The ship started moving once more and soon they were back to the same speed.
Alex sat down next to Ma Rong looking at her contemplating something and thought, 'the beasts are getting restless? What does she mean?'
He didn't speak for a few minutes, but the curiosity got to him in the end, so he asked, "Master, What is happening with the beasts? Why are they attacking the caravans?"
Ma Rong thought for a while and said, "I do not know. I have tried making sense of what little information we have, but nothing makes any sense."
Alex got more curious, "What exactly is happening, Master?"
"Ever since a while ago, the monsters in the southern forest have been getting restless in several places. Monsters that never leave their side of the forest are coming out, attacking the people in the roads."
"I previously thought that these were just one-off incidents and would go back to normal after a while, but… it has only started to escalate since then," she said.
Alex fell into thought as well. There was no such thing happening in the Scarlet city yet… but what if it did? What if suddenly, one day the monsters started attacking them from the south, while the monsters in the desert arrive from the north.
If that happened, the city would have to evacuate and relocate.
'Are these two things related? Can't be, right?' he thought. The monsters in the desert were strong, but they were not strong like regular monsters that had access to Qi.
No monsters in the desert could ever make him feel fear the way the worm had back then.
'Worm…?' he thought.
"Master, did I ever tell you about the strong worm? No, right?" he asked.
"A worm? What's this about?" she asked.
He proceeded to explain to her how he met a worm that was stronger than both her and Wen Cheng. Ma Rong heard it all with a face of shock. "Thankfully, you didn't get caught by it. You… I don't even want to think what would've happened to you," Ma Rong said.
"So, do you think the worm might be behind it?" Alex asked.
"No, I don't think it's possible for a worm that is not even the peak of True Realm to do anything so as to launch a coordinated attack against the empire. Besides, given how random these beast attacks are, I doubt a single monster could plan the attacks that currently happening. No, it's something else. Something entirely different," Ma Rong said as she looked far away into the south.
"Then… " Alex asked, "Could it be Pearl's mother? Is her corpse somehow responsible for this?" he asked.
"The cat monster? Why do you ask that?" Ma Rong asked.
"I mean, she was a saint realm monster. Considering how nonexistent saint realms are in the crimson empire, maybe that has something to do with it?" he asked.
Ma Rong chuckled a little and asked, "Who told you saint realms are non-existent?"
"Wha— aren't Saint Realm what everyone in the crimson empire is looking to be?" Alex asked.
"Yes, but that doesn't mean that no one has reached it. There are a few hidden figures in the Crimson Empire that are in the Saint Realm. Heck, I know for sure there are some old foggies in the Royal family that are hiding away in a dungeon as a saint realm expert, hoping time won't catch up to them," Ma Rong said and then immediately gestured to him to never talk about the royal family in this way again.
"Wait, if Saint Realm is not unreachable, then why were you guys so hung up on Spirit Cleansing Lilies and pearl's mother then?" he asked in confusion.
"It's not that Saint Realm is unreachable, but more so that we have no idea what to do in that realm. Admittedly, from what I know, Saint realm is nothing like the self-tempering realm and True realm that comes before it."
"They say that the process of cultivation itself changes when one enters the Saint Realm. I have no idea what that means and I would love to get some. But those goddamn old people will die with their secret buried with them," Ma Rong said.
"We just want Spirit Cleansing Lilies cause spirit sense is helpful early on. As for the cat mother, I don't think there has been a saint realm monster in the crimson empire in a long time, so it was curiosity that we cared about them. Also, having a monster beast that can grow to Saint Realm for guarantee is very tempting."
"Which is why you shouldn't show around Pearl willy nilly. Not everyone you meet is a good person. Until you can be a good judge of character, try not to reveal your hands too much," Ma Rong said.
"Yes, Master." 'I know. I've seen those people who will take help and return poison instead of gratitude," Alex thought.
"By the way, you guys never found Pearl's mother's body right? What happened to it?" Alex asked.
"No idea. We searched the area for a long time, but there was no sign of anything from the outside interfering. Unless there is a strong bird that flew away with the corpse before we arrived, we don't know what happened to it. Why do you want to know?" she asked.
"Oh, I… just wanted to perform a small funeral for Pearl's sake," Alex said.
Ma Rong nodded and patted his head while saying, "I hope you can stay just as kind forever."
Alex kept quiet and thought to himself, 'I hope so too.'
Alex talked to Ma Rong a little more and asked different questions such as the Royal family's saint realm experts or the forbidden realm. But Ma Rong didn't know much of either, so the two remained mostly quiet.
"Sect Leader, You can go back, we will take it from here for now," A voice came from the back. Both Ma Rong and Alex looked back and saw that the second and third elders had arrived.
