The 3 seniors tried very hard to provide any sort of incentive to get Alex to join their sect, even if it meant having Liz ask for it herself. However, Alex refused every single time.
The next week or two of his passed quietly. He spent the majority of his time with his aunt, learning more about her and how life was for her in the sect.
Aside from training every day, Alex didn't see anything else she did. So, he decided to teach her something so she could pass her time and be a little productive herself.
Since he was not very good at making artifacts yet, and with Alchemy simply frowned upon, he gave her the choice between Formations and Talismans.
Liz had heard about the development of runes outside of talisman, so she asked if she could learn that instead. Alex agreed and taught her about it.
Liz was talented enough that she learned anything Alex threw at her with relative ease. She wasn't as fast as Alex or his mother, but she was plenty talented to throw most of the geniuses in the Northern Continent for a loop.
Aside from teaching her about talismans and runes, Alex also gave her the various skills he had gathered over the course of his life here.
She wasn't able to use quite a few of them however due to her only having 3 different spiritual roots, Earth, Water, and Metal, of which only Earth was Superior.
Alex couldn't really help her there. Liz tried giving some of her own techniques to Alex, but there was nothing he wanted from her in regard to techniques and resources.
What he did want her to do was use her Dao to make a room full of time Dao so he could see if he could possibly sense them.
He had no hope himself, but there was nothing wrong with trying.
So, every day, Alex would cultivate in a room where time passed at a very slow speed compared to outside where he forced himself to try and sense the aura.
It wasn't just him either. He had brought out both Pearl and Whisker to see if they could sense it too. He was particularly hopeful of Pearl who had managed to learn a Space dao somehow and hoped he could sense Time dao too.
However, even after 2 weeks of doing this, Alex wasn't able to learn anything at all.
In the end, he had to give up on it. He had managed to learn Space aura for some reason. So if he learned time aura somehow as well, he would be able to learn it for sure.
Alex left the room and went to talk to his aunt.
Liz was working on some talismans in her free time. She still spent most of her time cultivating, but she had more than just that to do for now.
"Are you busy?" he asked from the door.
"Hmm, come in. Do you want something? Did the aura disappear already?" Liz asked.
"Ah, no. It's fine, but I don't think I'll be using it anymore," Alex said.
"Oh! Did you learn it?" Liz asked happily.
Alex shook his head with an awkward smile. "I was unable to," he said. "I'm simply here to tell you that I'm going over to the volcano now. It's been a while since I came here and it's about time I do what I've been meaning to."
"Oh, okay. Wait, let me come with you," Liz said as she started to pack up her things.
"No, you don't have to," Alex said. "I will be fine all by myself."
"Are you sure? I haven't been to the secret realm myself, but I hear it's quite treacherous. There's fire everywhere, and weak Qi sometimes gets overwhelmed and doesn't work the way it should. It's always better to have someone by your side," Liz said.
"Don't worry, aunt Liz. I have learned the Fire Dao. Fire is the least of my worries at the moment," Alex said.
"If you… say so, ok," she said. "Wait let me tell my master. She should arrange something for you."
Liz used her talisman to send a message and not long after, the old woman arrived.
"You're going to the 13 Volcanoes?" she asked.
Alex nodded. "I was about to leave right now," she said.
"Not alone, I hope," she said.
"I… was actually hoping to go all alone," Alex said.
"Absolutely not! You're too important to go in all alone. Even if you know the Dao, there are still many treasures in there, some of which can even poison you," the old woman said.
"Huh? What do you mean by important?" Alex asked. 'Were they still expecting him to join their group?'
"Nothing that concerns you," the old woman said. "You're going right now, right? Good, let's leave. I'll take you there."
The old woman turned around and got ready to leave.
Alex hesitated a little bit. He really wanted to do it all alone. But how was he to refuse the words of a Saint Soul realm cultivator?
He sighed in the end. "Alright," he said. "I'll be back soon."
"Take care," Liz said and waved the two of them away.
Alex walked out with the old woman and then flew his way out of the sect, going beyond the many plateaus, on their way towards the volcanoes nearly 10 kilometers away.
That sort of distance to a saint realm cultivator was nothing. In fact, Alex could already see the mountain from where he was.
They glowed orange even in sunlight due to the volcano constantly remaining active.
Alex's eyes worked fantastically in that he could see countless figures around the mountain even from this far a distance. He could see up to hundreds of kilometers without any trouble. Although at some point everything would be too small even to make sense of it at all.
Alex could see the tiny particles of dust in the air, moving slowly in front of him even when he was moving quickly.
There was absolutely no delay between him seeing things and his mind realizing what he had seen.
As he had expected, the first stage of Demon Eyes was quite good. But still, it wasn't good enough.
The real fun started when he reached the 2nd stage. Alex wondered if he could reach that within the next few years.
Surely in the next decade right?
As the two of them got closer to the volcanoes, his sense was already on top of the people there, and he saw quite a few people working with pickaxes.
"Are they mining for some ores?" Alex asked curiously.
"Ores or any fire treasure," the old woman said. "Fire treasures usually grow around the volcanoes, but there are also times when they form inside the volcanoes themselves and are quite potent with Fire energy."
"One of the most well-known treasures that come out quite frequently is Fire jade, which is quite dense with fire Energy. If they can't get that, then the people make do with ores. The metals that come out here are already infused with fire energy, so they make for some of the best Fire attribute artifacts," the old woman said.
"I see," Alex said and looked towards the people who struck the ground with their pickaxes. The lava continuously flowed down the side of the mountain, but at some point, it froze enough that people didn't need to fear them.
At that time, they started breaking through the semi-frozen lava and harvesting it.
It wasn't just a single mountain too, but rather all 12 volcanoes had the same thing happening. However, it only happened on the outside.
When Alex arrived, he saw that the inside of the 12 massive volcanoes was an island surrounded by hot lava on all sides.
There were people at the center, harvesting more Fire treasures, and even some plants that grew from the heat.
He could see almost all of them have some sort of item on them, protecting them from the heat as they worked on it.
The two of them slowly landed on the island, and people started staring at them, primarily because of the old woman.
They all greeted her, but she gave them no heed at all.
Alex looked around the area and asked, "So, where exactly do I enter the 13th Volcano from?"
