The black-robed man approached the two other disciples and patted them on the head.

"Hello, juniors."

Then, he turned to Alex and Hermes.

"Guanyu explained everything," The elderly man stated.

He continued, "We welcome you at the Kunlun Mountain Sect, men such as yourselves that can vanquish a ghost general deserve a great reception."

Alex thanked him for his generosity and inquired, "I have a small inquiry if it wouldn't bother you, Sir?"

The elderly man rubbed his long beard and laughed, "Sir? I am but a young man of a century and a half of age, don't make me feel old..."

Everyone burst into laughter at the old man's laments.

Alex smiled and said, "I have heard of a delegate from the heavenly domain that comes by here every lunar month, we need to visit the domain ourselves, would they be able to guide us there?"

The old man fell into silence as he pondered over the former's question.

Ultimately, he nodded and replied, "You two are diplomatic envoys to Lord Jade Emperor? If you can prove your motives, I believe the delegate would help you."

Hermes, who was behind Alex, started searching for something on his back.

Then, he took out a golden piece of paper from a stash of scrolls.

On the piece of paper, there was a sentence written in bold strokes.

"A decree of heaven?! I have only seen this sent to the most exalted of diplomats, the delegate would very gladly help you if you can show them this authentication."

'That's solved then," Alex sighed in relief.

Suddenly, a grey-robed man flew over to their spot on a flying blunt sword.

He slowly landed and when the younger, white-robed people saw him, they bowed slightly, "Martial Uncle!"

The grey-robed man was tense and ignored their greetings.

Instead, he swiftly approached the older man and greeted him with a heavy breath, "Martial Father! I have some bad news!"

The old man placed his hand on the other man's shoulders and said, "Liuxian, calm down and tell your father what happened."

Liuxian took a few heavy breaths and then exclaimed, "As you might know, Father, two junior disciples brought over a ghost mother yesterday for sealing."

The old man nodded and pointed at Alex, "Yes, son, in fact, the young man who has defeated the ghost general is right here."

Liuxian stared at Alex for a moment and then turned back to his father.

"While sealing it, I found an inscription upon it, and through that, it seems the ghost mother didn't form naturally, but.....

"Someone placed it there?" The old man finished his sentence and frowned.

"Yes."

The young white-robed man named Guanyu hastily interjected, "Martial Father, I believe there are no other sects around Western Qin, that is impossible."

Liuxian refuted, "I went to the location by myself and did research."

"While there are fossilized human remains in the dirt, indicating that place might have had a cemetery in the past, considering how old those remains were, the yin qi would have entirely dissipated in the meantime."

"Martial Father, what do you think?" Liuxian then interrogated his father with a worried expression.

"Long ago, people who used the teachings of Lord Lao Zi for demonic purposes did exist, but I know no evidence of their being in Western Qin."

Suddenly, the young female disciple from earlier bowed down and requested, "Might I inform everyone of a hypothesis of mine?"

The old man nodded, "Yaling, go on."

"In traditional folklore, between a ghost general, and the legendary ghost emperor, another type of ghost roams the earth."

"The ghost king, who rules over many ghost generals and assigns for the protection of the ghost mothers in a large region."

Alex listened attentively, and then he heard Hermes whisper, "Alexei-boy, I'm starting to get a little lost with what they're saying."

Alex quietly giggled.

The old black-robed man rubbed his beard and replied, "I will keep that in mind, thank you, Yaling."

"On that, Guanyu, could you escort the two esteemed guests to some of our residences and guide them around the sect?"

The white-robed senior man nodded and bowed.

Then, he approached them and introduced himself, "I'm Zhen Guanyu, pleased to make your acquaintance."

"I'm Alex."

"Hermes."

"Do you wish to go over to the guest living facilities immediately or visit around the sect?"

Alex instantly replied, "I'll visit the sect."

"I'll go rest for a little bit," Hermes had a different answer.

Following that, the three flew over the buildings and halted at a medium-sized red and black pagoda in the outskirts of the place.

It looked over the nearby idyllic lake, and the insides were relatively spacious and comfortable.

Hermes entered the pagoda, and the two left for the sect, this time on their feet.

Zhen Guanyu wished to start a conversation, and exclaimed, "Do you know, Martial Grandfather is the only Copper Immortal in Western Qin?"

"To be frank, I don't know what that means..." Alex grimaced.

Zhen Guanyu chuckled and explained it to him, "Above the Soul Formation stage, that's where true immortality begins."

"There are Copper Immortals, Silver Immortals, Golden Immortals, and the last stage is that of the Jade Immortals."

"As you might have guessed, Jade Immortals are named after Lord Jade Emperor, although Lord Lao Zi was such an immortal too."

Surprisingly, they were already inside the town.

'I did not guess that, honestly,' Alex remarked internally.

"Was?" He was curious about why Guanyu used the past tense for the man called Lao Zi.

Guanyu had a pained expression and replied, "Lord Lao Zi's whereabouts have been unknown ever since he spread his teachings to mortals, unfortunately."

"Sir Alex! Senior Brother Guanyu!" A feminine voice suddenly halted their conversation.

Alex looked at the oncoming person, and unexpectedly, it was Ma Xuefeng, the woman that he vanquished the ghost general with.

Surprisingly, Ma Guanting wasn't with her.

"You are...?" Guanyu asked her.

"I am Ma Xuefeng, your junior sister."

Guanyu's mouth formed an 'oh' shape and he asked, "You vanquished the ghost general? That's great, Martial Grandfather spread your names throughout Luoxi, you should have gained enough Reverence Qi to ascend to Core Formation?"

"Yes! All thanks to Sir Alex!" Ma Xuefeng clenched her fists and bowed to Alex.