"Hmm… it's also capable of defending an artifact spirit from taking any damage," Alex thought as he carefully checked through the technique after he left the Tiger sect.
He was more than surprised with how good Spiritual Providence was, and yet it kpet on surprising him even more. Bits and pieces of the technique that weren't outright stated were starting to make sense to Alex when they did not before this.
The technique was also something that was completely different from normal Qi techniques as it used Spiritual Energy to function, and thus could not be improved or changed using Alex's own Dao of Techniques.
He stood in his mother's front yard and practiced with Midnight in his hand while a white sword only visible to someone's spiritual sense tried to layer itself upon it.
Alex could create the sword and even place it upon Midnight, but when he moved the two, there were delays between the movement that caused problems.
It wasn't like Alex had to move a sword with his hand and a sword with his mind at the same time, but it still took his full attention to keep the layered spiritual sword on Midnight. Otherwise, the two swords split themselves, or the spiritual sword simply dissipated afterward.
"This isn't something I can learn in a single day, is it?" he thought to himself.
For now, it was going to be just him that was going to be learning this technique. Because he had to fight the Intent once more and write it all down for his family and friends if they wanted to learn it, he was fine with making them wait.
He practiced for the entire day and even by the end he was barely anywhere close to being completely good at the first stage. He could make it work if he gave it all his complete attention, but that wouldn't fly in a true battle.
He needed to be so good at the technique, that it was but a muscle memory to him that he could do without thinking.
The second stage was likely to be problematic for him if he was struggling with the first, but the third was still viable given how different it was.
But he didn't have time to practice that right now.
As he was practicing, he heard someone in front of the front gate trying to grab his attention.
Alex turned and found an old man standing there, looking at him with a wide smile. He had never seen this person before, so seeing him smile too friendly at him made him curious as to who he was.
"Can I help you?" Alex asked.
"Yes, please," the old man said. "This must be Alchemist He Lin's house, right? I'm looking for someone named Yu Ming. I'm wondering if that is you, young man."
"That is indeed me," Alex said, his curiosity increasing even more. "May I know who you are?"
"Ah! I am but a humble messenger of his majesty who has come here upon his request," the old man said. "His Majesty has heard of your arrival to the Scarlet City and wishes for you to go visit him in the Cardinal City."
"Ah, you're from the royal family, huh?" Alex said. "Sure, I'll visit it."
"Thank you," the old man said. "Will you be leaving today or tomorrow?"
"More like a week later," Alex said. "I have a reason to meet your emperor, so I will visit him when I have the time for it."
The messenger was surprised. "But his majesty wishes for you to meet him as soon as possible," he said. "You should be leaving today, but his majesty has allowed for you to leave tomorrow as well. However, a week later is entirely not reasonable."
"I'm afraid your emperor is going to have to find reason in it," Alex said. "Tell him I'll find him myself, but it won't be anytime soon."
After saying that, he went back into the house, leaving the messenger dumbfounded and unable to think of what to do.
He quickly sent a message back explaining just what had happened and finally received another order. "Let him do as he pleases. Don't offend him and swiftly return back."
The old man finally left the front of the house and left back for the capital city.
Alex spent the next day with his father and the rest, going around the city as he hadn't done so before. It took him half a day of time to go through most of the city and see all the things that were there.
He also had to search for ingredients for 2 separate things that he wanted to do as soon as possible.
One of them was making the paste for the Demon Eyes, which he could delay even after they returned to the Southern Continent.
The other one, however, was the most important thing he could do while he was here, and he did not want to waste any time before doing it.
Still, he didn't find most things he needed and was going to have to rely on either Bai Jingshen or the Luminance empire to ait him.
The older Alex that was with them also suddenly spoke.
"I'm planning on going to the west to sister's home so she can say goodbye to her family," the older Alex said. "Father will be leaving with me as well. What do you think?"
Alex nodded. "That's a good idea," he said. "Let Uncle Keng and Aunt Nangong know about the situation as well. They won't come most likely, but present the offer to them all the same. If possible, sister Luo Xing should hear about this as well."
He had presented the idea of moving to the Southern Continent with him to everyone, and almost everyone on the Tiger sect's side of things had accepted it. His Master, Cai Ping, his sister, and Du Yuhan were all but guaranteed to go with him.
His brother Liu Xun on the other hand still hadn't made a decision. He had a fiancee here who he apparently loved very much. His fiancee had a family who she couldn't leave, so Liu Xun was having trouble making any decision.
On the Hong Wu sect's side of things, it was still unsure who exactly was going to leave and who was going to stay. The only person confirmed to leave for now was his martial uncle who had nothing keeping him attached to the sect except for his loyalty to it.
The next day, a few people gathered to say goodbye to the ones that were going to be leaving for a while.
Alex, Liz, and Helen were ready to leave for the Beast realm. Graham wanted to come along as well, but in Alex's absence, he was the strongest one here and had to thus stay to protect his children and grandchild.
Ronron was still in the sect, so she couldn't come and many of the others had responsibilities as well, so the number of people there to say goodbye wasn't that many.
It wasn't like the three were going to be leaving for a long time either, so there was no point in saying goodbye.
After a short farewell, the three people flew away from the city, going toward the forest to the south. From there, they got onto Alex's boat and flew toward the Beast realm.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m