"You went to the other side of the river? You were supposed to only stay on this side of the river. Did Lang Shun not explain how dangerous the other side was for the mortals like us?" Ma Rong started scolding him, rightfully so.
"But master, I am a body cultivator. So it was mostly fine going to the other side. As long as I didn't go very far away, the monsters wouldn't be very strong," Alex explained.
"Still, the desert is an unknown ground, we don't know what lies over there," Ma Rong said. "You were supposed to stay on this side of the river because there were no monsters here. Why would you go looking for monsters on your own?"
Alex was a little surprised at this question, and a little confused too. "I remember both you and martial uncle telling me that the monsters were on the other side of the river, but that's not true."
"I fought plenty of monsters on this side of the river too. I even found a few corpses on this side of the river. Going to the river itself was very dangerous," Alex said.
"What? No… that can't be. The monsters have always stayed on the other side of the river. That has been the case for the last few years I have been a sect leader," Ma Rong said.
"Oh… what about before that?" Alex asked.
"I don't know. Not many people from the previous era are still active right now. The only one who is would be…" Ma Rong stopped talking and instantly took out her communication talisman and called someone.
Soon, she got an answer back, and her eyes started getting wide.
"Even beyond the river… there was grassland before," Ma Rong said in shock.
"What?" Alex was surprised too. He was expecting to hear if there were monsters on the other side, but the answer he got was different. 'What does that mean?' he couldn't help but think.
"It can only mean that whatever is stopping the monsters from leaving is weakening. But that would mean that monsters could leave far away and there weren't any beyond the river banks right?" Ma Rong asked.
"Yes," Alex said.
"Then it can only mean that the monsters don't live on the other side because they are being stopped from leaving. It means that they don't choose to leave it. Which would tell us that… whatever is making them stay on the other side of the river, and is turning the entire land to the desert is growing."
"In other words, soon, the forbidden fields will also become desert. After that… the sect," Ma Rong's eyes were beyond wide after realizing what information her disciple had brought back.
"Does that mean our sect is in danger?" Alex asked.
"Possibly. But not right now. You shouldn't worry about it unless you plan to become the sect leader," Ma Rong said.
"No, no. I don't want to become something like that," Alex said while shaking his head.
"Something like that? You think being a sect leader is bad?" Ma Rong asked with a smile.
"Oh no master, I think it's wonderful. I just don't see myself as one," Alex said.
"Alright, alright. You brought back useful information, so I won't punish you for not obeying what I said. So, you said Song Zun used all the yang jades to strengthen his body?" Ma Rong asked.
"Yes. He made some sort of formation to use yang jade as a power source and tempered his body," Alex said.
"Are you sure about that? Do you know much about formations?" Ma Rong asked.
"Uhh… not really, but I learned a few things about them in Tiger sect, and I do know it needs a power source to run, and he didn't have one," Alex said.
"Do you know what formation it is?" Ma Rong asked.
"Hmm… no. I know around 20 formations, but that blueprint matches none of them," Alex said.
"Alright, draw me the formation. We can ask the experts in the Cardinal city when we go are there tomorrow," Ma Rong said.
"Oh, we are leaving for the capital tomorrow?" he asked in surprise.
"No. We are leaving for the capital in a few hours. We will be reaching there by tomorrow," Ma Rong said.
"Oh, it takes that long?" he asked in surprise. He had been on bullet trains and those took a few houses to cross hundreds of kilometers. If it took nearly a day to reach there even with the speed his master had taken him then…
"Just how far is the Cardinal City?" he asked.
"Hmm… I don't think it's been measured yet, but it should be something like 10,000 kilometers," Ma Rong said without any amazement at that number.
Alex however was shocked. 'Woah, 10,000 kilometers? At that much distance, I could go back and forth from home to Oakleaf City around 12 times,' he thought.
That was truly a long distance for him.
"Are you surprised at that distance?" Ma Rong asked.
"Yeah. I don't think of distances like that ever," he said truthfully.
"What the hell? Why are you acting like that from just 10,000 kilometers? What will you do if you learned the true size of the crimson empire?" Ma Rong said with a snort.
"True size of the Crimson empire?" Alex asked curiously.
"It's somewhere between 50 thousand and 70 thousand kilometers in length. And something like 20 to 1000 kilometers in width," she said.
"Woah, so long. But not very wide. Why is that so master?" he asked.
"It's all because of the Southern forest. Someplace like Scarlet city, it only allows a single piece of land to existing, while in some pace, there could be over 20 cities in a row width-wise. So, its not the same distance everywhere," Ma Rong said.
"Anyway, enough about the distances. You went to get yang jades for yourself right? You said it helps you? Show me if you got any."