556 Returning to the Sect

Alex stood up and dusted off the sand from his pants. He had washed his face with the river water and no longer did he have the tear on his face.

He suddenly sensed someone moving behind him as he sensed their Qi in the air. He spread out his spiritual sense and saw 2 elders walking towards him.

"My head suddenly hurts," one elder said.

"Yeah, mine too," the other one replied.

They had noticed Alex from far away already, so the moment they appeared, they put their swords towards him as if he were a bad guy here.

"Who are you?!" they shouted at him.

Alex looked at himself. He no longer looked like 'Yu Ming' at all, so it was obvious they wouldn't recognize him.

"Senior, I am Yu Ming." Alex said. "I have changed my appearance, but it is me."

The two of the elders looked at him with confusion in their face for a moment, before the confusion turned into anger and disdain.

"How dare you lie to us using the late Sect leader's dead disciple's name?" they shouted at him and got ready to attack.

"Eh?" Alex was surprised.

'They think he's dead? Well, they're not wrong in a sense,' Alex thought. Suddenly, he lost all aura of his, and similarly, even his image disappeared.

"Huh? Where did he go?" the elders shouted.

Alex didn't want to do this, but he didn't know how he could explain to them that it was indeed him, and not some random person faking being him.

He left the elders concerned and in full combat mode, and he back towards the sect.

With all of the suppression gone from the Forbidden Fields, one could easily fly in and out of it.

It had now changed to perhaps one of the better places in the sect. Maybe someday the elders would establish some other things here.

He would love to see a combat section established here. Not that he was sure he would be here to see that happen.

He flew up the mountain and landed in front of his master's house. It seemed to have been repaired by now, although he could see that the repair was pretty new.

'How long was I really out?' he wondered again.

The other guy had learned a lot from this place, so Alex felt that he owed this place at least a bow.

Once done, he left and went to his own house and walked in for a bit. He knew each and every corner of this house.

After all, there wasn't many things he could do while cultivating aside from sending out his spiritual sense to check this place.

He smiled a little as he looked through all of the place and walked out.

He walked down the mountain, now fully visible, and was starting to attract glances from everyone.

He smiled towards everyone and made his way to the Elder's hall. As soon as he reached the place, he sent out his spiritual sense to find someone that he could talk to.

The Grand Elder was in room along with the First elder and his Martial uncle, talking about something.

"Grandmaster, are you free to speak right now?" he asked him through the spiritual sense.

The old man's eyes went wide and he suddenly turned.

"Yu Ming?" he called.

"Yes, Grandmaster," Alex replied through his spiritual sense.

"What's wrong, master?" Lang Shun asked.

"Y-Yu Ming, he's back," the Grand Elder said.

Alex walked into the hall and opened the door to the room.

The moment they saw him, instead of elation, they felt confusion. "Who… who are you?" they asked.

Alex chuckled a little. "Grandmaster, Martial Uncle, it's me," Alex said. Despite his face being different, his voice was the same, so they easily recognized him.

"Yu Ming? You're alive?" they asked in surprise.

"Yes, Grandmaster," Alex said. "I'm… I'm sorry for my reckless and impulsive action. I must've worried you all."

"Worried us? Hell, we thought you died," Lang Shun shouted.

"Eh? Died? Uh, I was close to it for sure, but as you can see, I'm not dead," Alex said.

"How did you survive? Where did you even go? We scoured the desert after you left, but we never found you," the Grand Elder said.

"Um, did you go towards the ocean?" Alex asked.

"Ocean? That's so far north. There is no way we could go there with all the suppression on our cultivation base," the Grand Elder said. "Did you really go there?"

"Yes, I did," Alex said with a solemn face. "And I killed master's killer too."

All 3 of their eyes went wide. "You killed sister's killer? Are you sure?" Lang Shun asked.

"Yes, Martial uncle," Alex said. "He's dead. I killed him with my own hands."

Lang Shun immediately walked upto him and embraced him. "Good! Good!" he said as tears spilled down his face.

The Grand Elder's eyes were tearing as well. Alex simply smiled with a sad face.

