Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

Bing Zheshuang shuddered at the question that was asked of her. She held her face stern, making sure to not let herself show even the tiniest hint that she knew the answer.

Letting Alex know that she knew what had happened would trigger her oath, killing her instantly.

Alex watched the woman who did her best to remain quiet. He fell into a bit of thought, at which point Godslayer spoke from his mind.

"She can't answer," he said. "That Divine realm woman from before definitely forced her to make some oaths. Look at her, she'll practically die before giving us anything."

Alex agreed. "I especially asked that question because I thought it would give her some leeway in case she was in an oath," he said. "But it seems her oath has more to do with ignoring the fact that Shumi ever existed at all."

"But she can talk about her sister, can't she?" he asked.

Alex nodded and took the question there. "How old is your sister supposed to be currently," he asked the woman, taking her thoughts away from the question. He could see relief fill her face now that she did not have to answer.

"She is the same as me, 6 Millennia old," the woman answered.

"So you can talk about your sister?" Alex asked her.

The woman hesitated but nodded in the end.

"Can you tell me truthfully where she is?" Alex asked her.

The woman thought for a bit and shook her head. "I'm sorry for what I did earlier, Your Majesty," she quickly said. "I did not know what would happen. I was told to hand it over to anyone that—"

Alex gestured for her to stop. "Don't worry about what you did," he said. "If I wanted to punish you, I would've already. Right now, I just want to know what I can."

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you much, Your Majesty," the woman said.

"Is it the oath?" Alex asked.

"There is an oath, but even without it, I would never tell you anything," she said. "If you force me to, I will have to retaliate."

Alex sighed. That was the truth in the end. Family first. She would not betray her sister and niece by telling where they had been taken to if that was dangerous. He thought for a bit and asked another question.

"Did Fairy Xin introduce herself to you?" he asked her.

The woman's face shifted, looking surprised that he even knew the name. Slowly, she nodded.

"Was there anyone else other than her that came?" Alex asked.

The woman kept quiet at that, not answering his question. Alex wanted to ask if it was her oath or just her who was not answering, but he found it unnecessary to ask. He wasn't going to get an answer regardless.

"Fine," he said. "I came here to meet your niece, but since she's not here, I will ask you what I would have asked her."

The woman still didn't say anything, her complicated oath making it hard to talk about anything in this subject matter. Still, her silence was an approval for Alex and he asked the question that burned in his heart for a long time.

"Did she say anything about the name I gave you?" Alex asked her. "Was there any sort of reaction to the name, Yu Ming?"

"Yu Ming? The fake name you gave us?" the woman asked.

Alex nodded. It was technically still his name, but he ignored the technicality for now. He simply waited for the woman to give him an answer.

And her answer came in the form of a head shake that meant no. "We never really talked about you at all," the woman said. "Maybe the others did, but I certainly wasn't there, so I don't know if there was something that happened."

"Dammit!" Alex couldn't help but say it out loud. He had been hoping to get some sort of answer, but there was nothing.

There had been 2 reasons he had used the name Yu Ming back in the Hundred Blossom Valley.

The first was simple. He did not want people to know that he could heal too. He had healed something that no one in the Ivory kingdom could heal, so his name would have most likely spread. If no one else, the Emperor would've heard this feat of his.

He didn't want that.

The second reason was the more important reason. He wanted to use the name Yu Ming so that when the white-haired girl did wake up from her coma, he wanted her to know that she had been treated by him, a person named Yu Ming.

If she was the reincarnation of his master and had somehow retained partial memories of her past life, he hoped to reawaken it with his name. He hoped to bring back Ma Rong if she was still in there.

Alas, it seemed he would never know what had happened.

"Was your niece different after she woke up? Had her personality changed? Anything? Please," Alex asked, but the woman could only stare.

She could not say anything, lest she accidentally acknowledged the existence of her niece. She had vowed to not do that.

"I see," Alex said, realizing he was not going to get any answer. "Very well, I won't bother you anymore then. Take care."

The people that were around them this whole time, watching the two talk with their spiritual senses were confused. They had no idea what the conversation had been about, and the only word they did hear was Alex's sudden curse 'dammit'.

The Queen above all was most confused as this was the sect she had come from, the person in the snow was her master, and yet, nothing of what was happening made any sense to her.

"It seems I was mistaken," Alex said out loud. "Let us leave then."

The sect master of the Ice Mist Palace could only watch in silence as they all walked away. She bowed deeply, happy knowing that she had kept her family's secret safe.

Even if they knew her sister and niece had been taken away, they would never know where to. And that was the most important thing here above all to her.

Even if death came to her, she was ready to hide this information from anyone who sought to know it.

"Your Majesty," the Queen spoke as she flew close to Alex. "Are you alright? What did my master do to you?"

"Will you be reporting this to the Emperor?" Alex asked her with his spiritual sense.

"Even if I don't want to, they are his subordinate," she said, referring to the 3 men and women from the Head Legion that flew next to her. "They will definitely report what happened here today."

Alex nodded. "If you want your master to have an easier time in case of an upcoming investigation, divert their attention toward her sister," he said. "She has spoken an oath to not speak about her niece, and it would kill her if they forced her to."

The Queen's eyes widened in terror. "I see," she said. "I wasn't even aware there was a niece."

"You did," Alex said. "Your memory of it has been erased is all."