486 More arrivals

"You 3 seniors should run away quickly. The beasts should be here at any moment," Alex said. "You should go help out the others in the city that will have to fight the other beasts."

The 3 saint realm figures couldn't believe what they were hearing.

"Junior, are you alright in the head? What makes you think the beasts are after you?" the red-haired Yang said.

"I… I just know. You should hurry away instead of staying here. It will be very dangerous here very fast," Alex said.

"Haha, what makes you think that we can't handle a bunch of beasts?" Feng said.

"I don't doubt you guys can fight the beasts normally but are you sure you guys can fight the saint beast coming over here?" Alex asked.

"What? Why would the saint beast be com— Shit!" the red-haired Yang said.

"What?" Feng asked.

Yang's face twisted as he realized something. "Kid, where were you during the last beast horde attack?" Yang asked.

"I was running away last time," Alex said. "However I have nowhere to go now. You guys really shouldn't be staying here, talking with me. Leave already."

The one named Feng seemed to have realized as well.

"Brother Zexian, I think he might be the one running away from the Jaguar last month. He is certainly telling the truth," Feng whispered into the Emperor's head.

"I can see that," the Emperor said. "Besides, I would have figured it out eventually it seems." The Emperor turned his head towards the south as a twisted expression appeared on his face.

The 2 Saint beasts weren't going towards the Scarlet City from what he could sense. They were coming right where they were, apparently attracted to the kid in front of them.

The Emperor then turned towards Alex and asked, "What do you have that they want?"

"I don't know," Alex said without hesitation. He truly had no idea. He could come up with a bunch of reasons such as his body constitution or his talents or even his spiritual roots. However, none of them made any sense to be attractive to a beast, one at the Saint realm at that.

"Stop lying, young man. If you tell us, then we might be able to save you," Feng said.

"I seriously don't know. If I knew what it was by now, I would have either discarded it or handed it to someone stronger," Alex said.

"We are strong. If you do know of it, this is your last chance to save yourself," the Emperor said as he got rid of his hood and showed his face.

Alex was a little confused for a second as he felt the face was familiar. However, in the next moment, he realized who he was looking at.

"Your majesty," Alex said as he bowed a little.

"Oh," the Emperor said with a bit of surprise. "I didn't know my vessels recognized my face so easily."

"I was there during the competition in the capital when the beasts came for me there too," Alex said. "I remember you from then."

"I see," the Emperor said. "It seems they truly are after you. In fact, they should be here any moment now."

"Well, we have company before that," Yang said as he looked up in the air. Alex looked up and his heart skipped a beat when he saw who was there.

In the air were 3 people, 2 ladies and one man in a small boat that flew towards their location.

Alex could see both his master and senior sister there and immediately started panicking.

"You guys, what are you doing here?" he asked in a worried tone.

Ma Rong flew down from the boat and landed in front of him.

"You stupid disciple, what were you trying to do?" she asked as soon as she was before him. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Alex could see the worry in Ma Rong's eyes and didn't know what to say. "I—"

"Ma Rong," Wen Cheng called from behind as he came down with Luo Mei. "Your Majesty," he bowed towards the Emperor. Luo Mei did the same.

Ma Rong finally realized that she was in front of the emperor. "Your Majesty,"she said as she bowed towards him as well.

"Who are you people?" the Emperor asked, not recognizing the two sect leaders, but then his eyes fell onto Luo Mei.

"Oh, it's you, little girl. You were the one that nearly won the Annual competition, weren't you?" he asked. "What's your name again?"

"It's Luo Mei, your majesty," Luo Mei said.

"I am Ma Rong, sect leader of the Hong Wu sect," Ma Rong introduced herself.

"I am Wen Cheng, sect leader of the Tiger sect," Wen Cheng said.

The Emperor's eyes brightened. "The Tiger sect? You were the one that messaged about the Beast Horde, weren't you? How did you kn— Ah, I see," the Emperor said as a mystery opened up to him as he looked at Alex in front of him.

"No wonder you always knew when the beasts were coming. He told you, huh?" the Emperor said. He then turned to Ma Rong and asked, "You said Hong Wu sect right? So it must be one of your people that found the recipe to the pill that helped by younger brother's family."

"Yes, your highness," Ma Rong said. "In fact, it was my disciple who found it."

The Emperor's eyes brightened even more. "You did?" he turned to ask Alex.

"Yes, your highness," Alex said, but he turned around in worry once more. "Master, please go back. The beasts will be here any moment. You can't fight them at all."

"And you can?" Wen Cheng asked. "What did you plan on doing here? Giving your life to protect us? Do you even know if that will work? Did you ever stop to think what we would feel like when we found out that you died for us? What would we do as masters who couldn't even help their disciples?"

Wen Cheng seemed calm, but there was anger hidden in each of his words.

"Let's go back quickly, junior brother. We will think of something for the beasts. I'm sure we can fight them off this time. Look, even the Emperor is here. He will surely save us," Luo Mei said as she turned towards the Emperor.

The Emperor just shook his head. "I'm afraid that's impossible," he said. "If I could defeat the beast, I would've done so ages ago."

"Your majesty, if you can't defeat the beast then you should go to the city as well. Please take my masters and senior sister too," Alex said.

"I…" the Emperor stopped for a moment and said," I would happily do that considering what you've done for my brother and sister-in-law. However… I'm afraid we've run out of time."

Suddenly, a massive aura erupted from the forest as a horde of beasts, in amounts that exceeded the one from the capital appeared in the Gap.

The Gap was created previously during the wars when the empire was still shattered. No beasts could be seen venturing this open part of the Southern forest, but now it did.

Alex could feel the overwhelming aura that gave him nothing but a sense of hopelessness. Adding on to that the feeling of tragedy that he had caused when he saw that his masters and sister were here, he couldn't feel anything but the worst right now.

The many beasts ran through the open grass and flew through the air, all coming directly towards the 7 people that were there.

However, just before they reached Alex and the rest. 3 distinct aura appeared from behind Alex that seemed to suffocate the entirety of the beasts, and also the 4 non Saint realm folks that were there.

Ma Rong and Wen Cheng's faces changed when they saw that the two other people with the emperor were also Saint realm in cultivation.

Even Alex was surprised.

The beasts all stopped right where they were and started cowering in fear and they tried to crawl on top of each other to find a way back.

Sounds of whimpers and hisses and howls all sounded from the group of beasts that were hurting from the pain they were feeling.

"Stop harming them."

A voice came from behind the beast that rung around the entire forest, followed by a massive aura that seemed to snuff out the Emperor and the other two's aura as if they were nothing.

"So, it's true," the Emperor said as he realized the difference between him and the opponent.

The black Jaguar showed itself, with its purple eyes that seemed to look directly into a person's soul.

Alex saw the beast and immediately recognized it without even having ever seen it.

"How are you humans always there where I am?" the Jaguar asked.

"Haha, well, this one is just a coincidence," the Emperor said. "Why don't you introduce our new friend? I don't see why he had to remain hidden."

"Who says I'm hiding?" a voice came from behind the Jaguar as a puma with white furs and black-tipped ears and paws showed itself.

The puma was very bulky and looked almost twice as wide as the jaguar who itself was quite large already. "I'm only in the sideline for today, so you humans don't need to worry," the puma said.

The Jaguar looked down at the group of humans and said, "Finally, I managed to track you down after 4 months. It's time I take— huh?" the Jaguar stopped speaking.

"This can't be," it said as it looked at Alex. "But you're a human."