Alex waited outside the tower while the woman went to bring out the sect master.
An elderly man that looked to be around 60 years walked out of the building along with the woman.
"This is the young man that keeps declining, sect master," the woman said.
The old man continued forward, but his spiritual sense landed on Alex before he arrived. The old man paused.
He disappeared from the woman's side and arrived next to Alex.
"You're strong," he said.
"Tsk!" Alex frowned. This was the one thing he was worried about and it came true.
Since he wasn't yet a Saint realm, his Immortal Concealment technique could barely hide his cultivation base. He had hoped that now that his Qi was much denser than normal, it would hide him, but unfortunately, it didn't.
"I… I can't tell what your cultivation is, but it's strong. Who are you?" the old man asked and his spiritual sense landed on Alex.
But the old man couldn't see his face as the Mask was impenetrable.
"Greetings, senior. I am called Yu Ming," he said.
"Yu Ming… and what does junior brother Yu Ming want from hiding himself as a villager?" the old man asked.
The woman behind the saint realm old man was a little confused by the conversation. She couldn't understand why the Saint would call him strong.
"I merely seek to stay lowkey and cultivate. I simply happened to find one of your villages and have no intention towards your sect," Alex said.
"I… will believe that," the old man said. He looked Alex up and down for a moment. "What is that mask?"
"Nothing that should concern you, senior," Alex replied.
"It's certainly a treasure," the old man said. "Don't worry, I will never do anything to antagonize a potential alchemist. You are one right?"
Alex nodded. "I can make some common pills," he said.
"Oh, I hear True pills are just the same. I'm sure you can make it if you have the ingredients," the old man said.
"I'm sure I could," Alex said. "But if I did, I would put myself in danger, wouldn't I?"
"I reckon you would," the old man said as he scratched his chin and followed. "What if we could hide you?"
"I'm sorry, senior, but I really have no intention of joining a sect," Alex said.
"You don't have to join the sect. You can just be an alchemist that works for the sect. We will pay you well," the old man said.
To be honest, Alex was very tempted by the offer. All he had to do was make some pills for the sect, and he could happily spend his time in peace until it was time to break through to the Saint realm.
However… "What about the Heaven's Frost sect? What if they find out?" Alex asked.
"They won't, I promise y—"
"What if they did? Would you be able to protect me?" Alex asked.
"Our sect is merely a thousand years old. We have no such capabilities to fend off an ancient sect if what they want is with us," the old man said.
"Then I must disappoint you and reject your offer," Alex said.
"Young man, please reconsider. I foolishly opened my sect in the domain of the ruler and realized too late that most people won't migrate here. As such I am really lacking in manpower, especially ones that can make formations and pills."
"Formations I can forgo, as I can substitute them with scripts now. But there is nothing to substitute alchemy. As such, I will need to keep you here even if you desire not to," the old man said.
Alex's eyes narrowed. "Senior, do you believe that I am polite to you because you are my senior, or because you are more powerful than me?" he asked.
"Is that not it?" the old man asked.
"No," Alex said. "I am polite to you because you and your sect members have been polite and helpful to me."
"However, if you start to become rude, I will become rude as well. So, please do not go there," Alex said.
The old man was about to say something when he stopped. "Will you really not join my sect?" he asked.
"No," Alex said. "But, if you are in need of pills, I have a few with me that I can sell to you. Because you have been polite to me, I will set them at a discount."
"Really?" the old man's eyes went wide and a smile appeared on his face.
"Yes," Alex said and brought out a storage bag with pills he obtained from the cultivators he had killed back in the Demon realm. He had taken out most of the Saint ranked pill for himself, so he was only selling True pills now.
"Please check," he said.
The old man's spiritual sense fell on all of them and he started getting excited.
"I will write you a list of the pills and what they do," Alex said and took out an empty talisman to write it all.
After finishing, he handed it to the old man and asked, "how much do you think I can get for these?"
The old man thought for a bit and gave an answer. "About 30 thousand True spirit stones," he said.
"I will sell these to you for 20 thousand," Alex said.
"Are you serious? Do you really want to give so much discount?" the old man asked.
"Yes," Alex said. "It looks like you need it."
"Thank you, young brother," the old man said and took out the spirit stones. "Did you make all of these pills?"
"Some I did," Alex said. "Some I got after killing the people that tried to steal from me."
"Oh," the old man was a little taken back. "Haha, it's a good thing I didn't try that then."
"We should be done here, right?" Alex asked.
"Ah, yes. We are done," the old man said.
"Then I shall leave," Alex said and turned around.
"Wait," the old man stopped him. "You are a guest of mine. Surely I can't send you just like that. Please come with me so i—"
"Thank you, senior. But that will not be necessary," Alex said. "I will return now."
"Where do you live again?" The old man asked and the woman by his side whispered to him the location.
"Oh, with those failed players," the old man said. "I will let them know to treat you better."
Alex stopped. "Failed players?" he asked.
"Yes," the old man said. "They are a part of a group that calls themselves players who seem to have an unnatural amount of talent. However, these are ones with no talent at all as they don't even have spiritual roots."
"The villages are formed with mostly these individuals, alongside others as well," the old man explained.
Alex stood stunned as he finally understood why there were so many people with no spiritual roots or talent in cultivation at all.
They were all players. In fact, they were all most likely players that had died and were cloned and were sent back to the outer world after their original body was gone.
