Whenever the emperor of the Luminance empire changed, there was one thing constant. They were always told that they were not the true ruler of this land.
This land did not belong to them or any other human. In fact, it belonged to the beast. It was a truth that every emperor learned when they became an emperor. However, there wasn't much use to learning this truth as the beasts never came to retake their land.
However, 30 years ago, Bai Jingshen had arrived in the Radiant City to find Alex, and during that time he had revealed himself to the emperor.
The Ruler of the entire Western Continent, the White Tiger, the one whose land the emperor ruled, was none other than he himself.
"I see you have found out the truth as well," the emperor said to Alex. "You don't seem surprised."
"I found out half a month ago," Alex said. "Didn't you have an oath telling you to not reveal who he was?"
"That oath ended years ago," the emperor said. "I am free to divulge his information as I wish. Of course, I am not stupid enough to go for it. Speaking of which, I would like to apologize for what happened to you back then. I should have been more forceful and authoritative to stop those people from attacking you."
"Just because I couldn't reveal who had your backing, those people got ahead of themselves and attacked you," the emperor said. "And for that, I'm sorry."
Alex gave no reaction to the apology. It was something he deserved after all. "I heard the beasts attacked these sects and clans. How are they doing now?"
"The Broken Ravine sect and Glory's Edge sect have fallen from grace. They are no longer the powerhouses they used to be," the emperor said. "The Han clan, Zhou clan, and to some extent, the Jin clan have managed to get back to their original standing. They had some losses in the financial investment after losing so many saints at once, but they managed to carry through those tough times."
"The Song clan and Fu clan, however, have not recovered at all. In fact, the Song clan was ambushed by their enemies on multiple occasions and had to suffer a lot of losses."
"Those two clans aren't even considered one of the big clans anymore," the Emperor said.
"Oh, have any other families taken their place then?" Alex asked.
"There are a few that are close, but none can be said to have replaced them just yet. Those families have to beat each other as well before they are considered one of the big ones."
"I see," Alex said. He had thought he would be happy to hear about the downfall of these families, but to his surprise, he didn't even care at all. In fact, he might even have felt a little bad about the rest of the people in those families.
After all, they were the ones being punished for a crime they had nothing to do with.
"I can't say I want any revenge now, not that I can since almost every that tried to kill me is now dead," Alex said to the Emperor.
"It probably wouldn't suit you, if you really are the King of the Southern Continent," the emperor said.
Alex smiled a little. While the emperor said he believed, it was clear that he still had doubts that he was the King just as he said.
"I don't know if it would suit me or not," Alex said. "What do you say, Scarlet? Would it be wrong of me to try and get my revenge now if I could?"
"I don't see anything wrong with that," Scarlet spoke. "Why should you not get your revenge just because you're stronger? One of the reasons people get stronger in the first place is to get revenge on those that have wronged them in the past."
"I agree with her," Alex said to the Emperor.
The Emperor looked curiously at the bird on Alex's shoulder. He had seen the bird since the moment they had entered. However, because he could barely sense any cultivation base of hers, he had assumed it was a weak bird.
However, when he heard it speak, the contradicting information made him confused.
The bird was weak, but only saint realm beasts could talk like a human. What exactly was going on?
"What is this bird? if I may ask," the emperor slowly questioned.
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't introduce her sooner," Alex said. "This is Scarlet, a Vermillion Bird. Just like Bai Jingshen, she is the Ruler of the Southern Continent, the one that made me the king."
As if on command, Scarlet flew off Alex's shoulders and quickly grew to her natural size. Her fiery body was covered in phoenix flames, glowing the entire room. Her aura revealed itself and the emperor couldn't help but feel his nascent soul tremble in her presence.
He was already a 2nd realm Saint Soul cultivator, and yet the cultivation base of the beast in front of him seemed like a peak he could not hope to climb in his lifetime.
He slowly got up from his seat and fell to his knees before kowtowing in front of Scarlet.
"My deepest apologies for not recognizing you sooner," the Emperor quickly spoke. He quickly gestured for the princess to bow as well, and she did.
Scarlet seemed unimpressed. "Don't mind me, I'm just here to sightsee," she said and turned back into her small form, the flames on her body disappearing at the same time as she landed on Alex's shoulders.
The emperor knelt for long enough before getting back to his throne. "I am humbled by your presence in my throne room," he said.
"Speaking of which," Alex quickly interjected. "I came here to ask you to do something. If it helps, it's a direct order from the White Tiger."
The emperor's eyes narrowed. "What is it that he wishes for me to do?" he asked.
"You know about the Players, right?" Alex asked.
"Yes, I'm aware of them," the Emperor said.
"Good. The order is to pass along a message to the rest of the empire so that you can gather all of these players by the northern forest as soon as you can."
"Gather the players?" the emperor was surprised. "May I ask why?"
"That's because we're sending the players back home," Alex explained. "That is the message you will be passing along. Any player that wishes to return back to their home can gather up north by the Riverweed City."
"There is a teleportation formation there that will take them all back home, just like how they were teleported here in the first place," Alex said.
The emperor couldn't help but put on an amazed expression. The princess was quite surprised too.
"The players… they actually have a home they came from?" the Emperor asked.
Alex nodded. "There is a small piece of land in the Central continent where a small population of mortals lives on their own, ignorant about the outer world. That is the place where all of the players came from. That is where I came from."
"And now, I'm here to take them all back home."
