Alex was approached by even more people before the ceremony had started. The high-profile individuals who either remembered him or were reminded of him came to speak to him all the time.

It had reached to a point where Alex just wanted to go invisible and not have to meet anyone else.

However, he wasn’t the only one suffering from these sorts of problems. Everyone from the Alchemy Association was.

They were all getting recognized left and right as well, albeit not as much as Alex himself.

Harry was surprisingly quite popular as well now. He seemed to have been doing quite well for himself.

“Sounds like life has been good for you for the past few years,” Alex said to Harry.

“Haha, yeah,” Harry said while softly scratching his head. “Because of what you taught me, my skills have improved by not a small amount. The pills I make have become so much better and they sell like no one else can do what I can.”

“Congrats,” Alex said. “You deserve it.”

“Thanks,” Harry said. “Although, the biggest factor for my success is actually you not being able to make pills. But since you are going to return, I’m probably going to go back into the shadows soon.”

“Stop underestimating yourself,” Alex told him. “You have learned as much as you can, and you practice just as hard as anyone else. You are so focused on your craft that you didn’t even bother going to the Sanctum, did you?”

Harry shook his head.

“So, don’t worry about me returning, and just do what you do. You’ll still sell just the same and people will continue speaking your name just the name,” Alex said.

“Of course,” Harry said chuckling a bit. “I am not going to get demotivated into not making pills just because you are coming back. In fact, I see that as an opportunity to compare myself to you, and maybe even learn something from you.”

Alex gave a small smile when he heard that.

The Association leader was talking with Alex’s father and was surprised at just how little he knew about everything. Even if nothing, he had assumed Alex’s father to have some knowledge of Alchemy, which he had transferred over to Alex while he was young.

However, as it turned out, that was perhaps the farthest from the truth. The man didn’t even understand the concept of Alchemy properly.

They were all talking when a commotion grabbed their attention. Alex turned around to see the people part ways to let the 10 elders walk outside.

“Everyone,” Yao Ning addressed the people that stood there. “The coronation is about to start. Anyone who has a Saint Soul cultivation base or higher, or was invited to view the coronation, you may now come to the Palace hall.”

The people who heard the announcement happily started walking away from their friends and families to go into the palace.

“We should go too,” Alex said. “Are you going in leader?”

Alex, Graham, and the association leader walked into the Palace afterward.

There were servants standing in the hallways, directing everyone to the Throne room. The Throne room had been prepared the entire day for this occasion, and somehow even this felt cramped.

Alex found a small empty place towards the wall on the left. Even after they sat, the people kept pouring into the room and not long after, it was all filled up completely.

Even the elders sighed when they realized that there were just so many more people than they had realized. This small throne room wasn’t going to be enough at all.

Still, they decided to go with it. Since the ceremony would take no more than 10 minutes at best, these people could stay cramped for that long.

There was someone other than the 10 elders officiating today’s ceremony. He was an ancestor from some other big sect that had only come out from closed cultivation after reaching the Saint Transformation realm.

The elders considered themselves servants to their lord, so they all would want to crown her. However, they couldn’t decide who amongst themselves should have the honors, so they had given this new individual the opportunity to be the one.

Everyone waited for a few minutes, talking to themselves. But when the doors opened again, they all quietened down.

The phoenix’s majestic aura spread through the room the moment she appeared outside the door. People were awed in amazement and Alex was surprised that Scarlet was actually putting on a show at all.

She was purposefully exaggerating her aura, and it was working. Everyone watched her with reverence in their eyes and followed her every moment as she walked through the door and made her way to the altar at the end of the room.

The people moved to the sides and allowed Scarlet to move to the front. When she did, they started bowing toward her as she walked in between them.

Scarlet walked halfway through to the altar at the end when she stopped suddenly. Her actions confused everyone and even the 10 elders weren’t sure what she was doing.

Scarlet’s spiritual sense spread through the room suddenly, and it landed on Alex a moment later.

Her head turned towards him and after he saw her gaze, she moved her head in a gesture.

Alex was confused by the gesture. ‘What?’ he mouthed.

Scarlet gestured once more, but Alex didn’t understand again.

“I’m saying walk with me,” Scarlet spoke directly into his mind this time around.

“Oh…” Alex said and paused, unsure if he should do it. As far as he knew, the two of them were supposed to hide their connection for a while longer, so that the people wouldn’t be offended by having a ruler that was actually someone else’s apparent servant.

“Come!” Scarlet spoke out loud this time around, and Alex couldn’t stop any longer. He teleported out of the crowd and appeared next to her, surprising everyone who hadn’t noticed who she was talking to.

Most people noticed immediately who it was, although that didn’t lessen their confusion at all.

“Are you sure this is right?” Alex asked softly.

“You and I are bonded in spirit. You are no different from a family to me now. If my family won’t be at the altar when I get crowned, won’t that be sad?” she asked.

Alex was surprised she thought that way, given how little time they had actually spent with each other. “Fine, let’s go,” he said.

The two of them walked through the narrow opening in the hall and arrived at the altar that was prepared for this very ceremony, right in front of the throne.

Alex walked to the side and let Scarlet stand in front of all, proudly.

The old man that was officiating the ceremony walked up front and started addressing the crowd.

“Brothers and Sisters, friends and families. We are gathered today on the most important occasion of the past 5 millennia. As we all know, the Southern Continent was ruled by the phoenixes for long before our records say.”

The man started talking and he did not stop. He spoke of the past about the continent and the phoenixes’ roles in them. He talked about how for so long they had not been in the presence of one, and how they were now going to return back to the days when another phoenix would rule them.

Everyone in the crowd had already thought of this on their own. No one wanted the old man to reiterate everything they had thought of back to them. However, no one had the right, nor the courage to tell the old man to move it quickly.

So, the old man spoke for the next 5 minutes, and they all listened to him without a single word.

“Today, we shall receive a new ruler. Please, bring out the crown.”

A few of the elders walked to the front, holding a large cushion of sorts with a large crown on top. It was surprisingly large, to the point Alex wondered if it was even the same crown he had seen before.

However, he understood that the crown must have been made with metal compounding, allowing for it to change in shape easily, without losing any durability at all.

It was most like made that way to accommodate any head on top of which it would lay.

The elders brought it out in front of the old man who took the large crown in his hand without actually touching it. He was slightly surprised at how heavy it was, but he didn’t let it show.

He turned around and looked at Scarlet who stood proudly behind him.

“O’ Great Phoenix. Forever shine your brightness in this world and thwart away the darkness that may plague it. You are the holy one and you alone are divine.”

He held out the crown higher towards Scarlet, who dropped her head a little to let the man reach it.

The man slowly moved the crown and placed it on top of Scarlet’s head.

“With the power vested in me by the people of this continent, I now pronounce you, Feng Nuanhuo, Ruler of the Southern Continent.”

Scarlet raised her head up high and stared in front of her and saw everyone bow at the waist. She alone stood up high and was reminded of the day when she had witnessed it once more.

She had once again become the Ruler of the Southern Continent.

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