Alex sensed his own cultivation base again, baffled that he was already at the Immortal Origin 9th realm. How had that happened? Had he forgotten that he had broken through twice after leaving Hell?
"This is getting more frustrating by the moment," Alex said. Forgetting his own cultivation sessions was worrying. He wondered what else he might have forgotten now.
He checked both Whisker and Pearlās cultivation base. Whisker was at the Immortal Origin 3rd realm, and Pearl was at the Immortal Origin 9th realm.
"Well, at least it wasnāt a complete waste of time," Alex said slowly. "Whisker, have you been using the Origin technique?"
"Just like you said, brother," Whisker said.
"Great! How many did you manage? Four like Pearl or better?" Alex asked.
"Two," Whisker said.
"Two?" Alex looked at him with a confused expression. "Only?"
"Iāve tried for more, but... I canāt," Whisker said with a saddened look.
Alex didnāt know what to say. "But you should have better mental prowess than Pearl. How come youāve stopped at only two?"
"It has nothing to do with my own capacity from what I can tell, brother," Whisker said. "It has to do with my inability to cultivate on my own."
"Are you not able to absorb enough Qi to improve more than just two Origins?" Alex asked.
Whisker nodded. "That seems to be the issue," he said. "But then, I donāt need more than that, right? I donāt even know what I will make. Perhaps a cauldron, but I donāt need that."
Alex felt bad for Whisker. His talent was mediocre to begin with, but his inability to progress through his cultivation base on his own without Alex was perhaps the biggest thing holding him back.
The pills he had supposedly made in the past years seemed to be working for him, but even with nine pill veins, they did not have enough energy to both provide for his Origins and help him break through.
Alex could only give an apologetic look in answer. "I wish I could help you more," he said. "But sadly I cannot spend all my time cultivating just to help you improve. That would take ages."
Whisker smiled. "I know, brother. I am perfectly happy with just having two Origins. Itās already more than most people would have."
Alex nodded, but he still felt quite bad. He sighed and looked at the two. "Anyway, did you do anything during those fifty years? Anything important, or did you just wait around for me to be done?"
Pearl thought for a moment. "We ate the fruits."
"Oh! Did you? How many?" Alex asked, immediately checking on the fruits outside of the Demon realm. There were six missing from the twenty-one total, leaving only fifteen more.
"Did you eat two?" he asked Pearl.
Pearl nodded. "I couldnāt go for more."
"Two is great," Alex said. "What about you, Whisker? Did you eat two as well?"
"No," Whisker said.
"Oh, just one?"
Whisker shook his head. "Half."
"Half?" Alex asked. "You couldnāt eat more than that?"
Whisker shook his head again.
"Huh? Then... that leaves Master and the senior. Did they eat three and a half?" he asked.
"Senior Bladedance couldnāt eat more than half either," Pearl explained. "Senior Wu ate a single one."
"Huh? Thatās... four in total," Alex said. "There are six missing."
The two beasts looked at each other before turning back to Alex.
"Umm..."
Alex did not need them to say anything else. "I see. So I ate the other two," he thought. He had forgotten about that too, it seemed. How much more had he forgotten?
Bladedance walked over a minute later. "We can deal with your memory issue when weāre out of here," she said. "For now, we need to find a way to get to an Immortal realm. And I donāt know if I trust you to take us through the Void once again."
"We can fly, can we not?" the old man asked. "I remember there was something of a ship that could help us travel the outer world."
"There is, but it would take decades to go where we want," Bladedance said. "And we donāt even know where weāre going in the first place. If Iām not mistaken, the human and demon worlds are clustered close by, which is why teleportation between them is so easy, but not to each other."
Alex nodded slowly. "If we were to leave now, we would end up wasting all of our resources just to reach another Demon world. Then weād be stuck in the same situation."
"I didnāt come out all this way just to be stuck at a lower world," Bladedance said and took a deep breath. "Alright, let us go to the Demon Immortal realm. Weāll wear hoods and veils and hide ourselves. Hopefully, that way they wonāt recognize that we are humans."
Bladedance brought out some clothes from her Soul Space that she had prepared back in Hell.
"You donāt have to do that, Master," Alex said, standing back up. "I have a better way."
Bladedance paused. "You do?" she asked.
Alex nodded. "I canāt get us to a Human Immortal realm, but we donāt have to go to a Demon Immortal realm either."
"Where are we going then?" Bladedance asked. "A Beast world?"
Alex smiled. "Precisely."
He reached into his Soul Space and brought out a small wooden box. He opened it, revealing a talisman to the group there.
"What is that?" Bladedance asked.
"An Interrealm Teleportation talisman," Alex said. "Itās one that is linked to the Land of the Blessed Sun."
"An Immortal Beast realm!" Bladedance said in surprise.
Pearl stared at the talisman with his mouth agape. "Thatās my fatherās, isnāt it?" he asked. "Are you going to use this, brother?"
"Only someone who has the Heavenly Beastsā bloodline can activate it," Alex said. "So, youāre going to have to use it, Pearl."
Pearl took the talisman, a nervous look on his face. "Are we really going there?" he asked, as if unbelieving of the circumstances. "Are we really going to go to my fatherās home?"