"Same place huh?" Alex thought, looking at the paw print through his spiritual sense. The mark was a little different though with the paw having sharp fingernails coming out this time around.
Pearl disappeared into it for a moment before coming back out. "It is done," he said. He looked toward Bai Jingshen who nodded.
Ren Xiao came up and licked Pearl. "You were worried, weren't you?" she asked. "See? There was no reason to worry. It always works."
Pearl nodded as well.
Ren Xiao looked toward Alex and handed him a talisman. "We've tried our best to think of as much as we can about the Eastern Continent, especially the Beast Paradise there. However, whatever we remember are all from over 5 thousand years ago, and we haven't been able to send anyone since our lord has returned."
"As such, that is all the information we could gather for you," she said.
"Right, there was this thing as well," Bai Jingshen said. He was so uninterested in anything that had text in it that he had nearly sent them away without giving them the talisman he had asked his women to prepare a long time ago."
"Information on the Eastern Continent?" Alex's eyes widened slightly and he grabbed it. He looked through it briefly, checking the topics if nothing else.
There were a few topics on the structure of the empire, the many prolific houses, the amazing sects, and the various regions that had been separated, each of which was ruled by a ruler of their own.
Even just a glimpse of the continent was enough to let Alex know just how old it was, and just how strong the continent was altogether.
There was also information on the family of beasts that Pearl's grandmother was married into. The information in there was a lot, but it was all from 5 millennia ago. Alex had to remember that every time he read it.
He stopped reading and placed the talisman into his ring. He now had the information about the continent, the sword that was the key, and the reason why they had to go there.
Now, all that was remaining was to go back and prepare.
After a heartfelt goodbye, Alex and Pearl left the secret realm and flew past the Cardinal City, going straight north to where the teleportation formation was.
"Woah!" Pearl couldn't help but shout when he flew on his own in the air for the first time in a very long time.
Even when flying on his own previously, he had to be helped by others, or others had to slow down for him. His cultivation base was in truly poor conditions and so he had to make do with what he had after destroying his spiritual root and bloodline.
However, now that he had gained both, he could feel the speed and strength that came with a proper cultivation base.
Pearl wasn't fast enough that he could outspeed Alex. He couldn't. The gap between them was just too much.
He was only fast when compared to his own previous self. And the difference in speed was very stark.
Alex watched Pearl enjoy his flight as he slowed down for him. Instead of an hour or two, it took them 3 hours and some to reach the very edge of the Western Continent.
Alex handed Pearl a token and they both entered. After a short burst of light, they teleported to the Southern Continent.
Alex walked off the platform, thinking not much about it as he wanted to go tell his family and friends about Pearl's return.
However, when he realized that Pearl hadn't moved, he stopped and looked back.
Pearl stared around the place, looking at the trees, the garden, the metal dome, and the palace not far away.
"So this is where you stayed, huh brother?" he asked, looking around. "This is what the Southern Continent is like."
"Oh… right," Alex thought. Pearl had never been to the Southern Continent. He had been with Pearl to the other continents and had come back, so Alex was mixing up his time in the Southern Continent, and his time with Pearl was almost similar.
"Hehe," he chuckled a little. "Come, there's so much more for you to see."
Alex took Pearl into the Palace. The elders, Linlin, and a few guards had already gathered and come to find him when they realized he had arrived back.
However, when they saw what was next to him, they froze.
"Your Majesty," Linlin was the first to call him out. "You shouldn't go out like that without any protection. What would we do if something were to happen to you?"
"I was only in the Western Continent," Alex said. "Do you fear that Commander Jianyu and his fleet would get me there as well?"
"No, but… whatever," Linlin gave up. "Anyway, who is this?"
"This is the one that I've told you guys about for a long time," Alex said. "Meet my brother and beast, Pearl."
The group looked at Pearl with surprise as they realized who they were looking at. "This is Pearl? The cat you told us about?" one of them asked.
"Exactly!" Alex said. "I told you I would get him back sometime soon. He was who I went to get this time around."
"I see," one of the male elders said. "But… why did you say he was a cat?"
"Because he is a cat," Alex said without thinking much.
"But… he looks more like a tiger than a cat," someone said. "Are you sure he's a cat and not a tiger?"
"What?" Alex quickly looked at Pearl. "What are you guys talking about? He obviously looks like a ca— actually, wait."
Alex surprised himself when he noticed something. He moved slightly further away from Pearl and looked at him entirely.
To his eyes, he could still see that Pearl had the features of a cat, but overall, he had started looking more like a tiger than anything.
"Wow!" Alex said.
Pearl looking like a tiger had more to do with his body than his face. Before evolution, his body was slim and slender like a cat. However, after evolution, his body had a lot of muscles and it showed through the fur.
Despite having a cat-like facial feature, his overall body made him look more tiger than anything.
"You guys are right," he couldn't help but say. "From a distance, you totally mistake him for a tiger."
"I am a tiger," Pearl said. "I'm no longer a cat, aren't I? If anything, I'm a tiger that looks like a cat."
Alex slapped his forehead as he had forgotten something so simple. "Right. You're a White Tiger now, not a White Cat," he said.
"White Tiger, huh?" A voice came from in front of them all where the doors of the dome had opened silently. Scarlet flew out and landed next to Pearl.
She was still taller than Pearl overall, but their sizes could be considered to be the same.
"I must say congratulations are in order for both of you two and a welcome for you," she said to Pearl.
"Scarlet," Pearl turned and smiled toward her. "How are you?"
Scarlet gave a small smile. "You should add 'big sister' to that," she said.
"Big sister? But weren't you born after me?" Pearl asked. "I should be big brother, shouldn't I?"
"No, I was reborn. Not born," Scarlet started saying.
Seeing the two larger-than-life beasts —one the ruler of a continent and the other the great-grandchild of another ruler— bickering about who was older, made the tiny humans feel something terribly off about the entire situation.
"Stop it you two," Alex got in between. "Pearl is older in physical age, and Scarlet is older in mental age."
"Oh, so it's a tie?" Pearl asked.
"No, Scarlet had a higher cultivation base than you, so she's the senior. She's also the ruler of a continent, so call her big sister," Alex said.
"Aww… okay," Pearl said and turned around with a massive smile on his face. "I'm happy to see you again, big sister Scarlet."
Scarlet lost all anger in her thought after seeing that dumb smile on Pearl's face. She chuckled a bit and smiled as well while petting him with her wings.
"I'm happy to see you too," she said.
Alex smiled after seeing the two reconcile. "Come on Pearl. You have many more people to meet."
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