It had been half a year since Pearl's return.
His family and friends had been more than happy to see Pearl back and Pearl was happy to see them too. While Alex was away, busy with his own things, Pearl spent his time with the others, just like Whisker.
Alex didn't waste his time either. Since they were going to the other continent soon, he spent most of his time making pills that would be helpful. He also improved the techniques he had combined to the greatest possible level and practiced them with Scarlet.
Scarlet won easily as Alex had nowhere near enough strength to even harm her, but the difference in strength and speed did help him get more and more used to the power.
He did various other things as well, such as learning the many skills that used spiritual energy, all of which he had brought back from the Western Continent. He had made quite a few more blood beasts as well and finally had improved his cultivation base to the Saint Core 6th realm.
Whisker and Pearl had also shown quite the improvement in the time he had spent by himself.
Pearl entered the Saint Foundation realm fully and was on his way to the next realm. Whisker had also entered the Saint realm as well.
Alex had taught him a little about making Saint pills, but his overall Qi wasn't strong enough to handle most Saint ingredients, so he had refrained from making them after the first few.
Around a month before the promised date, Commander Long Jianyu arrived at the palace to help prepare for the exchange.
"We can leave anytime you wish, your Majesty," the man said. "We have ships ready to live with us if you wish to, or you can take the teleportation formation as well. Our people in the empire will be ready to accept you."
"Thank you, commander Jianyu," Alex said. "As to which mode of transportation we will be using, we'll have to think. While teleporting would be the better choice, I really do wish to see how one travels the ocean as I must say I'm inexperienced in that regard."
"Whatever you choose, we can accommodate to your wishes, your Majesty," the man said.
"Please enjoy your time in the capital. I'll send someone to message you when I've set the date," Alex said.
After the man was gone, Alex gathered his elders and started to discuss what they should be doing.
"There's no way there is an ambush waiting for us, is there?" Alex asked. He was partly paranoid because he himself was going to find someone in the royal family that was most likely responsible for Pearl's mother's death.
Also, he hadn't had a pleasant experience when someone wanted to make use of his alchemy skills previously, so he wanted to be sure that there would be no danger.
"I… don't think there's much danger, your majesty," the elders said, a bit unsure why Alex was even thinking as such. "This is an inter-continental exchange program. If they dared attack guests from our continent, they would have to fear the wrath of Her Majesty."
"Hmm, you're right," Alex said. Even though Scarlet wasn't as strong as she was an Immortal, the other people didn't know that. So, even if she couldn't help him, she could be a threat to anyone that wanted to mess with them.
"Still, I'm planning to go through the ocean so that I know everything before I get to Dragon City," Alex said.
"Hmm, it would be wise for sure," one of the elders said. There was also the problem that without the Central continent as a connecting hub, the direct teleportation to the Eastern Continent was far enough that it would suck out enough energy from the Saint Spirit vein to immediately kill it.
It would no longer be capable of drawing in Qi on its own and instead would become a mine of spirit stone.
They started making plans on who got to go next. It was quickly apparent that everyone wanted to go to the other continent as not only would they be free from work, but they would also be able to treat it as a vacation.
"Are you guys sure you want to go?" Alex asked. "You will have to look after me since there's no telling when I'll decide to sneak away into the cities and maybe even far beyond that."
As soon as they heard that, the elders got hesitant. They did not want to look after Alex at all as he gave them a headache with his impulsive acts.
After a bit more discussion, two elders were chosen to leave with Alex.
Elder Yao Ning and Elder Liang Shufen were chosen to go with him to the Eastern Continent. Both of them were female elders, but each one was chosen for a different reason.
Elder Yao was chosen for her strength. She was the oldest, wisest, and most certainly the strongest of them all.
Elder Liang Shufen was on the lower side when it came to age, but that helped with making her one of the more pleasing elders to look at. As such, they decided to send her with them in hopes that her beauty could be of some help… somewhere.
After the elders were chosen, Alex made a trip to the Royal Alchemists to see who would be going.
He was going to take exactly 20 of them, with Jai Heiyun being the group leader. He thought for a bit and asked her to gather Alchemists from all cultivation bases that were at least in the True realms.
Jai Heiyun arrived at the palace a few days later with the information in hand. She had chosen 3 of each from each of the True realms, 2 from Saint Condensation, 2 from Saint Foundation, and herself from the Saint Core realm.
She saw no point in choosing anyone from the Saint Soul realm, and neither did Alex.
"This will do," Alex told her. "I've decided on the date. Tell everyone, we will be leaving in exactly 15 days, so have them prepare. It will be a long time before they will be back to their friends and families."
"Yes, your majesty," she said and left.
Alex spent the remaining time with his own friends and family as well. Most of them were still blind, but that hadn't hurt them at all in their daily lives.
Thanks to a few cultivation methods that the senior Yang had given most of them, almost every one of them had increased their cultivation speed by leaps and bounds.
All except for his father.
"I'll find something for you too father," Alex told the man. "If nothing else, I will make one for you after all of this is over."
"Don't worry about me," Graham said. "I already have everything I can ask for. Focus on yourself."
Alex nodded. He spent the next few days in delight, talking to his family. Then, it was time to leave.
He gathered up the 20 alchemists early in the morning and gave them a few instructions and a bit more before bringing them all to the teleportation area where Jianyu was already ready to take them to where his soldiers were at.
