416 Surprise

"Sect Leader Ma is still very kind. This old man doesn't need anything himself, it's the young lord that is in need of your assistance," Butler Kang said.

Both Ma Rong and the Grand Elder's eyes immediately flashed with caution and worry. "Is… there something wrong with the lord?" Ma Rong asked.

"Ah, no no, the lord is fine and so is the mistress. The one in need is someone important to the lord. I can't reveal any more information right now. The Lord has asked that the matter not be spread very far," Butler Kang said.

"I see," Ma Rong said. "I will leave right now then."

"Yes, and um…" Butler Kang stopped her for a second before looking at Alex next to her. "Is this young man the one called Yu Ming?" he asked.

"Yes, this is my disciple Yu Ming," Ma Rong introduced. She then turned to Alex and introduced the Butler to him.

"This senior is Butler Kang. He is the head butler of City Lord Fu himself," Ma Rong explained.

Alex finally understood why the two of them held the man in such high regard. Being the head butler to the city lord himself, the butler would have an unnaturally high status in the city.

"Greetings, senior," Alex immediately bowed and greeted.

"Greetings, my child." Butler Kang turned towards Ma Rong and said, "You've got yourself a very good disciple, Sect Leader Ma."

"Yes, I do," Ma Rong said with a smile.

"Young Lord has asked that we bring your disciple with us too," Butler Kang said.

Ma Rong looked a little concerned. "Has he said why?" she asked.

"I'm afraid not. Bringing back your disciple was more of a passing remark by the young lord. I did not dare question why," Butler Kang said.

"I see… then we should move," Ma Rong said and started walking out. Alex followed behind her, followed by Butler Kang at the back.

As soon as they reached out of the hall, they all flew away. From the Hong Wu sect, the City Lord's manor was merely a few minutes of flight away.

Alex flew comfortably, keeping up with both Butler Kang and Ma Rong. Butler Kang looked back multiple times surprised how well a youngster was at keeping up with the two of them.

'The young man must be using some incredible technique to hide his cultivation base so well. I can barely see that he is in the Meridian realm, even then that's because of my own cultivation base. How is he flying so well with such little cultivation?' he wondered.

"We are here," Ma Rong told Alex and slowly dropped to the ground.

Alex looked at the massive house with a large garden in front and even a large backyard behind. He had always seen this place from far away when he was flying, but this was the first time he actually visited this place.

He too followed behind Ma Rong but didn't forget to keep his distance from her. He didn't want to accidentally fall to the ground in such a place. Together, he and Ma Rong went up to the gate.

With Butler Kang behind them, the gate opened without any questions and let the two of them go inside. There were dozens of people working on the front garden that stopped to look at the new arrivals. Once they saw who it was, they went back to their work.

Even inside the manor, there were people who were working that would check who came sneakily.

The old butler took them to a waiting room and let them wait there while he went to inform the city lord about their arrival.

"Ah, you are finally here, Sect Leader Ma," A female voice appeared from the side.

Ma Rong immediately stood up to greet the woman who just walked in. "Greetings, Lady Mo."

"Hello," Alex greeted her as well.

"Hm, do I know you?" Lady Mo said with a hint of confusion on her face for a second before recognizing him. "Ah, the young man from that time. How are you, junior? It must be fun being the direct disciple of two sect leaders, right?"

"It's… quite amazing actually," Alex said with a smile towards Lady Mo.

Lady Mo still wore the purple robes she did from back when Alex had first seen her. Her beauty didn't seem to have aged a day either.

Alex could almost promise that she was from a noble family that married the city lord from her manners and elegance and how she handled herself.

"Lady Mo, do you know why we are called here?" Ma Rong asked.

"Ah… it's… I think it's better if I let my dear husband speak about it himself," Lady Mo said.

Ma Rong didn't say anything and waited. Alex looked around the house and was generally amazed by it all. The house was fully white all around and was filled with different art pieces that were purple and red in color.

"Sect Leader Ma," Butler Kang came and spoke from the side. "Please come, the young lord is waiting."

"Um, Butler Kang, what about my disciple?" she asked.

"Haha, he is being specially requested in there as well," butler Kang said with a smile.

The old butler took them through a corridor to the other side of the manor that seemed to have not as many people. In fact, there was barely any person in these parts.

Finally, they came across a door that had two people standing in front of it. One of them was a black-robed female that seemed to be a guard of some sort, and the other one was a handsome, young man in his late 20s.

With his purple garment and a smile on his face, he seemed to exude confidence and elegance in everything he did.

"I've brought them, Young Lord," old man Kang said.

"Thank you, old Kang. You may leave for now," the young man said.

"Greetings, City Lord Fu," Ma Rong said as she bowed a little towards the man. Alex greeted him almost immediately as well. He bowed a little to show some respect.

