The ancestors all fell to their knees when they realized who was in front of them.
"Your majesty," they shouted all at once. "It's an honor to meet you."
Scarlet looked at the lot and nodded slightly for them to get back up, but the group remained on their knees.
"You deal with them," she spoke all of a sudden and vanished from the air. When the group saw where she had vanished, their eyes widened to a point where they nearly fell out of their socket.
"W-w-where d-did her Majesty go?" one of them asked.
"She doesn't like strangers that much, so she went back to her beast space to avoid you guys," Alex said simply.
However, those words were anything but simple to the ears of the many ancestors here. When they heard that she had gone back to her beast space, that could only mean one thing.
Alex had bonded with the Phoenix.
Only now did they understand why he was the King of the Southern Continent. Only now did they fully realize just who they were talking with.
"Your majesty, please forgive us for any disrespect we may have shown you," the ancestors spoke before the sect leader and the rest could.
"I don't feel disrespected," Alex said. "You may all get back up."
The ancestors slowly stood up.
"Now that I've given you all that you wanted, let us leave," he said and started walking away.
"Your majesty," Bai Qiyi quickly called out to him. "If you don't mind, can you explain why you say that this Phoenix fire is better than some pills? As far as I understand, doesn't it do the same thing as a healing pill? As for resources, we are spending an entire Spirit vein on this. Even if it is better, I don't see how it can be so much better than just a pill."
Alex stopped and looked at the sect leader for a bit before saying, "what do you think is unique to your sect that the other 4 sects don't have?" he asked.
"Unique? You mean our landscape?" one of the ancestors asked. The Blazing Earth sect was in the state of Re, which was the only state that didn't have snowfall like the other 4 after all.
"No, not your landscape," Alex said. "I'm talking about your sect's feature. The Nether Poison sect has its poison, the Blue Spring sect has its beast taming, what does your sect have?"
"Oh, Body cultivators," Bai Qiyi answered. "What about them?"
"Do you know how the people in the Southern Continent cultivate their bodies?" Alex asked.
The sect master's eyes moved from Alex to the fire before understanding what he was talking about. "I see," he said. "Do they use the Phoenix fire to heal themselves?"
"Yes," Alex said. "How many resources do your disciples use to heal after training? How many resources can you save if they could get beat up as badly as they wanted and healed within a few hours simply by staying in front of this fire? Do you not think it's better than any pill I could've given you?"
The ancestors looked at each other, not knowing what to say. It was true that with this fire, they would save on resources for body cultivation, but in the first place, the number of disciples that body cultivated had already gone down quite a bit.
At this point, it all felt like a waste to the ancestors.
"How strong can one even get as a body cultivator?" one of the ancestors asked.
"Do you want an example?" Alex asked.
"Are you talking about yourself?" Tai Guan asked. "Weren't you strong as a body cultivator even before?"
"I was, and I'm not talking about myself," Alex said. "I'm talking about my father."
"Me?" Graham was surprised. "Do you want me to show them how strong I am?"
"Yes, father. Uhh... why don't you punch him?" Alex said, pointing to an old ancestor with a cultivation base Saint Soul 4th realm.
"Please be on guard or you might hurt yourself," Alex told the old man.
The old man looked back suspiciously as he wasn't sure what to do. He looked at the other ancestors who nodded and walked away.
"Alright, let me see how strong you really are," the ancestor said and used a defensive technique.
Graham dashed forward, leaving massive gouges on earth as he pushed against it to arrive in front of the old man in an instant.
The old man was surprised at the speed Graham showed, even when he didn't even have a proper cultivation base.
The punch landed on the defensive technique the old man had put up and caused an explosion that sent dust flying hundreds of meters around the two fighters.
The punch had created a crater around the two of them as if a meteor had landed where they stood.
The Ancestor was physically fine, but mentally he was shaken. He didn't imagine that Alex's father could ever be this strong at all.
Even if he was stronger by quite a bit, this was just physical strength. If he had a cultivation base as well... how strong could he have been?
"Do you understand now?" Alex asked the ancestor. "Your disciples can reach this level if they try, that too without spending a spirit stone on any resources aside from this single spirit vein."
"Is that enough compensation for all the resources your sect spent on my aunt?" he asked.
"Yes, it's more than enough," Tai Guan spoke immediately. "Thank you, Alex-- no, your Majesty."
The other ancestors nodded as well.
"Then, let us go back. Set up a tent around here and make sure no one extinguishes it or anything. Not that anyone should be able to but it's still better to be careful," Alex cautioned the others.
Once everything was settled, they returned back to the sect to rest for the time being.
Ronron finally had some free time to look through what she had bought from the auctions. She brought out one thing after another and started handing it out to the others.
She brought a flexible armor for her grandfather, a mental defense artifact for Pearl, a very tough, but pretty female robe for her aunt, a small pouch one could wear around their neck for Whisker, and pretty jewelry for Hao Ya.
Alex got some alchemy ingredients, which he was more than happy with.
The group happily talked to each other for quite a while until it was deep into the night. The sect had brought them some strong wine to drink, and Alex shared it with his family during that time.
Afterward, everyone left to go to their own room to cultivate and rest. Alex was a little worn out as well, especially after what he had done in the Endless Tunnel.
He needed to rest for a bit, especially since he had quite a few things to do after he had rested.
He cultivated the entire night with Pearl cultivating next to him. Then, after a night of cultivation, he sent both Pearl and Whisker away from the room.
At the same time, he asked Scarlet to leave as well.
"What are you doing that you won't even let me stay inside the beast space?" Scarlet asked.
"The room is going to fill with Death aura soon, so I don't want any one of you to be around it," he said.
"And you are okay with it?" Scarlet asked curiously.
"I have the Death Dao, remember? The aura can't harm me," he reminded her.
"Oh, right. Alright then, I'll go stay with your daughter for now," Scarlet said and called Ronron before going away with her.
Alex closed all the doors and set up a formation so that the aura wouldn't leak outside the room. Then, he brought out the wooden box that gave off the death and darkness aura.
"Good, good, let me eat it quickly," Godslayers impatient voice called out for him from inside his head.
"Okay, how are you going to eat it?" Alex asked.
"Just grab the sword and don't let go of it. I need to send most of myself into it and then I can devour it from the inside," Godslayer said.
"Alright," Alex said and grabbed onto the sword. Immediately, he felt the strong death aura coming up from the sword.
"This isn't better than the death aura of the Mad Immortal, right?" he asked Godslayer.
"No, it's better," Godslayer said. "The Death aura I got from the mad immortal was just that, death aura. However, this is both death and darkness aura, so I get an equal ratio of what can help me improve."
"So, while in terms of strength, it's quite bad, it's better in terms of helping me gain back my strength from the past," Godslayer said.
"I see," Alex nodded. "Eat it then."
"I can't wait to."
Alex felt Godslayer move out of his spiritual sea and move down his body until it reached the sword. He tightened his grip as Godslayer went into the sword and started devouring it from the inside.
It took only 20 or so minutes, but the aura in the sword was completely gone in that time period. Godslayer also devoured the aura that had escaped the sword and was in the wood and room.
After eating it all, it crept back up Alex's arm and went into his mind.
"That was amazing," he said softly. "I'm going to sleep for a couple of days now. Don't bother me unless it is very important."
Godslayer stopped talking after that, and Alex was left alone in the room with a normal sword in the end.
