Seeing how easily they were supporting him with the things he had requested, Alex got increasingly sure that whatever pill recipe they had found, it was for an incredible pill.
However, with both Shangguan Quan and Han Hongqi staying on either side of him, Alex thought it would be rude to bring up that question.
So, instead, he brought up something else to distract them and hopefully make them leave.
"Senior, shouldn't you look after where we are going?" he asked.
"Don't worry, little alchemist. My spiritual sense is at least 3 kilometers wide. I can easily catch any mistakes that can come our way, so have no worry," Han Hongqi said.
"Oh wow," Alex said while secretly wondering what realm of the saint realm one had to be at to have such a vast spiritual sense.
"It's not just him, I'm keeping an eye on things as well. So you don't have to worry about it at all," Shangguan Quan said.
"Not to mention, my spiritual sense is nearly 3.5 Kilometers wide, so I will catch things that come our way before even he does," Quan said.
"Eh? That's a lie. Your spiritual sense is barely as vast as mine," Han Hongqi said.
"Nonsense, I've always had greater spiritual sense than you," Quan said.
Seeing the two of them bickering with each other, Alex got a weird feeling that he was looking at two close friends trying to one-up each other, rather than the enigmatic Saint realm experts.
The two girls sighed and gave an embarrassed smile to Alex who smiled back at them.
After finally concluding that Quan's spiritual sense was in fact wider, but just by a few meters, the two Saint realm experts finally calmed down.
"You two," Shangguan Quan spoke to the girls. Go and prepare, we will reach the Poison Swamp in about 10 minutes.
"I don't have anything—"
"Yes, master," Liang Qiu immediately grabbed Han Daiyu and pulled her away, leaving Alex alone with the two Saint realm experts.
Surprisingly, he didn't feel any form of nervousness or fear at the fact that they were Saint realm experts.
'Perhaps I've been around a bit too many of those lately,' he thought.
The beasts, the Emperor, Shen Jing, Qin Shan, and now these two. He had perhaps been with more Saint realm experts than there were in the Crimson Empire.
'Not to mention lady Ren was an Immortal expert,' he thought to himself.
"Junior Yu, where do you stay these days?" Shangguan Quan asked suddenly.
"Sorry?" Alex gave a little confused look as he took a few minutes to realize what he had been asked. "Ah, I'm in the Flowing Brush sect right now," he replied.
"Flowing Brush sect? I see," Shangguan Quan gave a slightly disappointed look.
"Huh? Wait a minute, that's a talisman sect. How are they helping grow an alchemist like you?" Han Hongqi asked.
"Oh no, I'm not part of that sect. I'm just a guest elder. I have family there, so sect master Qin gave me the guest elder role while I stay there," Alex said truthfully.
"Oh, do you have responsibilities there?" Quan asked.
"Simple ones. I need to make pills for them which they will buy from me," Alex said.
"Oh, they treat you quite well then," Quan said.
"Who taught you how to make pills? You must have a master right?" Hongqi asked.
"I… I did," Alex said with a heavy sigh. "But she's no longer alive."
"My condolences," Quan said.
"Were you part of a sect when you learned from this master of yours?" they asked.
"I was part of a sect," Alex said. "But I left after my master's death."
"Hmm… so is it correct to assume that you do not have any sect or family you belong to at the moment?" Han Hongqi asked.
"That's…" Alex finally realized what it was all about. The two saint realm experts, the smiling faces, the upfront payment, their attitude.
'They want me to join them,' he thought to himself, half surprised and half flattered at what was happening.
"I do not have any organization I belong to aside from the Alchemy guild if you can even call it that," Alex said, immediately bringing an unhidden wide grin to the faces of the two Saint realm experts.
"Have you given any thought to what you want to do in the future? If you haven't, our Heavens' Peak school is willing to take you in as a core disciple of the sect," Shangguan Quan said.
