733 Another Path

"You're leaving the continent? Why?" Alex asked. This was a bit too sudden from Alex's perspective.

"I… am going home," Shen Jing said.

"Home?" Alex asked curiously.

"Yes," Shen Jing said.

"I thought you said this place was your home," Alex said.

"It is, but if you remember, I told you I wasn't born here," Shen Jing said. "I'm going back to where I was born."

"Where is this home?" Alex asked.

Shen Jing put on a nostalgic smile as he remembered his family who must be missing him a lot.

"It's a place called the Land of the Blessed Sun. It's a tacky name, I know, but it fits the place," Shen Jing said.

"I kinda like the name," Alex said. After all, the place had the word 'sun' in it. "Can I visit there someday?"

"Of course," Shen Jing said. "Someday, I assume you will be invited even after I tell them about you."

"About me? Why would you tell them about me?" Alex asked worriedly.

"Because of how special you are. I doubt they won't want to see you after I gush about you."

Alex didn't know what to say, so he changed the topic. "What continent is this Land of the Blessed sun in?" Alex asked.

"I'm sure you will figure it out on your own in due time," Shen Jing said.

"Are you leaving for good or are you going to return?" Alex asked after a considerable amount of time.

"Oh no, it's going to be a short visit," Shen Jing said. However, his face twisted to show a grimacing smile as he said, "but what I consider short is usually a decade to two at least."

"Decades, huh?" Alex said. "I can't believe you would make such rushed decisions for something that would take decades. I wonder if I will feel the same sort of dissonance with time once I reach the Saint realm."

Shen Jing made a weird face. "Who said this was a rushed decision?" he asked. "In fact, it was a delayed decision."

"Delayed? You were supposed to leave earlier?" Alex asked.

"Yes," Shen Jing said. "I made plans for leaving once I thought you died in the Demon Realm. I was supposed to leave a while ago. But then I found out you didn't die there, and instead stuck around for a while longer to teach you what I could before leaving."

"When do you leave then?" Alex asked.

"Within a year," Shen Jing said.

Alex thought for a moment and asked, "if you really are going to leave then would you mind telling me what your cultivation base is?"

Alex had tried to figure out Shen Jing's cultivation base, but he still couldn't figure it out at all. He was sure it was at least in the Saint Soul based on the fact that the Emperor who was likely in Saint Core was afraid of him, but that still didn't tell Alex anything.

"How about this? Once I return, I will answer every question you could possibly have about me," Shen Jing said.

"But that would mean I will have to wait 20 years just to find out," Alex said.

"Don't worry, as you cultivate, time will go by in a flash."

The two of them trained along with Pearl for a bit longer and Shen Jing returned.

Alex went back to the palace around late afternoon and was about to go to the Alchemy room when a servant found him.

"Senior Ruoran is looking for me? Where?" Alex asked hurriedly after getting the information.

"The garden, sir alchemist," the servant said and Alex took off. Within a minute, he was back in the garden and found Ruoran by one of the flowers, checking it.

Alex walked up to him and before he could say anything, Ruoran started speaking.

"The Bluethorn Dahlia is notorious for requiring a lot of nutrients and water from the surrounding. So, where ever it is planted, you can expect an area around it where it is near impossible for anything else to grow."

"The Gripping Cactus on the other hand doesn't need as many nutrients to grow. Instead, it absorbs water from the surroundings and creates nutrients in its own body to grow."

"However, the Gripping Cactus is notorious for having thorns that release a rather foul-smelling scent. Fortunately, the Bluethorn Dahlia's flower's sweet scent perfectly masks the foul smell and even compliments it."

"As such, when you plant them side by side, neither of the plants affect each other, and both of them can become greater than the sum of their two parts," Ruoran said.

Alex smiled as he heard and said, "That sounds ingenious. Taking two non-conflicting plants and putting them together to negate the negative aspect of both of the plants using the positive aspects of another."

"Yes," Ruoran said. "Gardening, or rather, Planting is all about that. Whenever you want to grow something, you look at the positive and negative aspects of the plants."

"If you have a lot of areas, you don't really need to consider anything other than giving enough nutrients to the plant. However, when you have a small area, like the edges of a garden, or the formations for Alchemy gardens, you have to be mindful about everything, and use your knowledge of the plants to the best of your advantage."

Alex nodded as he heard that and smiled at Ruoran. "I guess congratulations are in order," he said. "Congratulations for reaching the True Emperor realm, senior Ruoran."

Ruoran smiled. "Thank you, and call me brother from now on. You have helped me way too much to call me just a senior."

"How about I call you a teacher then? For teaching me about plants?" Alex asked, but Ruoran cringed a bit. "Very well, thank you for accepting my offer to teach me, brother Ruoran."

Ruoran finally smiled and moved along. "How much do you know about the plants, about growing them?" he asked.

Alex remembered back to his days on the farm, and how his father would tend his crops. His father taught him a bit about farming, but he never gave a hands-on experience to him.

So, it wasn't too far to say that Alex was a complete novice when it came to this topic.

"I would say I do not know anything," he said to Ruoran.

"A newbie, huh? Well, then I guess I will have to start from the beginning then," Ruoran said and started teaching.

"First of all, there are different categories and subcategories of plants. Let's start with the most common ones," Ruoran said and started explaining what he knew about plants.

The whole day, he went around the garden teaching the very basics of everything while giving examples along the way.

Alex matched the knowledge with his own knowledge from back when his mother taught him about plants. There wasn't much information in his mind from back then, but it still helped quite a bit.

That night, Alex returned back to his room and sat down to cultivate while recalling everything he was taught.

What he was taught was simple knowledge, but that knowledge helped him open up another path for his future.

Another path that if he went along, he was sure he would master in no time.