"How did you kill him? He should have been stronger than you, right?" Lang Shun asked.

"He was, but the suppression helped me. With my physical strength, under the right circumstances, beating him was easy," Alex said.

"Oh right," Alex remembered his burning question. "How many days was I gone for?"

"Do you not know?" the Grand Elder asked.

"No, I was unconscious after the battle," Alex said.

"Sigh, it's been 7 days since the invasion," Lang Shun said. "I'm surprised you survived in the desert with so many beasts for 7 days."

"There weren't any beasts there. They were probably hiding due to the intense suppression that happened out of nowhere. Also, you guys should know, the Qi has returned to the desert. The Yang Qi is fully gone now," Alex said.

"What?" all 3 of them shouted in the room, including the rarely speaking first elder.

"Right, did master wake up?" Alex asked. It felt a little weird calling Wen Cheng, master, but when Alex thought about it, all the combat knowledge he had in his mind came from him. So it was only right to call him that.

"Sect leader Wen Cheng was fully healed 3 days ago and has went back to the Tiger sect. Although, he does have an arm and a few fingers missing, not unlike you," Lang Shun said.

"Are you alright? Do you want to contact an artifact creator to make a fake arm for you?" the Grand Elder asked.

"Right, you can make a fake puppet arm which wouldn't be weaker than your normal one," the First elder said.

"That's… tempting, but I'll pass. I would rather have my own arm," Alex said.

"How will you do that?" Grand Elder asked curiously.

"Umm, do you guys have master's spiritual bag?" Alex asked.

"Yes," the Grand Elder said.

"Then you will find a bunch of talisman inside them, all recording recipes for different pills, including many True pills and Saint pills. Amongst those saint pill is a pill that can help me regrow my arm," Alex said.

"A Saint pill? That's impossible to make," Lang Shun said.

"Yes," Alex said. "That's why I plan to convert the saint pill to a True pill by using similar ingredients."

"Woah!" Lang Shun said after listening to his idea. "You think it'll work?"

"Yes," Alex said. "Although I do not know how, yet. The Royal Alchemist successfully upgraded my Common rank pill recipe to a True rank pill recipe. Going by that logic, downgrading should be similar as well, right?"

"I wouldn't say it's similar," the Grand Elder said. "Upgrading is easy from Common rank to True rank because the one doing the changes is usually familiar with both the ingredients."

"However, it will be impossible for you to be familiar with a saint rank ingredient. Heck, it's impossible to even find one," the Grand elder said.

"It's alright, Grandmaster. I will do it," Alex said.

"I hope you do, Martial Nephew. I will need such a pill for my leg too," Lang Shun joked.

"Of course, Martial uncle," Alex said with a smile. "By the way, what's the situation of the sect leader status now? Did you already choose one?"

"No," Grand Elder said. "First elder is currently the acting sect leader until we can decide on something else. But… it's likely going to be the 4th Elder."

'4th Elder huh?' Alex thought. A memory of a short and thin man with a relatively thick mustache came to his mind. He had never really interacted with the man, so Alex didn't knew much about him.

"Also," Alex spoke up to ask something, but the question stuck on his throat.

"Yes?" the Grand Elder asked.

Alex forced himself to speak and said, "when… can you hold my graduation?"

"Hmm, it will be a week in the earliest," the Grand Elder said.

"I see," Alex said. "I will wait for the day then."

"Have you… made any plans for after your graduations?" the Grand Elder asked.

Alex nodded and said, "I plan to leave the sect."

"What? Wh—" Lang Shun spoke up in surprise, but the Grand Elder stopped him from speaking any further.

"I see," he said. "I hope you've thought of this choice for a bit before you made it."

"Yes, Grandmaster," Alex said.

The Grand Elder nodded. "Very well then. I will have them set your graduation soon."

"Thank you," Alex said. "I will go for now."

"Wait," the Grand Elder said. "Before I forget. There was someone from the City Lord's house here to look for you. We sent them back telling you were dead, but you might want to visit and let them know you are still alive."

"I see. I will do that," Alex said. "Goodbye."

He turned around and left the Elder's hall.