Alex started contemplating what had happened tonight. He had met his sect's top disciple that was supposed to have disappeared and lost him.
Also for the first time, he had intentionally killed a person.
He didn't know how to feel about that. He certainly felt bad about killing someone, even going as far as to call it horrible. but there was also a sense of freedom to it as well.
He always knew that it was inevitable for him to kill someone himself. But, he didn't want to do it— for he knew that killing one person would lead to killing many.
However, he also knew that it was impossible to survive in this world without the resolve to do what was required, even if it meant killing someone.
He felt absolutely horrible about killing someone, but he also felt a sense of relief. Now that he was over this hurdle, it wouldn't be hard to gather his resolve to do what needed to be done.
Throughout the night, Alex walked around and found many ingredients that had grown all over the Southern Forest.
He was scared that he might come across more bandits or stronger beasts, but thankfully, the strongest beasts he came across were only at the Meridian realm.
The night felt slow, but even so, it passed by, and right before dawn, Alex could see the sky start to light up.
"So that's East," he thought and brought out his boat before flying in that direction.
Along the way, he drifted more and more to the left to come out of the forest. Finally, after an hour or so of flying, the boat came out of the forest and Alex finally saw the road.
'The caravan must've gone way further ahead,' Alex thought and sped up. He didn't plan on going back to the caravan, however. That was just something he had to do for the sect.
He could later lie to the caravan people that he was saved by someone. For now, he just flew.
'Did they take a detour to escape the bandit's way?' Alex thought when he couldn't find the caravan even after hours.
'Or maybe I missed them?' he thought when he saw the number of caravans start to be more and more.
'I'm getting closer,' Alex thought. Soon enough, he saw a figure of a wall very far away.
"I'm here," Alex said excitedly. He was finally back to the Scarlet City. Once he was close, he dropped somewhere in the forest and walked out of it.
He walked over to the gate and entered after showing his Tiger sect's badge.
He walked through the crowd of the noon and made his way to the sect. He entered through the front gate and met with his elder brother.
After talking with him for a few minutes, he made his way towards his master's manor.
Wen Cheng had already been informed of his arrival, so he was waiting for him at the manor.
"You guys are back quite early. I didn't think you would've returned until tomorrow morning," Wen Cheng said. "Where's your sister though? Did she go to her house first?."
"Sister did not return, master," Alex said. He went on to explain what had happened in the Rubyroad city, followed by what happened on the way back.
"You met the Black Venom bandit group?" Wen Cheng was truly surprised.
"Yes, master. I was in quite a lot of danger too, but I was able to escape thanks to the talisman you gave," Alex said.
"Oh, that talisman came in handy huh? Thank god. I'm surprised it didn't come in handy during your encounter with Zexi. Although, he was too weak to activate it, or your life was never in danger when he got you," Wen Cheng said.
"That was really dangerous. I was correct in being scolded so badly."
"Anyway, let's forget about that. So, your sister won't be back for another 2 weeks huh? That's… going to be a slight problem," Wen Cheng thought.
"Sister says she will take care of it all when she comes back," Alex said.
"Sigh, I don't know if she can. Little Yuhan really is very strong. I might just have to give up my spot as the Sect Leader now," Wen Cheng said.
"Don't worry about that, Master. You have 6 months. I will surely help you get back the spot for you," Alex said.
"It's fine, the sect master's spot was meant to be ever-changing in the Tiger sect. That's why only the disciples under True realm and less than 25 years of age count," Wen Cheng said.
"Forget about it, for now, you have something else to worry about," Wen Cheng said.
"Huh? What?" Alex asked.
"I… may or may not have gotten scolded for letting you go to a different city during these dangerous times without consulting Ma Rong," Wen Cheng said.
"Oh, uhh…. I think I will return back to the Hong Wu sect then. Damn, I really wanted to go a few ranks higher. I managed to enter the Mind Tempering realm too," Alex said.
"Oh, you did? Congrats! It was only a matter of time I guess," Wen Cheng said. "Alright, go get your return registered in the Disciple hall and go back to Ma Rong.
"Yes, master. Goodbye," Alex said and left. He walked across the right side of the crater and entered the city crater before he lined up for the disciple hall.
Since it was Sunday, there weren't that many students, and he wasn't recognized as much.
He let the elder working there know that he was back and left. He walked back under the gazing eyes of many and went directly to the gate at the front.
After saying goodbye to his elder brother, he left.
The afternoon sun was hot, and it was much hotter than what should have been really. Alex looked around and realized that the people weren't really wearing anything thick.
'How come it's not cold here?' he wondered.
The busy marketplace slowed down his speed quite a lot as people walked past him multiple times, but he still reached the sect in under half an hour.
He was initially stopped at the gate, but once he showed his nameplate, he was let in.
"Master, I'm back," Alex left a message on his talisman and walked ahead.
