927 Temporary Return

"What's your name, young man?" a woman asked.

Alex smiled as he looked towards her. "Does elder Xuan not recognize me without my mask?" he asked.

The woman was a little taken aback, but when she focused on the voice rather than the face, she instantly recognized him.

"Yu Ming?" she asked with a surprised expression on her face. The other elders standing around were quite surprised as well.

One way or another, whether it was through his double Dao in the Dao Mountain, or his feats in the Ancestral Battlefield, people had come to know the True realm cultivator who could match up to the Saint realm cultivator.

And now, that very person had broken through.

"Isn't that your disciple, elder Xuan?" One of the men with purple robes spoke. Alex looked at the man, but besides knowing that he was from the Blue Spring sect, he had no other idea.

"He is," elder Xuan said. "He left to train 2 years ago after the Dao mountain."

She turned back towards him. "You should have come to the sect so you could break through in peace, instead of out here in the middle of nowhere," she said.

Alex smiled. "I knew there was going to be a lot of thunder and lightning, so I didn't want to implicate anyone like the sect leader of the Snow Immortal sect did all those years ago," he said.

A few of the people in the group flinched a little when they heard him speak about that incident.

"Well, then let us get you away from here," the elder Xuan said.

Alex nodded and flew up. He said his farewell to the rest of the people that had come and flown away from the mountain.

The ladies from the Frozen Heart sect flew as well.

After reaching a bit far away, he thanked them. "Thank you, elder Xuan. I wouldn't have been able to get away so easily from there had it not been for you," he said.

"I would be surprised if you had been able to. With the stunt you pulled, anyone would be interested in you," the elder said.

The other elders flew next to them as well, but they didn't speak much.

"Yes," Alex said. "But I'm not the first one to do what I did, am I?"

"No," the elder sighed. "The Blazing Earth sect's Li Zhumei did it about a decade ago now. There was also another one that did that, but he couldn't survive the lightning and died."

"I see," Alex said. He was surprised to hear that someone that had nearly broken through to the Saint realm had actually died due to the lightning tribulation.

This was the second time he was learning of someone's death from tribulation.

"You left because you wanted to grow and improve, didn't you?" Elder Xuan asked. "Are you willing to return now? This time you will be an elder too."

Alex thought for a moment, but he didn't need to. "No," he said. "While I appreciate the offer, I do not wish to get tied down to a sect."

"Is there a reason?" the elder asked.

Alex remained silent for a bit. Was there a reason? Of course, there was. But could he tell them? Could he let them know that he came from the Western Continent?

Alex tried, but he couldn't think of a reason why not. Maybe he could even get them to help him teleport back to the Western Continent.

But then again, would that be of any help given that the Intercontinental teleportation formation back in the Western continent was clearly destroyed?

So, he decided to keep the real reason until he was strong enough to defend himself from any irrational hatred these people may have for the ones on the Western Continent, or even just until he was big enough that they actually cared what he asked for.

"I just want to continue being strong," he said, which was true too in a sense when you remembered that he still had to fly over the entire ocean to return to the Western Continent when all else failed.

"You can be strong while remaining in the sect too," she said. "Now that you are a Saint, you have thousands of years ahead of you. There is no hurry anymore."

Alex smiled, but he said nothing else.

"Sigh, I assume you will want to return to the Dao mountain this time around?" she asked.

"I do, actually," Alex said. "I was actually planning on going to the sect once to get myself easily put on the list."

"Good, there's still time for that," the elder said.

Alex chatted with the elder about what he did for the last 2 years while he flew as fast as he could.

He could tell that the elder was slowing herself down for his sake, but it was still quite fast.

Within a couple of hours, he could see the Frozen Heart sect fully for what it was.

The circular city-like walled sect was mostly covered in snow. Especially this time of the year, the snow was thicker than normal as well.

The group landed somewhere away from the main tower at the center and Alex took a few seconds to recognize where he was.

"The alchemy house?" he asked confusedly.

"Now, don't worry, you're not making pills or anything," the elder said. "Unless you want to, that is. We're only giving you this room because it is the safest room out there."

"Safest?" Alex asked. He couldn't tell how his old room could possibly be safer than the tower at the center of the sect.

"Stay in the room. If anything dangerous happens, use this token to teleport away from the room using the formation. I expect you to know what I'm talking about," she said.

Alex nodded. There was a teleportation formation under the bed in the room he had lived for nearly a year before. He had never cared about it since it was a one-way formation, and also because he needed authority.

"What danger could come to the Frozen Heart sect?" he asked the elder, but she said nothing.

"It's just a precaution. You have nothing to worry about," she said. "Now, I'll let you be for now. Take some rest and deal with your cultivation base. We will talk later."

"Thank you, elder," Alex said and turned around to go back to the house. On the way, he stopped and looked at the small garden that he had been growing, which was now nothing but a ground full of snow.

It was sad, but there was nothing he could do. He did leave this place to improve, and he would do it all over again.

He returned to his alchemy room, which didn't seem to have been changed as much. He noticed the bed and the formation underneath it.

"What danger?" Alex thought to himself again. He couldn't think of any at all.

In the end, he shook his head, sat down on the bed, and started cultivating. As he did, slowly started learning about the new things that were available to him.

After all, he had broken through to the Saint realm, which meant that an extra layer had been removed from the Alchemy God's Knowledge.