172] – [Sealed Gate]

'Seriously… If it wasn't for my breakthrough, I probably would have acted.'

A mind like the void, aware of all and none, feeling the world and its will.

Because of it, Alexander better felt the link between them. She was a part of him in a way, so this was a given.

But he could also sense her feelings for him. She was born with some memories that did not belong to her, lonely in a chaotic world she knew could be gone out of nowhere. Barely old enough to be considered a proper Immortal, she escaped and was stranded inside the Chaos Dream Sect, then the Diamond Sect.

An insignificant bug facing the elephant of the sect world.

Even soul searched.

Now, she was back to her master and creator. Her god. But this being was indifferent to her it seemed.

This angered her, this saddened her.

She did not choose to be this way, but she was.

She could not stop her emotions from clouding her judgement. She aspired to get closer to this man.

She became selfish, almost as much as he was. Her feet should always be next to his, she thought.

So when the opportunity finally rose, she jumped without looking.

"…"

"Master…"

"…"

"Can I ask you… stuff, about stuff."

"You can. But you're lucky I didn't blast your head off. If you weren't-"

"I know you wouldn't have done it."

'Though I am doubtful. But he doesn't need to know that.'

"Why do you think so? I don't think you have seen the number of vixens my younger self had to kill because my former partners were jealous. At least I killed the least, they mostly did the job when I was asleep."

"Master, I'm not talking about that. And by the way you probably killed more men then you did women from jealousy." Her face into his back, buried in his oversized robes, she closed her eyes before he could refute her last bit.

"I just wanted to express myself. I also wanted to teach you."

"Teach me?"

"Hehe."

Sighing at her smile, Alexander looked on.

"Go ahead then."

"Master, what do you think…"

"About what?"

"About your love life."

"… Are you really… are we really going there? I have stuff to do. Just let me go and thank your lucky star that you are still alive."

"I don't think so. Why are you lying? You don't actually want me to let go, do you?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You remember my birth?"

"… Yeah. I do. So?"

"Then you should remember about the transplant of memories? You copied quite a few of them and grafted them inside of me. I know about your feelings, master. Your loneliness, your yearn for the warmth you could feel back then. When you weren't addicted to cultivation. When you lived a more normal life."

"I know all about them. And as a third party of sorts, I can judge them better. More objectively."

"Master."

"Did you not have a Heart Demon? The reason I left your internal world was to wake you up from it. It was to grant you that warmth you were so desperate to obtain. Can't you remember it?"

He did remember it.

"Listen, if you are going to blabber about nons-"

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Master, why do you feel the need to push me away? To push everyone away? I honestly can't believe senior Rong even made it this far with you by his side. Why deny your attempt? Didn't you travel with senior Rong because you wanted some company? Because you wanted someone to talk to? Because talking to your clones is depressing?"

"So… can't you give me a chance? Am I not good enough? Is it because I am like a clone to you? Just a bit different?"

"…"

"……"

After a bit of silence, Alexander parted his lips, a soft voice barely heard as he shook her off. It was like the whisper of shadows hiding from the great sun.

"Do what you want…"

Not following him for the first few seconds, Aurora smiled. An expression more beautiful than a field of divine flowers from untold legends.

'I will!'

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Making their way through the Saint Hall, they arrived at the round table. Former round table.

'Oh yeah~ I destroyed it, didn't I? Great foreshadowing on my part.' Happily jumping down the hole, Aurora followed.

Walking inside the narrow brown cave tunnel, Aurora felt sweet inside. She could not believe the overbearing Alexander, slayer of Immortals and lord of dimensions, could talk so softly. It was a mind opener.

A few minutes later, a blue gate was seen… on the ground… bent… crumpled like a piece of paper… with a footprint on it…

'Well… I also forgot about that. They can't make me pay for it anyway!' The fraudulent criminal nearing the blue bead of winds, he gestured for Aurora to stop.

"This is too dangerous for you. This is the realm of sages. Even I can barely protect myself in there in my current state. Nevertheless, you can't do much in there."

"I understand." Nodding gently, she stood rooted in place.

"I pray for your success." Gesturing a kiss, she saw him grunt before disappearing.

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Landing on a platform, Alexander looked around. Or so he imagined this would happen. Instead, he directly fell for hours before his boots landed on dirt.

