1565 A Few Years Later

There was nothing left for Alex to divert his attention to for the next few years. He had learned all he could, and what he couldn't, there was no way for him to learn.

As such, he decided to focus his time and energy on his own cultivation base, improving himself.

The very year after he started that, he reached the 2nd realm of the Saint Soul realm. Three years after that, he reached the 3rd realm of the Saint Soul realm.

His physical body barely lagged behind him as well, reaching Saint Soul's 1st realm by that time. While it was nowhere near his own cultivation base in terms of its strength, the level it had reached was still quite amazing.

Alas, he had ended up using up his reserve of Saint spirit stones with barely any remaining. Fortunately, however, nearly 13 years had passed since he had been in the Eastern Continent and the Golden auction was up in about a year, having repeated from the last 10 years.

He could sell some pills there. Or at least the two elders could. He had to be elsewhere during that time most likely.

Aside from body and Qi, he had made some progress in everything else as well.

The most important progress he made was in his task to downgrade the Immortal Spirit Pill into a Saint grade. He had only done it a couple of weeks ago.

He had tried his best with the Ten Thousand Earth pill as well, but that had turned out to be much more difficult. At the rate he was going, Alex would become an Immortal himself before he managed to turn the pill into a Saint-grade version.

As for the Wood Spiritual Root Improvement pill, that seemed plausible to be completed in the next decade or two. He had made some significant progress, but there was still a way to go.

He had made other improvements in various aspects of cultivation and alchemy, but none in the big ones that mattered like his Sword Intent, Blood Aura, or Dao.

As for the rest, things were going fine.

Pearl and Whisker showed great improvements during the few years as well, cultivating each and every moment. They were both far stronger now.

Alex had planned on remaining in closed cultivation for a while longer but had to leave because Tian Honglui was in the capital and had requested to meet him while he was there.

Since it was already close to the time when Alex would have to stop anyway, he decided to be done with his closed cultivation and go meet the man.

Alex met the man in a small restaurant in the capital that was barely any popular at all. Tian Honglui was sitting in a corner and quickly waved his hands to catch Alex's attention before bringing him over.

Alex ignored the many eyes that fell on him and made his way toward the young painter.

"Your Majesty," the man almost shouted. "How long has it been? I've been wanting to see you again for a while now."

"Brother Tian, I have missed you as well," Alex said. "What brings you to the city?"

"Oh, I came for the Hall of Fame exhibition that they were doing in the Royal School. They wanted me to be there," the man said. "I thought you would be there since it was a big event, but I didn't see you there."

"I was in closed cultivation," Alex said. "How was the exhibition?"

"It was alright," Tian Honglui said. "They focused it more on me than the paintings, but I suppose that's understandable." He shrugged.

Alex chuckled a bit. "The Hall of Fame paintings are good, but it can't be any better than seeing and hearing from the person that made it there 3 times in a row."

Tian Honglui gave a small smile. "You could do it too, Your Majesty," he said. "Alas, I don't think you have the intention to."

Alex shook his head. "I don't have the intention for it," he said. "Besides, I haven't focused on my painting in quite some time, so I don't think I would make it there without some significant attention in that matter."

Tian Honglui shrugged. "Oh yeah, I wanted to ask regarding that, will you sell a painting in the Golden Auction this time around?" he asked.

"Sell a painting?" Alex asked, thinking to himself. "I don't see why I can't do that. I am planning to make some pills, especially for the auction once again. But painting isn't a bad idea."

"Can you help me with mine?" the young man asked. "You have some strong Dao, so I was hoping you could help me with a random painting. Anything will work, I'm trying to challenge myself."

Alex thought for a bit and nodded. "Sure," he said. "I can do that."

"Haha, great," Tian Honglui said excitedly.

The food arrived, a large bowl of soup with chucks of vegetables and meat floating in a dark brown broth with a layer of liquid fat on top.

"I was meaning to ask," Alex said. "Why are we here?" He pointed to the shop. No matter how he cut it, this shop was not a big place at all and was mostly filled with lower-realm cultivators.

"This is my go-to place when I'm in the capital," the young painter said. "Back when I was studying here in the Royal School, my starting years were… let's say not very good for my heart."

"One day, I came here on a whim and ordered this very food. When I ate it, it reminded me of Mother's cooking, back when she was still alive," he said. "That helped me calm down a lot. Since then whenever I was sad or burdened or anxious or in any sort of sour mood, I would come here to wash it away with this soup that reminds me of home. Of a place I could never return to."

The young painter slurped up a spoonful of soup. "My cultivation base is high now and I don't need to eat anything to survive, but still, from time to time, I like to come here and eat this. To remind myself of the days of the past and all the good times I had."

Alex paused for a moment before tasting the soup himself. The soup was barely any good to his tongue after tasting the delicacies the high-level chefs of the Dragon Palace made for him whenever he requested it.

And yet, he couldn't help but feel warm when he swallowed it. He smiled a little and took another spoon and another, and soon he was halfway done with it.

Tian Honglui chuckled a bit and dug into his own soup, chewing on the piece of meat that floated in there.

Alex took a bite of a small piece of vegetable, the fresh flavors not destroyed by the hot soup. He was only about to swallow it when it stuck in his throat, the world seemingly stopping around him.

Tian Honglui continued as if nothing happened, but he too had to pause and look at Alex in surprise when he realized what was amiss. "Wait, isn't that—"

Alex gulped, swallowing his food, and sent his senses outside to sense the storm that formed. One he was so very familiar with.

A pill Cloud was forming outside, and he was not the one making it.