1723 Returned

Alex and the old man left their ship and got onto Bai Jingshen's much larger, much faster ship. Pearl came out to meet his great grandfather and soon everyone was settled on the other ship.

"The little mouse realized you were moving away from the Eastern Continent, so we came to check on you," Bai Jingshen said as he sat on the ship in his human form. "It was a good thing that we did. There is still a lot of land for you to go through."

"Is that so?" Alex asked as he pet Whisker. "You did good," he told the mouse.

Whisker smiled. He liked being complimented.

Next to them, Zhou Linfan watched the entire exchange between Bai Jingshen and Alex with confusion and fear on his face. He could not believe that the beast they met in the middle of the ocean would be the White Tiger himself.

He couldn't understand what the White Tiger was doing here. He was sure that all were dead or had left the world already. On top of that, how was Alex acquainted with the white tiger? Through the phoenix? Was the little fully white cat also a White Tiger?

Many questions ran through Zhou Linfan's mind, but he kept it all to himself. At least, he could start to see the possible sources for all the mysteries that surrounded Alex. He believed everything he did was something handed to him by the Immortals.

"I was never in the Eastern Continent," Alex started explaining. "I had managed to teleport before that, but I was weakened. Pearl helped me survive, and senior Zhou saw me to health."

"I see," Bai Jingshen said and looked back at the old man behind him. "You saved Pearl and this young man. You have my gratitude."

"It was all I could do, senior," the old man quickly said. He could hear his heartbeat through his ears with the White Tiger staring at him.

They continued talking for some time with Alex explaining everything that had happened to him. At the same time, Bai Jingshen also told Alex what had been happening back in the Southern Continent.

"Scarlet is trying to break through to Immortality?" Alex scratched his face with a thoughtful look. "It was about time. What about my sister, Hannah?"

"The poisoned girl? She was taken to my Palace when we realized she was sick, but Beihan couldn't heal her. She does not want to give the weak girl an Immortal Pill because it could destroy her current body."

"At the same time, she believes that she has a recipe that could work on her, but the level of the pill she made would be too low to be any good," Bai Jingshen said. "She said it was imperative that you made the pill instead."

Alex nodded. "Pill clouds could indeed help," he said.

"That and she didn't start because of something the girl said," Bai Jingshen mentioned. "She said something about your aunt being necessary. Apparently, you told them that."

"I don't know if Aunt Liz is really necessary or not, but with the level of healing pills at our disposal, she was necessary."

Bai Jingshen looked at Alex for a long time. "Then you are confident you can heal her?" he asked.

Alex nodded. "Absolutely."

After some time, Alex and the others saw dark clouds in the distance with a large cluster of islands below it. They had reached the Sunless lands, and a few more hours later, they would arrive at the Southern Continent itself.

As soon as they arrived, they went through a teleportation formation and went to the Sunborn Sanctuary. As soon as Alex walked out of the teleportation formation, everyone was already waiting for him.

"Father!" Ronron shouted as soon as she saw her. But before her, Helen was already the first to move. She took Alex into a hug while crying.

"I'm so happy you are okay."

Ronron arrived just a split second late and took him into a hug as well.

Graham was next. He looked worried all over and was glad to see that his son was mostly okay. Alex still looked a little under the weather as the problems caused by the Darkness aura hadn't yet left him.

Liz, the elders, LinLin, and evenWen Cheng and Luo Mei had come to see his return.

Alex could feel tears forming in his eyes. It had been so long since he had seen all of them and they all had grown so much in his absence. It was good to know for a fact that many people cared about you.

Most of the staff from the formation ground had been cleared for some time, so it was just them for now.

After a short period, Alex flew to the palace, with the elders taking care of Zhou Linfan in Alex's stead.

Alex walked into the palace through the front gate and saw the confused and surprised looks of many servants and guards who had been there all throughout the night.

"How many know about the situation?" he asked Linlin.

"Not many. We kept it all close to ourselves as much as we could," she said.

"Why did my master and senior sister know?" Alex asked.

"They… just found out. They helped train the princess, and the princess ended up revealing the information by accident," she said.

Ronron seemed to shrink into her shell. "I'm sorry," she said.

Alex shook his head. "That's alright," he said. "The public do not know, right?"

"No," Linlin said. "Although, I fear they suspect some mishap or disagreement with the Eastern Continent. When we had to force the soldiers of the Eastern Continent to leave, they made quite the show."

Alex felt anger being reminded of Long Jianyu and the others. "Forget about them for now," he said. He looked in a certain direction now that he felt Scarlet close by.

He wanted to ask her how she was doing and how her preparation for Immortality was going on but realized that maybe he shouldn't be bothering her. Instead, he just sent feelings of calmness and relief through their bond to help her not worry about him.

"Your Majesty!" Liang Shufen rushed forward when they arrived in a safer location. "Sister Yao Ning, is she…"

Alex nodded. "She protected me as much as she could," he said in a somber tone and died at the Emperor's hand. He could feel the anger bubbling up again and it had nothing to do with the Darkness Aura this time around.

"We'll have our revenge for her," Alex promised. "But there is a much bigger problem upcoming for us. Well, specifically, me."

"What do you mean, Your Majesty?" Linlin asked curiously.

Alex looked toward Liang Shufen. "Have you told them about my deal with the Emperor?" he asked.

The older woman nodded. "I have, in passing," she said. "What about it?"

Alex shook his head. "I need to go finish the deal with the Dragon Emperor, or I will die."

"What?!"

Everyone erupted at practically the same time. They were all confused and angry that Alex was even thinking of going back.

"I swore an oath for the trade," Alex explained slowly. "If I don't complete this, I will die."