"Is there a reason why you made the test so simple?" the princess asked while waiting for the alchemists to finish making the pill.
"Well, part of the reason is that you didn't give me time to prepare," Alex said. "Had you told me you were doing this, I could have prepared much better."
"How could you not know this was happening? This is the news of the capital right now," the princess said.
"Uhh… is it? I haven't left my room in some time now," Alex said while shaking his head.
"You need to go out some more," the princess said. "So, what's the other part of the reason?"
"The other part is that I'm looking for 3 things in the new alchemist," Alex said.
"What 3 things?" the princess asked.
"Well, I'm looking for tale—"
Alex's words stopped midspeech when he sensed something and turned his head to the right towards the palace.
The princess looked confused and looked towards the palace but she couldn't understand why she was looking there.
"What's there?" she asked, but Alex wasn't hearing anything. He was focused on the tiny pulse that he had felt just now and was wondering what it was.
He felt it once more in his chest and couldn't help but put on a serious face. 'What is happening?' he thought and continued looking in the direction as his senses told him something was up.
It wasn't just him that was having such a reaction. Both the Emperor and Xue Mufan had stopped speaking with each other and were sensing something.
"Is someone comprehending the Dao?" the Emperor asked.
"Doesn't feel like it," Mufan said and continued looking in all directions, trying to find exactly where this feeling was coming from.
Deep in the Fu family's Ancestral home, Fu Tao's grandfather was woken up from his deep cultivation once again as a feeling came to him again.
The last time this had happened was a decade ago when he had felt something from the north and had sent many of the younger generations into the Beast realm.
He had inadvertently killed the majority of the last generation of youngsters by making everyone agree to send them in the first place.
His older brother had gone to the other side and started an Empire there, so he knew one could go through now. Not only that, even his own grandson had returned with a couple from the other side.
So, he knew traversing was safe. Still, he didn't dare think about sending any more people through the Beast realm again.
'I don't know what is happening out there, but I'm staying out of it,' the old man thought and stayed secluded.
Zhou Tianqiu noticed the disturbance too, and he too couldn't tell what the cause was.
Shanggaun Quan felt his Spear Qi waver when the disturbance reached him. "What's that?" he wondered as he was unable to pinpoint the disturbance or even give it a general direction.
Han Hongqi was training his physique when he too sensed the disturbance and wondered what it was.
The Broken Ravine sect, the Glory's edge sect, the Heaven's Peak school, the Falling Lotus sect, the Lu clan, the Shen clan, the Zhou clan, the Jin clan, the Han clan, the Fu clan, and the Song clan.
Every single one of these locations had their secluded Saint realm cultivators riled up from the disturbance that was happening and no one could tell what it was.
Most of the Saint realm cultivators that were in the Saint Condensation realm didn't even notice it at all.
Those that did, did not have the perception to notice where it was happening.
The only one that was perceptive enough was Alex for some reason, and he too could only tell the direction at best, not the distance.
Alex continued staring at the sky for a while, hoping to see some visual changes in the sky. However, aside from maybe a flash of light, which he wasn't sure really happened or not, he couldn't see anything else.
A few moments later, the weird feeling of some pulse hitting him disappeared, and Alex couldn't help but wonder if he had hallucinated what had just happened.
"What are you staring at?" the princess asked once again after not getting any answer the first time.
"Sorry, I was just…" Alex looked back in that direction and wondered what he was really trying to find in that direction. "I don't know. I thought I noticed something, it might be a mistake. Where were we again?"
He quickly changed the topic and the princess noticed that he didn't want to talk about it, so she went along.
"You were telling me about the 3 things you were looking for in our new Alchemist," the Princess said.
"Right! What I'm looking for is Talent, Experience, and Ego," Alex said.
"Talent is obvious as you most likely want people that can make the best pills," Alex said. "However, just finding people that can make pills won't help you a lot."
"You also need people with enough experience," Alex said.
"I don't see how that's any relevant," the princess said. "Every single person here today is a master in their own right. They have been making pills for ages. Experience is the last thing they won't have."
Alex nodded. "While you may be right about that, it is not the type of experience I'm looking for," he said.
"Oh, what type is it then," the princess asked.
"The experience I'm talking about is knowing when something you have just received is better than what you have. If not that, then at least know that testing it won't hurt very much since I did give them 80 minutes in total to make simply one pill that triumphs it all," Alex said.
"Are you that confident in your pill recipe?" the princess asked.
"No one should be able to come up with one that is better," Alex said without hesitation.
"Alright, so what about Ego?" the princess asked.
"It's simple really," Alex said. "Those who try will know that my recipe is better. I just want to see if their ego isn't too big to stop them from using it."
"I don't think you would want an alchemist that is not willing to learn from others when the time comes," Alex said.
'I see. We wouldn't want someone like that," the princess said. "But will there be someone that is as good as you?"
Alex smiled. It wasn't a surprise that the princess knew he was a True Immortal alchemist by now. The only reason the news hadn't spread was probably that she didn't want to offend him.
That or she was afraid of Shen Jing.
Either way, the two of them had acted like the other person was not aware of anything regarding that topic.
"I will find you the best I can," Alex said.
The hour passed quickly as the two of them continued their conversation and soon people started coming out of the Alchemy room with smiles on their faces.
Most of them thought they were the best here. Alex was going to love to see how they all did.
Once they all arrived, Alex brought out a Pill tester and said, "Bring out your best pill and let me test it."