"What is going here… Ah~ Yes! Yes, yes, yes… I did a thing here…" Glancing all around, a faint smile crept up his face as he pursed his lips to stop it, but clearly, his endeavor was without much success.

"Well, can I be blamed though? I overate and had an accident…" Flying up for quite the distance, he soon saw the extend of the damage. As far as the horizon, past the blue sky, entering even the dawn and dusk skies, a flat piece of brown land. Some distance ahead, he could see the center of the gigantic crater.

"Damn. I blew up quite a bit… how many did I kill?"

Unware of it, Alexander had annihilated over forty percent of sages.

"Can't be that much, right? Cultivators are strong! I believe in them!"

Cried were the unmarked graves. Since, at the end, his self detonation was done as his battle prowess attained a hundred times his original one.

More than half a billion Origin Power exploding. It was known to most that a self detonation of one's cultivation actually did more damage than expected. So the result was… impressive?

Noticed by a group of haggard sages, Alexander saw them cautiously approach him.

"It's him! It's him!!!!" Screaming at the top of his ghost lungs, one of the sages with a headband alerted the surroundings.

Plucking his ears, Alexander looked at the man, annoyed.

"Just shut up… my damn ears! How are you going to compensate me for this? Oh, I know of a way!" Sinisterly grinning, his arm moved like a slithering snake, easily catching the little Dream Dominion Realm sage so far yet so close.

Surprised by the illusionary reach, the sage was strangled by Alexander.

"You will come with me. Too bad I already finished the job, can't even admire my work."

"I…! Knew…! It…! You…" Struggling to speak, the sage decided to use his Celestial Sense instead, loud for all to hear.

"I knew it was you! You're the bastard who destroyed… you're the bastard who killed everyone! I will never forgive you!"

"Me? What did I do?"

"Stop playing dumb! You self detonated in here! We all know about your deed! We are sages! Do you think we can't see into the past for a bit? Do you think we don't have artifacts for this kind of stuff?! The whole Sealed Gate knowns about you! We're gonna kill you, you bastard fuck!"

"Hey… this isn't good, is it?" Appearing quite nonchalant, Alexander flew away, ignoring the small army of sages in the distance.

"You, you're going back with me. Be ready."

'Your soul is mine to freely search!'

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A hazy purple glow and some time later, Alexander exited the Sealed Gate, a sage held in his grasp.

"Now, before they come back…" His eyes penetrating the man's soul, powerful fluctuations of spirituality assaulted the sage without a moment of rest.

"You..! I… won't… guh… plea… se…"

The man knew.

His journey toward the greater Dao and the hope of attaining the peak of martial arts and cultivation was most likely about to end. Trying to escape, his soul could not leave his body, blocked by a much stronger force.

"I am already in the Eleutherian Realm. With the first stage fully completed, your little tricks won't work. And with your shallow foundation, I'm pretty sure you were born in the Sealed Gate. A body unable to endure more than a second stage Calamity Enduring Realm's blow, a mind frailer than a child's, and a stupid arrogant attitude unbefitting of your pathetic strength. Even a random kid at the Heaven Surpassing Realm could contend with you for more than a hundred blows! Trash!"

Tearing up, the sage kept struggling to the bitter end. He tried to bite him, claw him, spit on him, self detonate, and everything else he could think of.

"Pointless." Concentrating his soul into his right hand, he then circulated his art.

Watching the purple hand of goo approach him, the sage screamed in terror. But to no avail.

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Throwing the limp sage on the cold ground, Alexander reviewed the gains.

'He barely managed to stop ten percent from being seen. However, I got what I wanted still.'

Smiling from such an early success, done on the very first target, Alexander was having a bit of luck for once.

He now knew everything necessary to save him time when cultivating. He could technically breakthrough when needed, but why not learn a bit more from a third party?

"This is going great. Aurora, I'm going back to cultivate, follow me if you want, but don't bother me."

Nodding, she still felt a tinge of regret.

'I really want to sneak in, but cultivation must not be disturbed. Even I am not that shameless, though I am sure he is.'

He most definitely was. Her thoughts would have warmed the heart of an angry old man from a long time ago. Even his family slaughtered so that Alexander could cultivate further.

Being ambushed in the Celestial Realm by Alexander was not a happy event.