"It isn't very surprising since he had already suffered a Qi Deviation before that had become a problem to his longevity. The only reason he even entered the True Emperor realm was thanks to your pills and his longevity had improved a little."
"He had gotten lucky that time around, but… this time he wasn't," Lang Shun said. "After the Qi Deviation, he entered another final closed cultivation to try and breakthrough, but we were informed that he had died during that."
"I see," Alex said. He couldn't help but feel quite sad about it. "And your father, martial uncle. Is he alright?"
"Oh yes, my father is doing perfectly fine. He now lives in Maroon city over to the west. There aren't many people living there, so he enjoys his easy life in a small city where he occasionally makes pills for people," Lang Shun said.
They arrived at the elder's hall and everyone entered. Lang Shun called for some people and one by one they came.
The first to enter was a woman with long flowing hair and bright skin. Her face held no smile, but she was still quite pretty without it.
"Elder Lang, why did you call for me? Do you require some—" her eyes fell on the group that was in the room, especially on Alex.
"Yu Ming?" she asked, her face finally showing some emotion. "Wh-when did you get here?"
"Sister Zhou Mei, I did not expect you to be the first one to arrive. How are you doing?" Alex asked her.
"I'm… I'm doing fine, great even," she said. "How are you doing? You've been gone for nearly 3 decades when you said you would be gone for just half a year or a year at best."
"Oh, I did, didn't I?" Alex gave an awkward smile. "I'm sorry, I ended up getting teleported somewhere I couldn't return from. I have now and I even brought a few people along with me."
The Older Alex couldn't help but be in awe at the person he was looking at. He hadn't realized that he had completely forgotten about her until the very moment Alex spoke of her name. Only the did the memory of a talented girl that was the disciple of the 2nd and 3rd elder come to his mind.
Alex introduced the older Alex to Zhou Mei who had a hard time believing what she was hearing. It took her a moment to get over the disbelief and started talking with him as well. After that, Alex went around introducing his family to her.
They talked with Zhou Mei for a bit, making some small talk in the process. Zhou Mei seemed quite comfortable about it all, especially since she seemed to be close with his mother as well.
Another pair of footsteps rang through the hallway as someone else appeared. "Aaarh!" a screeching voice suddenly filled the room as the woman that appeared ran towards Alex the moment she saw him.
"Mingming! You're back!" she hugged him even while he was seated and only let go of him after a few seconds. She placed her palms on her waist and looked angry. "Where were you all this time? Why didn't you come sooner?"
"It's good to see you, Fanfan," Alex spoke to the newcomer. "How have you been doing?"
"Aside from being extremely angry right now, I'm doing fine," she said before turning her head toward the others. "Who are they?"
"Believe it or not, that's Yu Ming too," Zhou Mei said, pointing at the older Alex.
"What do you mean, Meimei?" Fan Ruogang couldn't understand. Unlike Zhou Mei, it took her a while to believe that the older Alex was also an Alex.
Wan Li walked in during the explanation and was surprised to not just see Alex, but also hear that the older one was him as well.
Fan Ruogang held onto Wan Li's arm and pulled her inside. "Do you believe it, that's Yu Ming too," she said.
"It's certainly unbelievable, but not beyond the realm of possibility," Wan Li said while looking at the older Alex.
"But it's still surprising, isn't it?" Fan Ruogang asked while starting up a conversation with the older Alex to get to know him better.
They talked for a while before a group of footsteps sounded from the hallway. The group turned to see 3 people enter the room.
Of them, two were a middle-aged couple, while the third one was a child.
Alex immediately recognized the couple and was even surprised. What surprised him more was the child in front of them that looked quite similar to the two of them.
"Brother Yu? You're back?"
Kong Yuhan was more than surprised to see Alex in front of him. Zhou Mi gasped in surprise as well when she recognized Alex.
"Brother Kong, Sister Mi, how have you been doing?" he asked.
"Great, great," Kong Yuhan said as he walked inside. "How have you been brother Yu? It's been such a long time that if not for our memories, I would've most likely forgotten how you even looked."
Alex smiled a little. "And who is this?" he asked, looking at the young girl that barely looked like she was 16 years old.
"Oh, this is our daughter," Kong Yuhan said. "Yumin, this is brother Yu Ming. He is the guest elder's son."
"Oh! Greetings, senior Yu Ming," the girl bowed in front of him.
"Yumin, huh?" Alex asked with a puzzled face. "Your name sounds similar to mine. How are you, Yumin?"
"I am doing very good, senior Yu Ming," she answered.
"Hmm, her name is similar to your's isn't it?" Kong Yuhan thought. "What a coincidence."
"She has been following your Alchemy teachings that you left behind for her parents ever since she was born and even I help her a lot of times. Thanks to that and her own hard work, she's managed to reach the top of the current generation of disciples," Helen explained.
Then she turned toward the girl. "Come here Yumin, I want you to meet someone else," Helen called for her and introduced Ronron to her.
Kong Yuhan was surprised that Alex had a daughter, and then he was surprised there was another Alex entirely.
Alex cleared the confusion and also mentioned what his real name was to them. After that, the group fell into a talk that lasted nearly an entire hour.
During this time, Alex explained in brief why he couldn't have come back so many years ago and why it was only now that he was back.
"Your alchemy must have reached another level now, hasn't it?" Zhou Mei asked.
"I wouldn't be surprised if he can make Immortal pills with his eyes closed now," Wan Li said from the side.
Alex smiled. "I will give you a demonstration to show where my alchemy skills have reached later on," he said.
He then turned his head and looked toward the hallway where another person appeared. She was an old older figure, a person in her mid-40s from how she looked. As soon as she appeared, everyone turned to her and bowed.
The woman bowed toward Helen once and then turned to Alex. "Greetings, senior. I am Shao Chun, the current sect leader of the Hong Wu sect."
