1258 The Upper Garden

Alex went into a room to rest. Due to the loss of his Blood Essence, he needed to rest or else he wouldn't be able to function properly at all.

He cultivated in the room for a while, before he felt slightly better. It would take a long time before he could feel as good as he always did, however.

A while later, he heard a knock on the door. Releasing his spiritual sense, he realized who it was that waited for him outside.

He quickly opened the door and looked at the giant black Jaguar that stood outside. He smiled when he saw her.

"Sister Yao, it's great to see you again," he said jubilantly.

"Hehe, it's great to see you too, young man. I heard you came, so I hurried here," Yao Jia said. "How have you been?"

"Nothing less than great," he said. "Where's senior Yao?"

"Father is in closed cultivation," she said.

"Oh, is he nearing some breakthrough?" Alex asked.

"No, not breakthrough. It's just that he hasn't had the time to cultivate before since he had to look after the palace in the lord's absence. However, now that the lord is back and has brought so many people with him, he doesn't need to remain outside for so long and has gone into closed cultivation."

"I see," Alex said. "You've gotten quite strong as well. Saint Condensation 4th realm, huh?"

"Oh, you can tell? You must've grown very strong as well then," Yao Jia replied.

"Somewhat," Alex said. He wasn't surprised that she couldn't tell his cultivation base, as no one normally could.

"Oh, was I disturbing you? I heard you were here and came to visit, but maybe I should have waited until you were out," she said.

"Oh, no. It's alright. I should be leaving as well," Alex said.

"Leaving? Are you going somewhere?" Yao Jia asked.

"Yes, to the Luminance empire," Alex said. "I need to go get my mother from there."

"But… your mother isn't in the Luminance empire though," Yao Jia said. "She's in the Crimson Empire."

Alex paused for a second. "What? She's in the Crimson Empire? How?" he couldn't help but ask.

"Well, after you were gone, father took many seniors to the Luminance empire to kill the ones that were responsible for your and young lord's disappearance," she said. "Once he was done with that, he waited for you two to come back with your mother. But when they realized you weren't coming back, he brought your mother here to keep her safe."

"After the lord returned and the number of beasts increased, your mother decided not to stay here anymore and went to the Crimson empire. She said she had people there that she knew," Yao Jia said.

"Oh," Alex thought. "So… father and the rest must have met her already then."

He wondered for a second what he needed to do next. Should he still go to the Luminance Empire and finish what he had remaining, or delay that for some other time?

"I should have to go there anyway later on, so maybe I should do both at the same time," he thought.

"Do you know where Scarlet is?" Alex asked her.

"Who's… Scarlet?" Yao Jia asked.

"Nuanhuo, the Phoenix that I came with," Alex said.

"Oh! Lady Phoenix is with the lord in the upper garden. You should find them there," Yao Jia said.

"Oh, let's go," Alex said and started walking away. Yao Jia followed behind him and walked until they came across the door that led upstairs.

There were guards at the door, none of whom knew if they should let Alex walk free or not. They were about to stop him, but before they could, they were ordered to let him go.

Alex continued without stopping and arrived outside at the beautifully maintained garden. It was late in the morning, so the sun was up in the sky, shining brilliantly on everything.

Scarlet rested on the meadow, enjoying the sun. Next to her was a massive tiger with white fur and black stripes. His size was much larger than Alex had expected or hoped.

The tiger turned around and saw Alex. "Are you done with your cultivation?" he asked.

"Yes, senior," Alex said.

"Don't call me senior," the tiger said. "It doesn't feel right. Just call me what you used to call me."

Alex paused for a second, taken aback. "Do you want me to call you brother Shen?" he asked.

"Why not? It's not like that's not part of my name," he said. "Come, sit down."

Alex nodded and sat down next to the two of them. Yao Jia walked up as well and crouched next to the two of them.

"Shouldn't you be cultivating?" Bai Jingshen asked.

"I—"

"I just left my room, my lord. Let me enjoy the sun for a bit," Yao Jia grumbled when she heard the white tiger.

Alex was surprised for a moment and realized that Bai Jingshen wasn't talking to him at all.

"If you don't reach the Immortal realm by the time I need to leave, I will leave you here and only take your father," Bai Jingshen said.

"Why?" Yao Jia shouted. "That's not fair, my lord. I'm trying my best. I already reached the Saint realm, didn't I?"

"How old are you again?" Bai Jingshen asked.

"Uhh… a 100 years old," Yao Jia said.

"In real years," Bai Jingshen asked.

Yao Jia hesitated a bit. "Nearly 600 years," she said.

"See? You wasted so much time reaching the Saint realms. You have much better talent than your father, and yet you are slower than him," Bai Jingshen said.

"Well… that's just because I spent most of my time in the rooms with slowed time, my lord," Yao Jia said.

"None of which are rooms that are cultivation related, are they?" he asked.

"N-no," Yao Jia said in a hesitating voice.

"Either way, you need to focus on your cultivation soon," Bai Jingshen said. "Okay?" He pet her on her head a few times.

"How are you feeling?" Scarlet turned around to Alex and asked.

"Much better than yesterday, but still not as well," Alex said.

"You likely won't feel as good as you did. You will have to adapt with this weaker self of yours," Scarlet said. "Well, it's just your blood anyway. You can fix that later on."

"Yeah, I might have to go to the ocean after I return," Alex said. "I haven't been there for a while, so it's about time."

"The ocean? Why?" Bai Jingshen asked.

"To gather blood," Alex said. "Oh, you might not know this, but I can use blood aura. I can also absorb other's blood to get stronger too."

"Oh, you can use blood aura? That's not very common," Bai Jignshen said and thought for a bit. "Can you use any blood or does it have to come from aquatic beasts?"

"No, it can be any beast's or human's. I only use the aquatic beasts because they are usually the least intelligent of all the beings that I can get blood from," Alex said. "That way I can keep my conscience clean."

Bai Jingshen nodded. "Does the blood have to be from a dead beast? Does it have to be Blood Essence?" he asked.

"No, it just needs to be normal blood from anywhere," Alex said.

"Then you don't need to bother with going to the ocean," Bai Jingshen said. "I'm sure I can help you regarding it much, much faster."