Alex was shaken even minutes after the collision of the two attacks had ended. He stood in the air, with his eyes wide, knowing that the entire northern half of the Eastern Continent had most likely felt these attacks.
A pool of water was left in the ground, with the snow overhead refusing to fall at all. The Intent of Yating's fire attack still lingered in the air, melting any snow that fell.
Alex only got out of his stupor after he saw the Dragon Emperor fly toward him.
The Dragon Emperor stopped mere meters away from him and looked at him. Alex felt a scan go through his body, and let it happen. Everything he had to hide was hidden after all.
"You seem alright," he said.
"I am alright," Alex replied, feeling the Dragon Emperor's aura and seeing barely any difference at all. He had not struggled in this fight whatsoever. "How did you find me?"
That was something Alex was curious about. From what he could tell about formations, even though he had no way to determine what they were about, it was clearly meant to hide themselves.
And yet, they had been found. That too in less than 15 minutes. Alex was curious as to what was going on.
"You have something of mine," the Dragon Emperor said. "I can follow that to you whenever I wish to."
Alex frowned a little and even felt slightly scared. 'Does he know about the sword?' he thought in panic.
The black sword with the Azure Imperium's insignia was something that no one should have known about, and yet… was the Dragon Emperor aware of it from the start?
"The Dragon Medallion," the Dragon Emperor said.
"What?" Alex asked, taken aback.
"The Medallion," the Dragon Emperor said. "That's how I found you. I knew the location of the medallion and teleported to the closest city before coming this way."
Alex stared at the Dragon Emperor for a few seconds before bringing out the Dragon Medallion. The blue-gold medallion with the Azure Imperium's insignia in the middle gleamed a little in the midday sunlight.
Alex stared at it for a few seconds and proceeded to ask the Emperor. "Do you own this or something? Have you bonded with it?"
"No, our family has a treasure to locate any of the medallions that get lost," the Dragon Emperor said. "As I've mentioned before, the Dragon Medallions authority outranks every single person in the continent aside from me and my son. So we cannot let it fall into the hands of those that would use it to cause harm."
"So, you are constantly checking where this is?" Alex asked.
"Not constantly," the Dragon Emperor said. "I only just checked today when my people frantically let me know that you were kidnapped by some strong bandits. Don't worry, I won't be checking it again. I only do so when in need."
"Okay," Alex said, placing the medallion back into his storage ring. He would have to do something about it later on.
"I have notified your people of your location," the Emperor said. "They should be teleporting to the closest city anytime soon."
Alex said nothing. "Who were those people?" he asked. He was very curious about everything that had happened from his getting kidnapped, to meeting the Yating fellow, to knowing that he was aware of the Dragon's death to the fight that came afterward.
"They were initially soldiers of mine," the Dragon Emperor said. "I do not know who most of them were, probably from the Tail reason. The stronger ones though were from the Head legion, and Yating was one of the more talented ones."
Alex listened intently.
"But then, sometime later, he decided to betray me and start his little band of bandits here," the Dragon Emperor said.
"But why?" Alex asked. "Did you do something wrong? He mentioned that he wanted to take my pills to become strong enough to kill you."
The Dragon Emperor shook his head. "I do not know why it is that he wishes to kill me, but worry not. This won't happen to you ever again. I do not take threats to myself simply. I will thwart them one way or another."
Alex didn't trust the Dragon Emperor. He had more or less always known that he wasn't a very good person, even when compared to normal cultivators who only thought about themselves. On top of that, with his own soldiers going against him, even wanting to kill him, that certainly meant he had done something.
'They were there when the Azure Dragon died,' Alex thought. Why were they there? To protect him from whatever was happening to him? Or were they there to kill him?
'Pearl's mother should have been there as well,' he thought suddenly. If his hunch was correct, Pearl and his Mother had run away around the same time the Dragon had died.
That would place the man named Yating right there when it must have happened. 'He will know more about this than anyone,' Alex thought. 'I will need to find him.'
The man seemed to have said an oath as to not reveal the Dragon's death, but that did not mean that the oath worked for Pearl's mother as well. If he could find him again, he could make him speak about the truth behind her death.
The situation around Pearl's mother had remained dark for a very long time. However, now that he had met the man, he saw an exit out of the tunnel. There was light in this darkness.
The man was his light.
"What are you thinking?" the Dragon Emperor asked.
"Just wondering how your soldiers could turn against you," he said. "Just wondering if mine will someday turn against me as well."
He did not tell the truth to the Emperor. The Emperor surely knew about the Dragon's death as well and was keeping it secret from the entire world. So, if he revealed that he knew it, then he might end up being in danger.
As Alex thought about this point, he remembered that the man named Yating knew that Scarlet could not come to the Eastern Continent because of the Dragon's death.
Then… since he was the Dragon Emperor's soldier once, did he know as well?
The thought scared Alex.
"Let us return then," he said to the Emperor, not wanting to further speak about this at all.
Alex started flying and as he did, he looked at the aftermath of the battle that the Emperor had left behind. With his very first attack, he had cleaved the mountain in half, revealing everything inside.
Alex wasn't sure if he could do something like this with just a single attack.
The Dragon Emperor nodded and started flying behind him as well, but it seemed he didn't wish to let go of the topic just yet. He wanted to learn about Yating's current situation as much as he wanted.
"What exactly did he want from you?" he asked.
"Pills," Alex said. "He apparently knew about the pills I sold back in the Golden auction, and wanted me to make more of those for him. All to use to kill you."
"He can't kill me," the Dragon Emperor said. "If things go according to plan, I will be long gone from this world before he can even become strong enough to do anything for me."
Alex looked at the Dragon Emperor in surprise. "You're planning to leave this world so soon?" he asked. "Didn't you wait for something?"
"2 things," the Dragon Emperor said. "First, to have an alchemy skill so great that I don't have to worry about being low on the food chain when I do end up being an Immortal."
Alex could understand the sentiment. The Emperor had mentioned this a long time ago as well. "What about the second one?" he asked.
The Emperor remained silent for a second. "The second one is not something I can tell you about. It's something private. It is taking a bit longer than normal, so it might be a while before I go away."
Alex wondered what it was that he wanted to do. Dao maybe?
He wondered what Daos the Emperor had at that moment. He could sense the Cutting Dao during the attack that leveled the mountain. Aside from that, the Emperor had mostly stuck to lightning attacks, which unfortunately fell under the Wood Dao.
As someone with a mediocre Wood spiritual root, he had no ability to sense any dao in those attacks, like he had sensed the Burning Dao and Heat Dao in the Oathbreakers' leader's attack.
"Do you know how long it has been since we last talked?" the Dragon Emperor asked.
Alex nodded. "Over 3 and a half years," he said.
The Dragon Emperor nodded as well. "I was busy learning from the recipe you gave me," he said. "I was in deep cultivation when I was forced to come out to help you."
Alex frowned a little, wondering what the Emperor was trying to say.
"So, would it be alright if we moved up our 2nd trade?" he asked. " I know we have another 2 and a half years to go for it, but I do not want my coming out to go to waste."
Alex thought for a moment and said, "If possible, I would like to stick with the routine."
"But I do not wish me coming out to be a waste," the Dragon Emperor reiterated.
"I think that's alright," Alex said. "I know something you can do to not make it a waste."
