Alex went back to his room after returning to the village.
Since he was interrupted the other day, he wanted to directly go back into teaching his little beasts about what he knew.
So, he brought out Pearl and Whisker and had them learn it all from where he was stopped the other day.
Pearl kept rolling around and saying that he was bored, but Whisker was very curious about it all and learned it extensively.
Seeing him learn so much made Alex want to only add more and more content to what he taught.
He taught them for an hour or two, then paused for an hour where they cultivated and soaked in what they learned, and then continued again.
After about 8 hours of learning that, Pearl was bored out of his mind, and even Whisker thought it was too much.
'Uhh… maybe I should stop,' Alex thought.
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
Alex walked out and opened the door to find Fan Yanshi outside. It was around 3 in the afternoon, so Alex was surprised anyone was even looking for him.
"Can I help you, brother Fan?" Alex asked.
"Brother Yu, the new handler is here, and um… she's asking for you," Fan Yanshi said.
"Asking for me? Why?" Alex was surprised.
"I don't know, but they're asking for you specifically," Fan Yanshi said.
'Was I found out? Did the saints notice me?' Alex wondered.
"How did they know who I was?" Alex asked.
"I don't know, but they asked for the alchemist with the mask," Fan Yanshi replied.
Alex paused. "Shit! They know I'm an alchemist?" he asked.
"Yes, that's how they called you," Fan Yanshi said.
'How did they find out?' Alex thought. He thought back to everything that could give him away and remembered the one instance where he had brought out the pill yesterday.
'That elder knows I'm an alchemist,' he realized.
He walked up to the front where a 25-year-old girl with Mind Tempering 3rd realm cultivation base waited for them.
"Are you the one?" she asked as soon as she saw Alex.
"Maybe," Alex said.
The girl frowned. "What's your name?" she asked.
"Yu Ming," Alex said.
The girl brought out a talisman and read through it. "So it's true, you really aren't from the sect."
"No, I came here about 4 months ago. Is that a problem?" Alex asked.
"No, it's not a problem," the girl said with a smile. Then, she brought out something from her storage bag and placed it in front of her.
"Can you pour your Qi on this please?" the girl said.
Alex looked at the formation plate below him and recognized the formation on it. That was the formation not check his spiritual roots.
"No," Alex said. "I will not use my Qi there."
The girl frowned. "It won't do anything bad to you. It just checks your body to see what sort of spiritual roots you have," she said.
"I know, and I won't use it. Please take it back," Alex said.
The girl continued frowning and even got a little agitated. "Brother, please don't be so hard to deal with. I have been asked by the elders to do this. If you continue refusing, I will have to return to the elders and tell them about it," she said.
"Sure," Alex said and turned around.
The girl stomped her foot on the ground and left angrily.
"Brother Yu, was that… do you think what you did was good?" Fan Yanshi asked.
"It's… sigh," Alex didn't know how to explain. "I might have to leave here soon, brother Fan."
"What do you mean?" Fan Yanshi asked with a serious face.
"I don't have time to explain," Alex said and ran back into his room.
Fan Yanshi and the rest stood around, not understanding what was happening.
"Honey, what's going on?" Fan Li asked.
"I… I don't know," Fan Yanshi said. "I think Brother Yu is being scouted by the sect, but he is rejecting it for some reason."
"What do we do now?" Fan Li asked.
"I don't know," Fan Yanshi said then looked up. "Everyone, we should get back to work."
The others that were watching the show reluctantly returned to their job, and so did Fan Yanshi. He returned back to his work which was to feed the beasts in the stable.
He did it for an hour or two before someone came running for him. An elder really had arrived.
It was evening now, and the sun had already gone past the mountains, but the elder in the sky was still being lit up by it.
The female elder, the same one from yesterday, slowly drifted down to the village.
Fan Yanshi thought of calling Alex, but Alex was already there.
"Young man, why did you refuse to take the test?" she asked.
"Because I didn't want to, and I have no intention of joining the sect if that is what you're after," Alex said to the woman.
The woman was a little surprised. "So you realize we're here to get you to join us. Can you tell me why you don't want to join our sect?" she asked.
"I have no intention of joining any sect," Alex said.
"But you're an alchemist. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is for alchemists to be out by themselves in this world?" she asked.
"I have some clue," Alex said. "But that threat alone isn't going to make me join you, so please just go back."
"I'm afraid I can't do that. I come here under the sect master's orders. If you want to refuse, then refuse to him. If he is okay with that, then you may return back to them," she said.
Alex frowned but nodded. "Okay, let's go."
The elder smiled and her Qi grabbed onto Alex. Alex let her pick him up and take him away while the rest of the villagers watched him leave from the side.
"You did good," the elder said as they flew.
"Yeah, well I'm still going to refuse," Alex said.
"Don't be so stubborn," she said. "Also, can you really see through that thing? Are there holes?"
"I can see, don't worry," Alex said.
"You must have a very recognizable face if you are hiding it then," she said.
Alex didn't answer.
They reached the sect and the elder quickly brought him in before taking him down the mountain to the massive valley that was the sect.
This reminded Alex somewhat of the Hong Wu sect, only these mountains were either volcanic or snow-filled, so no one actually lived on the mountains themselves.
Many disciples of all cultivation bases looked at him curiously.
Alex ignored them and stared at the rather fancy-looking blue building with scripts all over it.
"How many alchemists do you have in this sect?" he asked.
"None," she said. "It's hard to have one when people are afraid for their life. Besides, we teach talisman here, so it's hard to keep a disciple's interest."
"Then why do you want me?" he asked.
"Because we desperately need some. Always paying for pills is not the way to go," she said.
"Can you protect me from the Heaven's Frost sect if I were to join you?" he asked.
The woman hesitated for a bit before saying, "we don't know if its the Heaven's Frost sect that is responsible for everything>"
"Don't we?" Alex asked. "Would you be willing to eat a Truth-seeking pill to answer the question again?"
The woman hesitated even more. "We can hide you," she said. "If you remain hidden, you can grow for a long time."
"Yeah, I don't buy that," Alex said. "Let's just go to the sect master so I can refuse him."
"There's the sect master," the woman said, pointing to the blue building with the scripts.
"Then call him out," he said.
"What? No, he will meet us in there," she said.
"I am not going inside a building with so many scripts all over it," Alex said. "You surely understand why I am reluctant, right?"
Being trapped inside a barrier was the last thing he wanted to do right now.
Being trapped while with a Saint realm cultivator that is most likely a Saint Foundation or a Saint Core was even worse.
"Fine, if you're going to be stubborn, then stay here. I will go call him," she said.
