Alex struggled to find any person for Pearl to train against. It had been as such for the past few months, but now it was exceptionally so.
Not a single person remaining was any weaker than Saint Core 5th realm if there were even that anymore. If they were, they were most likely hiding somewhere, inside formations that covered their tracks.
Alex wondered if he should go look for barriers or disturbances in the surroundings.
Pearl walked by his side and Whisker was on his shoulder. With Shan Wangjiu gone from the secret realm for the past 3 months, they were Alex's only companions on his journey through the vast land.
With a size of over a hundred kilometer on all side, Alex was certain there was still places here that he hadn't seen, which he wanted to.
As they walked, Alex sensed something in the distance. There was a disturbance in the sky to the east as if the heavens itself had descended.
"Dao?" Pearl looks to his left. He too sensed it.
"Maybe," Alex said. It was close, as close as 50 kilometers could be to a man, and his spiritual sense reached the aura. He tried to sense for any sort of Dao that descended. He sensed nothing out of the ordinary.
"Huh," Alex said softly, catching Pearl's attention. "Not Dao. Breakthrough."
It was hard to discern between the two and the only difference one could use to figure out which one it might be was to look into the aura and search for a singular aura that was revealing itself to the person trying to learn it.
"It's a breakthrough, I'm certain of it," Alex said. "But quite the strong one. I wonder who is breaking through."
Curiosity took hold of Alex for a moment before he let it go. It would not be right to take a peek at people breaking through, not that he wanted to. He shrugged slightly and left.
He fought a few times along the way in the next 3 days, making sure to not gain a loss. Then, he arrived at a large mountain with no tree but a grassland that sloped upward. He slowly walked halfway up the mountain when he suddenly sensed a few people's aura popping up in front of him.
As if walking out of a fold in space, two men came out not even a mere 100 meters away from Alex up the mountain slope. Until the two of them were seen, Alex hadn't sensed them at all.
That was more than enough to make Alex wonder who they were and what they did to hide themselves so well. It took only a moment for Alex to guess that there was most likely most sort of formation behind the two men.
As for who they were, the old man on the left wore a long-sleeved robe folded halfway up his bicep, which was as well kept as anybody cultivator. His long royal blue robe gave him a look of youth that directly contradicted the gray-haired and gray-beared face the old man had.
Next to him stood a young man that Alex knew by name if by nothing else. Teng Xuegang. He was a young man from the Realms Beyond Sect and had a cultivation base of Saint Transformation 1st realm.
The last Alex had seen of this man had been during the first month of his entrance to the secret realm when he had given Teng Roukang's staff to him. The next time Alex had come out, the young man had no longer remained there.
"Your Majesty," the old man in the Royal Blue bowed in front of Alex. "This one is Long Bolao, of the Imperial Azure family. May I ask why Your Majesty has come to this mountain?"
Alex eyed the man for a few moments, recognizing what his introduction meant. This man was of the royal blood of the Azure Empire, only it was so far gone that he was nothing more than just someone with blood.
However, that didn't make him any less impressive with a cultivation base of Saint Transformation's 2nd realm.
"I came here perchance," Alex said. "I only wished to pass the mountain and see what lies beyond. Nothing more, nothing less."
The old man gave a long look, thinking to himself of something, or maybe communicating to someone, before nodding. "I see," he said. "Then would His Majesty be willing to go around the mountains and the valley if he were to know that it has been occupied?"
"Occupied?" Alex asked curiously. "May I ask by whom?"
"Just a few of us who wish to leave out our time in peace," the old man said. "If Your Majesty needs to win a match with a loss, then this old man can help you with that. I've already completed by matches and—"
The old man's words stuck to his mouth and his face changed. The younger man looked at him too, and a few seconds later, another young man popped out of seemingly nowhere, his cultivation base appeared just the same as the two others.
"Your Majesty!" the young man called out with a smile. "I thought I wouldn't get to see you again."
"Oh, brother Yingkong!" Alex said with a hint of surprise in his face. He hadn't expected to see the Silver Queen's brother here at all.
They had been separated nearly a year and a half ago when they entered the Martial Transcendence ground and this was the first time he was seeing him since then.
"I heard you were still here, Your Majesty, but it's hard to believe it without actually seeing you," the young man said with a happy smile. "My sister must be seething to know that you haven't lost by now."
"I wouldn't know," Alex said but everyone could see that he agreed as well. "You never came to meet me."
The young man scratched his head in a slight hesitation. "I… found out where you were a week or two after we arrived, and by then I saw no point in going to you. It seemed you had everything handled."
Alex nodded.
"Still, it is good to see you again," the young man said.
Alex remembered something. "Didn't you say it would be difficult for you to last an entire year?" he asked him.
"By myself, yes," the young man said. "I decided to join a group, so I can last much longer now."
Alex could see that.
Another figure walked out from out of nowhere, this time a woman. It was Fang Yimu of the Cloud Iron sect.
"Lady Yimu, you're here too?" Alex was surprised to see her there. This was quite the ground.
"It's nice to see you again, Your Majesty," the woman said meekly. "I have been asked to ask something of you."
Alex looked at her curiously. "Go ahead," he said.
"Have you come here on your own, or were you sent here by her, to ask for peace?" Fang Yimu asked.
Alex saw as much as he felt the air around them getting tense all of a sudden. Even Mao Yingkong, who had all smiled previously let go of it to look at Alex.
Alex on the other hand no idea what they were talking about.
"Who is 'her'?" he asked them.
"Shang Hongxi," Fang Yimu said with a stern voice as if that name meant something big.
"Shang Hongxi?" Alex asked her with a confused look on his face. The name tugged something in the back of his head, but he wasn't sure exactly at what.
"Shang Hongxi…" he mouthed the word trying to remember such a person. A woman.
Just then, he remembered where he had heard of the name. He hadn't heard of her full name, but he had heard of Hongxi. "Is she a legionnaire by any chance?" Alex asked the group of 4.
The group looked even more serious, so Alex had to butt in.
"I don't know why she makes you scared, but I only remember the name because it was what was shouted on top of the volcano that exploded a few months back," Alex said. "She was fighting another legionnaire at that time, someone—"
"Me," a voice drifted out of nowhere and a man walked out from inside, making a total of 5 people there. This time around though
Alex couldn't help but show some shock on his face when he saw Zhao Boqin walk out as well. Someone with a cultivation base of Saint Transformation 5th realm.
'5th realm?' Alex thought in surprise. 'Last time I saw, he only had a cultivation base of…'
A thought came to his mind.
"Was it you, brother Boqin, who broke through a few days ago?" he asked the man.
"It was me," the man said with a hint of pride on his look, a smile tugging the side of his lips.
"I see," Alex said. "Congratulations."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," the young man said. "Still, we will have to return to the topic with the same question. Were you sent here by Shang Hongxi?"
"I have never met Shang Hongxi, and nor do I know why she would send me here," Alex said. "As I mentioned to these two, I came here per chance. Due to the lack of people in the secret realm, I've been forced to go around looking for people to challenge. Me arriving here was a result of me roaming as such."
The group of 5 watched him for a few seconds before Zhao Boqin spoke. "I see," he said. "Then you are welcome here, Your Majesty."
