1562 8th Year

If Alex could make the pills he was requested to make as quickly as he was allowed to, he could have completed the entirety of it in less than 2 weeks. With the involvement of pill clouds, he would need less than 3 months to complete making all the pills.

If he wanted to not arouse suspicion that he was making too many pills at once, Alex would have to spread those out over more than 6 months. And that was exactly what he did.

During his 'closed cultivation', Alex took around 7 months to complete making all the pills. He had to slow down his rate of making pills by making time for his cultivation of all sorts.

His Qi cultivation was still stuck on the 1st realm of the Saint Soul realm, but he was starting to see it coming to a crescendo beyond which he could break through in a short amount of time. As for when that would be, he wasn't yet capable of telling.

Not only did he have to improve his Qi, but he also had to improve his own soul in the Saint Soul realm. As a result, his cultivation speed has gone down a lot over the last 3 years.

Taking 4 years in total to reach just the 2nd realm of Saint Soul was a long time for Alex, but he couldn't complain. There were people around him who waited centuries to go up a single realm after all.

Alongside his Qi cultivation, his Body Cultivation had improved quite a lot thanks to the Mountain Crushing artifact. He had managed to cross halfway through the Saint Core realm with his physical body, getting closer and closer to the Saint Soul realm in physical strength as well.

However, the improvement had come in a burst toward the start, and by now it was starting to get slower and slower. To cross from the 5th Saint Core realm of body cultivation to the 6th Saint Core realm, it had taken him nearly 6 months.

It had to partially do with his body requiring further refinement in the latter realms, and partially to do with him having to slow down on his usage of spirit stones. He had to save them for what was necessary.

His blood aura had no way of improving while he was in closed cultivation and the same was the situation for his Intent and new Dao.

His Sword Intent had no way of improving either. It hadn't had a way to improve for a long time as he hadn't got the chance to train properly. He did not want to let the people here know he could use Sword Aura, and with just the lack of fighting and training in general, he hadn't had the chance to improve it.

But he wasn't worried about it just yet. Soon he would have the opportunity to do just that. Just a few more years was all he needed.

Until then, it was better if he focused on the rest he could easily improve.

Alex left the cultivation room and met up with his elders. They were busy cultivating as well, so they had to stop to meet with him.

"Has anyone come to the Swan courtyard while I was gone?" Alex asked them.

"The Crown Prince came to meet you once, I believe," Liang Shufen said. "But he left after learning that you were busy."

Yao Ning's face twisted into a frown. "Why is your cultivation base the same, Your Majesty?" she asked. "I had assumed you had broken through."

"Hmm? Me?" Alex shook his head. "That was Pearl and Whisker. I haven't broken through yet. I am getting close, however."

They nodded. 

"Are we to hand over the pills now?" Yao Ning asked Alex.

Alex nodded. 

"Who are these people, Your Majesty?" she asked. Liang Shufen was curious all the same as well.

"I told you," Alex said. "It is better if you know nothing about these people. Anyway, let them know that I plan to visit the Blueheart city for the next few weeks and then to go roam the Azure Kingdom."

"I will," Yao Ning said.

Alex felt quite impatient despite having waited nearly 10 months for this. He went out to visit his alchemists before leaving for Blueheart City.

He hadn't been there for nearly 4 years, and yet it felt like it was just yesterday that he left this place to go to Goldheart city for the auction.

Alex was allowed to fly on the boat on the way to the Blueheart city. Being in the Azure Kingdom, they did not fear random bandits attacking the King of the Southern Continent.

Along the way, Alex couldn't help but feel surreal regarding how long it had been since he had seen his family. Since he had seen his father, mother, and daughter. 

7 years he had spent away from them. It was already 3 months into the 8th year as well. A few years of closed cultivation and he would be halfway through his time on this continent.

'When will I return?' he wondered. He didn't want to wait the entire 20 years. He had to kill the Emperor if he was in fact responsible for his cousin's death. He was already someone that Alex hated for potentially killing Pearl's mother, but the situation had gotten even more personal with Hannah's death.

And that person was the one that he had to help become the best alchemist in the realm. There was no doubt in Alex's mind that if the man created a pill with pill veins, it would have all 9 pill veins in it.

He was just that strong.

"Your Majesty, welcome back!" Long Weiyuan greeted Alex excitedly. Next to him was a relatively young woman with long dark-brown hair that flowed behind like a waterfall. She was the queen of the Azure Kingdom, one that Alex hadn't gotten to meet the last time he was there.

"Greetings, Your Majesty. I am the Queen of this Kingdom, Jun Jiaorou. It is my utmost pleasure to meet you." The woman bowed, the gold stacked on her hair threatening to fall out of it. 

Alex greeted the two of them and was led inside the palace. They served him all kinds of expensive treats and refreshments before allowing him to rest for a bit.

He had a simple plan for now. He would stay in this city for a few weeks to try and see if the Oathbreakers would come to him. If they didn't, he would move to the other cities, especially ones around the edges of the Kingdom to lure them out.

Once they were out, he planned on swapping the pills for the information.

So, he spent the next few days with the King and Queen, interacting with them as much as he could, thanking them for letting his elders stay there when he was gone.

The couples were more than happy to let Alex stay there for the time being and even refused the pills he gave them as a thank you.

However, Alex managed to force it on them one way or another. They were rather happy to receive it.

3 weeks after that, having not received any sort of message from the Oathbreakers, Alex started his journey to scour the kingdom until one of them found him.