931 Up the Mountain
“Ahhh! I’m so happy to see you!”
Liz hugged Alex tightly while Alex was too stunned to do anything else. He had not expected to meet his aunt like this. Rather, he hadn’t expected to meet his aunt at all.
“Is that really you?” Alex asked.
“Of course it is me. Who else could it be?” Liz asked with a chuckle in her voice. She simply couldn’t hide her excitement after finally meeting one of her kin after 16 years of being separated from them.
“It’s been so long… and you haven’t aged a day, aunt Liz,” Alex said. A smile was starting to form on his face as well. He was happy.
“Meanwhile, you’ve grown up a lot. How old were you last time I saw you? 15?” she asked.
“I believe so. I didn’t see you guys ever since sister went to University, I believe,” Alex said. “Have you been all alone this whole time?”
“I have,” Liz said. “Why didn’t you show yourself sooner? Where were you this whole time?”
“I… I only came to this continent 3 years ago, aunt Liz. That too on accident,” Alex said. “I—”
“Zhumei! Stop playing around. What are you doing?” the old woman’s voice reached through the slowed down time. She was forcefully fighting the dao that grabbed her and was talking though it.
“Oops, let’s talk later,” Liz said as she pulled down her veil and removed the time shenanigan that was happening around them.
The air felt light once more, and the people started moving normally. The aura dissipated as it should as well.
Time flowed back at its proper rate, and Elizabeth went back to being the quiet Veiled Fairy.
“Let’s go,” she said and started walking. Alex nodded and followed them.
“What were you doing?” the old woman from the Blazing Earth sect scolded her.
“That’s my nephew, master,” Liz said. “I finally found someone.”
“He is?” the old woman turned to look at him. “He looks older than you.”
“No, he does not,” Liz said. “He’s nearly 30 years younger than I am.”
“Well… he does look about the same age as you. Also, now that I look at him, he does look similar to you,” the old woman said.
“He’s my brother’s son after all,” Liz said.
“You sound happy,” the old woman said. She then turned towards Alex and spoke. “Young man, when this is all over, wait for us at the bottom okay? You can speak with your aunt after she’s out of the Dao mountain.”
Alex smiled and nodded. “Senior is right. I do indeed need to focus on my advances in Dao this month, so I can’t have a hearty talk with my aunt just yet,” he said.
The colorful Dao mountain looked so much better through his own eyes than Whisker’s. Which reminded him of what he needed to do. He brought out Whisker from his beast space and looked around.
“What’s wrong?” Liz asked.
“I need to find a place for him to meditate on too,” Alex said, and I don’t think he can go as far up either.”
“A Seeking Mouse with a cultivation base? How is that possible?” the old woman suddenly spoke out loud.
“He’s a variant, senior,” Alex said.
“And you want to help him learn Dao? Isn’t he too weak for that?” the elder asked.
“He has entered that True realm, Alex said. “From what I can tell, that is more than enough.” His senses suddenly spread far wide until he found elder Xuan.
“Elder, can you help me get any of the disciples to look after my mouse?” he asked Xuan who was already very far up.
“Sure,” she replied. “See how far up the little mouse can go, and then ask a disciple there. Let me know if they are hesitant.”
Alex smiled and continued up the mountain, carefully checking on Whisker’s condition. After a few minutes of walking, as Alex was close to the 1 kilometer mark, Whisker finally showed signs of not being able to go on anymore.
“You did so much better than last time,” Alex said. “You should stay here and try to understand any Dao you can, okay?”
Whisker nodded.
Alex found a girl who would take care of Whisker while he was gone. After Whisker was with her, he walked with his Aunt and her master as well.
The old woman’s senses fell on Alex with a surprised look on her face. She was checking him, like he checked Whisker, to see if he was having trouble.
However, for some reason, Alex was no longer feeling any effect from the scent in the mountain at all. He had to force his body to stop from not being affected, in which case did he finally feel drowsy.
‘Dammit, I hope that doesn’t cause any problem.’ He thought.
As he continued going further up, the old woman was losing her mind. She was already felling the effects of the scent, and yet the young man behind her wasn’t slowing down at all.
He was only a Saint Condensation 1st realm cultivator too. How was he keeping up so well?
‘What the hell is up with their family?’ the woman thought and looked towards her disciple who had no problem walking up as well.
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“Of course, I’m fine. Does elder not remember me being fine before?” Alex asked.
“I do?” the elder looked confused.
“Sigh, Elder Xuan was right,” he said as he reached into his storage bag and pulled out his mask. “It really is my identity now. No point in remaining anonymous anymore I guess.”
“AHH! It’s you!” the elder finally realized who she was talking with.
“We shouldn’t waste time, elder,” Alex said.
“Yes, master. Let’s hurry up. I want to be done with this already,” Liz said and continued walking.
The old woman wanted to ask so many things, but it had been her who said they could talk later, so she kept quiet and turned around to walk.
After reaching high enough, Alex called out Pearl, and together they reached the hot spring that was at the top of the mountain.
Alex greeted the ancestors there who recognized him because of his mask and Pearl. He walked into the hot spring alongside his aunt, and sat down to let the vapors of the scented water flow into him.
He talked for a few minutes with everyone, but soon enough they all had to start cultivating once more or they would miss precious time.
Pearl too started cultivating, so Alex closed his eyes and let the scent affect him too.
As his mind slowly drifted to nowhere, Alex freely started thinking of everything he knew. Not long after, he ended up thinking of just one thing, over and over, and soon enough he was only thinking about it.
Half a day later, the Saint realm cultivators who had barely gotten into their cultivation were woken up as the worldly laws descended upon Alex and left not long after.
Not even a single day had passed, and Alex had already learned a Dao.