"King Alex is here?" Long Fangyu asked. His face showed a hint of surprise, an emotion he hadn't felt in a while now. He walked quickly, following his father to wherever it was that he was taking him.
"He's arrived through the Voidgate as we assumed he would," the Emperor said.
"Is he... alone?" the Crown Prince asked. "Is Huan with him?"
"I don't think so," the Emperor said. "But it doesn't matter. So long as he has brought us the sword, your brother can stay in the other continent for as long as he likes."
Long Fangyu looked at his father, a glimmer of disappointment and animosity flashing through them before he suppressed them immediately.
The Emperor quickly flew out of the palace, making his way to the teleportation building with the Crown Prince and several of his subordinates right behind him.
The Emperor suddenly felt a talisman deep inside his storage ring buzz once again. He brought out the talisman, only to be surprised that it wasn't a messaging talisman.
Instead, it was a talisman that detected the presence of the Dragon Medallion.
"He truly is here," the Emperor said softly and used the talisman to see where Alex was. However, once again, the Dragon Medallion's presence disappeared.
"Where is he hiding it?" the Emperor felt stunned. He couldn't imagine how Alex was able to hide the medallion. Was he using some sort of talisman? Even that shouldn't have been able to hide the Medallion's beacon.
He would learn soon enough.
The teleportation building already had people ready to teleport, but with the Emperor's arrival, they had to delay it for the others to let the Emperor teleport away.
The Emperor teleported to the Blackheart city and flew toward the Harmonious Balance Haven as quickly as he could. The area surrounding the Harmonious Balance Haven had been cleared for the Emperor's arrival.
The Ebony King walked forward and greeted the Emperor, but the Emperor ignored him and looked at his two subordinates.
"When did he arrive?" he asked them.
"About half an hour ago is our best guess, Your Majesty," one of the men answered. "We notified you 15 minutes ago, and we believe he has been present in the secret realm for about 15 minutes before that. He is waiting for you, Your Majesty."
The Emperor nodded but didn't move. Instead, he thought for a moment. "He came alone?" he asked the two.
"Yes."
"Is he by the Voidgate?" the Emperor then asked.
"Yes, he's established a formation around the Voidgate and has our people hostage," one of the two subordinates said.
"I see," the Emperor said. "Have the Scale Legion in the ocean pay extra attention to what is going on there. His coming here alone is suicide, and I do not believe he is dumb enough to do that."
"He will be coming with people that will help him. They will either by coming from the ocean, or from that Voidgate," the Emperor said. "Has he revealed the Ivory sword yet?"
"I have seen nothing," one of the subordinates answered.
"Then there must be someone on the other side, waiting to come with the sword. Be ready, we might have a large-scale battle on our hands."
"Should we bring more people, Your Majesty?" one of the soldiers behind the Emperor asked. "It might be dangerous with you alone."
"I doubt they have anyone that strong to deal with me," the Emperor said. "Still, get who you can right now to come with me inside. If a fight breaks out, leave the King for me. Don't kill him too soon."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Oh, and shut down the suppression field," the Emperor said. "Otherwise we will be on equal playing field."
The Emperor finally walked into the secret realm, followed by everyone else who was standing outside. Their arrival halted whatever fights or games were going on inside the secret realm amongst the participants.
Everyone watched in shock as the Emperor and his group flew through the secret realm, making them wonder just what was happening.
Not everyone knew about Alex's arrival just yet.
The Emperor quickly flew to where the Voidgate was, now no longer a secret spot because of the destruction that had surrounded the area.
The Emperor saw Alex inside a formation and landed outside of it, looking inside. The barrier seemed to stop all senses, and beyond that, there was some sort of hazy energy surrounding Alex, as if he was cultivating a very weird technique.
The Emperor found that suspicious, but he wasn't sure just what was suspicious about this hazy energy that surrounded Alex.
"You have arrived."
Hearing Alex's voice, the Emperor felt a hint of hope for what was to come in his future. Power.
"I'm sorry I took an awfully long time to respond to your… gift," Alex said. "But I have arrived in the Eastern Continent, just as you asked. I hope you aren't going to give me another gift now."
The Emperor scoffed. "Your little alchemists are fine. I haven't touched them if that is what you're worrying about. I will let them go once I get my sword. Speaking of which, do you have it?"
"Can you maybe wait for half an hour more?" Alex asked. "I planned for the trade of the sword to begin an hour after I arrived. We still have some time."
The Emperor snorted. "So, you didn't dare bring it with you. Who is going to bring it? The Phoenix? She can't come here. Or are you planning to fight on your own, like you did on the ocean? I would like to see what it was that you did to kill my soldiers."
"Half an hour," Alex said and kept silent.
The Emperor looked around in a bad mood. He saw the bloodied soldiers on the ground, with 3 beasts that stood atop them, ready to kill them.
"I heard about these crimson beasts," the Emperor said. "My men said they were made up of blood. Is that true?"
"They're called Blood Beasts, so yes," Alex answered. "Are you interested?"
"Quite," the Emperor said. "I'm also curious how you managed to get your cultivation back. As far as I remembered, you were clearly crippled."
"We are all curious about something, aren't we?" Alex said. "I am curious about a lot of things too. But we will have time to discuss that soon. Just half an hour more."
The Emperor felt restless. It was all right there, but he had to wait.
"What about the other trade?" the Dragon Emperor asked.
"That is the trade that is keeping me alive. I would be stupid to trade it right away. That would of course have to come at the end," Alex answered. "As I said, just a little while longer, Emperor."
One of the Emperor's subordinates moved forward. "Your Majesty, more of our soldiers are making their way here. Should we let them come?" he whispered.
The Dragon Emperor thought for a moment and nodded. "Let them come," he said before turning back toward Alex. "Alright, let us wait. Just half an hour more."
He sat down right where he stood, and so did the others. They waited for the next half an hour to pass.
