They had come here to find out more about Pearl's mother, to see if they could avenge her. However, the very first thing they found out was that her father was dead.
Not only that, he had died 50 years ago, around the same time when Pearl and his Mother had flown over to the Western Continent.
Around the same time, the Lightning had struck someone in this area. Around the same time, the Beasts paradise had closed its borders.
If he were to believe his first hypothesis, then it was around the same time that the Azure Dragon had died as well.
Around the same time, players had started joining the game.
How much of this was coincidence? How much of it was not? Alex believed that a few of these could really be coincidences. But he refused to believe that all of it was.
There were things going on here that he needed to learn more about.
Clearly enough, he needed more information.
He looked at the 7 beast, especially the lion and frowned. Could he ask them directly? Would the question be too much?
What if they were involved in it all too? What if they had gotten together and killed the Shi family, killing Pearl's mother and grandfather?
'Wait no, the sword means the Azure Imperium was involved,' he thought remembering the sword in his storage ring. He had yet to bring it out in this continent as doing so would be the same as giving away who he was.
'Even if they weren't involved in attacking Pearl and his mother, they could have been involved in attacking his grandfather,' he thought. 'Or did he fail breaking through?'
Things were getting confusing now. A single possibility that he held had now branched off into different direction with none seeming too out there to not be a possibility.
'I will need to gather some facts first,' he thought. 'The more facts I have, the better it is.'
The very first fact that he wanted a confirmation on was whether Pearl's grandfather was close to breaking through to the Immortal realm or not. He was over 5 thousand years old, so there was a possibility, but Alex still wanted to find out properly.
He looked at the seven beasts and finally realized what it was that felt so odd aout the beasts that had been bugging him this whole time.
He realized that… he couldn't sense any cultivation base from them at all.
That wasn't exactly correct. He could sense their cultivation aura and could tell that they were high in the Saint realm, but aside from that, there was no specificity to their aura.
It was what people felt when he used his concealment technique. Were they doing the same? He wanted to know.
"I'm sorry if I shouldn't be asking this, but I'm getting a little curious about something," he spoke up.
"Go on," the Lizard spoke. "If you shouldn't be talking about it, we'll let you know."
"Thank you," Alex said. "What I wanted to know is why I can sense your cultivation aura, but I can't tell what it is exactly. Are you using some sort of technique or artifacts?"
"Oh!" the Elephant spoke. "Because of this."
Her trunk moved around to something next to her neck and she pulled out something thick to show off to Alex that was not visible beforehand at all.
Alex looked closely and frowned for a moment as all he saw was a rope of some sort. However, when his spiritual sense landed on it, it dissipated instantly.
"Oh!" Alex realized immediately what it was that he was looking at. "That's… that's the Heavenly Silkworm's thread, isn't it? It's so big."
He saw how large the thread that went around the Elephant was and was surprised by it. He looked around at the other beasts and started noticing more and more threads woven into ropes.
The deers antler, the Ox's tail, the Lizard's arms, the Swan's wings, the Eagle's talons, and the Lion's mane.
Each of these beasts was wearing a Heavenly Silkworm's thread that was thick enough to be a rope. Even a single palm long thread cost a fortune out there and these beasts were wearing it as an accessory?
"Wait, Heavenly Silkworm's thread can hide cultivation aura? This is the first time I'm hearing about this," Alex said. "I was told that it only stopped Spiritual energy."
"If you have a lot of it, it can start to affect all sorts of energy," the Eagle said. "It's quite amazing."
"How do you have so much of it?" he asked. "Do you trade for it? I don't remember seeing any outside."
"Oh, no. We do not trade for it," the Ox said. "We have our own Heavenly Silkworms that we raise and get the silk from."
"Wow! You have your own silkworms, huh? That's amazing," Alex said. He tried to sense their cultivation base even through the threads, but it didn't seem like it was working.
Would it be too much to ask them to take it off so he could see what their cultivation base was underneath?
For the sake of not appearing suspicious, Alex decided to ask the burning questions in his mind later, and for now actively participated in the conversation with the beasts.
They talked for a while, asking the Crown Prince how the Emperor was and asking Alex how the Phoenix was. They didn't seem familiar with who she was, but they seemed to revere every heavenly beast at the same level instead of just the Azure Dragon.
They asked him about his age and his journey, all of which Alex had to mostly lie with some interweaving truth to make them trust him.
He did tell them that he had a beast but didn't show any to them. If he did, it would be Whisker, and he didn't want to show off his Saint realm cultivation yet.
At least not in front of the Crown Prince.
Through the Crown Prince, Alex got to know that the Emperor was still in closed cultivation, and wouldn't come out for a year at least.
"So, young prince," the Deer spoke up. "I hear you are here for one of my kin."
"Ah, yes Leader Lu," the Crown Prince spoke. "I'm making a pill and through some research, I've come to find that bone marrow from a 6-Eyed Deer would be a perfect ingredient for my next pill."
"That's quite the requirement for a pill," the 6-Eyed Deer said. "You do realize that giving away that much would weaken us quite a bit right?"
"I do, leader Lu," the Crown Prince said. "Which is why I've brought gifts for any one of your kin that is willing to go along with this stupid plan of mine."
"Haha, I'll have ot see who is stupid in my Colony then," the Deer said. "Would you like to leave now or after the sun comes up?"
"Let's leave after the sun is up," the Crown Prince said before turning to Alex. "Will you be coming with me, your Majesty?"
Alex thought for a bit and looked at the Lizard. "If Senior Hua is willing, I would like to stay in the colony for a while longer. I feel as though I have many things to learn from him."
