Alex kept quiet for a bit, thinking to himself of the things he just learned.
Pearl's mother wasn't in the Beast paradise when she was attacked. She was in the Azure Dragon's realm. That made it more obvious that the Azure Dragon's death was somehow related to Pearl's mother's death as well.
The question now was on which side of the conflict was the Azure Dragon?
Alex could see him being on either side.
He could have been a benevolent master, helping one of his servant during an attack. He could have showed himself to the heavens during that moment and brought on the wrath.
Or, he could be a hateful Heavenly Beast who realized that Pearl's mother had the White Tiger's blood essence in her on the same tier as that of the White Tiger progenitor, and wanted to kill her for that.
Although, the sword that killed her belonged to the Azure Imperium. 'Why would someone like the Azure Dragon need the help of puny Saints to kill a Saint beast?' Alex thought.
He gave it a bit of thought and remembered that the Heavenly Beasts weren't allowed to kill anyone from this realm. 'He would have required help to kill her if that was what he wanted,' Alex concluded.
It was still all hypothesis on his end. The thing he would need to figure out was who the sword belonged to in the Imperium, and how much the Emperor was involved.
At this point, Alex had already considered his involvement in the crime to be a fact. It was the rest he wasn't sure about.
Unfortunately, he couldn't just bring out the sword and ask people who it belonged to. Due to the insignia of the Azure Imperium being carved on it, it was obvious that this was a special sword and not just anyone would use it.
Also, given the fact that it had somewhat of a sword spirit inside of it made it harder for Alex to just bring it out in the open.
'If only I could meet someone that was inside the realm when the Azure Dragon died, I could—' Alex paused. He thought of something for a moment and quickly looked up at the Lion.
"Wait, something doesn't make sense," he said.
"Hmm?" the Lion looked at him. "What doesn't make sense?"
"If Pearl's mother was in the Azure Dragon's realm then… how did her parents die?" Alex asked. "I don't see how these two events could be related."
The Lion stared blankly at Alex for a moment. "Do you… not know how my uncle and aunt died?" he asked.
"No," Alex said. "Should I?"
"But… you said that their death wasn't an accident like Qi Deviation. You said there was something more," the Lion said.
"Yes, because of everything that has surrounded Pearl's mother's death, I said it couldn't be normal," he said.
"So you really don't know how he died?" the Lion asked.
"No," Alex said. "That's why I'm asking you."
The lion sighed. "I don't know," he said. "I thought you knew. That's why I attacked you in the first place. I thought you knew and were hiding from me."
"Of course not," Alex said. "I only found out he died after coming to the beast realm. It took me a while to learn that senior Bai Meirong was dead as well."
The Lion sighed even further. "I don't know what to tell you," he said. "I have no clue how they died at all. One day it was all normal, and the other day their corpses were found in the mansion."
"Nobody knows how they died or what killed them at all," the Lion said. "All I know is that they were dead, and there wasn't any sign of battle around either of them."
"That's… weird," Alex said. "And you have no idea if anyone could've attacked them?"
"No," the Lion said. "My uncle was strong. There is no one in this realm that could've silently killed him if he decided to ever put on a fight. Which was why the other leaders concluded that he went through Qi Deviation."
"It's completely unbelievable given the circumstances, but there isn't a better explanation at all," the Lion said.
All three of them fell into thoughts trying to connect the two events, but it was difficult.
"What are the chances that Pearl and his mother were the main target?" Alex asked. "Is it plausible to think they were just collateral damage?"
"That could be possible if what you said about the Azure Dragon is true," the Lion said. "But… given that my Uncle and Aunt were attacked as well, it is doubtful there wasn't any direct connection there."
Alex nodded. "About the Azure Dragon's death, will you be telling the other beast leaders now?" he asked.
The lion fell silent for a bit. "I don't think I have to," he said. "They might already know about it."
Alex's eyes widened. "You think they know?" he asked.
"That is what I would do if I knew our ruler was missing too," he said. "I would close all borders and wait for the next ruler to come. That is most likely what the other 6 planned. I only joined late and was kept out of it."
"That is possible," Alex said.
"Uncle," Pearl spoke up. "How did my grandparents die?"
The Lion shook his head. "As I just told you, I don't know. The circumstances surrounding their dea—"
"I'm not asking you how they died exactly," Pearl said. "I'm asking if you knew the exact cause of death. If their corpse was here, did you check to see what killed them?"
The Lion shook his head. "I… I don't know," he said. "The… the other Leaders came after they heard the news and helped with their funeral. I never even got the time to think of checking to see how they died."
Alex frowned. "Were they buried or cremated?" he asked.
"Cremated," the Lion said.
"Is that normal around here?" he asked.
"Cremation? Yes. The dead beasts are cremated all the time," the Lion said.
Alex frowned. "Tsk. Their bodies would've most likely not rot this fast given their cultivation base. I could've checked to see if their meridians were destroyed or if Qi had wrecked havoc in their body to cause Qi deviation."
"I'm… I'm sorry, I never thought to do that," the Lion said. "I should've done that."
"Do you think the other Leaders were trying to hide something?" Pearl asked.
"Who knows?" Alex said. "As it is right now, everything we know is just a conspiracy theory. Until something gets proven to be true, everything is possible."
Alex frowned on his own after saying what he did. He had come to the Eastern Continent with two mission.
First, he was going to find Pearl's mother's murderers and bring her to justice.
Seocnd, he was going to find sister Hannah and bring her back to his family.
3 years had passed since he came and he had made barely any progress on either mission of his. At this rate, he would get nowhere.
'Should I actually try and make a deal with the Dragon Emperor for answers the next time we trade stuff?' he couldn't help but think.
He decided not to be so rash for now. He had lost Bai Jingshen's protection, so his life wasn't as safe as it was previously. He had to tread carefully henceforth.
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