The old Alex arrived outside the golden gates of the Tiger sect. He couldn't remember if it was always golden or if they had changed the colors sometime later.
He looked at the mini market that was run by the sect outside of the gates and smiled at how many people there were. That was certainly a larger number, wasn't it?
He stepped forward and walked up to the guards that were in front of the sect. The guards naturally stepped forward to stop him from entering and asked, "what might you be here for?"
"Is elder Wen Cheng still here? I'm his disciple," Alex said.
The guards looked at each other and then back at the gray-haired Alex. "Elder Wen Cheng certainly is around, but are you really his disciple, senior? You don't seem to have any cultivation base, so we're sorry that we have to doubt you," one of them said.
"I am," the older Alex said with a smile when he heard that Wen Cheng was still around.
"Alright, what's your name? We will call him," the two guards said.
"Yes, my name is Alex or Yu Ming. You can use whichever one. He should know both," the older Alex said.
The guards paused. "Yu Ming? You?" they looked at him, clearly not believing him. "We've seen senior Yu Ming before. He's not some old man like you. Please don't waste our sect's time if you are just going to be lying."
"No, please. I am Yu Ming," the older Alex said. "Believe me, please. Just call my master and he'll make it clear."
"Go away, old man. We don't have time for your lies. If you are truly Yu Ming, then bring out your alumni badge," the guards said.
"I… I don't have that," the older Alex said. Even the real Alex didn't have that badge as it had been lost during his fight with the mad immortal. It was yet unsure if he had it in his soul space or not.
"Then please leave, senior. Don't make us kick you out," the guards said.
"But I'm not lying. Please just call my master," older Alex said.
"Hey, let my father in. He's come a long way to meet his master," Ronron spoke as she couldn't stand it all either.
"Young lady, we cannot let you in just because—"
Whisker jumped down from Ronron's shoulders and flared his cultivation base. The two guards instantly fell on their butts as the fear of death emerged from deep within their hearts.
The peak of the True realms was not something the two could handle. With merely a True Disciple or True Master realm cultivation base, the two could only cower in fear in front of the terrifying little mouse.
"Do what they say right now!" Whisker spoke directly in their mind and the two of them immediately called for Wen Cheng.
A few minutes later, an older middle-aged man arrived at the gate in a hurry. He looked at the three before him and was confused for a few seconds.
The older Alex saw the man that looked younger than him and couldn't help but tear up. "Master!" he spoke out and immediately fell to his knees. "This disciple greets you, master."
Wen Cheng gulped a little when he saw the gray-haired Alex. "Alex?" he called out in confusion. "Is that you?"
"It's me, master," the older Alex looked up, tears dripping down his face. "I'm so happy I finally got to see you."
The last time Alex had seen his master, he had lost an arm in the fight up in the sect leader's mountain in the Hong Wu sect. After that, he had followed his master's killer into the Forbidden Fields. And after that, he was gone, never to see this world ever again, or so he had believed all this time.
He had only heard about what had happened afterward from Pearl, but that was still over a decade ago, and hearing about something wasn't nearly as good as seeing it with one's own eyes.
"It's… it's really you?" Wen Cheng couldn't help but be surprised. He quickly grabbed Alex by his shoulders and pulled him up. "Alex, what happened to you? Are you hurt? Were you crippled? Why are you so old?"
Wen Cheng's worry was clear in his eyes and that made Alex happy. However, he couldn't help but wonder if he would worry all the same when he found out he was just a clone.
"Nothing happened to me, master," he said. "I'm just… not the Alex you remember."
"… what?" Wen Cheng was confused.
"The Alex you are used to, that's not me. I'm… a clone of his, one without a cultivation base. I…" the older Alex couldn't think of what to say.
"Oh!" Wen Cheng finally understood. "You are the one he talked about, the one that controlled his body, aren't you?"
"Yes, that was me," Old Alex said.
"Then… you are the real Alex that was my disciple," Wen Cheng said. "And you've finally come back."
Wen Cheng hugged the old Alex in a tight grip. "Welcome back."
The older Alex couldn't help but get more sentimental when he heard that. He always considered himself the fake one ever since he figured out what was happening.
He had always thought his master would see him as a fraud that had taken over their disciple's body than the disciple himself. However, hearing his master call him 'the real one' stripped away all of the fear and doubt that had been plaguing his mind all this time.
"Master!" he shouted and hugged him back as he started crying. Wen Cheng wipes his tears as well.
Ronron sniffled a little behind them as the emotions were getting to her as well. Not even Graham could remain stoic.
The master-disciple remained in a hug for a long time as years of built-up emotions were flushed out in a single hug.
Old Alex couldn't think of a single thing that could happen today that would make him happier than he was right now.
