"Ah, hello, my name is Yu Ming, nice to meet you," he said.
"Nice to meet you too, Mingming," she said.
'Mingming? She is already making nicknames for me? Anyway, Fan Ruogang, I know that name rig—' his eyes went wide as he realized where he knew her name from.
'The third-ranked core disciple?' he said in shock. He finally remembered her. Both the contribution ranking and Alchemy Achievements ranking were as follows.
1. Wan Li
2. Zhou Mei
3. Fan Ruogang
He was surprised that such a bubbly girl would actually be so talented in alchemy. 'You really can't judge a person's ability by their appearance.'
"Oh, thank god."
"We made it in time."
Two voices spoke, one male, one female. Alex turned his head to see two Elders flying down with a disciple behind them. He didn't recognize the elders, but he sure as hell recognized the disciple.
'Zhou Mei? Of course, she is going too,' he thought.
Zhou Mei seemed to have also noticed him and was making angry faces while looking at him. She seemed to be still mad about the fact that he got for free what she had to work hard for.
"You are on time. Yu Ming, these are Song Heng and Su Shu. They are the second and third Elders respectively," Ma Rong said.
"Good Morning Elders," Alex greeted them
"Oh, we finally get to see the Sect Leader's disciple we've heard so much about huh?" the man Song Heng said.
"I didn't expect him to be this young, however. He barely looks 20," the woman Su Shu said.
"Right, Honey? I was thinking the same thing," Song Heng said.
"Ughh," Ma Rong said as she rolled her eyes after seeing the two husband and wife pair being lovey-dovey with each other. Even Zhou Mei was cringing a bit.
"Meimei, where is Wan Li?" Ma Rong asked.
"He told me he would come by on his own earlier, so I went to find masters. Is he not here yet?" she said while searching for him.
"Sigh, that guy. Alright, let's just wait for him," Ma Rong said.
About 5 minutes later, they finally saw someone walking down the core disciple mountain. Alex looked at the man coming down the mountain.
He was quite thin in build and wasn't very tall. His short hair was a mess and looking at his face, Alex thought he was the same age as him.
'Is that… ?' Alex thought.
"I'm sorry Elders, Sect Leader. I am late, aren't I? Oh no. I was sure I would make it here in time. I— I started making pills and soon forgot about the time. I am so sorry," the disciple started saying.
"It's okay, Wan Li. You aren't late. We only got here too," Ma Rong lied a little to make the disciple not feel as bad. Alex was quite surprised that she actually let him get away with being late.
He didn't think being late was punishable or anything, still lying outright to make him feel better… was this what it meant to be the best disciple in the sect?
"Oh, so I am not late? Ah, that makes me feel so much better." The disciples in the back seemed to be in the know about Wan Li's personality, so none of them got angry at all.
"Alright, since everyone is here, it is time for us to leave. First Elder, I leave the sect in your care while I am away," Ma Rong said.
"Don't worry sect leader. We old men will look after the sect. You just take care of the disciples that are away," the First Elder said.
Ma Rong nodded and pulled out a small item from her robes. It looked like a…
'A ship? Can a small ship even fit all of their disci—' before he could even finish thinking anything, Ma Rong threw the ship into the air, and suddenly, a massive ship of over 100 meters in length and 20 meters in height and width appeared.
Alex's jaw nearly dropped when he saw the massive ship in front of him.
The ship was nothing like what he had seen before. Even the ships in real life were nowhere near as big as this. 'Woah,' he thought. The more he looked at it, the more absurd it was.
How is such a massive ship even floating in the air? How was such a massive ship, even so, small that it could fit in his master's hands? She didn't even pull it out of any storage bags from what he could see.
Many questions ran across his head. "Alright, everyone gets up," she said.
5 elders beside Ma Rong and the 2nd and 3rd else flew up to the ship while carrying the other 11 disciples. 2nd Elder carried Zhou Mei, while 3rd elder carried Fan Ruogang.
Wan Li looked at only Alex remaining along with the Sect leader and said," I can go second. Let little brother here go up first."
Ma Rong smiled a little and suddenly grabbed Wan Li with her Qi, and turned to Alex to say, "Let's go."
Alex nodded and used his Qi to fly into the air and land on the deck of the massive ship. Some of the disciples who were paying attention realized that he flew up on his own.
"Woah, how high is his cultivation?" they wondered. All of these disciples were either core sect or inner sect disciples.
Alex landed beside his master and Wan Li and looked at the deck full of people as he thought, ' if even Inner sect disciples are being taken, then that means that we will be taking part in more than just the Alchemy tournament right? I hope it's not a battle. I don't have a very high cultivation base to fight against other people.'
Ma Rong looked at the surroundings to make sure everyone was there. Once she made sure no one was left behind and they were all settled on the deck of the ship, she said,
"Forward."