After that, the screen dissipated into thin air and Yan Wang's armies set off with the two dead ghost kings.

Alex was still not awake, but he was in a very stable condition.

​​

The piggy had caught up to them, and the group from earlier, except the ghost king delegate, was reunited.

Xuanzang bowed slightly to Hermes and said, "We apologize for not being able to help with your troubles with Yudi."

Hermes shrugged and replied, "Don't worry about it, thank you for your help with vanquishing the other ghost king."

"Oh, before I forget, Alexei-boy seemed to get along well with you, is there any way we'll meet up in India?" Hermes asked Sun Wukong.

Xuanzang replied in the monkey's stead, "After meeting up with Buddha, only fate shall determine where we shall go, but if karma wills it, we might meet again."

After that, Sun Wukong and the monk bid their goodbyes to Hermes.

Meanwhile, the piggy silently drifted off with the group while glaring at the former.

________

-Sometime later-

Hermes sat down silently, waiting for Alex to gain his consciousness back organically.

Suddenly, a cold wind from the east breezed through their location.

Alex's eyelashes fluttered, and he slowly opened his eyes.

Other than his torn clothes, there was no sign of any battle on the latter's body.

However, he clenched the Essence of Chaos tightly in his hand, even throughout his unconscious period.

"Hermes?"

"Alexei-boy? How are you feeling?"

Alex was puzzled and looked around.

The molten magma had cooled down, and the wind carried away the apocalyptic ash that surrounded the desert earlier.

Most importantly, he didn't perceive the delegate or the ghost king.

"What happened?" Alex asked Hermes.

The latter was looking at him with a strange expression of relief.

Hermes smiled and recounted everything.

"I took care of...

"Then, Yan Wang said...

"We're in the trouble...

Alex's expression shifted drastically through the discourse.

The delegate had brought them into conflict with the heavenly court, which was their destination for the entire trip, and now, they'd have to go through negotiations with other affiliated factions to regain their safety in Qin.

Out of a sudden, Alex recalled a small detail.

He jumped out and clenched his fists, "They know our appearance, Hermes!"

Hermes frowned and stated, "We'll have to restock supplies somehow, The East Sea is quite far away..."

"Do you have any shapeshifting abilities?"

Unfortunately, Hermes shook his head.

Alex gulped, and because of this situation, he would be able to bear Incarnating into that hateful woman.

His other Incarnations looked too close to his real appearance, therefore, only Aphrodite's Incarnation, which changed his appearance very drastically, would work.

Under his guise, Alex's appearance slowly morphed into that of an extremely handsome, blond man with lilac-blue eyes.

"I'm not sure you should let mortals see you around in that appearance, but it's fine," Hermes refrained from commenting on his distaste for this appearance.

"Should we get the dragon back?" Alex asked.

Hermes shrugged, and ultimately, they went back near the small village, where they left the dragon.

The divine creature was roaring in anguish.

'He was a dishonest person and a dam*ned ghost king, but it seems like he treated his mount well," Alex stroked the dragon's head.

He established a Link connection with the divine creature.

"Dragon, now that your owner is dead, what do you wish to do?"

The dragon intelligibly replied, "I...want...go...East...back..to...Fenghuang..wife.."

Fenghuang was the yellow-red phoenix, another divine beast.

"We're also going to the East, do you want to accompany us?"

"Y..e...s."

"Hermes, the dragon's wife is a Fenghuang in the East, shall we continue on the same path?"

Hermes reluctantly agreed.

Alex chuckled.

'It still looks like he's mad about the dragon being faster than the chariot...'

On top of that, unlike the chariot, the dragon did not need to completely halt at night.

Since that was decided, they ended up mounting the dragon, and the divine creature flew out into the skies.

After the Gobi desert, they would find themselves in Shiwei, the ancient region of Mongolia.

This was fortunate for them since the nomadic peoples of the snowy steppe were unlikely to know of their conflict with the heavenly court.

As they exited the desert, they found a small nomadic tribe that set up tents on the outskirts of the cold steppe.

The means of the tribe were humbled, but the accommodation they could provide was satisfactory for the two.

In exchange for some of the food they 'stole' from the desert village, the tribe gladly offered them a place to sleep.

It was an eventful and tiresome day for the two, so they immediately visited Hypnos.

On the eve of night, they heard an irregular level of movement outside the tent.

They were both on high alarm, and they woke up and examined the source of the commotion.

Outside, they found an armored and armed man fighting with...a rag of horses.

'This man is...really....ugly,' Truthfully, Alex restrained himself.

The man was really conventionally unattractive, and even somewhat scary-looking, with gray-ish skin and bulging eyes.

When he saw them, he unexpectedly said, "Are you the two Yan Wang sent me to watch over?"

Alex had no idea what he was talking about.

However, Hermes frowned slightly and asked, "Are you...Zhong Kui?"

"It is very well me, the head of the Underworld armies, and the renowned....Demon Hunter!" Zhong Kui made a dramatic introduction.

"Alexei-boy, it's another ghost king, would you do the honors for me?" Hermes whispered, but he was actually speaking loudly.

'Truthfully, he does look more like a zombie or a ghost than...the one that hunts them...'

Zhong Kui was taken aback, and in the midst of his distraction, the horses stampeded back towards him, and the 'demon hunter' was KO'd by a group of well-bred horses.

"Could I get some help here?"

Hermes shrugged and guided off the horses like a shepherd might guide a flock of sheep.

'Hermes is actually a shepherd, though,' Alex realized.

"Thank you, you two gentlemen."

"Since when can a 'demon hunter' be defeated by horses? Alexei-boy, get ready for a fight!"

Alex obeyed and performed a martial pose.

Zhong Kui fervently replied, "Hey there, I can't use any power against beings that are alive and healthy, I don't have any authority over those."

"Then, how will you even be useful to us?"