"You are finally here, Sect Leader Ma. You cannot understand the frustration I went through by not having you available for the last 3 days," City Lord Fu, Fu Wen said.

"My apologies. I, myself was sick for the last 3 days, so I couldn't be of any help to city lord," Ma Rong spoke as respectfully as she could. She was so respectful that Alex started to wonder if the lord really even deserve that.

Just because he had the blood of the Royal Fu flowing through him, it didn't mean that he was in any way closely related to the current emperor or even the previous one.

That led Alex to believe that that was not the case, and he was in fact close to the current emperor.

'He's not the emperor's son, that's for sure,' Alex thought as he remembered the names of the only 2 princes of the country, and he had seen the second prince already.

There was no way the crown prince was going to become the city lord of a city so far away.

"Oh, you were sick? An Alchemist becoming sick, now that's concerning. Should we be worried in any way?" Fu Wen asked.

"Oh, not at all. It was something only relating to me. There are no reasons to worry," Ma Rong said.

"That's fortunate," Fu Wen said. He then turned to Alex and said, "Junior brother, long time no see. How are adapting to being in two sects at once? Are you okay?"

"I'm very much fine, City Lord. Thank you for asking," Alex said.

"Haha, I had to. You must have done quite a few exceptional things to be noticed like that. I see your cultivation base has jumped quite high too," he said.

'What?' Alex's face was full of confusion. ' Is his cultivation base high enough to counter my Immortal Concealment technique?' he wondered.

'Also, is he talking about me getting that alchemy win? That shouldn't have been so noticeable," he thought. As he thought, his eyes started to wander and it accidentally fell on the eyes of the dark-robed guard standing far behind Fu Wen.

Alex suddenly lost all thought process as he kept looking at those eyes. The guard quickly brought down her eyes, but Alex's eidetic memory didn't let him forget it.

He kept on thinking about those eyes and tried to sift through the many memories of his to find the person with those eyes. It took a while, but he finally did it.

"It's you," Alex suddenly blurted out loud. Both Ma Rong and Fu Wen were a little surprised at the outburst.

"Ah, I'm sorry for speaking so abruptly like that," Alex immediately apologized when he realized what he had done just now. However, his eyes still showed the shock he had felt just now.

'Guard? But how?' he couldn't help but ask himself.

"What's wrong, Yu Ming. Why did you shout?" Ma Rong asked.

"Um, the guard over there… I think I know her," Alex said. "However, when I saw her she wasn't a guard. Instead, she was the daughter of a noble household."

"Huh?" Ma Rong was confused for a moment, but then remembered Alex's story about how he came back in a caravan due to a lady from a noble family thinking of him as a bandit.

"City Lord Fu, may I request that you ask that guard over there to drop her mask. I would like to know if my disciple is correct," Ma Rong said.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Sect Leader Ma," Fu Wen said with an awkward smile. Ma Rong got even curious about the whole thing.

"You can't?" she asked with a slight hint of confusion.

"Haha, I wouldn't deny a request of yours for no reason, Sect leader Ma. Especially when I brought you here with a request of my own. The truth is… I do not have the authority to command her to do anything at all," Fu Wen Said.

"Oh," Ma Rong got more curious and asked, "Then who does?"

"Did I hear Yu Ming's voice out there?" a voice came from behind the locked door. Clicks and clacks could be heard as the person slowly opened the door and walked out.

The first thing Alex saw was slender, white arms through see-through blue clothes, followed by a person in a light blue robe.

Alex recognized that voice from somewhere and looked at the person once she fully emerged. Alex looked in shock as he saw who it was.

Immediately, Ma Rong bowed down. Her bow this time was much deeper and more respectful than when she did it to Fu Wen.

"My greetings, your royal highness," Ma Rong said.

The person standing in front of them was the princess of the Crimson Empire, Fu Wuying.

"Yu Ming, bow in front of the Royal princess," Ma Rong whispered to him quite sternly.

Alex woke out of his daze and bowed down as well, saying the same greeting as Ma Rong.

"Haha," the princess smiled. "There's no need for that. Junior brother Yu Ming and I have been quite well acquainted during our few days in the caravan. We should be beyond such formality by now."

Alex was confused for a second as to what she meant, but once he saw the guard behind her, everything clicked together.

Fu Wuying... Ying Wu… they were the same person all along. Alex's shock hit harder when he realized that he had been with the royal princess for nearly 3 days and he didn't even know it.

Ma Rong was shocked as well, as she had put 2 and 2 together as well. "I apologize on my disciple's behalf if he did anything to offend you, your highness," Ma Rong said.

"You don't need to apologize at all, sect leader Ma. Your disciple was in no way disrespectful," Fu Wuying said with a smile.

Fu Wen turned towards Fu Wuying and said, "Um… dear cousin. Can you cut the chitchat for later, and get to the task at hand?"