More of the Dragon Emperor's soldiers arrived in the secret realm, seemingly prepared for when a battle broke out. The many participants of the current competition had been told to leave the secret realm for some time as well.
Long Fangyu waited with his father, his eyes on the barrier in front of him, but his mind somewhere else.
He couldn't believe over 2 years had passed since that day when he found out the truth of everything. All the words his father had said that day, they all flowed right back into him.
His father was a criminal, a murderer, someone who had gone against the Azure Dragon himself, and yet here he was still without any consequence.
He was even going to kill another King just because a prophecy said so. The prince felt even worse than he had for the past 2 years.
'Mother, what should I do?' he thought. Why was he so bad at choosing any sides and sticking to it?
The Emperor waited for half an hour to pass. He wanted to talk more with the King about many of the things he had surprised everyone with, but it seemed the young man didn't want to talk, so the Emperor let him be.
Time slowly passed and the half hour was gone. The Emperor waited for someone to come out of the Voidgate once the time had passed, but even as they waited, nobody flew out at all.
The Emperor waited patiently, but even as minutes passed by, nobody came.
"Your time is up. What is happening? Where are your men?" the Dragon Emperor finally lost his patience and asked.
"Who?" Alex asked.
"Your men," the Dragon Emperor said again. "Where are they?"
"What do you need with my men?" Alex asked back.
"You bastard! Are you playing with me?"
The Dragon Emperor stood up in anger. As he did, the hundreds of people that had gathered behind him stood up as well, ready for whatever command they were to be given.
"Where is the person that is to bring the Ivory sword?" the Dragon Emperor asked. "Why has he not arrived yet?"
"I do not know what you mean, Emperor. Nobody is bringing the Ivory sword. I brought it with me myself. I will be the one trading it after all," Alex said.
The Emperor felt as though he was being played with. "What nonsense is this?" the Emperor asked. "Did you not say earlier that someone was going to come from the Voidgate with the Ivory sword?"
"I never said that," Alex replied. "I only said that I was going to trade you with the sword half an hour later, as I had planned for the trade to begin an hour after I had arrived."
The Emperor and his subordinates frowned. They couldn't understand what was happening, but they all knew they were being played with somehow.
"And it has been an hour," the Dragon Emperor said. "So let us trade the sword. Or do you wish for the alchemists to die?"
"Of course not," Alex said. "But can we wait just a little while longer? Just a bit more."
The Emperor's anger peaked. "Break down that damn barrier!" he shouted at his subordinates. "Don't let him escape."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
His subordinates immediately dashed forward and started attacking the barrier with a barrage of attacks. One after another, the bombardment of multicolored attacks left the barrier constantly rippling and weakened.
Then, in less than a minute, the barrier shattered like glass, the pieces disappearing into motes of light even as they fell to the ground.
Immediately, the Emperor's subordinates flew beyond Alex, covering his escape to the Voidgate.
The Emperor smiled a little when the barrier was broken down and walked toward Alex. "There is nowhere for you to hide. Just bring out the sword, and whatever it is that you wish to trade with me in regards to the oath."
Alex said nothing. In fact, he didn't even seem phased by the entire event. He still sat cross-legged, his eyes closed and the hazy aura around his body constantly obscuring his image.
The Emperor stood right next to Alex and slowly his smile faded. He looked at the soldiers that were supposed to be injured or dead, and not a single one of them was. Everyone seemed unconscious at best, but they were all still breathing.
As for the Blood Beasts that looked so menacing, all of them had a cultivation base of the Saint Foundation realm. They only looked menacing visually, but their aura made them pathetically weak.
Finally, the Emperor looked down at Alex and his unmoved body.
Something was wrong.
"What is going on?" the Emperor demanded as he grabbed Alex by his robes, but somehow he felt his palm miss the robe entirely.
The Emperor frowned and reached deeper, only for his entire arm to be swallowed into Alex's body.
"No…" the Emperor said quietly. His aura suddenly buffeted around him and the image of Alex in front of him flickered for a second before slowly dissipating.
What remained afterward were just two talismans on a small stump. One was a talisman for speaking, and another was a talisman to receive sounds and images from the surroundings.
"Oh, wow!" Alex's voice came out from the talisman. "Hahaha! I can't believe you actually fell for this. Since you are already duped, would you mind telling me where my Alchemists are?"
"Where are you?" the Emperor asked instead.
"I asked first," Alex said. "My alchemists?"
"AARGH!" the Emperor shouted and punched the talisman and the stumps, instantly destroying everything there. "RAARGHH!"
He continued shouting in anger.
His subordinates watched him in horror, realizing that their Emperor had been played with.
The Emperor took a deep breath and a look of pure hatred filled his face. "Find him," he said slowly. "He shouldn't have left the place yet. Find him!"
"Yes, Your Majesty," most of the soldiers instantly sprinted off.
"The rest of you, have the alchemists in the Dragon Palace be gathered right away. I'm going to kill them all."
The members of the Head Legion looked around at each other before quickly nodding. Then, they all proceeded to leave the secret realm.
* * * * *
Alex arrived in the Dragon Capital, flying atop a small Immortal sailing vessel that gave him speed that surpassed even the fastest ship that he had seen to date.
The ship was red, purple, yellow, and orange, the colors of the Phoenix; it was gifted to him by Scarlet once she had finally been able to access her Soul Space as well.
'This ship truly is incredible,' Alex thought as he landed outside the Dragon Capital.
He had teleported to the Brightfalls city in the Emerald kingdom and had then flown straight in this direction from there.
What had once taken him half a day of travel, now took him only half an hour with the new ship.
Alex was already disguised, so he made his way into the capital, finding his way to the Royal School of Alchemy.
He had no idea where his alchemists were kept, but he hoped they would be in the school. As such, that was the first place he had to start searching from.
Thinking so, he arrived at the school and went in.
