"What do you mean… by the first invasion?

" Alex asked confused and a little worried.

"Um, what else could I mean? The first invasion, the one from a month ago. The one we were just talking about,

" Ying Wu said.

"Yes I understand that, but the fact that you call it 'the first invasion' implies that there was another one,

" Alex asked nervously.

Ying Wu made a weird look.

"Don't you know? There was an invasion just a few days ago,

" she said.

"What?

" Alex exclaimed.

"There was another invasion?

" He was surprised. 'Wasn't I supposed to know when the invasions occurred? Was that time just a coinci—'

"When exactly did it occur?

" he asked.

"Like 5 or 6 days ago,

" Ying Wu said.

'Damn, It must've been during the time I went back home,' Alex thought. He couldn't know if he felt it or not, but he definitely missed it if he did.

"The sects are all back to their cities right? Is the Capital still okay?

" he asked.

"Oh, no need to worry about that. Like I said, the first invasion was truly the strongest. The second one had strong beasts but not strong enough to give F— fighters any problem,

" she said.

"Apparently the attacks in the other cities were weak as well, so most of the cities are fine. However, due to the first strong attack on the capital, Mistress got worried that the beasts had someone intelligent amongst them and would come to attack the city with greater amount again,

" Ying Wu said.

"So the attacks are everywhere huh? Are the other cities doing well?

" He asked.

"Oh yeah, most cities can handle the beasts even with a non-combat sect. It's the small villages around the empire that are facing the most problems. However, most of them aren't near the forest already, so it's mostly fine,

" Ying Wu said.

Alex started to worry a little about his sect. 'Did master not come search for me as much because she learned about what happened back in the city?' he thought.

"Yeah, so you see. It's better to take my mother out of there, despite it having some of the best doctors and Alchemist,

" she said.

"Oh, and where are you taking her?

" he asked.

"I heard there is a good alchemy sect in Scarlet City, so we were thinking of taking her there,

" Ying Wu said.

"Oh, I'm from the Hong Wu sect. If you need any help, just use my name,

" Alex said.

The two talked for a while until night fell. However, the caravan still kept ongoing. Alex didn't dare cultivate around people that he didn't trust just yet, so all he did was think about the various things he had learned about alchemy.

Early morning, right before it was time for him to leave, he heard movements. Ying Wu opened her eyes as well, and soon there was a commotion outside the caravan.

"BEAST HOARD!

" somebody shouted.

Alex immediately ran outside, but the woman with the red robe stepped in.

"You don't move,

" she said. Alex wanted to help the people, but he didn't want to go against what the woman said.

Then he saw various cultivators walk out of different compartments of the caravan and start to fight the beasts. The beasts weren't weak, but they were easily overwhelmed by the True realm cultivator.

'I can't wait until I get that strong,' he thought. The woman in red was nothing more than a blur as she moved from left to right killing all the beasts with a single slice of her daggers.

"Wow, your mistress is so fast,

" Alex said.

"She's not bad,

" Ying Wu said with a smile.

Despite his willingness to help, it seemed that they didn't need to help at all.

"YAWN…. I'm going back to sleep. What about you, mister? Oh, cultivators don't need to sleep right? We mortals sometimes forget,

" Ying Wu said and went to sleep.

Alex logged out and went to eat with the girls. He quickly logged back and watched the morning scenery again. The caravan had already diverted down a path away from the southern forest, so they wouldn't have to worry about the forests again.

It was along the side of a mountain that was about as tall as the mountains in the Hong Wu sect. Once they crossed the mountain, they saw a small city. It took them 2 hours to go down the mountain to the city.

"We will stop here for the next 4 hours. Please feel free to go around the city, but do return in the next 4 hours. The caravan will leave with or without you,

" the owner of the caravan spoke out loud.

Alex wanted to leave and check out the town but the woman in the red dress intervened.

"Where are you going?

" she asked.

"Uhh… to the city?

" Alex answered.

"Do you plan on returning?

" she asked.

"Of course, I have to return back to my sect,

" Alex said.

The woman in the red dress waited for a few seconds, and then surprisingly stepped aside.

"Come back in time,

" she said and walked into the room.

Alex was a little stunned that she allowed him to enter. However, he soon forgot about her and walked into the city to buy a few things. The first thing he did was buy formation blueprints and information on them.

He then bought a few more basic formation plates that he would need to try out on. He also bought a book that taught the most basic of formations that he could use as an anchor to learning about formations as a whole and the more advanced knowledge that was in his mind.

He also bought a pen that was a tip made up of a really sharp crystal tip. This was called an Inscription pen and was used to make cuts in a formation plate to carve the formations.

There were also various types of pens of different shapes and sizes. Alex chose the one that looked average as he was just starting to learn about formations.

Once he was done, he left that shop.