Ma Rong cried. A lot. Not even Luo Mei had cried for Alex this much. She was a sobbing mess as she hugged Alex and started thanking the gods for his return.
Alex didn't know what to say. However, the warmth he felt from them all was making him slightly happy that he returned, which in turn was making him more guilty about the fact that he left behind Pearl.
Ma Rong's body was quite skinny. It seemed she wasn't taking care of herself properly. It's my fault, Alex thought.
It wasn't really his fault. He did what he could to save them and was taken away by the beasts. There was nothing he could do in that situation.
Now he needed to go save Pearl, and yet once again, there was nothing he could do.
Alex met with the other elders who welcomed him back. His Grandmaster grew emotional when he saw him as well. The second Elder sighed with relief when he saw him as well. Even the third Elder seemed happy to see him, despite not having much connection with him.
Alex saw his Martial uncle as well. He seemed to have returned from his mission in the past 2 months. He said he was successful. Alex couldn't wait to go and visit Wan Li, who they said was being heavily guarded so he didn't escape again.
Ironically, for an alchemist who made many different pills to hide from the ones searching for him, he was found out exactly thanks to the heavy alchemical scent on him.
Zhou Mei, Zhou Mi, Fan Ruogang, Kong Yuhan— some of the only people in the sect he could call his friend— came to meet him as well.
They were all truly happy to see him back. Alex was happy to see them as well. He was particularly happy to see Fan Ruogang, who had her cheerful personality back thanks to having both Wan Li and Alex back in the sect.
They stayed around for a few hours before leaving him alone with his masters.
With Wen Cheng present with them, Alex started telling the both of them what he had been up to for the last 2 months. He told them how the beasts treated him, how he trained, what they were planning to do with Pearl, and how— if they could enter the secret realm— they could go out of the Empire.
Wen Cheng and Ma Rong were surprised to even learn that there was an Empire outside of the Crimson Empire. It was just speculation they had that there was civilization outside of the Crimson Empire, which they never expected to be an Empire that was larger than their own.
Alex took the time to explain to them about the 5 continents as well as he could. That was another thing that surprised them the most.
Learning that they were an isolated bunch with no access to outside resources, in a continent that itself was low on resources, and was thus the weakest one of all, was perhaps the biggest shock they had received their entire life.
"We should tell the emperor about this. He will be happy to learn as well," Wen Cheng said.
"I don't think you have to," Alex said. "They probably already know."
Wen Cheng looked at Alex with a weird face. "How do you know that they know?" he asked.
"The Emperor's grandfather, Fu Qing, the First Emperor, was from the Luminance empire. He was someone that entered the secret realm from the other side, and escaped through this side when everyone else he had come with died."
"I suspect he would at least tell his family about something so important. I also suspect the only reason they never dared to make it public is because of how difficult it would be to go through a secret realm full of beasts," Alex said.
"Hmm, you might be correct. But, there is a chance they really don't know and the first emperor just never bothered to tell them because of how dangerous it is," Wen Cheng said.
"Somehow I doubt that," Ma Rong said from the side. Her tears had dried away completely, and she was no longer red in the face from all the crying. She also no longer choked on her tears while speaking.
"Why do you say that?" Wen Cheng asked.
"Did you know that the Emperor's sister-in-law was sick?" Ma Rong asked. "The city lord's mother, she was brought here in the Scarlet city for me to treat."
"Eh? They brought someone so important here? Why not let her stay in the capital?" Wen Cheng asked.
"That's because they didn't feel the capital safe because of the beast attack. Also, senior Lai— Ah, the Royal alchemist, he couldn't find any treatment for her, so they brought her here to see if I could treat them," Ma Rong said.
"Did you?" Wen Cheng asked curiously.
"Yes, thanks to a pill Alex came up with. He came up with the pill and the Royal Alchemist improved upon it. She was starting to heal before the final Beast invasion, and I heard she left a month ago, fully healed," Ma Rong said.
"Oh, she's healed? That's good for her," Alex said.
"Yes, that is good, but I don't see the point of this information," Wen Cheng said.
"Well, the point is that the reason she was sick was that she ate a Divine Devil fruit, a rather raw one with not enough age to it, and was stuck halfway in Mortal Cleansing."
"That fruit, she had found on one of her expedition to the south, which I highly doubt was just a random expedition. I have been wondering why they would ever go to the south, I suspect this is the reason," Ma Rong said.
"Ah, I see," Wen Cheng said. "Still, just for formality's sake, I will report what I've learned today."
"That should be okay," Ma Rong said.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login