Chapter 123: Return (Part 1)

{ONE WEEK LATER}

Alexander opened the realm gate and arrived inside a cave. He turned to look at his four ever-present bodyguards and friends Carter, Li, Sam and Daniel; and said, " Do you remember this place, Jonathan?"

Jonathan smiled and said, " Yes, Your Highness!! We are inside the cave from where we started our first venture into this world. Well!! We started our venture as for you, you arrived in the plains. But, what we are here for?"

Alexander replied, " To investigate Huang Xiaolong."

Sam spoke up, " He is the protagnist of this world. He should be 17 years old right now due to time difference between origin verse and this universe. Time flows more quickly in the origin verse. I think we should have investigated him sooner."

Alexander, " He is one of the protagnists of this world. Do you think that a universe as vast and developed as this, would have only one protagnist? Laws of major worlds don't like to put all their eggs in a single basket. There are no natural-born protagnists here but there are bloodlines and treasures. The treasures are born or made by intervention of world laws. When a person binds it to themselves, they gain blessing or favour of the world laws depending on the grade of the treasure. Their cultivation speed increases, they become more lucky, they encounter more treasures. These people bring changes to the flow of things by simply existing which leads to formation of more alternate worlds.

Treasures are also divided into grades, depending on the amount of energy put in them by the world laws. Huang Xiaolong became one of the protagnists when he gained ownership of the cultivation method used by Asura Sect Founder. The cultivation manual is a high-grade treasure. Even Great Emperor present in the Divine World could not travel to the Asura world by opening a direct portal but Huang Xiaolong was able to open a portal to Asura world, why? Because of that cultivation manual....."

Daniel interuppted, " But Your Highness, why did Asura Founder leave his precious swords and cultivation manual in a cave? He didn't even make proper trial grounds for his inheritance like most Cultivators do. Moreover, that fellow was not that strong. The blades would have been of use to him for a long time. He even left resources for his successor. Only those cultivators who are on their death beds do such things."

Alexander smiled and said, " I suspect a little cosmic intervention in this matter. Don't forget that the right to own this multiverse is being fought over by two cosmic entities. The one that send Huang Xiaolong is not going to just waste his investment. He had to atleast make sure that he is in a good position to bargain in case he loses. Since, his only known pawn on the board is Huang Xiaolong, it is no doubt that he wants to strength him. The stronger Huang Xiaolong is, the more favourable his position will be."

Li spoke up, " But only this much effort won't make that entity the owner of this multiverse, will it?"

Alexander, " We are not at the level to worry about such things. Let's go to Huang Xiaolong. He should be in Duanren Empire right now. I want to examine whether he is a genuine reincarnated person in this world or just have the inbuilt knowledge of that scripture from birth. We need to make sure that the two cosmic entities were not fighting over this particular universe."

The group of five men took to the skies and moved towards Duanren Empire in a medium pace, which caused them to arrive high above the Duanren Empire's capital city within minutes. Daniel, a staunch nature supporter spoke up, " I don't understand the need to make stone buildings covering huge areas in cultivation worlds. Are they overcompensating for something? Why not make skyscrapers? That will save space."

Li snorted and said, " Common folk don't have the means to make high-rise buildings. The amount of formations that are generally laid in such a venture is not something that the common folk could afford so they make spread-out buildings. The gravity of this world is much higher so formations are laid on every stone so that the building doesn't collapse on its itself. Moreover, the flying beasts tend to attack the high-rise buildings as they see those as an encroachment in their territories so formations are also laid to protect the buildings from such attacks. Spread-out buildings are more economical in this case. Also, the size of the world also plays a part in this."

As Daniel opened his mouth to reply, a loud sound attracted their attention. The group turned and watched as two boys were having a confrontation over a pretty girl. Alexander spoke up, " That's our primary target Huang Xiaolong. That girl must be Li Lu or something like that. Honestly, I don't remember her name. That third fellow must be some love rival or 'concerned senior'. Sometimes, I wonder about the general IQ level of Cultivators. They fight over many unnecessary things. Well!! The show is quite good. Let's watch more."

Daniel snorted, " These people are not worthy of your attention, Your Highness!!! They have not even broken through God Realm. They are worthless right now..."