Alex looked at the outer sect disciples that had joined the sect. He wondered how many, if any, of these were players.
While he wasn't sure about it, he was confident that there would be other Alchemy-related skills similar to the Alchemy God's Knowledge that would help the people join the alchemy sect.
Whether or not they were lucky enough to join the western continent in the first place was a different question altogether.
All throughout the outer sect mountain, Alex was the center of attention thanks to his yellow robes.
These disciples knew nothing about him, so they were curious why a Tiger Sect disciple was here in the first place.
Alex smiled and walked past them down to the sect market. Even there he was looked upon by many people. Some even went ahead to tell the elders.
An elder soon came to see what was happening and smiled when he saw it was Alex.
"Martial nephew, you're back," the elder said.
Alex looked at the elder and his eyes went wide in surprise. "Martial Uncle, you are back too," he said.
Alex was quite happy to see Lang Shun back in the sect. "When did you return?" Alex asked.
"Uhh, a few days ago," Lang Shun said disappointedly. "My mission was a failure, so I was quite sad. At least I got happy when I heard you were still alive. That was a relief."
"Mission?" Alex thought for a second and went, "Ah, brother Li? I found him," Alex said.
Lang Shun didn't comprehend what Alex said at first and was going to say "oh, good for you."
But once his thinking mind took control and he finally realized what was just said, he immediately ran forward and grabbed Alex's shoulders.
"You found Wan Li?" Lang Shun asked.
"Yeah, I was coincidentally on the same caravan as him and happened to meet him," Alex said.
Lang Shun looked around and put his arms around Alex before dragging him ahead. "Let's go talk somewhere quieter," he said.
"Ah, then let's go to master's place. I can give you two the information at once," Alex said.
"Uhh, that might be a bad idea," Lang Shun said.
"Huh? Why?" Alex asked.
"Things in the sect are… delicate right now. Sister is in closed cultivation currently and isn't coming out for anybody. Not even the sect's matters. So the elders are a little concerned and angry towards Sister's actions. Some are even going as far as to say that she needs to be removed from the Sect leader position," Lang Shun said.
"Master isn't responding? But I thought she talked with Master Wen Cheng a week before," Alex asked.
"That's the thing. I don't actually think she's in closed cultivation and is actually just faking it. However, that isn't proven yet. So, while the elders are angry, they can't do anything."
"However, if you were to go meet her and she came out, they will start calling her selfish and might lose their trust in her," Lang Shun.
"I see, then where should we go?" Alex asked.
"Um, let's just go to the—"
BUZZ BUZZ
Alex's storage bags buzzed and he took out the talisman from inside.
<Come to my place>
That was all that was written in the talisman.
"Master is calling me," Alex said.
Lang Shun looked a little annoyed. "Dammit, I knew it. She's not in closed cultivation. So why is she not coming to handle sect matters?" he asked.
Alex thought for a second and asked, "Umm, have you seen her after she awakened her constitution?"
"Awaken her constitution? Oh right, master said something about that. But what does that have to do with sister not leaving her home?" Lang Shun asked.
"Umm, you should come with me and see," Alex said.
Lang Shun shrugged his shoulders and agreed. Both him and Alex walked up the mountain and soon came before Ma Rong's house.
"Sister, I've brought nephew with me," Lang Shun shouted as he walked in. "God, why is this place so cold? Did she start making ice sculptures or what?" Lang Shun asked.
Alex could feel the tiniest hint of a fear building inside of him when he felt this coldness. 'Did master's body get stronger again?' he asked in surprise.
It was quite easy to find where Ma Rong was. They just had to follow the coldest place in the house and they would reach her.
"What the hell?" Lang Shun shouted when he finally saw Ma Rong. "Sister, why the hell is there so much ice around you?"
"Oh, you came as well?" Ma Rong said. "Shut up for a little, I'm trying to concentrate."
Ma Rong's body was constantly leaking mist that flew down to the ground like what one would see happen on a frozen bottle of liquid.
Lang Shun couldn't comprehend what was happening and looked at Ma Rong with her jaws dropped, while Alex tried to make sure he didn't let the fear get to him.
The mist leaking off of Ma Rong's body started to settle down and stopped forming around her. Soon enough, they completely stopped.
When they did, Alex noticed that his fear had also subsided.
"Sigh, it takes me quite a while to rein in my body's aura. Otherwise, everything around me gets frozen," Ma Rong said and slowly stood up.
Crackling sounds appeared from all around her as her frozen clothes started snapping as she stood up.
"Sigh, even the clothes freeze. I will need to do something about it all soon," she said softly.
"So, what's going on? I only called my disciple here. Why did you come along?" Ma Rong asked.
"Oh, that's right," Lang Shun said as he remembered. "Apparently, martial nephew has some information on Wan Li."
