Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

The Ice Mist Palace was large. It was one of the greatest sects in the entire Eastern Continent, placing it at around the same level as the 5 ancient sects of the Northern Continent. 

Those sects called themselves ancient with just 8 thousand years of history of their own and a few dozen millennia of stolen history. Ice Mist Palace had more than that of its own.

Its strength ran deep and its history deeper.

The mist from the lake covered the entirety of the sect, but light still peered through the mist, giving a very vague and basic outline of the sect.

At the front gates were a few figures waiting for their arrival. 

As the 7 of them landed, they finally saw who it was waiting for. Alex looked at them, recognizing a few of the faces from his memory of that time in that courtyard. He didn't know their name at all.

All except the one at the center.

He knew her name well. Bing Zheshuang, Sect Master of the Ice Mist Palace.

"Master," the Queen bowed a little.

"Queen Song," the sect master bowed a little as well.

Neither bowed too low because of their positions, but anyone could tell that they were close. Song Meifen had once been a disciple of the Ice Mist Palace, learning directly under Bing Zheshuang herself. Even becoming a Queen and moving away from the sect didn't destroy that connection.

The sect master's eyes moved to Alex, landing on him for a moment before she bowed again, deeper this time than for her disciple.

"Greetings, King of the Southern Continent," the woman spoke. "To what do we owe the pleasure of having you come here at such a time?"

Alex bowed a little before speaking, "I'm sure you are aware of what I am here for," he said. "Queen Song should have let you know what I am looking for."

The woman's facial expression didn't change much at all as she turned toward the Queen. "All those Questions Your Majesty asked me, was it…"

"It was His Majesty's questions," the Queen nodded. "He wanted me to check."

The woman looked back at Alex and then at the woman standing beside her. She spoke a few silent words, and with some looks of confusion on her face, the woman walked back into the palace, disappearing into the mist.

"Will we just talk outside?" Alex asked. "Will you not invite us in?"

The woman turned back at Alex. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but the Ice Mist Palace is a place where only the girls are allowed. No man can—"

"You will make an exception for our King," Yao Ning said loudly, cutting her off. "Surely you won't reject showing hospitality to a King of another continent, would you?"

The woman's face fell just a little, which she tried her best to not show.

"It is just the unwritten law of the Ice Mist Palace, Your Majesty," the Queen spoke up on behalf of their master. "It's just the way things are."

"Then we demand—"

Alex put up his hand before his elders could finish. "Very well, if you want me outside, we can conduct our business outside," he said.

His sword appeared out of nowhere and hovered behind him where he sat on top of it as if it were a chair. He put one leg on top of the other and leaned against his knuckles with the elbow to his knee.

"We can continue."

The sect master saw this and couldn't help but feel bad. Still, she took a deep breath and nodded. "Your Majesty came to get some answers, but I believe I had already answered all of them," she said.

"You did," Alex said. "But I would like to hear it all once again. Where is Shumi?" 

The woman gulped a little. "There is no Shumi here," she said. "We checked. There is no disciple by that name."

"Are you trying to hide her?" Alex asked. "Is it because she's your niece?"

"No, I have no niece," the sect master said.

Alex looked at her, letting the silence fill in between them, letting her get more and more anxious. "Will your sister say the same thing?" he asked. 

"My sister?" she asked.

"Yes," Alex said. "Can you call out your sister? I would like to hear it from her own mouth."

The woman hesitated for a bit. "My sister isn't here right now," she said. "She's away."

"Oh, where?" Alex asked.

"I… can't tell you," the woman said.

"Master, where is senior Taizhen?" the Queen asked.

"She left the sect to go out. The barrier only recently came undone, so she took the opportunity to go out," she said. 

"And Yan Changying?" Alex asked.

The woman looked back at Alex, very much confused. "How does His Majesty know about my brother-in-law?" she asked.

"Does it matter?" Alex asked.

"No," the sect master said. "My brother-in-law is with my sister. The couple went out together."

Alex only smiled at that. "Yan Changying and Bing Taizhen… went out together?" he asked. "Last time I saw they were ready to kill each other."

"Last time? Your Majesty, you act like you are close to the two of them," she said.

"Not close at all," he said. "Barely know the two. But, I do have to talk with their daughter, so please, let me meet her."

"Your Majesty, there is no daughter. There is no—"

"I'll stop you right there," Alex said. "I can see this conversation is going nowhere, so I'll stop playing around." He reached into his storage bag and brought out something before putting it over his face.

The Hell Mask.

As black patterns appeared over the white mask, the sect master's eyes widened in shock, forcing her to take a step back.

"You!" she cried out. "But your name…"

Alex put down the mask as it was no longer necessary. "You asked me how you could repay me for what I did," he said. "Well, I'm come asking for my payment, and I want to be paid in truth."

"Where is the girl?"

The sect master had no words to speak. No lies she could speak would fool anyone anymore. But she could speak no more words. Her head slumped to the side, her mind racing to come up with things to say.

In the end, she could only sigh. She reached for a talisman in her storage bag and brought it out. She looked at it for a while before letting it float toward Alex.

"Everything you want to know is written in that talisman," she said as Alex grabbed it.

Alex looked at the talisman, seeing complex runes etched on top of it. He couldn't tell exactly what the talisman was for, but he could see some runes that told him it was a recording talisman.

There was some sort of recording in there. 

Alex reached it with his spiritual sense and read what was in there. 

And that gave way for the Intent inside the talisman to work on him. Alex heard a deep grumbling laughter as something entered his Spiritual sea before he could even pull his spiritual sense away.

Panic flared through his entire system as he realized that he had done something he should not have done.