The 3 Saints couldn't believe their eyes and senses at all. Seeing 30 Saint spirit veins when the entirety of Crimson Empire had no more than 6 was simply too shocking to them.
"I am not giving it to you so you can use it for yourself," Alex said. "This was taken from the Western Continent many thousand years ago and I'm just returning it to you."
"Make sure to put it to good use, spread it throughout the empire. That way, the empire can grow. If your level reaches that of the Luminance empire, you can even start a trade between the two empires."
"Although I wouldn't suggest doing that so soon. You would easily be taken advantage of because of your weakness."
The three aimlessly nodded to themselves when they heard Alex.
"So, was there anything else you wanted from me?" Alex asked.
"N-no, nothing," the Emperor quickly said. "Actually, how long do you plan on staying here?"
"I'll leave along with the players. I hope you are giving it your all to gather all the players from every nook and corner of the continent," Alex said. "If I find you slacking, I will come back and take those away."
The emperor gulped and shook his head. "We're doing everything to the best of our ability," he quickly said. "Thank you."
Alex nodded. "Where's Princess Wuying? I wanted to meet her now that I'm here," he said.
"Wuying already got married to the Feng family's young master. She now lives in Burgundy City in the east," the emperor quickly said.
There was a time when he had wondered if he could marry off his daughter to Alex but had decided not to. He wondered where she could be if that had happened so many years ago.
"Oh, good for her," Alex said. "Then… I guess I'll just meet senior Lai Qing and return back to the sect then."
As Alex stood up to leave, the emperor's eyes widened a little while his body posture slumped a bit.
Alex noticed that and turned around. "What is going on?" he asked.
"Have you not heard?" the emperor asked.
"Heard what?" Alex asked.
"The Royal Alchemist passed away 8 years ago," the emperor said.
"What?" Alex's eyes narrowed. "Senior Lai Qing passed away? How? He was so healthy when I last saw him."
"He was never healthy," the Emperor said. "He was an old man that used pills to appear young. Due to how many pills he consumed, his body was filled with alchemy waste we assume."
Alex remembered when he had first left the Crimson Empire. He had met with the Royal alchemist back then who had told him about his life.
He was a young man without talent who had acquired an alchemy book and had spent centuries trying to learn everything. He had become the best at Alchemy in the empire, but at the same time, he had also become very old.
The man wanted his youth back, so he constantly used Face Changing pills to look young. It seemed that all those pills that weren't of high quality got to the old man.
"That… sucks," he said. His master had died, then his grandmaster. Now, even the one senior that he used to know had died too.
"How did he die? I hope he passed away peacefully in his sleep," Alex said.
"I… wouldn't say he died peacefully," the emperor said. "As far as we know, it was a murder. Someone killed him, but as for who, we don't know."
"It was murder?" Alex's eyes narrowed as he felt slight anger bubble inside his heart. "Tell me what you know about the murdered. Anything."
"We don't know anything aside from the fact that he was someone unique," the emperor said. "Not only did he have a unique power, but he was also strong enough to be in the Saint realm and also most likely close to the man."
Alex frowned a bit. "Who falls under these conditions?" he asked.
"That's the thing. No one does," the emperor said. "There is no one in the saint realm that unique, especially when regarding someone that was even in the empire that day."
"Are you sure this murderer was close to the senior?" Alex asked.
"He had to be. That or he just found the opportunity and killed the royal alchemist when he was finally going to break through to the Saint realm," the emperor said. "Poor guy. He had failed once before, so we had hoped he would pass this time around. Instead, some bastard came out of nowhere and killed him."
Alex frowned a bit. "You said something was unique about this person that killed him, right? What was so unique?" he asked.
"Well, he's unique in the way that no Saint in the Crimson Empire can use the attacks he did," the Emperor said. "I mean, if there was someone that could use such strong lightning attacks, we would've known by now."
Alex only nodded once when he stopped. "Wait, lighting attacks?" he asked. "Are you saying senior Lai Qing died from lightning strikes?"
"Yes," the emperor said.
"I see," Alex said with a sigh of relief. The bit of anger in his heart dissipated, replaced by the bitter-sweet feeling of knowing that the Royal Alchemist had managed to learn a dao.
However, that had backfired on the poor old man, killing him when he tried to enter the Saint realm.
"He wasn't murdered," Alex said. "It was just… an unfortunate event."
"He wasn't murdered?" the three saints were curious about what happened, so Alex explained it in simple terms.
"Dao? I see," Fu Qiong said. "The elders in our clan always talked about that thing. I was too young when I left to know what that is exactly."
"We should tell the royal alchemist this," the emperor said. "He will be at peace after hearing it."
"The Royal Alchemist? You already have another one?" Alex asked.
"It has been 8 years," the emperor said. "We had to choose a new one at some point."
"I see," Alex said. "Are they a good one?"
"They're one of the best we've got," the emperor said. "Actually, you might know him too. It's Alchemist Huang Fu."
"Huang Fu? Ah! Senior Lai Qing's disciple?" Alex remembered. "So he is the Royal Alchemist now, huh? Good for him."
"So, we should tell him about this right?" the Emperor asked.
"No need," Alex said. "I will go tell him. I wish to meet him before I leave too."
"Sure, I'll have someone call for—"
"No, I'll visit him myself and then leave. Where is he?" Alex asked.
After getting the location, he made his way to the Alchemy guild at the center of the town where Huang Fu was apparently giving lessons to the alchemists.
Alex waited until he was done and met up with him. It had been a long time since they had met, and with them not being close to each other initially, there wasn't much for Alex to talk to him about.
He gave his condolences and explained what had happened to his master most likely. Learning what had happened for his master to die that day gave the man a cathartic relief that he so desperately needed.
"If you ever need anything, or wish to learn about some pill recipes that I have left behind, you can go to the Hong Wu sect and ask for it, Brother Huang," Alex said. "I will tell them to give it to you under the condition that you don't spread it around."
"Thank you," Huang Fu said with a small smile on his face.
"It's nothing. I wanted to pay my debt to your master," Alex said while touching his left arm. "Without him, it would have taken me practically forever to have gained back my left arm. Without it, who knows what sort of troubles I would've gotten into."
"Anyway, I should be leaving now. It was great to see you, brother Huang," Alex said and left the guild.
He walked through the city for a few minutes, looking at everything to gauge just what had changed in the city.
After reaching some distance away, he quickly took flight and left the city. After a few hours, he arrived at the Scarlet City.
Alex smiled when he finally saw it after so many weeks.
"I can finally get started with what I've been wanting to do for so long."
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