Alex found it hard to hide his surprise when he entered the valley where everyone stayed.
Inside was a rather small valley with less than a few hundred meters of distance between the mountains, and in it remained nearly 30 different people, each with a cultivation base in the Saint Soul realm.
Alex found out soon enough that his was the lowest cultivation base of all, even the other lowest being an older man with hair on the fringe of graying, and Fang Yimu, who was younger than a lot of them here.
"Welcome to our group, Your Majesty," Zhao Boqin said, walking down the mountain along with him.
People looked up to stare at the incoming group. Alex looked down at them. He was surprised to find he recognized quite a few of them as well.
Tan Huanglin of the Crystal Dawn sect, a youthful man with a cultivation base of Saint Soul 9th realm stood to one side, talking to a woman next to him.
The woman was a cultivator of the Drifting Demon sect, someone with a cultivation base of Saint Soul 7th realm.
An old man with a cultivation base of Saint Transformation 1st realm stood to one side. He was from the Yang family of the Silver Kingdom.
A woman with ageless beauty followed him with his eyes, someone he remembered only introduced herself as Fairy Gao of the Brushing Glacier sect of the Ivory Kingdom.
Qiao Zhengshen of the Autumn Abyss sect of the Emerald Kingdom glanced at him before looking away. His was a cultivation base of Saint Soul 8th realm.
Other few people looked at him as well, and Alex was surprised just how many he recognized. Either from their feats that made them known throughout the continent, or through their fights less than a year ago when they came to fight him.
He managed to recognize most of them.
He took a deep breath, taking in the power of everyone that was here. Every one of them here was what one would call the greatest of the current generation, even though a few of them seemed a little too old to be considered part of that generation.
"Such a gathering of people," Alex said, looking at everyone. "I had never hoped to see this many strong cultivators gathered in one place. I must say, I am surprised."
Teng Xuegang walked next to him, shrugging as he did so. "Of course, we have to," the young man shrugged. "What else could we do?"
Alex didn't understand what he meant by those words. They held implications that made no sense to him just yet.
'You can just go out, can't you?' Alex wondered. 'Or does this have something to do with the Hongxi girl?'
He walked a little more, arriving by the valley itself, and looking at the many people there. Quite a few of them walked up to him to exchange greetings and most of them returned. A few even looked at him as if he was trying at something.
'God, they're so on edge. Do they think I came here with an ulterior motive,' Alex wondered and then remembered the conversation he had outside the formation. 'Of course they do.'
"What exactly is the problem?" Alex asked the man next to him. He understood that if he wanted to learn more, he was gonna have to dig them out from within these people.
"Surely Your Majesty doesn't know—" Fang Yimu was speaking when she cut herself off and answered herself. "No… they wouldn't target you."
"This girl named Hongxi?" Alex asked.
"Not just her," Fang Yimu said. "The ones that she's formed a group of her own with. Players."
There was a hint of anger in the way she said that not bothering to hide it as much. The others nodded to her words, a slightly hateful look forming on their faces as well.
The situation didn't seem dire as if it was a matter of life or death, but it did make every single one of them get annoyed enough that they did feel hate for the others.
'Players…' Alex mused to himself and was reminded of something. "Where's Talia?"
"Gone," Fang Yimu said without looking back. "She was too weak to begin with, and the girl is an alchemist, not a fighter. She left the secret realm over half a year ago."
Alex was surprised. "You didn't help her or anything?" he asked.
"Why?" Fang Yimu chuckled a little. "There was nothing for her to gain here except experience, and that she got."
Alex thought for a bit and nodded. "Well, as long as she got the experience," he said.
They walked along the valley until they came upon an open spot where Zhao Boqin sat down and gestured for Alex to sit as well. Alex followed his lead and sat down, a few others closing in to try and find if they could hear something.
The man spoke about what Alex did for the past few months, trying to find out if he truly spoke the truth or not.
Alex answered it all without hiding anything, even telling them all about Shan Wangjiu and how he taught him the sword.
"I remember the fellow," one man chimed in. He had met Alex on the outside a few months ago and had indeed seen Shan Wangjiu. "He had a huge sword."
Zhao Boqin nodded. "And was he a player too?" he asked.
"He is," Alex said. "I can guarantee that. Why do you ask?"
Zhao Boqin said nothing, but his silence told Alex what it needed to. 'He still suspects I was working with that Hongxi girl,' Alex thought. The thought was amusing as much as it was annoying.
They would always be on guard against him until they were certain of the truth. Alex didn't know how to prove to them that he wasn't hiding anything.
They talked for a while, a few people asking Alex various questions. To Alex's surprise, quite a few wanted to know about the Southern Continent too.
Alex answered them what he could, even telling them how he came to be the King of the Southern Continent. The beginning of that story was usually a lie, but everything else there was true.
As they talked, Alex managed to divert the story back to what they were initially talking about. "This Hongxi girl," he spoke. "She is a legionnaire too, is she?"
"Yes," Zhao Boqin said, a slight grimace on his face as he said so.
"From what I recall," Alex spoke. "You are a leader of a battalion of soldiers in the Legion, aren't you brother Boqin?"
"I am," the man answered.
"What rank does this Hongxi girl stand in?" Alex asked.
Zhao Boqin took a moment to think if he wanted to answer or not, but decided to do so in the end. "She is one of my soldiers," he said.
Alex was taken aback to hear that. "I'm sorry, your soldier? You mean she's from your battalion?" he asked.
Zhao Boqin nodded grimly.
"That is… certainly surprising," Alex answered. "I would've sworn you two were leaders of the rival battalion in the Talon Legion, the way you were shouting above the volcano at that time."
Zhao Boqin didn't give much of an expression, but he was surprised to learn that Alex had heard that. He hadn't paid much attention to the surroundings back then, so he threw away his thoughts.
"She is part of my battalion, but that doesn't mean she's not my rival," Zhao Boqin said. "I don't know how it is in the Southern Continent's legions, but in the Eastern Continent, the leader of a Legion is the one that has managed to prove themselves the most from that group."
Alex listened intently.
"There are 13 battalions in the Talon legion, and once you join it, you are never transferred elsewhere," the man said, before quickly adding, "not counting Royal decrees, or age that forces a man to leave the battalion. Even then, they usually change the Legion itself, and not the battalion."
"Mine is the 8th Battalion, and after my leader died over half a century ago, I managed to be chosen as the battalion leader. The work I had done and my strength was certainly enough to make enough to get the leader role."
The man seemed so proud to talk about how he came to become a leader of a battalion that he missed the slightest change in Alex's expression and his momentary lack of focus.
'A Talon legion's leader died over half a century ago?' Alex wondered. 'Surely…'
"But then 3 decades ago, that girl joined," Zhao Boqin continued. "She was only a Saint Soul realm cultivator back then, even a weak one, and was of no notice to me."
"But then her explosive growth caught me by surprise. Whatever it is that makes p— people from the central continent that strong," Zhao Boqin said. "After she entered the Saint Transformation realm, she had been eyeing my leader role. And as if god was on her side, the secret realm opened right on time for her to…"
The man sighed. "She's trying to take advantage of that I can't reject any challenges to make me fight her until she beats me. She's trying to show the world that she is good enough for me."
Alex wondered what it was that had to do with him forming a group, but another thing caught his attention first.
"What do you mean you can't refuse?" he asked.
Zhao Boqin paused for a moment and spoke. "Oh right, you don't know this," he said. "It is only known to the Saint Transformation realm cultivators, but people who enter the secret realm with Saint Transformation cultivation base cannot refuse any challenges, no matter what."
