Upon hearing Alex’s words, the chief’s face finally widened into a proper smile. “Well, that makes things easier. You inner desert folks really are so very easy to talk to. Nothing like us outsiders.”
Alex wondered if the desert was divided in that way. Were there insiders and outsiders here? The people from Sunspear had no distinctions for these people aside from the fact that they were from deeper in the desert.
How far did he have to come to face those distinctions? Or was he even anywhere in the eastern half at this point?
“Well, before you say anything else, I would like to make it clear once more. I wasn’t there to ruin your daughter’s ceremony or tradition, or whatever it was. I was not paid off by anyone to be there. It was a coincidence, and I merely wanted to help her since it didn’t look like she was going to defeat the crab at all.”
The young woman was immediately offended. “How dare you say that I needed help?” she shouted. “I was going to be an Extolite today. There was no way I would’ve lost.”
The chief did not say anything there lest he make the situation worse.
Alex ignored the chief’s daughter and continued speaking to the chief. “If you recall anything, recall the fact that I did not harm any of your men. Not to mention, if I was there to sabotage anything, wouldn’t I have known that you were all there? And yet, I was taken by surprise.”
“Having said all that, I will not delude myself into thinking I have done anything to change your mind. So, please say what it is that you want from me.”
The chief stayed quiet for a while, contemplating on Alex’s words.
“We will let you leave, so long as you give us something in return. Something of value.”
“What do you want?” Alex asked.
“The elixir.”
Alex frowned. “What elixir?”
The chief shook his head. “There is no point in trying to hide it. I am well aware of how you insiders love to walk around with jars full of the elixir. Give me a decent amount and I will let you go back to your people.”
Alex couldn’t begin to think of where he could start parsing that information. “I have no idea what this elixir you are asking for is. In the first place, you should have already checked everything. You should know that I do not own a single thing. You took all of my storage bags after all.”
“I did,” the chief said, lifting his robe to show a spread of storage bags that he was keeping. “And I must say you keep some rather interesting stuff here. You must’ve planned to sabotage my daughter’s ceremony with the Sun Wraiths, but you were too late, so you had to act yourself.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed, only just then remembering about his storage bags and the items he had in it. The sword, the beast cores, and the blood aura from the corpses. He had been looking forward to making use of them all, but it had been taken away from him so quickly.
“I won’t punish you for the sabotage. I won’t punish you for working for the other tribes. I won’t punish you for anything at all. Just give me some elixir and I will leave you to go back to where you came from,” the chief said. “You must’ve been coddled your whole life, so you do not understand the difficulties the ones outside of your little cities face. Do not think that you can test us.”
Alex realized that the chief wasn’t going to believe him at all.
“No, you don’t understand,” Alex nearly shouted. “I don’t know what this elixir is. I have never been in the inner regions of the desert. Hell, the only reason I am here is because I tried to help your daughter, and yet this is how you treat me.”
“Stop making excuses, and just give us the damn elixir!” the chief shouted back this time.
“I don’t have anything. You took all my storage bags!”
“But you have somewhere else to keep your important items, don’t you?” the chief asked. “You are keeping your elixir hidden there. Don’t take me for a fool, boy. I know the tricks of you insiders. I know of the thing you call the Soul Space.”
“My Soul Space is not—” Alex answered back out of sheer instinct at that point, but he ended up pausing when he realized what was being talked about. “Wait, Soul Space?”
“Yes,” the chief said, his voice mellowing a little. “I know about your Soul Space. Anyone who enters the Immortal realm opens one, don’t they? You are hiding your Jar in there, so bring one out and we’ll let you go.”
“But… how?” Alex couldn’t hide his surprise.
“Do you still refuse?” the chief asked.
Alex failed to keep his calm. Something he had believed to be impossible had happened just then. The chief had talked about Immortality and Soul Spaces, something he should not have known about.
“Do you know of places other than Hell?” he asked the man.
The chief frowned. “What are you talking about? What Hell?”
“How do you know of the Immortal realm?” Alex asked, but considering the context that they had been talking under the entire time, it was almost obvious.
“Are there Immortals in the deeper regions of the desert?” Alex found himself asking.
The chief frowned at that question. “You put up quite a natural act,” he said. “Just answer us whether you will give us the elixir or not?”
Alex could barely pay attention to their words at all. Just the fact that there were potentially Immortals in the deeper regions of Hell had gotten him stunned to the point where he couldn’t answer any other questions.
“I see,” the chief said. “We’ll see how long you can keep up your act when you have nowhere to go. Come on, Xichen. Let us leave.”