Alex and the group arrived at the Phoenix Continent, where they met up with Scarlet's mother and grandfather once again.

Feng Ningzhu took Alex to a private room when they met up to discuss further about the bloodline improvement idea Alex had brought forth.

"How long would this method of yours take to show effect?" Ningzhu asked.

"You'll see effects immediately, but it's a gradual improvement, so it will take a long time," Alex explained as a confused look appeared on his face. "Did the matriarch wake up? I thought you said you didn't have the capacity to help me."

"I don't, but I asked the Black Tortoise matriarch about what you said, and she sent a message saying that you aren't lying," Ningzhu said. "She didn't say anything further, but that alone was quite shocking, to be honest. I never imagined there would be a method to improve our bloodline that doesn't involve just consuming a stronger blood essence."

Alex smiled. "Help me get what I want, and you'll get the method." He had yet to give the actual method on how it worked, so Ningzhu couldn't use it. And the chances of him learning about bloodline elements and how Life aura improved it were downright impossible.

The phoenix sighed. "The matriarch will still not leave her closed cultivation for some time. For a Celestial, a decade of cultivation is no different than you children spending a month or two. It all passes by so quickly for them."

Alex nodded. "I understand, senior. Once we return from the Sun's Talon realm, we can continue our talk."

The old phoenix left, leaving Alex and the rest by themselves. They were in no hurry to leave, having been given a specific time when the teleportation formation would activate.

So, Scarlet spent the few remaining hours with her mother, trying to appease her that nothing bad would happen to her in the upcoming years.

Feng Xianhei found it hard to accept that, but she did accept it still.

The remaining few hours passed before any of them knew it, and they were ready to leave.

The interrealm teleportation formation to the Sun's Talon realm was at the very southern edge of the Phoenix Continent, standing on a large cliff that overlooked the massive ocean that stretched till the world's end.

Far in the distance, the group could see the jagged outline of earth growing out to contain the water and life of the realm, keeping it from spilling.

It hadn't been that long since Alex had learned the truth of this world—of all the worlds. The fact that every land used to once be part of a whole was not something one could forget. Still, he hadn't thought about it in a long while, so being presented with the view brought back those memories almost instantly.

"Take care of yourself," Feng Xianhei told her daughter. "Stick to the group and try not to wander around on your own. Be polite. You will be in another world. They won't treat a Vermilion Bird like they do here."

"Mother, I'm old enough to take care of myself," Scarlet said in a voice that only an embarrassed child could say.

"Yes, yes. Says the girl who hasn't been to a single other world in her life," Feng Xianhei said with a sigh.

"I've been to the lower realm," Scarlet protested.

"Where you got to live like a queen."

"Not like a queen. I was a queen," Scarlet said.

"That doesn't count," Xianhei said. She wasn't going to lose in this argument.

Alex and the rest smiled as they watched the mother and daughter have a loving bickering.

"We must leave now," Alex said after a minute of that continuing. "Don't worry, Senior Xianhei. We'll take care of Scarlet."

Xianhei nodded. "I know you will. Good luck on your journey."

Once they said their final goodbyes, the group walked up to the teleportation formation. Alex, Pearl, Whisker, Scarlet, and Bai Jingshen stood atop the massive stone platform, but they were not alone. This was a regular teleportation, albeit done early at the behest of the White Tiger patriarch, so the other beasts were going to get to leave early as well.

More than 50 individuals gathered there as the formation prepared to activate.

Alex waited as it was activated, taking a deep breath as he prepared for what came next. The sky above them began churning as a spatial maelstrom formed for all to see.

Alex turned to look at it, but his eyes caught something next to him. A figure of a man in a white robe.

The Sun God, who hadn't shown his face in so long, finally appeared in front of him. He slowly turned, facing him with his ever-changing face.

"How long has it been?" the Sun God said. "How many millennia have passed since the day it happened?"

Alex's eyes narrowed.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, for a second wondering if it was about the cataclysm he had theorized—the event that destroyed the previous planets, leaving rocks to float that formed their own world.

"We have waited for so long. I have waited for so long," the Sun God said. "So many of you have been born throughout time, but no one has come this close."

Golden eyes stared at Alex, this time unchanging. Alex gazed at those eyes, feeling somewhat scared to continue looking at them. The pupils were slits of black that made him feel uncomfortable.

"You cannot fail now," the Sun God continued.

Alex heard some sound, but it was all drowned against the Sun God's voice.

"You are closer than anyone else in history. You must find it and achieve your destiny," the Sun God said. "Find it."

Alex gulped. "Find… what exactly?" he asked.

The Sun God stared away, remaining silent for a moment before answering.

"Our graves."

Sound flooded back in, the noise he hadn't heard before now all rushing to him.

Scarlet's screams. Whisker's cries. Pearl's shouts.

It all came in a rush as they were teleported away, and Alex belatedly realized that something had gone wrong.

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