1175 North

Alex flew towards the north on a ship that had some concealment capabilities.

It was the ship the elders had taken to the Sunless lands, and today he had asked them for it.

Scarlet was there with him as well, as he had requested her to come with him just in case.

'Isn't this quite extravagant?' Alex thought as he controlled the ship. 'How do they even begin to think of making ships that can run using Saint spirit stones, and not True Spirit stones? Those are so incredibly hard to come by.'

He shook his head and walked up to the deck from where he watched the Wasteland fly past him.

The speed was quite fast that despite leaving just two hours ago, the two of them had already crossed half of the Wasteland. In just 2 more hours, they would be at the very north.

"Where exactly are we going?" Scarlet asked.

"You don't have to worry for now," Alex said. "I just want to test something."

"Test?" Scarlet asked.

Alex nodded but didn't elaborate. It was still morning when the two of them passed by one of the locations Alex had wanted to pass by.

"What's this?" Scarlet asked with a confused look. "Why are we in the place I was reborn?"

"You said you dragged me from somewhere else, right?" Alex asked.

Scarlet nodded.

"I want to see if there are anything that was teleported along with me by some chance," he said.

"I don't get what you're trying to say," Scarlet said.

"Do you remember where it was you dragged me from?" he asked.

Scarlet shook her head. "How could I know? I was a baby phoenix with limited intelligence. All I remember is a loud noise and sand flying in the air. Other than that, I only remember dragging you here."

"I see," Alex said. "Either way, it must be close by. Help me search for anything you can find in the sand."

Scarlet gave him a weird look but still accepted his request. Her spiritual sense left her mind like a giant ocean wave that blasted out from her.

Alex used his spiritual sense too, but in front of Scarlet's, his was barely any strength at all.

If his spiritual sense reached over 15 kilometers in range, Scarlet's easily reached past that.

It was so far away, that Alex couldn't even tell based on his own spiritual sense.

With the two of them there, they started searching for whatever they could find.

Alex remembered there being a lot of items floating around in the Qi wall of the Central continent. His swords, pills, two seeds, ingredients, ores, and many other things.

After that, he teleported here. If any of the items had come with him by some happenstance, he would be more than happy.

He didn't expect to find anything really, but even so, he couldn't help but be disappointed when he really didn't find anything.

"There's nothing here," Scarlet said. "Are you sure your items weren't destroyed in the tempestuous Qi that is supposed to be around the central continent?"

Alex's head drooped in sadness. "That must be what happened," he said with a sad look on his face. He had thought that he had come to terms with the loss, but it seemed he really hadn't.

'If nothing, I wish I could've at least saved that,' Alex thought. There was one thing he felt guilty about more than his own cauldron or the seed of World Tree or the Nine Yang Divine tree.

That was the beast core of Pearl's mother. He had received it so long ago and had kept it around for so long in hopes of giving it to Pearl, but in the end, he had lost it.

He took a deep breath and shook his head. 'Stop being sad. You have work to do,' he told himself.

"You can stop now, we're leaving," he said.

The ship started flying away from the crater which was the reason for the birth of so many strong beasts as well as the source of the Northern Lights for so many years.

"Are you done? Are we returning?" Scarlet asked.

"Returning? That was just a side trip," Alex said. "Our main destination is still ahead of us."

Scarlet's eyes narrowed. "Just where are you taking me exactly?" she asked.

Alex looked in his direction and smiled. "We're going to the Central continent," he said.

Scarlet watched the ocean in the distance come closer. Her face held a blank expression as she took in the words that Alex had just spoken.

"Wait, wait, wait… we're going to the Central Continent?" she asked.

Alex nodded.

The phoenix's eyes were wide open in shock. "Are you trying to die? Am I going to have to die again?" she asked.

"What are you talking about? Why would I want to die?" Alex asked.

"Then why the hell are we going to the Central continent? There is no way we can go past the ocean. Even if we somehow manage to cross the ocean without any strong beast finding us, how do you intend to enter through the Qi barrier?" she asked.

Alex couldn't help but chuckle at her response. "I don't," he said. "Stop worrying, I'm just trying to go as far as we can in this boat."

"As far as we can?" Scarlet asked.

"Yes," Alex said. "I don't think we can even make it very far away, but making it even just halfway there would be a huge help to me. Which is why I brought you here actually."

"In case there are some strong beasts that end up finding us, you can help me escape," Alex said. "The most I can fight are Saint Soul realm beasts, but you can fight Saint Transformation realm beasts too."

Scarlet didn't speak for a while as she thought about what he said. "Just what are you planning exactly?" she asked.

"Nothing big," Alex said. "I just want to check up on Pearl."

"Check? On that little cat of yours?" Scarlet asked.

Alex nodded. He felt a faint sense of where Pearl was in the distance. It wasn't strong enough to be significant yet, but it was much stronger than back on the Mainland. With this much feeling, he could confidently tell that Pearl was in the Central continent for sure.

"Oh, that's the continent, isn't it?" Alex asked as he pointed in the distance.

Scarlet turned around to see, but she couldn't see anything really. Not only was the continent far enough that it appeared tiny, but the diffused light in the air also made it almost impossible to make out what was on the other side.

"I don't see anything," she said.

"I do," Alex said. If not for his eyes, he wouldn't have been able to see either.

His vision changed for a moment as he checked the energy in the air. There was a white haze of sparse energy in the air, that covered his vision like fog in the morning.

However, even through that fog, he could see the bright light in the distance that lit up like a lantern in the fog.

"Be careful," Alex said. "We're entering the ocean territory. Be sure to send anything away if it does sense us."

Scarlet nodded and got fully alert.

Alex kept the boat flying as fast as it could while keeping the concealment as well as he could.

'Should I have come by myself?' he wondered a few times as his concealment technique would most likely be enough to traverse the ocean, but he was still scared of being caught, so just in case, he had brought Scarlet along.

"They're getting stronger," Scarlet said as she sensed the beasts in the ocean.

"The bond is getting stronger too," Alex said as he spent every bit of attention on the bond. He tried calling for Pearl a few times, but he got nothing back.

So, he kept going.

"Stop!" Scarlet shouted the moment she sensed something in the distance. They were barely more than a quarter of the way to the Central continent, but even then something had appeared.

Multiple tentacles flew into the air as it tried to knock the ship. Alex controlled the ship and dodged the attack. However, he found no way of proceeding past this beast.

Scarlet flew out and started fighting the beast, but the beast was simply too strong for her.

"We need to leave," she said. Not only was her opponent strong, but the fight would attract more beasts toward them soon.

Alex hesitated a bit. He had come so far, but to just return without any result didn't sit right with him.

However, seeing as Scarlet was struggling with the beast, he couldn't be selfish right now.

"I'm turning it around," he said and quickly turned around. Scarlet fought the beast to free herself for a moment to retreat.

Alex had just that moment right now. "Pearl," he spoke through his bond. "Just wait for me. I'll definitely come for you."

Scarlet jumped onto the boat and the two flew away.

Alex felt a little sad as they had to leave without any result. However, before he was too far away, he sensed something.

It was a vague feeling that couldn't even be made sense of, but it had come from Pearl.

Alex didn't know if Pearl had heard his words or not, but his feelings had most certainly reached him.

And now, Pearl's feelings had come to him as well.

A smile formed on his face now that he knew Pearl was okay and waiting for him. With these two pieces of information in hand, Alex felt the newfound motivation to try and get stronger so he could enter the continent as soon as he could.