Alex was forced to play for quite a while before he was allowed to leave. Aside from the first time, he didn't cheat anymore and decided to play fairly.
Finally, he made his way to the front of the deck where his master was.
"Did you have fun playing Fanfan's little game?" she asked.
"You were spying on us?" Alex asked with a chuckle.
"No, you guys were just creating too much of a ruckus. The top 3 disciples playing with the sect leader's disciple. That causes a small commotion no matter how one thinks of it," Ma Rong said.
"I see," he said as he looked around the area they were traveling through. Although the nearby areas were passing by in a flash, the areas further away were moving very slowly and were thus much better to look at.
"The southern forest is really large, isn't it?" he asked.
"Yeah, from what I have heard, it's larger in width than crimson empire is in length," Ma Rong said.
"What? Is that true master?" he asked.
"I don't know. As I said, I only heard that. Might be true, might not be," Ma Rong said.
Alex looked around and thought of a question and asked, "Master, do you know what an ocean is?"
"Ocean? Of course, who doesn't? The ocean covers just as much of Crimson empire as does the Souther forest," Ma Rong said.
"What? There are oceans around the Crimson empire? Can I see it on the way to the Cardinal City?" Alex asked.
"Oh no. The Oceans are around the outside of the Crimson Empire, while the Cardinal city is at the center of the empire, so you will never see the ocean around there. But don't worry, once you are strong enough, you can go roam the empire and see the different sites," Ma Rong said.
Alex nodded in disappointment. "What about continents then? You know about them?" Alex asked.
"Continents? Hmm… that word doesn't feel familiar at all, so no," Ma Rong said.
"Oh, ok," Alex said. He was dejected, but he had guessed the answer. 'So people really don't know we are in the western continent, do they?' he thought.
'Ocean and Continent, I will need to travel away from the city soon on my own,' Alex thought.
"By the way, Master. We will be reaching tomorrow morning right? Since the competition will start on Sunday, what do we do all day tomorrow?" Alex asked.
"Well, we usually give disciples free rein in the capital so that they can go out and grow. You can do the same," Ma Rong said.
That solved one of his worries. He could now go get a party happening in his place without worrying about not being able to participate in it.
Alex stayed on the ship talking with Ma Rong until a few hours later. He was once more reminded about the Royal Fu family and the different things he needed to take care to not reveal in the capital city and competition.
Afterward, they spent some time in silence, just looking towards the distance. After a while, Alex started feeling drowsy from the lack of engagement to anything.
'Maybe I should go sleep for real,' he thought.
"Master, I will go back to the room. You should go take some rest too," he said.
"Alright, go. I will take a rest when the second elder is done resting as w— Hmm" Ma Rong stopped abruptly when she noticed something in the distance.
She suddenly stood up and walked towards the front of the deck.
"Stop there," she told the elder responsible for flying the boat. As ordered, the elder stopped the boat right on top of a group of people who were on their way to another town. From the looks of it, they were part of a caravan.
Currently, they were being ruthlessly attacked by different monsters from the southern forest. Alex had at some point reached the edge of the deck and was looking down as well.
When the people in the caravan saw the large shadow appear and stop near them, they started shouting at the ship for help.
"Stay here," Ma Rong said and took a step off the edge of the ship. Suddenly, she disappeared. Many disciples didn't see where the sect leader went and was surprised.
Alex was surprised too, but he soon found her. Ma Rong was already at the bottom, in front of the various monsters. With the Flickering Shadows technique, she could teleport to her shadow regardless of the distance between her and the shadow.
Once she was below, she waved her hands once, and suddenly, all of the beasts were on the ground, frothing at their mouth. They were already dead.
Alex was beyond shocked when he saw the display of prowess. 'A single palm to clear a hoard of organ tempering realm monsters. I wonder when I can do that,' Alex said in pure surprise.
"Thank you senior for saving us, Senior. We thank you very much," the people in the caravan started to show their gratitude towards their savior. However, Ma Rong wanted none of it.
She got straight to the questions. "Why were you attacked? Do you have something in the cargo worth attracting a monster hoard?" she asked.
"No, miss savior. There is no such thing," the caravan merchants told her. Ma Rong had already checked the insides with her spiritual sense and really had found nothing from there.
She turned around and stored all of the dead beasts into her storage bags and said to the people, "Continue along." After that, she flew to the boat and landed on the deck.
Many disciples had gone to either side now, and while they missed Ma Rong's fight, they had seen the multitudes of monster corpses lying by the side. When paired with time, they knew what exactly had taken place down there.
Ma Rong went to where she was previously seated and sat down. She then said to herself in a small voice, "So the beasts really are getting restless."
