Wan Li walked around with a single leg and two supports. He was in charge of teaching the disciples about the various aspects of alchemy, so today too he was giving a lecture to the core disciples in the meadow.
Zhou Mei sat close by as her lecture would start not long after Wan Li's ended.
Alex arrived at the location and sat down at the end of the open area. His grayish blue robes somehow helped him not be noticeable in the sea of green.
Still, both Zhou Mei and Wan Li looked at him with surprise.
Wan Li tried to teach the disciples, but his eyes kept darting over to Alex, and was unable to continue for much longer.
"What the hell?" Wan Li shouted as he walked over to Alex. "Am I seeing this correctly? Zhou Mei, are you seeing this?"
"It seems the sect's best disciple has returned," Zhou Mei said.
Wan Li was now much older and seemed to have lost his timid persona, while Zhou Mei now looked like a girl in her mid-20s that had just blossomed to be an adult.
"What do you mean by 'the best disciple'?" Alex asked.
"That's what most people call you after learning about the number you pulled in the competition that year," Wan Li said.
"60%? The disciples think that is amazing huh?" Alex asked.
"Are you trying to show off?" Zhou Mei asked.
"Not in the slightest," Alex said. "It's good to see you two are doing well. I mean, at least one of you is."
Alex gestured towards Wan Li's missing leg.
"Yeah, don't mind it. I'll find a puppet leg soon," he said.
"I don't remember you losing a leg the last time I left you. What happened?" Alex asked.
"Some things I don't want to talk about," Wan Li said.
Alex's eyes narrowed. "You got your revenge?" he asked.
Wan Li's eyes flashed. "Absolutely," he said.
"Doesn't help much, does it?" Alex asked.
Wan Li gritted his teeth and shook his head.
Alex shook his head too. "Revenge brings justice to the dead and only more pain to the living," he said.
He then brought out a pill and tossed it over to Wan Li. "For your leg," he said.
Wan Li caught the pill and looked confused. Alex quickly explained what it was.
"Are you serious?" Wan Li asked.
"At least you can be happy now that you didn't lose yourself in your revenge," Alex said.
"How did you find this?" Wan Li asked.
"Find? I made it myself," Alex said. "I will teach you how to make it later. Just eat it for now."
Wan Li nodded and ate the pill. A while later, he was standing on both feet without the need for the two support.
Zhou Mei was surprised and started asking Alex for the recipe, but Alex promised to give it to them altogether.
Fan Ruogang arrived there too and started telling them and bunch of things. A few other young elders came too and they introduced Alex to them.
When they realized who exactly he was, they became quite talkative. These elders had been students around the time when Ma Rong was alive, so they knew who Alex was.
They talked for a while before Zhou Mei had to go teach. At that time, Alex decided to leave and go roam the sect.
He walked through the forbidden fields that were no longer such a hard spot. There were houses carved into the side of the cliff with the fruits growing near them.
The grass field was left intact but with less grass overall. Alex went up to the river and saw that the desert had changed quite a bit.
For one, it was no longer a desert, but just a place with some grass growing here and there. In a few years, what remained of the desert would disappear and soon this too would be a massive open field just like any other place in the empire.
Alex wondered who owned this place at that time. Would it be the Hong Wu sect or perhaps the empire?
After roaming around, he met up with his mother who was with his Martial Uncle, talking about Alex's life.
"Are we leaving?" she asked.
"No, I have one more thing to do," Alex said. "Martial Uncle, can you help me get into the garden."
"Yes, let me take you there," Lang Shun said and walked on his own two feet.
"I'll be back in a bit," Alex said to his mother and walked away with Lang Shun. When they reached the Alchemy garden on the right side, Alex instantly noticed the thick Yin in the air.
Of course, this was nowhere as thick as the Icy hell, but for a place that was originally concentrated with Yang, this was almost a miracle.
"It might be a little uncomfortable now that the Yin Gathering tree had grown so much, but bear with it," Lang Shun said.
"I'm fine," Alex said. He didn't even feel anything really. It was only his closeness with Yin now that he even noticed it.
As he walked through, he was surprised to see some core disciples walking through the mountain. Almost all of them were females too.
"Are they the ones picking up the ingredients now?" Alex asked.
"Oh no, they just take care of it in exchange for being allowed to cultivate here. Given that this is a haven for most girls with even the slightest bit of Yin root, they go to great length at being here," Lang Shun said.
Alex looked around. "It doesn't look like they're taking really good care of the plants though," he said. "You should get rid of that Green Serpent's thorn vine before it messes with the Frost Bellflower. That Firemoss should be cleaned off or the Morning's Dew plant should be moved away. They will destroy each other soon."
As he went along, Alex told Lang Shun the mistakes that he saw along the way that completely shocked him.
"You know so much already?" Lang Shun asked.
"I learned it from an expert gardener in the Royal palace," Alex said. "Royal palace of the other empire I mean."
"You already got in touch with the royal family of the other empire too?" Lang Shun asked.
"Not of my own merit," Alex said. "I just got lucky."
They reached the top of the mountain where a considerably small tree stood resolute. It was maybe 5 meters tall at best, so it still had a lot of growing to do.
Still, it was something alright. Alex ignored the tree and looked next to it on the headstone that was properly cleaned and could thus read it well.
His master rested here.
"Sister, look who's back," Lang Shun spoke up first. "Your disciple has returned after over 10 years, and he's managed to beat the both of us in terms of how far he's gone."
He then turned to Alex. "I'm sure you have a lot to say, so I'll leave you alone," he said and lightly slapped Alex's back before walking away.
Alex watched Lang Shun walk away and finally sat down in front of his master's grave.
"Hey, master," he spoke. "I hope you're doing well."
