"Aww, where's my little boy?" Helen ran towards Alex and hugged him in the room he had booked.
"Mother, you don't have to call me your little boy anymore. I'm 25 already," Alex said.
"Hmph, is that how you should be speaking to your mother who you haven't seen in over a year? Besides, why do you think I'm talking about you? I'm talking about Pearl," Helen said.
Alex sighed. "Come out, Pearl," he said.
"Meow?" Pearl looked around after coming out and caught sight of Helen. "Mother!" He jumped straight into her embrace.
"There's my little boy," she said and rubbed his head.
"I missed you, mother,' Pearl said.
"I missed you too," Helen said as she hugged him gently.
"He's close to being a True Emperor soon, you won't hurt him even if you use all your strength," Alex told her.
"Wow, you're close to being a True Emperor realm cultivator. You're so great, Pearl," Helen said.
"Aren't I?" Pearl asked with a proud face.
Alex watched his mother give more love to Pearl than him and felt a sense of envy. He waited for a few moments and finally, she stopped focusing entirely on Pearl.
"So, you really did register huh?" she asked. "I guess you had to after you saw the rewards."
"Yeah, I finally found it after nearly 10 years. I can't let it go now," Alex said.
"Yeah, I can understand that," Helen said. "Are you confident in winning this?"
Alex hesitated a bit. Any other time, he might have said yes. However, right now his body was heating up more than it did regularly and that would affect his performance a lot.
"I should be as long as I find any sort of Yin treasure to revert back my Yang," Alex said. "Hopefully, the first few competitions don't require me to be at my best."
"Anyway, you came with the Alchemy guild's group, right? They let you come with them?" Alex asked.
"Of course," Helen said. "Despite how I look, I'm already a True Earth alchemist. If I continue for a few years, I will reach True Heaven surely."
"But still, I'm surprised they—"
"Well, I also told them you were my son, so they had to let me come with them," Helen said.
"I see," Alex said with a smile. He quickly changed the conversation and started talking about other things. "So, you already learned so much huh?"
"Of course. I never knew how easy it was to make pills. Especially since I have recipes to follow. Although at the start…"
The mother and son duo continued talking until midnight and only then did they both retreat to their room.
Alex soon started using the Winter Moon technique to do whatever he could to revert even the littlest yang in his body.
The technique was slow, but perhaps there was a solace here as his yang didn't increase while he was cultivating the technique.
Early next morning, the two of them left the hotel, and along with the rest of the people from the guild went to the competition ground.
Once they reached the location, Alex was surprised to see the number of people there. The previous time he came here, he was a mere audience member, so he hadn't given the scope much thought.
However, now that he was looking at it from the perspective of a participant, he could see how much pressure there would be on them to do their best.
"Oh right, before I forget," Alex said and quickly took out a bunch of storage bags and handed them to his mother.
"Keep these for me," he said and took off his ring. "These too."
His mother took them and nodded. "Good luck," she said while holding Pearl in her hands.
"I'll see you guys later," Alex said and left towards a different section of the place where the registered participants were bring brought in.
Alex was allowed to enter once he showed his Alchemist badge. He was taken to a separate, massive room where he was assigned a random number 3.
He didn't know what the number meant yet, but he took it off his mind as that would likely come later.
Alex was truly shocked when he saw the number of people that were participating. Since anyone below 50 years could join, every single person that had already entered the True realms was here.
Alex understood that Saint realms were likely allowed here, but there was no Saint realm cultivator below the age of 50 that was also an Alchemist.
Alex looked around and saw a few familiar faces. Most of them were people he had tested to join the Royal family.
Others were people he saw around the guild while he went there.
"Brother Yu, you came?" an excited voice spoke from the side as a girl approached him.
"Hi, sister Zhanrou," Alex said as he met the orange and green-robed Zhanrou.
"I thought you weren't coming," she said.
"I changed my mind after seeing the rewards," Alex said.
"Right, right, you do like the Yin treasures quite a bit, don't you?" she said. "Well, I'm glad you came. But I'm afraid the first place is gone now."
"Now you're just talking nonsense," Alex said.
He turned his head to his left and saw Xue Meirong glancing at him however after he turned around, she immediately turned her head and looked away.
"Well, she's here too," Zhanrou said. "I promise I will beat her this time around."
"Good luck," Alex said.
Suddenly, a hand fell on his shoulders and a tall man approached from behind him.
"I'm surprised to see you here. I thought you said you weren't joining," he said.
Alex turned around to see Zhou Ren standing behind him.
"I'm afraid some things came up and I had to go back on my words," Alex said. "I'm glad to see you here."
"Me too," Zhou Ren said. "I will see you at the competition. Take care sister Zhanrou."
Zhou Ren walked back to a group of disciples who all wore the white robes that belonged to the Zhou family.
"How do you know him?" Zhanrou asked him quietly.
"There's a feud between us," Alex said. "I just can't seem to figure out if it's a friendly feud or not."
"Well, if it's with him then it's most likely not friendly. He's known to be either a show-off or bully to people he deems below him. Many people don't like him at all," Zhanrou said.
"Well, he can't bully me since… well, he didn't bully me when I was a guest in the Royal family. I don't know how that will change now that I am no longer there," Alex said.
"Oh right, that reminds me. On whose behalf are you taking part in this competition?" Zhanrou asked him.
Alex was about to answer when he heard some loud but distant-sounding announcements outside. The competition had getting commenced by the host.
"I'm on no one's behalf," Alex said. "I'm on my own."
"Really? That… that will cause you trouble later, you know?" Zhanrou said.
"Compared to getting what I want, that will be a piece of cake," Alex said.
"You sure have a lot of confi—"
"Can I have your attention please?" someone spoke from upfront.
Everyone started quieting down and looked to the front and saw a woman standing before them.
"The first competition is about to start, so we would like you to get ready. You will be going out in groups of 20 and taking part in the first competition."
"I'm sure everyone was assigned a number, right? That is the group you are in for today. Everyone in group 1, please come forward," the woman said.
20 different Alchemists of all gender and age came forth.
"Please go through here and have your information set up. We will also check a few other things if you don't mind," the woman said.
Alex saw the people walk through and formation and talk about something. Then, they walked outside.
Alex heard shouts of cheers and introductions from the host before the rules were about to be explained.
Just as that time, the sounds cut off and the room was silent again.
The woman smiled at them and said, "You will not be allowed to hear about anything that happens in the competition today for the sake of fairness."
'Well, guess I'll have to wait for my turn then,' Alex thought.
