The four of them halted to see what the commotion was about.

A horse abruptly stopped in front of them, and a man climbed down from it

​​

He was wearing rusted iron armor, and a saber hung at his waist. A piece of fabric fell on his forehead and read, "Wu"

"Are you lot from the Wu kingdom? We have occupied the mountain and are not allowing any Xia citizens into this place!"

Zhen Hong cleared his throat and spoke on behalf of them, "We are passing cultivators..."

The man clenched his hand on his sword, and aggressively replied, "I'm a cultivator too, I don't care about your status, our king has ordered no one to enter these mountai-

A kick flew to the soldier's face, and he was sent flying into a thick tree.

The man who attacked was the sect leader.

He skillfully recovered his footing and exclaimed, "Since when do Foundation Establishment weaklings get to boss us around? And why is an immortal allowed to be in a mortal army?!"

Zhen Hong asked, "Martial Grandfather, you haven't gone out of the sect lands for some time, right?"

"I have lived the last century entirely upon my mountains, yes."

"The times have changed now, mortals can choose to pursue cultivation and maintain their connection to the mortal world," Zhen Hong explained.

"Who decided that?!" The sect leader shouted in frustration.

"Lord Lao Zi did."

When the sect leader heard that name, he instantly fell silent and coughed.

"Let's go back now."

They all got into the chariot and flew back west.

Alex was somewhat curious and questioned Zhen Hong.

"What's exactly wrong with mortals cultivating?"

Zhen Hong frowned and replied, "When mortals cultivate with a mortal mindset, they seek to rule over other mortals, but an immortal shall have no mortal family, no mortal belongings, and shall rule over no mortals, that was the code of conduct during Martial Grandfather's generation."

"And, Sir Lao Zi changed that?" Alex spouted out a name he's been hearing quite often in this place.

"Exactly, while Lord Lao Zi remains the wisest of men amongst mortals, his wisdom is more debatable among the traditional immortal clans."

Alex thanked Zhen Hong and focused back on the ride.

There wasn't much to see in the barren cold desert below them, so he fell into a contemplative trance.

Earlier today, he had analyzed a crypt that Zhen Hong found.

The crypt spoke of a man's regrets about gifting power to the 'mortal-minded' and the reasons why he disappeared.

'This lines up eerily well with the narrative of 'Lao Zi' who spread cultivation to mortals and then disappeared,' Alex was almost convinced of his hypothesis.

However, the crypt he read was only 'the third testament' and there were likely many more, from which he could piece the rest of the story.

'Maybe, I could even find his whereabouts, and solve this mystery...!' Alex began to feel excited and intrigued.

However, he then shook his head.

'I can't focus too much on this, I already need to defeat the ghost emperor, and finish the negotiations with the Jade Emperor first.'

As he was thinking, the barren wasteland gradually got lusher, and the Kunlun mountain range was in view.

They swiftly landed next to the pagoda, and climbed up, only to find a group of eager sect elders waiting for them.

"How did it go?!

"Did you defeat the ghost king?!"

"What about the ghost mother?!"

The elders were like frenzied paparazzi, asking the tired group endless questions.

Alex exclaimed, "We defeated the ghost king!"

Ultimately, he left out the part about Yan Wang, since it didn't concern them.

Cheers erupted from the crowd, and suddenly, a woman pushed through.

Unexpectedly, she halted next to Alex and bowed to him.

The woman was Zhen Lingxi, the pharmaceutical expert of the sect.

"Your proposal was a miracle, Sir Alex!" She exclaimed and breathed heavily.

"What proposa- Oh...did it work?" Alex recalled his solution for the local population's chronic iodine deficiency.

"I brought the most afflicted patients to the center, and fed them a large meal with a lot of pink salt, and in a few hours, they already had small improvements in their symptoms!"

"What is this about?" The sect leader asked Zhen Lingxi.

"Martial Father, as you might know, the citizens of Luoxi have had thyroid problems for a long time, and my pills could only relieve the symptoms, not the illness, but..."

She recounted every detail of their discussion, and her swift clinical trials.

"So, Martial Father, could you pressure the city mayor to open up trade networks with the south?!"

The sect leader rubbed his long beard, and said, "It should help us gain more Reverence Qi, I'll do it!"

After that, the crowd dissipated, and the sect leader asked Alex to speak to him personally.

"Sir Alex, you've helped us immensely during the expedition, and I can't let that go unrewarded, would you like a reward?"

Alex rubbed his head.

Truthfully, he didn't have anything in mind.

Looking around, there was a ceramic cup of smoking tea on a table.

The tea's aroma reached his nostrils, and it smelled very pleasant.

When he smelled the tea, Alex got an idea.

"Could I get some of the tea leaves that you used for that cup?"

The sect leader was stunned by this request, and laughed, "Of course, of course!"

'Hermes has done so much for me, I know he likes tea, so he'll probably like this gift.'

A short moment later, the sect leader came back with two large barrels.

"Here is our best tea!"

'That's not the quantity I had in mind, but fine...' Alex shrugged and easily held up the two heavy barrels.

Following that, he left the pagoda and flew towards their own lakeside home.

Hermes was inside, and he was lazing around as usual.

"Hermes, I got a gift for you!" Alex put down the two barrels in front of his friend.

Hermes was puzzled and proceeded to open one of the barrels.

Instantly, a pleasant aroma spread throughout the room.

Hermes' eyes glowed, and he exclaimed, "You're.....!

Strangely, his expression took a turn for the worse.

"What's wrong, Hermes? Don't you like it?"

"Alex?" Hermes called him Alex, which he didn't usually do.

"Yes."

"You met Chaos, right?"

"Yes." Alex did not conceal that from his closest friend.

"I can't hide this from you anymore."

"They spoke to you about 'using the eyes of their servants, to see the world', didn't they?" Hermes' eyes were dull.

"I recall that, why?"

"I'm one of those eyes."