421 2144

Alex finally made his way to his master's manor and entered it.

"Ah, you're here," Wen Cheng said out loud when he saw Alex come inside. Luo Mei and Meng Yun were right behind him, waiting to welcome him back.

They talked for an hour or two. Wen Cheng had a lot of questions that he couldn't exactly ask Alex back when he had visited him in the Hong Wu Sect and could only feel okay to ask him that in the privacy of his own house.

Alex answered as many questions as he comfortably could. In the end, Wen Cheng was satisfied with what he had learned.

"By the way, what's up with your cultivation base, junior brother? I can't sense it at all," Luo Mei said.

"Hmm… even I am having trouble pinpointing what your cultivation base is right now," Wen Cheng said as he tried to feel the aura coming off of Alex.

"Oh, right. I probably shouldn't keep it hidden now. It will only make people more suspicious," Alex said and started letting out his cultivation base to a higher realm. When he reached the Meridian Tempering 1st realm, he stopped.

"This should be fine," he said.

"Woah! Junior brother, you've reached Meridian Realm already? How are you so fast? You are like one of those new people that come to the sect," Luo Mei said out loud.

Meng Yun's eyes were wide open in shock. During their battle 2 months ago, Alex wasn't even in the Organ Tempering realm, and yet in just 2 months, he not only entered the Organ Tempering realm, but also the Meridian Tempering realm.

Wen Cheng's eyes were wide too, but not for the same reason as the other two. "You are hiding your cultivation still?" he asked Alex directly in his mind.

Alex smiled and replied, "I just thought that it would be too much of a shock if I didn't do this. It was either this or tell people that I was hiding my cultivation base previously."

"I see, that makes sense," Wen Cheng said.

"Wait, that means junior brother is a Core disciple now, right?" Luo Mei asked excitedly. "Woah, you climbed the ladder so fast."

"Huh? Oh right, I forgot about that," Alex said. "Where should I register myself as a Core disciple? The Disciple hall, right?"

"Yeah, that's where you should go. Come, I will take you right now" Luo Mei said.

"You don't need to do that for today," Wen Cheng said from the side, stopping Luo Mei. "Little Mei, just go back to your home for the night, I'm sure your junior brother wants to rest too."

"Ah, okay. He can go in the morning then," Luo Mei said. She then checked her clock artifact and exclaimed, "What? It's already close to 9 pm? That's so late," she said.

"I need to properly cultivate today. Goodbye," she said and took off. Meng Yun too bowed towards the two of them and left behind Luo Mei.

Wen Cheng shook his head and sighed. "What would that girl do if she ever really became in charge of something," Wen Cheng said.

"Well, she did do quite well in the competition, so I don't doubt people would mind having her be in charge of something," Alex said with a chuckle.

"Oh right, master, what happened to the rewards? Did the finale ever happen?" Alex asked.

"Sigh, it was supposed to, but it never happened," Wen Cheng said. "After learning about your disappearance, your sister basically forfeited the match to search for you."

"Well, not that it mattered. The tragedy at the capital was too big for anyone to demand they get their prize at such a time. It could've been asked for in the next month or two, but given how the beasts have started to attack in unison as opposed to the random attack they did around the forest, I don't think the competition holders will even think about prizes anytime soon," Wen Cheng said.

"Well, we at least got the points, right? We should be a first grade sect now," Alex asked.

"Haha, of course. No one can deny us of our legitimacy as a first grade sect. In fact, the sect has been steadily growing for the last month, ever since we made our name," Wen Cheng said.

"Oh, and what about the new cultivators that popped up out of nowhere? Has any such people come to the sect in the last month?" Alex asked.

"Of course, many did and many left," Wen Cheng said. "Only a few truly stay behind though. There is this Trevor guy that joined a week or so before the competition, a few days after you had left actually, and he's been steadily increasing his rank in the sect."

"In less than a month, he went from being a Muscle tempering realm cultivator to a Meridian tempering realm cultivator. Even while I was outside, Liu Xun would send me a message about how quickly this guy is rising through the ranks," Wen Cheng said.

"What rank is he at now?" Alex asked.

"Uh, I don't know. After he beat a disciple at the 43rd rank, he was recruited by the Fifth Elder, and ever since then, he has stopped showing off. It seems the Fifth elder has recruited him and told him to properly train to become strong."

"Although, these new people are hard to tame. So, I am sure he will break through soon and go challenge someone high up soon," Wen Cheng said.

"Anyway, it's time for you to go rest soon too. Do you want to train to start tomorrow, or do you want to wait a few more days?" Wen Cheng asked.

"Um, tomorrow should be fine. Although, it will have to be normal training, since I will have to body cultivate overnight most of the time," Alex said.

"Hmm, why don't you do it during the day?" Wen Cheng asked.

"Uh… it's a little inconvenient for me to do it during the day," Alex said.

"Why?" Wen Cheng asked.

"Well, the cultivation method I use is very effective at night only and completely ineffective during the day, so I can only cultivate at night," Alex said.

"Ah, I see. You have one of those cultivation methods huh. I guess you can only cultivate during the night then," Wen Cheng said. "Alright, leave now and go back to your room. We will start training tomorrow night."

"Good night, Master," Alex said and walked away from the manor. He started walking down the mountain under the moonlight when he suddenly realized something.

"Oh right, what's my rank right now?" he wondered. The rank was what decided your status, house, and a lot of things in the sect. Since he had left the sect for nearly 2 months and without the authority of the sect at that, his rank was surely to be towards the bottom.

He took out the badge and looked at the number that was written on it and nearly laughed out loud.

2144

He was currently an outer sect disciple and would have to stay in a house ranked just that. Not only that, but since the lower-ranked houses held multiple disciples, he was going to be staying a night in house number 2144 with 4 other people.

'Sigh, whatever. I will fight someone tomorrow,' Alex thought and walked all the way down to the foot of the mountain. He sent out his spiritual sense and finally found the house numbered 2144.

'Last time the rank I got was 20- something right? Does that mean around 500 new disciples joined by now?' Alex wondered.

He went to the very cheap-looking house and placed his badge on the room to open the door. He walked in and closed the door behind him only to see 5 compact rooms with a main room where the screen was kept.

A door opened and a young girl walked out. Alex looked at her cultivation base and saw that he was a Skin Tempering 3rd realm disciple who must've only just entered the sect.

At first, she didn't see any cultivation base coming off of Alex, so she thought he was a newbie as well, but then she saw the blue lining in his robe and gasped with her palm to her mouth.

She quickly ran over to another room and knocked on the door. "What?" someone's voice came from inside. The door opened and a man walked out.

He looked towards the girl who was pointing towards Alex and then turned to look at Alex. His eyes suddenly got serious.

"Are you the disciple that beat Core Disciple Huo Tu?" the man suddenly asked.

"Oh, I'm surprised you know about that. How do you know?" Alex asked. He was truly surprised. He wondered if it was his face, or if someone else let this disciple know.

"Well…" the man answered. "That's because this number belongs to the disciple who beat Huo Tu. Ever since you beat him, he's been looking for your return, so he made everyone remember about the man who won't fight."

"Oh, yeah. I was out of the sect for quite a while, so it's obvious my rank will fall down. Still, I'm shocked that people still remember that," Alex said with a smile.

"But… that was only 2 months ago. Even core disciple Huo Tu himself only regained consciousness a little over a month ago, so it's obvious everyone would keep track of this number," the man said.

"I see, well, you won't have to worry about me. I will leave this place tomorrow morning. Good night," Alex said and entered the empty room next to him, leaving the little girl and the man dumbfounded in the hallway.