"Core disciple? Pfft," Han Hongqi laughed before looking at Alex and saying, "Young man, our Han family, has a lot of pretty girls. If you want, we can have you marry some of them. You can choose as you want."
"In fact, you can even have a harem if you want. Plus, we will give you the secret technique that can help you cultivate the Earth Demon physique like we all do," Han Hongqi continued.
Shangguan Quan couldn't help but show an aghast expression when he heard that. "Are you willing to go so far? That's your family's physique," he said.
"And this young man will be a member of our family by then. What's wrong with letting him train in that," Han Hongqi said.
Shangguan Quan furiously thought of what he could do to come up with a better deal than that, but he couldn't think of anything.
The only thing he could think of was his disciple. If she agreed to marry him, he could possibly keep him, but that felt like he was going too far.
"I'm sorry, senior," Alex replied to the both of them. "I do not plan on joining any clan or family at the moment. Certainly not marry for sure."
"Come on, there must be something you want right? Something we can help you with or give to you in exchange for you joining our family," Han Hongqi said.
Alex thought for a moment. "I don't know about joining completely, but there is something you can do to have me join your sect and family for 10 to 15 years," Alex said.
Han Hongqi frowned a little. There was no point in keeping Alex for just 15 years if after spending their resources on him, he just gets to leave.
"What is it?" Shangguan Quan decided to ask. While he didn't like the idea just like Hognqi, he wasn't going to immediately say no to it.
"It's regarding this," Alex said as she showed them his left arm. "If within the next year, you are able to help me get my arm back, for the next 15 years, I will dedicate all my time to exclusively serving your sects and clans."
Quan frowned a little. "How old are you, junior Yu?" he asked.
"25," Alex said with a smile.
'So young,' the both of them thought and immediately changed their thoughts for a few of the things. Alex's offer looked a little better than before.
Still, getting an arm back in a year was not something they could do at all.
"Even if we get you to saint realm in a year, which is impossible, it will still take you many years to grow your arm back," Hongqi said.
"As for the ones that can heal you… can the princess help him?" Quan asked Hongqi.
"I don't know," Hongqi said. "They are so secretive with that healing crystal ball."
"And the Lightsworns will never do anything to betray the royal family, so we can't get answers out of them," Quan said.
"That's what happens when you swear an oath to the heavens," Hongqi said.
"I'm afraid I can't think of any ideas then," Quan said.
"Sigh, I was hoping seniors would know something," Alex said while putting on a sad face.
'Why the hell does no one know for sure what the healing crystal does?' he thought to himself. He simply wanted someone to tell him that the path of Lighsworns would be fruitless so that he would stop having hope.
'All I can do now is hope that I reach Saint realm soon enough,' he thought.
"Is there really nothing else to get you to join us?" they asked one last time.
After Alex said no, they decided to leave it be.
Liang Qiu and Han Daiyu returned after seeing their seniors leave.
"How did it go?" Liang Qiu asked him.
Alex smiled and said, "You should know already given that you were eavesdropping on us."
"What? Nonsense! I would never do that," she said.
Alex didn't say anything else. He looked to the side of the boat as the surrounding flew past in a blur.
This boat was at least 4 times as fast as his own boat, and it didn't even look like it was being forced to move at its top speed.
Alex remembered something and finally turned around.
"Right, I keep meaning to ask, but don't get the chance," he said. "What exactly is the pill you want to make?"
Liang Qiu hesitated a bit.
"Am I still not good enough to learn that?" he asked.
Finally, Liang Qiu gave up and brought out a talisman, and handed it to him.
Alex looked at the recipe and immediately frowned. "That's a weird recipe," he said out loud. "Most of the ingredients on this list have earth energy. I've never seen something so extreme."
"I shouldn't have doubted you to know that," Laing Qiu said. "Yes, that pill's recipe mostly consists of Earth element ingredients."
"That is because the pill that recipe is for is a pill that will significantly improve the Earth Spiritual root of a person."
