Alex arrived outside of the mansion, with Whisker prominently standing on his shoulder. He looked around very observantly while Alex acted very leisurely.

He held a small cloth bag in his hand and nothing else.

“I would like to see the patriarch of the family, please,” Alex said.

The guards at the front of the mansion looked at him and felt his aura. While strong, Alex didn’t have the same level of strength to make them call the patriarch out just like that.

“May we ask who you are brother?” the guard asked.

“I am Alex. You may know me as the Alchemist that gained a bit of fame a few years back. I am here on an order from senior Kang Xuefeng himself,” he said.

The guards took not even a moment to recognize him after he had said his name. “Please wait a moment, brother,” the man said and quickly notified someone.

A person flew out of the house at a terrifying speed and appeared in front of Alex. He looked at Alex for a moment and bowed.

“It is our pleasure to have you come to our mansion, alchemist Alex,” the man said. “I am Kang Reushen, please come in.”

Alex smiled lightly and followed him. He looked around the mansion as he walked in. The mansion was in the mountains, so there was no flat land. Everything was on an incline, and they had to walk up steps to even get to the mansion.

“Brother Reushen, you are not the patriarch, are you?” Alex asked.

“Oh no,” the man said. “Our patriarch is still in the Sundering City. He’s waiting for our family members to come out of the Sundering Sanctum. I am his nephew.”

“I see,” Alex said. “You have a rather huge business in the Sundering City, don’t you? I remember seeing the Kang family metal workhouse there.”

“Yes. Ah, speaking of which, did you not enter the Sundering Sanctum, brother Alex? I thought you…” the man stopped speaking.

“Sorry? What did you think?” Alex asked.

“Ah, never mind,” the man said.

“Oh,” Alex said and he continued turning his head around. “I did enter the sanctum, and I did come out as well. Everyone is out already. They should be returning any time soon now.”

“I see…” the man said. They entered the house and Alex saw a lot of furniture and statues made up of different types of metal. One of those was the crimson metal that Alex was sure was the Blood-tainted Lead.

“Are the toxins in that removed after you have refined them completely?” Alex asked.

“Not entirely, but it is mild enough that you are fine even if you touch it indefinitely,” the man said.

Alex was then taken to a room where he sat on a couch. Whisker was still on his shoulders, looking around the room, and the man couldn’t help but wonder what the deal was with the mouse.

Whisker’s cultivation base was so subdued that he couldn’t even tell what it exactly was. Although, it was small enough that he didn’t bother thinking about him after that.

“What is that, if I may ask,” the man asked, pointing to the small cloth in Alex’s hand. He hadn’t tried to use his spiritual sense, as that would be rather rude.

“This,” Alex undid the knots and presented the item. “This is a Blood-tainted lead ore that was sent to me about 3 months ago. Does your family sell ores, by the way, brother Reushen?”

The man looked at Ore suspiciously. “We do, occasionally,” he said. “But we sell the metal itself most of the time.”

“Well, then can you perhaps help me find the bastard that was trying to poison me with these toxins? I was hoping your family would keep records,” Alex said.

“We do, but… there is nothing to tell us where that ore came from, so it’s a little hard,” the man said.

“That’s understandable,” Alex said. “But any help would be appreciated. I know you guys have already indulged me with my requests before, especially helping with the search and all, but I still have to ask this favor of you.”

The man thought for a bit and nodded. “Please hand it over to us, and we will find out as soon as we can,” he said.

Alex nodded and handed the ore. “By the way, how is the search coming along?” he asked. “Did you find any hints as to where he is?”

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Alex thought of what else he could say to maybe make the man slip up about anything he knew. He tried seeing if he knew about the relationship just now, but that was a bust.

‘Maybe I can…’

Just then, he noticed something. The man had brought out a talisman and was looking into it. He was talking with someone and his eyes tried not to look at him, but Alex could see him trying to look at him.

He put away the talisman and faced Alex. “By the way, I hope this is not disrespectful, but you said you were sent here by our ancestor, right?” the man asked.

“Yes,” Alex said.

“Is there any proof by any chance?” he asked.

“Proof?” Alex asked. “I’m afraid I don’t. I was given a verbal order to come and present that ore to you since your family would have the most knowledge of it.”

“I see,” the man said. “Then, how about just proving that you are in fact, Alchemist Alex? Can you?”

Alex’s eyes narrowed a bit. “I don’t understand what you mean,” he said.

The man brought out a spear and pointed it toward Alex. “I’m saying that you have been found out, fraudster. Daring to come into our house, acting like someone else. Tell us, who really are you?” he asked.

Alex was even more confused. “What do you mean? I am Alex,” he said.

“No way,” the man said. “I just received a message from my uncle. The Alchemist Alex has died.”

Alex’s expression changed when he heard that. “How does he know I died?” he asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” the man said. “You will reveal yourself. Depending on your motive, you may or may not walk out of our house alive.”

Multiple people had already arrived from outside after hearing a commotion and were entering the room. Their aura was so strong that Whisker had already cowered into a timid position.

Alex, however, sat there with a smile.

“What I want, you say,” Alex said. “There is just one thing I want.”

The man looked forward to finding out. “Say it,” he said.

“I want you to tell me if you know where my father is,” he said. “Make an oath, if you don’t know where my father is.”

Everyone in the room looked at him weirdly.

“I don’t know who you think you are, but you are dying all the same now,” the man said and immediately rushed forward to stab him with his spear.

Alex stood there unmoving and let the spear stab him.

CLANG~

The spear slammed onto his chest, but that was not the sound someone would’ve made if they had a metal spear slammed onto them.

Alex grabbed the spear before the man could come out of his shock. “Now, do you mind doing what I said? Make an oath that you do not know where my father is,” he said.

The man tried to pull his spear back, but it stayed rigid in Alex’s hands.

The man was very confused and worried. Alex’s cultivation base was not that strong, while he was Saint Core 8th realm, and somehow he was losing in this man.

A man came attacking him from the left and Whisker immediately teleported away to the corner of the room.

The attack landed on Alex directly on the head, but Alex didn’t budge even a little bit. He instead pulled the spear and with it, the man holding it slammed that onto the other man.

The two men were thrown out of the room as they went crashing through hallways. Alex followed behind them, with Whisker cowardly moving as well. He went up to the man who was on the floor, unclear about what had happened right then.

He grabbed onto the man’s neck and started choking it. “Then, he looked around towards the others that were gathered around him, way too horrified to attack.”

“Was it one of you that sent me the Blood-tainted lead ore?” he asked as he looked around.

Part of his body had turned slightly illusory, giving them an even more fearful sight.

“I- I did,” one man walked forward from the group. He was thin and timid looking and was even quivering a little as he moved forward.

“Why did you send it to me?” Alex asked.

“He…” the man tried to point to the other man on the floor that Alex was choking currently. The man was trying to fight back, but somehow not a single one of his attacks was affecting him.

However, the attacks were taking chunks off of his body, making him look even more terrifying.

“Forget about him. I’m not holding him so tightly that he can’t speak. As long as he makes the oath that he doesn’t know where my father is, I will let him go,” Alex said.

The man hesitated for a moment and spoke, “he can’t.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“He can’t make that oath,” the man said.

Alex understood “So you are saying he knows where he is,” he said as he turned towards the man.

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