Zhan Luoyang, daughter of the Zhan Family of the Ebony Kingdom, was the fiancee of the Crown Prince. If nothing went wrong, she was to be the next Empress of the entire Continent.
There was not a single person in the continent that wouldn't be polite to her, and the same went for Alex.
"My apologies. Had I known that you were coming, I might have left with the Azure King to welcome you," she said.
"Ah, that was my mistake. I apologize," the king said quickly. "Lady Zhan has been in somewhat of a closed cultivation these days, so I didn't think to bring her along."
"It's alright," Alex said. "I would be fine even if no one came to welcome me."
He looked at the woman in front of him once again and noticed something. "You seem to be in a hurry to go somewhere, lady Zhan. I hope I'm not stopping anything urgent."
"No, no," the woman said. "I was just on my way to the secret realm to gain some inspiration. I feel like I'm close to a breakthrough on something, but it seems hard to do so right now."
"Ah, I see," Alex said. "Please go ahead then. We can catch up on some other time."
Lady Zhan nodded. "Thank you, King Alex," she said. "If you are free, we can talk tomorrow morning."
"Sure," Alex said. "I shall make some time for you."
The woman nodded and bowed before leaving in a hurry.
"I should have mentioned to her that you were coming, but it all happened so quickly and…"
Alex chuckled a bit. "As I said, I don't mind," he said. "It was partially my fault that I didn't notify you about my arrival a few days in advance as well. Let us go in."
After they walked in, the King introduced Alex to a few more people before bringing him to a hall to talk about various things and continue their conversation from before.
"Is there any particular reason that you want to enter the Enlightenment realm, your majesty?" the king asked.
"None in particular at the moment, as I mentioned earlier," Alex said. "If anything I'm more so trying to find if I can get inspired to try to reach enlightenment in something."
"Reaching enlightenment just because you want to isn't that easy, but the treasures in the Enlightenment realm do help quite a lot," the king said. "I myself learned my first dao on a chance in the domain when I visited there for something else."
"I wanted to learn the Dao of water, but to my surprise, I gravitated toward the dao of Mist. Having spent my youth around the Azure Lake's mist, it came so naturally to me," the king said. "I will pray that your majesty has a similar experience as well."
Alex thanked the man but said nothing else. They talked for a while before Ning and the elders were led to their rooms that were inside the palace.
After finally getting some privacy, he rested for a bit. He called out Pearl and Whisker a bit after that and started cultivating.
After a night full of cultivation, he woke up in the morning to the call of his elders.
He walked out and found Elder Yao in front of his room. "We had a message from Lady Zhan that she will be waiting for you in the Garden. If you don't wish to see her, we can send a message."
"No," Alex said quickly. "I will go meet her right away."
Alex left the room and went to the palace garden where the morning sun was just shining its rays through the misty sky that surrounded them.
He was greeted with the sight of a large area full of flowers and various plants with birds and butterflies that covered it completely. In the center was an open space with a small stone platform with a roof for shading.
Lady Zhan sat on a chair as she drank from a cup that was sitting on the table next to her.
She turned around when she saw Alex walk out of the palace and smiled. "Your majesty, you accepted my request," she said.
"Good morning, lady Zhan," Alex spoke. "How could I not accept your request? You could say that I have been looking forward to this ever since you mentioned it yesterday."
The woman smiled, not taking it to heart. "It is a beautiful day isn't it?" she asked.
"It indeed is," Alex said. "Although, it is a bit too misty for my liking."
"Yes, but it does create a bit of a unique atmosphere. You will find it hard to find this sort of atmosphere in many places in the continent," she said.
Alex looked around. "I don't doubt you on that," he said.
The mists covered more of the sky than the group and had a bluish hue to them that wasn't all that natural at all. When the golden sunlight peered through them, they contrasted each other, truly creating quite the mood.
"You were in quite the urgency yesterday. I hope you dealt with whatever it was that caused the urgency," Alex said.
"I dealt with the urgency, although it will take me some time to deal with the source of the urgency itself," she said. "Tea?"
Alex look at the teapot and cup sitting on the table and nodded.
The woman swiped her hand, and Alex felt the dao of heat move around her fingers, heating up the teapot in an instant.
She then poured the steaming tea onto the cup and pushed it toward Alex. "It's my own brew that I perfected in the last few centuries. I hope you like it," she said.
Alex took a cup of tea and took a sip. Immediately, he tasted something so mystical and magical that he had never really tasted anywhere in all of his life.
Even the refreshments he received in the Dragon Palace could not compare to the cup of tea he drank right here.
"You must have spent over millennia perfecting this cup of tea," Alex said. "I have never tasted something so divine in my life."
"That is the highest compliment I could have received for my tea, your majesty," she said. "Thank you for your kind words."
"It's the truth," Alex said.
He took a sip of the tea again and looked around.
"What brings you to the Azure Kingdom, your majesty?" Lady Zhan asked.
"I'm here to visit the Boundless Enlightenment domain," he said. "See if I can learn something in the time I have before I need to leave for the Gold Kingdom."
"Ah, will you be participating in just the Auction? Or will you be there for the other two events as well?" she asked.
"Other two?" Alex asked with a confused look. "Isn't it just the gold mining? What other event is there?"
"Oh, does your majesty not know?" Lady Zhan said. "About 6 months after the auction is over, the secret realm there will open up, allowing you to enter it."
"Secret realm?" Alex was a little surprised. "Ah! Are you saying that the Realm of Trials will open up in around 9 months' time?"
