1622 Contemplation

When the world calmed again, people found Zhao Boqin on the ground, his right arm red with a lightning burn. It was somewhat bleeding, but mostly it was painful.

He also seemed wounded in other locations as well, but none were as bad. At least he wasn't badly hurt, so he brought out a healing pill with lightning marks on it and ate one.

The pain disappeared from the man as bone and muscle started drinking in the pure life energy from the pill, restoring themselves to the point that not even a scar of the wounds remained.

Zhao Boqin slowly got up, his head still in a daze as he looked around at everyone. He was searching for his spear which he couldn't find right now. He had to look around the area to find it.

At the same time, Sarah flew back to the ground next to her leader, her face dark with seriousness as the danger the two were both in just now was not something either could have faced even together.

It was a miracle the two of them had survived. It was a good thing that they ran when they did. Sarah seemed to have just been faster than the two.

"Are you alright, leader?" she asked, helping Zhao Boqin up.

Zhao Boqin gave her a glare, but he didn't refuse the help. He took her hand and got back up before staring at her with a long, careful look. In the end, he bowed slightly.

"I have lost."

He left right away, not letting Sarah or anyone else say anything. He flew far enough before stopping and looking toward Alex. "If after fighting with her, you still want to fight me, I'll come on the last day."

Alex nodded, and the man went away.

Alex turned around toward Sarah and quickly flew up to her. "You managed to escape in time," he said, looking at her curiously. "I'm surprised you didn't get an Out-of-Bounds for running far away."

"I think he got it," Sarah said, gesturing to the leaving man. "He just doesn't want to reveal it to anyone. I doubt anyone even sees him getting sent away."

Alex thought for a moment and nodded. If Zhao Boqin was hurt, then he took the damage. If he took the damage, then he hadn't gotten out in time. It made sense that he could have only survived by having been rescued by the talisman. 

"They should place some sort of ban on using Immortal Qi inside this place," Alex said in a grumbling tone. "There are no strong individuals here to protect people and the talisman might not always work."

"The Emperor will have to put reforms in place," Sarah agreed. "You should ask him, Your Majesty. You probably get to see him more than all of us combined."

"That's not true," Alex said. "He's usually in closed cultivation." Alex did not like remembering that the Dragon Emperor was so close to making pills with pill veins, and he had only recently helped him become stronger with it as well.

He had thought recently that since he had given ways for the Dragon Emperor to make pills with pill veins, he would maybe not have to worry about the oath anymore. But he could still feel the oath tied tightly inside his spirit.

Whatever he thought, he would have to give the final thing to the man to help him create pills with pill veins without it being left to change.

He would have to give him the Pill-Splitting Qi technique. That was the only way. Even remembering that made Alex feel horrible.

To be forced to give something so incredible to someone who was most likely involved in his sister's murder and even more likely involved in Pearl's mother's death as well. But he couldn't go back on an oath.

The only way to get out of the oath was to most likely kill the man, and as much as he overestimated his own prowess, fighting someone like him was far out of his reach just yet.

The man stood at the peak of the world, and the only people that could possibly fight against him were Immortals who would die in minutes if they even began fighting. 

What a terrible situation this was to be in.

Alex realized with a start that Sarah had kept on talking and he had missed most of what she had said. He quickly went back through his own memory and caught up with what she had said.

"Yes, I can call him if I need to," Alex answered her. "But the Kings and Queens would be better for this. Or maybe the Crown Prince himself."

The girl nodded. "That is true."

She also revealed that it wasn't normal for people to be this strong in this secret realm. It was unlikely for people entering to be in the Saint Transformation realm in the first place as most who had that cultivation base would rarely show their faces in this realm.

Old people did not like meddling with children after all.

And given that one didn't have Immortal Qi until they were around Saint Transformation 4th realm, or at least normally, there would rarely be people here that had such a high cultivation base.

Zhao Boqin was a miracle in that way that he managed to reach such a high cultivation base in such a quick time. He would have been heralded as the most talented person in all of the land most likely, but the sudden appearance of the Players had destroyed everything that made him remarkable.

What was previously a miracle now became commonplace. 

Sarah seemed to want to talk about a lot of things, especially about herself. She asked questions to Alex, wondering if his clone remembered more about her.

She had returned to the Central Continent too now a decade ago, but her family was nowhere to be found. She was nowhere to be found.

Alex shook his head. There was only so much memory he could remember.

The girl sighed in disappointment. She seemed to miss home, but at the same time, there was no home. It was an odd sort of melancholy that caught Alex too. At least he had a home to return to.

Home… 

It had been so long since he saw his parents, his aunt, his daughter. Scarlet was there and so was his master, his senior sister. The 8 elders, his martial uncle. So many people he hadn't met in so long.

How long would it be before he met them again?

'Four years,' he told himself. 'Just four more years and it will all be over.'

He would have to find out more about Pearl's mother and his sister at that time, but he didn't have to fight the Dragon Emperor. He only had to find the culprit and Bai Jingshen would most likely do the rest.

Alex knew he wanted to do it himself, but he would hear to reason when needed.

The day passed by in a blur with Alex spending most of the time talking with Sarah about home and anything else they could think of. Afterward, Sarah left him to cultivate. 

The next day, once fully prepared, she returned to Alex. And this time, she was ready for battle once again.

That was good. So was Alex.