”Yes,” the jaguar said. “We have no idea who his father was. Since it couldn’t have possibly come from his mother’s side, we are left to believe the little Wood spiritual root is from his father.”

”Are you sure it couldn’t have come from his mother’s side? Isn’t it possible that his mother had Wood spiritual root given that she wasn’t a White Tiger?” Alex asked.

The jaguar shook his head. “When the young lady married over 5 thousand years ago, she had some blood of the White Tiger in her giving her only Metal roots. As such, we made sure that her partner also didn’t have any other bloodline that would conflict with her just in case.”

”Given that we were unable to have the same influence over his mother’s marriage, we are left to believe that she got together with someone with a Wood spiritual root and that was passed along to her,” the jaguar said.

”I see,” Alex said. “I guess I would’ve known this much earlier had I bothered to check his spiritual roots. Not only that, but I also never really bothered finding techniques for him to properly learn.”

When Alex really thought about it, he himself needed some Wood techniques that weren’t just usable with swords.

”Thank you for telling me this,” Alex said and the jaguar left.

Du Yuhan got up from his cultivation not long after and looked at him weirdly.

”What did you do to me?” he asked.

”Test it again,” Alex pointed to the formation plate.

Du Yuhan suspected what was up, but he couldn’t believe it at all. Even as he placed his palm on the formation plate and started testing it, there was really just a single hope that he wouldn’t be disappointed.

All his life, he had been told that his spiritual roots were trash and therefore any techniques he learned would be trash too.

He had learned the sword because it didn’t require one to have good spiritual roots, but he still got jealous of others when he saw them use colorful attacks at each other.

So, when the colorful fog rose up and the brown color in it was especially vibrant, he couldn’t help but tear up a little.

”My Earth spiritual root got improved?” he asked softly.

”Yes, that was what the pill does. It’s still not very good and can be improved a lot more I believe, but it—”

”No, this is more than amazing already,” Du Yuhan said as he stood up from the formation plate.

”Thank you,” he said.

”No problem,” Alex said. He then put away the formation and turned to leave.

However, Du Yuhan stopped him. “Wait, I have a request,” he said.

Alex turned around. “Yes?” he asked.

”Will you fight me?” Du Yuhan asked.

”Fight you?” Alex was surprised. Du Yuhan was barely in the True Lord realm so he was still far from being Alex’s match, but since he had requested…

”Sure,” Alex said.

Alex let Pearl go to the corner and got ready for the fight himself.

”Use your sword. I want to see your Sword Qi,” Du Yuhan said.

”Okay,” Alex said and brought out a random sword he had received from the various people as gift.

”You can start,” Alex said.

Du Yuhan nodded and dashed towards Alex to slash at him with his sword. He made a vertical slash that came down upon Alex.

Alex swiftly moved his sword above him and parried the sword away.

Du Yuhan let the sword come at Alex horizontally, but Alex simply put his sword to the side and blocked.

Du Yuhan then took some steps back and his sword started glowing white. He cut in front of him and a white sword slash flew toward Alex.

Alex could feel the intent behind the sword attack, the will to cut anything in its path. It was extraordinary.

The power behind the sword was equivalent to that of a mid True Lord realm. Alex sent out his own Sword Qi slash that destroyed the incoming attack and even went ahead to attack Du Yuhan with its remaining power.

Du Yuhan had to dodge away to survive the attack.

”You held back?” Alex asked Du Yuhan.

Du Yuhan nodded.

”Why don’t you bring out all of your power?” Alex asked.

”My body can’t handle more than a few attacks if I do so,” he said. “The backlash is always way too strong.”

”I see,” Alex said. “Still, I hope you will show it.”

The fight continued for a while longer as Alex tested Du Yuhan’s skills and power while attacking back with a power that he could barely handle.

During the battle, Du Yuhan revealed his true powers which came close to being around the early True King realm.

”Let’s stop,” Du Yuhan said as his right arm trembled from having to use that much force.

Alex felt like he understood what was happening. ‘He’s too powerful for his own good,’ he thought.

Similar things happened to him with his explosion if he wasn’t careful in regulating how much power he put into the explosion too.

”Alright, I will leave now,” Alex said and called Pearl.

”Actually, I have one more question,” Du Yuhan said.

”What is it?” Alex asked.

”Are you not going to meet with Luo Mei?” he asked.

”I am,” Alex said. “I was planning on going to surprise her in a couple of days. I just have a few things I need to take care of here and in the Hong Wu sect. I will leave after that.”

”When you do leave… umm… can I come with you?” he asked.

”With me? Sure, I don’t mind,” Alex asked.

”Thank you. I really need to meet with her,” he said.

”I don’t see why you had to go with me if you really needed to meet her,” Alex said.

Du Yuhan shook his head with a self-mocking smile. “I don’t think she would ever talk with me if I went there alone,” he said.

”Oh, why not?” Alex asked.

Du Yuhan hesitated a bit before asking, “Do you know why she’s not in the sect anymore?”

Alex gave a curious look and said, “isn’t it because she wants to help her parents and their business? That’s what master told me.”

”That’s what she tells everyone,” Du Yuhan said.

”Oh, what’s the truth then?” Alex asked.

”The truth is… she left because of me,” Du Yuhan said.

”Because of you?” Alex asked. “What did you do?”

”I… I asked her to marry me,” Du Yuhan said.

Alex felt his mind go blank for a second before everything came back to him. “You asked her to marry you? Wait, are you guys a couple?”

Du Yuhan gave a scoff as he said, “we were until I did that. Then she just packed up and left.”

”Did… did she give any reason?” Alex asked.

”She did,” he said. “She said her parents wouldn’t approve of this since I was an orphan.”

”Well that’s bull**,” Alex said.

”Exactly. Which is why I want to learn the real reason, but she won’t talk to me, even when I went to meet her,” Du Yuhan said. “I… I just wish she would just tell me why she left.”

”Whether it was because she was already promised to someone, or if someone else caught her eyes. I am willing to not bother her if she had any valid reasons, but she never gave me a single one. Even after we were in together for nearly 3 years,” Du Yuhan said.

Alex thought for a bit and said, “yes, you deserve an answer. With me along, she can’t ignore you. At the very least, if she has lost her love for you, you can find some semblance of closure from this.”

”Thank you,” Du Yuhan said.

”Now, tell me all about how this happened. I’m curious to learn of it,” Alex asked.

As it turned out, Du Yuhan had always been in love with Luo Mei since they were mere Inner sect disciples. While he was focused on his own thing, he also worked towards her love.

Once Alex was taken away to the beast’s realm, Luo Mei had asked Du Yuhan for his help and since then he had managed to form a bond with her, which slowly improved into a close friendship that ended up with both of them falling in love.

Alex was surprised that he was somewhat responsible for these two finding love.