After staying there for 2 more days, Alex and Du Yuhan returned back to the Tiger sect. Only this time, they also had Luo Mei with them.
The moment they landed in the Scarlet city, they immediately went to the sect to give master the good news.
"Mei'er, you're back?" Wen Cheng was surprised.
"Yes, master. And I won't be leaving for a long while," she said. The master-disciple reunion lasted for a little while.
Luo Mei then met up with Liu Xun and there was a warm welcome for her from her elder disciple brother as well.
After that , he got her paperwork and some other things done. Finally, after all that, Alex took her to meet his mother.
"Aunt Lin, it's good to finally meet you." Luo Mei showed proper respect as she bowed towards Helen.
"Oh hello. Wow, you're pretty. So you are his senior sister, huh? I've been wanting to meet you ever since I heard about you. Come tell me more about yourself." Helen instantly took a liking to Luo Mei and started a conversation with her.
Luo Mei mentioned her surprise at the fact that Alex even had a family, but when she really thought about it all and remembered about the players, it did start to make sense.
Luo Mei had never seen Alex as a player, but at some point, she too had come to accept it for the truth. It didn't make any impact on who he was now that most of the players had properly integrated into the society, but it did give a window to his past and why he was the way he was.
"Hello!" Pearl jumped up at the familiar face too.
"Oh… wow," Luo Mei's surprise was muddled with confusion. "How has he not grown in the last 10 years?" she looked to Alex.
"He has." Ale turned towards Pearl. "Pearl, show her the big you," he said.
"Okay!" Pearl instantly changed his size and grew bigger in size until he was large enough to be the size of a normal True beast.
"What the!" Luo Mei stumbled back a bit in surprise. Helen simply chuckled as she remembered being this surprised as well when Pearl had first transformed for her.
"Small Pearl is much better," she told him as she rubbed his back. So, Pearl once again changed his size to that of a kitten again.
Alex left the girls to talk and went over to the Hong Wu sect to meet up with his Martial uncle again.
He also met up with his other friends and checked what they were doing. They were all practicing alchemy just the way he had taught them so their progress was fairly visible.
Just using his recipes, they were able to consistently get heaven grade pills. If they improved on their techniques, soon they would get higher numbers until they too could make Immortal rank.
It took the first person in that group exactly 20 days to make the first Immortal grade pill.
By the end of the first month, they had all successfully made Immortal grade pills shocking everyone to their core. Making Heaven grade pills alone was considered super difficult for them, and here they were making Immortal rank pill so very easily.
They were now realizing just how much knowledge they were missing regarding alchemy. If they improved it further and could teach it to everyone in the sect, they would certainly be the best alchemy sect in the entire empire.
Around the same time, Qin Shan arrived in the Scarlet city and found his disciple. After a month of being in the sect, Helen was starting to get bored as well, so Qin Shan took her, and Pearl with him to roam the rest of the empire.
Alex diligently cultivated during this time and also helped train some of his friend. He would fight them whenever they wanted so he could help them hone their skills.
Days passed slowly and with Alex being done with teaching them everything he wanted, it was slowly approaching his time to return.
So, after 2 more months, Alex was ready to leave.
Things got emotional again as everyone gathered to say their goodbyes. Wen Cheng, Luo Mei, Liu Xun, Du Yuhan, Wan Li, Zhou Mei, Fan Ruogang, Lang Shun, Kong Yuhan, Zhou Mi, and finally, Qiu Ju, the current sect master of the Tiger sect gave them a farewell.
Alex held back his tears as he waved his hands and promised to come back soon. He promised to be back once a year at least.
Qin Shan brought out his boat and everyone boarded as they got ready to leave.
"Goodbye everyone," Alex said one last time and zoomed off into the distance.
"Are you okay?" Helen asked.
"Yes, I'm fine." Alex smiled at her.
Helen rubbed his head. "You'll be fine."
Within a few hours, around the middle of the day, the group reached back to the teleportation formation and saw a few people already there.
Fu Wen had arrived to the capital a week or so earlier with his wife and was now waiting to go with them to the other empire.
"Are you guys ready?" Alex asked the city lord and his wife.
"Yes, we've already said our goodbyes," Fu Wen said. Mo An held her little child in her hand.
"If you are ready, then we can leave soon." Alex then turned to look at the figure that was standing a little far away from the formation platform.
Alex went and greeted the Emperor.
"So you weren't here forever, huh?" he asked.
"No, your majesty. I was always going to return," Alex said.
"The other side must be quite amazing then if you are willing to leave behind your friends and families to go back," the Emperor said.
"It's not better exactly, more so challenging," Alex told him. "It helps one reach their potential much better. Although yeah, the Qi there is better too and much easier to cultivate in."
"I see. I hope I will get to go there sometime too. However, its hard when you're an emperor."
Alex nodded. "I'm sure you'll find a way, your majesty," Alex said. He gave a bow to dismiss himself and walked back on the platform.
"Senior, please activate it," Alex requested the jaguar.
The jaguar brought out a medallion from his storage armband and activated the formation. A while glow enveloped them all and in the next second, they vanished.
When the group reappeared, they found themselves in the glowing cavern.
"Where are we?" Fu Wen asked with a look of surprise on his face. "Are those…"
"Spirit Veins," Alex said. "We should keep going."
Alex felt the stark difference in Qi between the forest in the Crimson empire and inside the Beast realm.
'Its just too vast,' he thought. He couldn't help but plan on something spontaneous.
"Mother," he spoke up.
"Yes?" Helen turned around as she was about to walk away.
"I think you guys should leave on your own," Alex said.
"What do you mean on our own?" Qin Shan asked from the side.
Alex looked around and felt the grandness of where he was. "I want to stay behind and cultivate here."
