"Huh? Where did it go? It was right here!!" he shouted.
"Where did what go?" the great elder asked.
"The white cat monster. It was right there. The white cat's corpse." He said.
Everyone looked around. While there were traces of another monster being here before, there was no corpse here. The presumed sect leader of the tiger sect asked, "Are you sure the cat was dead? Maybe you were mistaken about it dying?"
"No way!! I killed the cat myself." He shouted.
Ma Rong's eyes furrowed as she frowned as asked, "Didn't you say you were protecting the mother and child? Why are you saying you killed it now?"
"I did protect it. But the cat's wound was too much for it, and it asked me to kill it." He said.
Everyone presently listening suddenly jerked up a bit. The purple robe-wearing man walked forward and asked," Young man, you said the cat spoke to you? Can you tell us how it spoke to you?" he asked.
"Well, the cat didn't actually speak. I just heard its voice in my mind." He said.
Everyone's eyes went wide. The sect leader's eyes too were wide as she softly muttered, "Saint Realm"
"The monster was in the Saint Realm? If this is true, then this is big news for us."
"The monster must've spoken using spiritual sense. Only Saint realm and above have those according to the records."
"Wait, if the monster really was in the saint realm, then this kid could not have killed it. Either he is lying about killing the monster, or lying about the monster having spiritual sense." An elder from the Tiger Sect spoke.
Everyone immediately realized that what he had just said was true. Ma Rong looked at him and asked, " how did you say you killed the monster?"
Alex realized what was happening. he thought, 'If what they say is true, and the white cat was, in fact, a Saint Realm monster, then I can't let them see the weapon it came with. But, if I don't tell the truth, they will think I'm hiding something, and may forcefully look through my stuff. That would be very bad.'
He thought of something and pulled out a sword, and said, " The cat had this stuck to its back. It told me that if I took this out, it would die due to the wound it would leave behind."
The purple-robed man took the sword from Alex without his permission and looked at it closely. "It's a True Mortal grade sword. The cat monster must've been attacked by someone in the higher realms and didn't mind letting go of this sword to kill the monster" He came to a conclusion.
Alex had decided at the last second to bring out the Steel sword and tell the truth about everything else.
Seeing a true mortal grade sword with him, no one doubted him anymore. While a true grade sword was tempting, everyone present here already had better artifacts, so they returned the sword back to him.
"Good job, disciple," Ma Rong came from the side. "You managed to meet a saint realm monster and lived to tell the tale. What is your name?" she asked him.
"Disciple's name is Yu Ming," he said as he bowed a little.
The sect leader was about to say something when a loud voice came from someone else, "YU MING!!! Is that true, kid?" Wen Cheng, the presumed sect leader of the Tiger Sect cried out.
'What's going on? Am I in trouble?' he was surprised.
"Are you really Yu Ming?" he asked once more.
"Yes," Alex replied in a small voice.
"Where were you yesterday night?" he asked.
"Yesterday? Umm… I was in the eastern side of the forest hunting monsters." He replied simply.
"And you didn't meet anyone else?" he asked. His presence was very heavy on Yu Ming right now.
"Umm… I did meet a few people. Namely Luo Mei and Meng Yun of the Tiger Sect." He said.
"So it is you. I have been searching for you the entire night on the eastern side. To think you were out here in the west." Wen Cheng said.
'Searching for me? Why?' he couldn't understand.
"What's going on?" Ma Rong said from the side."Why is the sect leader of the Tiger Sect searching for my sect's disciple?" she asked.
"Ma Rong. I want this disciple of yours. I want him to join our sect." Wen Cheng said.
"Oh," Ma Rong got curious. "And why do you want him, exactly?"
"Uhh… My direct disciple told me that she met an outer sect disciple from your sect with great talent in cultivation. From her information, that disciple was this kid. Since you people focus on alchemy, and not cultivation, it would be a waste to let a gem get buried under the mud in your sect." Wen Cheng tried to give reasoning as to why he wanted him.
Of course, he didn't give out the fact that he knew Alex had cultivated for less than 10 days and had reached his current cultivation. Or the fact that Alex had a fantastical ability to find alchemy ingredients. Most of all, he didn't tell them of the fact that Alex was also a genius in alchemy too.
If Ma Rong were to find that, he was absolutely sure she would never let go of her disciple.
Ma Rong wasn't stupid either. She knew he was hiding something, but couldn't be sure what. There was no reason for a Sect Leader to go around searching for an outer sect disciple of Hong Wu Sect, just to invite them.
However, she couldn't stop making the choice to go to the Tiger sect either. If he was an inner sect disciple, she could have made some arguments. But, since he was an outer sect disciple, one that joined very recently as well, she couldn't keep him forcefully at all.
Ma Rong was now stuck in a dilemma, and couldn't come up with any reason why she should decline Wen Cheng.