Alex looked at the gate and the subsequent mountains that were full of trees, houses, and all sorts of colors.
He could see different buildings, all of the different shapes, and sizes, as well as people walking amongst them.
Even though it was early morning, he could see disciples of the Heaven's Peak school walk in and out of the sect in their black and red cultivator's robe.
There were also a few people wearing non-sect clothes that also came for their own business.
Alex walked up to a tree that grew next to the cliff and sat next to it on the grass. He looked to his left and could see the city down below quite far away.
The guards, who were likely disciples of the sect on duty, gave his curious glances, wondering who he was.
"Little brother, do you need anything?" they asked him.
"No, I'm just waiting for someone," he said.
"Someone from the sect?" they asked him.
"Yes," Alex answered, and they left him alone. Still, they kept an eye just in case he was up to something.
Alex, meanwhile, simply closed his eyes and sat, thinking about the different things he had to do up next.
He absentmindedly poured his Qi into his storage ring, which devoured it like always without showing any sign of getting larger.
He could tell there was more space inside, way more than the 20 square meters he had at the moment.
Unfortunately, it didn't seem like it was going to improve, so Alex was stuck with th 20 square meters of space. That was by no means a small space, but that was something he could easily get with 4 better storage bags.
'Well, it's not like I need any more. I can just keep the important items here,' he thought to himself.
He then thought about everything else he had to do next. For his arm alone, he needed to go be a Lightsworn, even though it didn't sound hopeful.
It was almost guaranteed that the Shen Girl wouldn't be able to help him, but he still wanted to try with her as well.
If nothing else worked, he would go around scouring the empire in search of the ginseng. Maybe even exchange it for something else with the last person that had bought it.
Other than that, he needed to find a way back to the Crimson Empire and help his own master and martial uncle to get their limbs back.
Alex sighed at the difficulty of everything that he needed to do.
Just then, he heard a commotion from upfront and he looked up to see the guards parting ways for someone, while the people outside also backed off with looks of shock on their faces.
Immediately, everyone started bowing in front of them. Some of the were a little slow to realize what was happening, but once they saw someone bow, the rest of them did as well.
Alex got up to his feet, clearly curious as to who was coming out, and felt a wave of spiritual sense pass through him.
Then, he saw Liang Qiu walk out of the gate and turned directly toward him. She put on a warm smile and started walking.
Alex felt a little shocked when he saw everyone bowing toward her, but when he saw the people, he saw that their eyes weren't focused on her at all.
Instead, it was focused on someone that slowly walked out from the gate after Liang Qiu.
Alex saw a man, who seemed to be in his mid-30s, softly nod towards everyone, beckoning them to stand up.
He was tall, perfectly handsome with clean-shaven face, and black hair that fell to his shoulders perfectly straight.
Not a single strand of hair looked out of sight, and Alex almost thought he would get cut from the hair itself.
Before Liang Qiu could even say anything, she saw him staring at the man's hair and immediately stood in front of him to block his vision.
"Don't look so intently. My master uses his spear Qi to cut his hair and thus his intent is always around him," she said.
"Sorry?" Alex asked, a little confused.
"You will cut spirit if you're not careful. My master's spear intent is very strong," she said.
"Your master?"
A name floated to Alex's head. Shangguan Quan.
When the man slowly walked up to him, Alex immediately fell into a bow. "Greetings senior," he said.
Shangguan Quan stopped right next to his disciple and looked at Alex. "Little brother must be the new True Heaven Alchemist of the Alchemy Guild," the man said.
"Yes, senior," Alex said, clearly surprised that arguably the strongest person in the Heaven's Peak school was talking with him.
Alex didn't know the internal structure of the sect, but he knew that Shangguan Quan was the 1st elder of the sect and the master of Liang Qiu, which may have been the reason for him being the first elder in the first place.
'Why is he here?' Alex wondered to himself, unable to immediately come up with an explanation of how surprised he was from seeing the man.
The crowd around them started soft murmurs of shock, surprise, and confusion. Everyone asked each other who Alex was, but not many knew him to begin with, so the chances of anyone recognizing him were impossible.
Still, some of them had caught the words 'True Heaven Alchemist' and connected that with the news from the guild to realize what was happening.
Shangguan Quan seemed to not mind the crowd at all and instead said, "little brother looks quite young for a True Heaven Alchemist. May I know what your age is?" he asked.
Alex frowned internally a little and decided to add a few numbers to his age. He was about to answer when he saw the man's smile slouch a little as his eyes wandered towards the right before his whole head turned back.
Alex followed his gaze and saw a boat that was capable of holding about 10 different people comfortably as well as having two different rooms on the inside.
As the boat got closer, Alex could see the deep brown color of the boat somehow glow brightly.
At the front of the hull, there was a word written in giant white letters.
HAN
When the boat came next to them, it hovered next to the cliff, but nobody got off it.
Instead, a burly man with arms as big as Alex's torso looked towards them and shouted, "Hey brother Quan, little girl, come on up. We should be leaving already."
Shangguan Quan didn't hide the frown on his face when he said, "You're the one who is damn late." There was no more of his earlier air of elegance.
The other man, however, took no offense to the statement and just laughed. He watched the man gesture for them to get on while Han Daiyu also waved for them from behind.
Liang Qiu was the first to move as she turned towards Alex and said, "Alchemist Yu, let us get aboard the ship."
Alex nodded softly and walked behind her. He slowly floated and landed on the ship where he got a confused look from the burly man.
"Uncle, he's Alchemist Yu!" Han Daiyu quickly said from the side, and the man's face immediately widened to a grin that looked kind of unnatural to Alex.
"Greetings, Alchemist Yu. I am Han Hongqi, this little lass's uncle," the burly man said.
'Han Hongqi… another familiar name,' Alex thought.
"Greetings senior Han," Alex bowed to greet the man.
Han Hongqi was the 3rd son of the Han Family patriarch, and one of the strongest in that family. He was a Saint realm cultivator, just like Shangguan Quan, and a very well-known person in the entire empire.
Alex was already surprised to see Shangguan Quan, but now he saw Han Hongqi as well.
Alex had expected to see Saint Realm cultivators, but not these two. They were some of the strongest figures in the empire, only second to the likes of patriarch and sect leaders of the various major sects and clans, as well as the hidden figures like Shen Jing.
Finally, Shangguan Quan also got onto the ship and glared at Han Hongqi.
Alex wondered if there was some hidden grudge between them, but then he saw Han Hongqi put an arm around Shangguan Quan's shoulders.
"Haha, Brother Quan. You really are a sly fox aren't you?" he said in a voice so loud that even the crowd outside the Heaven's Peak gate could hear them.
Shangguan Quan tried to move away from Hongqi's hand, but it was too strong for him to do so without using a bit of his Qi.
"Goddammit! Couldn't you have come a little later?" he asked with a frown.
"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk." Han Hongqi shook his head while clicking his tongue.
"Alchemist Yu," Liang Qiu said catching his attention and Alex turned around.
He greeted Han Daiyu who was full of smiles this morning.
"Here," Liang Qiu said as she handed something to Alex. Alex looked to see what it was and saw that it was the pill bottle he had given them.
He opened the lid for a split second and saw that the pill was indeed inside.
Next, Han Daiyu also gave him back his pill, which he took with a face full of smile.
He was about to say something when the ship suddenly moved, catching him off guard.
"Hold on to something. I will get us to the poison swamp in no time," Han Hongqi shouted from the side as the ship took off.
