was inevitable that they would witness it.
"What cuts?" Ronron asked curiously.
"It will come up soon," Alex answered and focused on steering the boat for now.
The group was confused, but they didn't say anything at all. They simply waited to see what these cuts were. Alex waited too.
However, no matter how long he waited, no cuts appeared on his body at all. That confused Alex quite a bit. He turned around to look at Pearl to make sure he was cultivating, which he was.
"Hmm? My body must be just that much stronger than his now that I don't even get affected," Alex said. It had happened before when his body had surpassed Pearl's cultivation base, there were barely any cuts on his body at all.
However, even then there were some cuts around him, no matter how minor. This worried Alex. Was something wrong?
It took a minute or so for him to realize exactly what was happening. When he did, he couldn't help but feel very bad and disappointed with the situation.
Pearl no longer had the White Tiger's bloodline at all. As such, he no longer had access to the skill White Tiger's Dominating body, which when resonated with Alex's body would cause him to involuntarily practice the technique.
Since Pearl couldn't use that technique now, Alex couldn't either. As a result, he no longer had any cuts to worry about.
He wouldn't worry much about it at all normally, as he had other ways of improving his physical body now. However, when he realized just what it meant for Pearl, he was saddened.
If Pearl couldn't cultivate this technique at all, then he was not capable of improving his body just by cultivating it. He had lost access to that set of skills entirely and Alex couldn't help but blame himself for it.
However, no matter how much guilt he felt, no matter how much pain he suffered because of it, it wouldn't help fix Pearl's problem. This only pushed him further and further towards making Pearl go through the ritual so he could evolve.
And that fact only served to depress Alex even more.
"Where are the cuts father?" Ronron asked. "Is everything alright?"
"Everything is fine," Alex said with a soft smile. "Don't worry. It's better if the cuts don't show up for me."
Ronron gave a bright smile back which helped lessen the current pain he felt. He turned around and focused on the situation at hand.
Very soon, they were flying past the Blazing Earth sect which was where his aunt was most likely currently at.
Alex stopped for a moment and quickly went to ask if he could meet his aunt there. The people there were surprised that he was even who he said he was, and very quickly a person came out of the sect gates.
The figure was a middle-aged man whose eyes went wide the moment he saw Alex.
"Yu Ming?" he asked with a surprised look when he saw that.
"Oh, Sect master Bai, how are you doing?" Alex asked.
"YU MING? Is… is this really you?" he asked once more. He couldn't believe that he was seeing the same young man from over 25 years ago who had been abducted right under their noses.
"It is me, senior," Alex said with a smile. "I was hoping to find my Aunt. Is she in there?"
"Your aunt? Oh, Elder Li Zhumei? She's not here. She's participating in the Alchemy tournament being held over at the—"
"Alchemy Peninsula? Thanks, senior, I will head over there right now," Alex said and turned around before flying onto the boat in the sky.
"Wait, where were you before this? How did you—"
"Senior, I will come back soon with all the answers, please just wait patiently," Alex said and took off with the boat.
The sect leader of the Blazing Earth sect was left bewildered for a while, but soon a smile appeared on his face. Their savior had in fact survived and had returned back to them.
'I must ask elder Li to force him to join our sect by whatever means, even if it means that I have to give up my seat,' the man thought before walking back into his sect.