Alexander, " Arrogance will lead to your downfall, Daniel!! Curb this attitude of yours before, I order the sadists to discipline you. Huang Xiaolong is an important pawn in our plans. Today is a very important day for him. The result of our investigation will decide whether he will live or not."

Jonathan, " Your Highness!!! You had mentioned that you will retreat if the cosmic entities were fighting over this world."

Alexander said in a serious tone, " We cannot always retreat, can we? At some point in the future, we will have to fight the cosmic entities. Moreover, we have gained too much from this world to retreat now. Also, what will you tell to the families of our fallen soldiers that the sacrifice of their loved ones was for nothing. Atleast we should put up a fight before retreating."

Li, " I think we should take this girl with us also. According to the stories, this girl has some unawakened heavenly physique. As she is also the main love interest of Huang Xiaolong, it will be easy for us to make him submit."

Sam, " What about following the cannon events?"

Li snorted, " When His Majesty, has already decided to fight the cosmic entities, what's the reason to follow the will of the fates? Let's flip the whole chessboard upside down. Only the powerful rules, the rest either follow or die."

Alexander, " Well!! You have quite eloquently made your opinions known..." Alexander moved away as a ray of light appeared where he was floating. Alexander turned to look towards his attacker and saw a woman floating above the Huang Xiaolong's group. A middle-aged man was also standing before Huang Xiaolong. Alexander muttered, " Why do people always attack me first?"

Jonathan snorted and said, " You gave off an aura of importance, Your Majesty. People generally ambush the most important person in a group; thinking that they are the leader. You can do nothing in rectifying this matter. As for that worm that attacked you....."

Jonathan seemingly vanished from his position and appeared before the woman. The woman didn't even get the time to widen her eyes before Carter's fist struck her stomach and she got embedded in the pavement with a massive 'BOOM'. A girl's cry of 'MASTER' was heard but Jonathan didn't turn to look at the speaker and landed on top of the downed woman with full force, causing her to further sink into the ground and throw up large globs of blood.

Jonathan reared his leg back and once again brought it down on the downed woman. Before the leg could hit her, he felt himself being pulled from behind. The force was so tiny that he simply shrugged it off and turned look at the person standing behind him. He saw a blond teenager girl pulling his shirt while tears ran down her face. The girl spoke in a trembling voice, " I will not let you further harm, Master. Even if, it costs me my life."

As Jonathan prepared to throw the girl aside to finish his work, he heard his king's voice, " Enough Jonathan!!! We will not kill anyone right now."

Jonathan turned and saw the rest of his group arriving before the shocked and somewhat terrified group, and said, " So, we will be killing someone later on?"

Alexander shrugged and said, " That depends on the answers that we will find. Sam!!! Heal the child up. I need to ask her some questions....." As Sam, their resident healer moved towards the injured woman, Jonathan, once again appeared next to Alexander.

Alexander spoke up in ancient Sanskrit, " You held back, Jonathan!!"

Jonathan also replied in ancient Sanskrit, " You also pretended to be surprised by the attack, Your Highness. Your senses and fighting prowess is not that weak to not sense her attack as soon as she released that qi technique."

Alexander snorted and said, " Sometimes having fun is also important."

Daniel, " Your Highness!!! The poor woman got beaten up needlessly in your pursuit of fun."

Alexander sighed, " Remind me why I put up with your antics?"

Daniel replied in a proudful tone, " Because I am the best assassin of the empire and can protect you from assassinations."

Alexander turned to Carter and spoke telepathically, " He is getting too big for his breaches. Has his replacement being trained up?"

Jonathan replied, " Yes, Your Majesty!!! She will be ready to take his place in a decade."

Alexander, " When she is ready, dispose him off. I don't need arrogant fellows who cannot keep their mouth shut in my forces."

Jonathan replied, " It will be done, Your Highness. But, he is not wrong. She got beaten up quite badly by me."

Alexander laughed and said, " You think that she is some defenceless maiden. She is a high level Saint Realm cultivator. She has not reached this stage by stepping on roses. She definitely has at least killed some people. Moreover, she is on a high position in the Deities Templar Sect. You cannot think that she reached such a position without stepping over a few dead bodies. We are not here to discuss the morality of our actions. We are here to investigate Huang Xiaolong. Let's do that first."

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