Alex was given a metal medallion that gave him the highest authority over the sect that not even the sect leader had.
If he wanted to, he could even expel disciples or even fire the elders. They knew they couldn't stop him if he wanted to, so they gave him everything he needed.
Alex took the medallion he was handed by Shao Chun and nodded. "It reminds me of when the master gave me full authority back when I was just a disciple," he said and chuckled a bit.
"I remember that somewhat," Shao Chun said. "I was there when that decision was made. Can you tell us what you wish to do at the start?"
"Honestly, I don't really know what I'm going to do," he said. "I have some general idea, but I will have to think for a while and see what I can work with."
"Tomorrow, then?" she asked.
"Sure, I will have thought of something by tomorrow," Alex said. "Honestly, there are a bunch of recipes that I will have to write down so I can pass them along to the sect, and that will take some time."
"Please, take as much time as you will need," the woman said with excitement that she couldn't hide at all.
She let Alex be after that, and Alex took the time to go around the sect with his family. His mother knew the place, but the rest of his family had never been there, so they tried to familiarize themselves.
Even the older Alex didn't know about some of these places, especially the Forbidden Fields that was no more. In its stead was a massive grassland that had many buildings and fighting platforms that had been set up.
Some disciples were training on top of those platforms and seeing that, Ronron could only imagine what it would be like to enter a sect.
"Do you want to fight them?" he asked.
"Wh-what?" she flustered a bit when asked. "You want me to fight them?"
"I'm asking if you want to," Alex said. "It will be just some training. I will try and find someone that can match your cultivation base."
"Can I?" she asked nervously.
"Right, my granddaughter hasn't had the chance to feel what it's like to be a sect disciple, has she?" Helen asked. "Do you want to know?"
"I mean… sure?" she said.
"Alright, starting tomorrow, you will enroll in the Hong Wu sect," Helen said. "We should have enough time for her to experience it all, shouldn't we?"
"It will take a month or so," Liz said. "It's going to take an especially long time since the formation is on the other side of the secret realm, so time is the last thing you will lack here."
"That settles it then," Helen said. "For now, let's get you someone to fight against."
Without even Alex having to do anything, Helen went out by herself and searched for someone appropriate to fight Ronron. Since this was her first fight, Helen found a girl that had similar cultivation as Ronron and asked her to help fight her.
The girl was more than happy to accept the request from the guest elder. She was told to be more of a teacher than a fighter and that was exactly what she did.
As soon as the two of them started fighting, Alex realized two things that surprised him quite a bit.
The first thing he realized was that his daughter could not fight at all. She did not have the awareness a fighter was supposed to have and was rather uncoordinated when she got flustered too.
She had no fighting style at all, which was what surprised him the most. Having trained under the senior Yang for the past 10 years, he had assumed he had taught her how to fight, but it seemed that the only thing she had been taught was how to cultivate and how use skills.
She was good at using skills, but just not good at using them at the right time. She needed a lot of training if she wanted to win any fight.
However, even without fighting experience, Ronron was probably going to win the current fight, which was the second thing that surprised him.
Ronron was strong.
She had no fighting experience and she could only use Wood Qi, but she was still very strong. That was because as she fought her opponent, Alex could see that her output was far stronger than her opponent's.
She could fight people well above her own cultivation realm, just like Alex. Alex didn't know how far above, but it was at least 4 realms based on how the other girl reacted to the skills that she had to block.
The fight continued for a while longer and Alex not only had to care for his daughter's well-being in this fight but also the other girl's. If the other girl wasn't careful, there was a large chance that she would receive a terrible injury.
Ronron was quick to catch on to things and by the end of the fight, she was starting to slowly erase the problems that were causing her to mess up.
Little by little, even without a weapon or a fighting style, just by using her skills properly, she started winning the fight.
The fight ended when Alex appeared on stage and blocked a single vine strike her daughter had sent her opponent's way.
Her opponent had made a mistake at the last second and couldn't use a defensive technique in time.
"Well done," he said. "You won."
Ronron looked at him with a blank face. "I… won?" she asked before her face turned to all smiles. "I won! I did it father, I won."
"Grandma! Grandpa!" she shouted as she ran down the stage.
Alex checked the other girl while Ronron celebrated with the family. After they were done celebrating, he took them to check the rest of the sect.
They arrived next to a bustling river that had a bridge over it that lead to people on the other side of the grassland.
The place that used to be a desert now had trees and grass growing on it. People also stayed on the other side of the river, which gave even Alex a surprise.
The Older Alex couldn't believe that the desert he remembered wasn't there anymore. How things changed in just 50 years.
Alex stared into the distance and saw the desert that still remained. From what he could tell, the desertification was reverting itself and it was doing so starting with the Forbidden Fields and making its way to where the Nine Yang Divine tree was previously located.
Alex remembered the tree and the location. He remembered the ocean there as well. That place had been an important place to him.
That was the place where he had gained his freedom.
When he thought of the location, an idea came to his mind. 'Maybe,' he thought. He had been searching for a place where he could act on his plans, but he couldn't find anywhere he liked.
However, now that he was here, it was obvious to him that this should have been his choice from the very first day.
"This is it," he said to himself. "I should get the materials ready."
