"It is indeed a pleasure to et you again as well," Alex said. "What are you doing here?"
"I arrived with His Highness for the auction," she said.
"Oh, the Crown Prince is here as well, is he?" Alex asked.
The girl nodded. "King Tan took His Highness sowhere to speak privately. They should be back in a bit," she said.
"I see," Alex said, sitting down on one of the chairs. "I'm sorry if I'm misrembering, but I believe you said that you couldn't visit the auction, didn't you?"
"Ahem," Lady Zhan looked a little embarrassed. "I did, didn't I?" she asked. "Well, I'm afraid things have changed a little and I now have ti to visit the auction."
"You now have free ti?" Alex asked, thinking for a mont. "Oh, the pill you were making, did you manage to fully make it? I rember hearing you were successful."
"Yes, I made the pill," she said.
"How was it?" Alex asked. "It was a rather difficult pill to make with strong ingredients that could easily cause the entire process to beco invalid at a mont's notice. It was a success, then?"
"Well…" Lady Zhan hesitated a bit. "It was as much of a success as it was a failure."
Alex frowned a little. 'What does that an?' he couldn't help but wonder to himself. "I'm sorry, Lady Zhan, but I must say I cannot of the private sort," she said.
"Oh, my apologies if I made you feel uncomfortable. You do not decipher the aning of your words. Would you mind elaborating?"
The woman hesitated a little before shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but I cannot speak any further on this matter. It… is of the private sort," she said.
"Oh, my apologies if I made you feel uncomfortable. You do not have to explain to anything you do not wish you," Alex said. "Still, do not hesitate to to ask for help if you need it. I will always be available."
"Thank you, Your Majesty," the woman said, smiling softly as she did so.
"Then, now that you have made that pill, will you be using it to try and strike the Level 10 barrier?" he asked.
"I… will probably not," she said. "It was not a pill I made on my own, so I cannot swear the oath that proves that requirent. I will have to devise another pill, one perhaps not as difficult."
"Good luck," Alex said.
Lady Zhan nodded.
As they continued talking, the King and the Crown Prince walked into the hallway a mont later.
"Your Majesty, you're back," the Crown Prince said with a big smile. "I haven't seen you in a while now."
"It has been a while, hasn't it?" Alex asked the Crown Prince. "How have you been doing, Prince Fangyu?"
"Not so great," the prince said. "With father in closed cultivation, I was forced to handle everything on his behalf. Unlike father, I also don't have anyone to share my workload with, so I'm stuck doing it all on my own."
"You have my sympathy," Alex said with a slight grin. He knew what it was like when the actual ruler decided to take the ti off and dump it all on the other one.
"Oh right, I heard you helped my Luoyang when she was struggling with her pill. Thank you," the Crown Prince said.
"It's not a big matter. I just happened to be there and happened to be interested," Alex said. "It's more so for my own entertainnt that I helped her with the pill."
The Crown prince smiled. "I wish I can one day reach such a level where I too could help others for my own entertainnt," he said.
"I'm sure you'll reach such a level sooner than later," Alex said. "You just need a bit of ti to try."
The Crown prince nodded.
As they talked, soone else arrived.
"Your Majesty!" the Erald King said in a loud voice. "Your Highness, Brother Tan. You're all here. Lady Zhan, my greetings."
With the Erald King's arrival, the place got a little rowdy. The man was successful in bringing an uplift to the conversation that the ones there otherwise could not.
Queen Mao Yingtai, of the Silver Kingdom arrived a little later, and they had already been notified that the other two Kings would not be coming at all.
So this was all that was going to be there for the ti.
Queen Mao greeted everyone in his silvery white dress and sat down to talk with them. Her very first question as soon as she arrived was if they had more information about Queen Song and the happenings in the Ivory Kingdom.
Not a single one could answer her. They were all trying to ignore the issue and being reminded was not fun.
The giant barrier was still there and would be there for a while.
"The barrier will remain there for a year as we heard in Queen Song's ssage. All we can do for now is ignore it," the Crown Prince said.
"It's a sha that most of the important folks from the Ivory kingdom won't make it to the auctions this ti around then," Queen Mao said with a sigh.
Alex thought for a bit. He realized that he wouldn't be seeing the girl with white hair either. The connection he had felt back then would need to be explored at a later date.
"Not all of Ivory Kingdom is caught in the barrier, it's fine," the Crown Prince said. "Those who can co will co. It's better for them to escape reality in this festive environnt for a few days."
"And most that would co already ca to mine in the golden mountain, correct? The ones left behind should be the ones that were already reluctant to co."
"You are correct, your Highness," the other kings said.
The group talked for a while, and after a while, Alex left his room. He cultivated overnight and when the morning ca, he left for the auction along with the other Kings.
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