Alex got serious too when he heard that. "What do you mean master?" Alex asked. As far as he remembered, Rubyroad city didn't look that different from Scarlet City, other than being maybe a step down in quality.
"The beast hoard," Wen Cheng said. "They can't handle the beast hoards that well, and Luo Keng would never keep his daughters around during something so dangerous."
"So… you think he'll send them back to they have the safety of the sect behind them?" Alex asked.
"Yes. That only makes sense given how he is," Wen Cheng said, reminiscing the past.
"Oh right, I heard that senior brother was at the backside of the sect too. What's up with that? Is that because of the beast hoards too?" Alex asked.
"Yes," Wen Cheng said. "Did you realize by now that they attack every month? It may be off by a day or two, but every attack has been with a month of interval."
"So, since the last attack was 3 weeks earlier…"
"… They will be attacking in a week from now," Alex finished the sentence and the dread he had in his heart for a while was brought forth.
He had been worrying about it in the back of his mind but had never consciously thought about it. Now that it was brought forth, he didn't know what to do.
"How do you know the beasts are attacking, Yu Ming?" Wen Cheng asked out of nowhere. He had been thinking about this for a while now. He remembered Alex saying something to that effect the first time, but the beasts had already attacked by then.
The second time around, they believed he was dead.
However, the third time, Alex accurately let them know that the beast hoard was coming and that was what saved a lot of people from unexpected death.
"I don't know, master," Alex said. "It's like a feeling I have. Every time they come for me, I have this feeling like something is calling me towards the south. That was how I was able to know they were coming for me."
"Nothing more?" Wen Cheng asked.
"I do know that every time there is a beast hoard, a Saint beast comes after me," Alex said.
Wen Cheng's face went pale. "That's right. There was a Saint beast in the capital too," he said.
"Yes, and there was one that followed me during the last beast hoard attack as well. I don't know why it stopped though," Alex said. "I did feel it come to search for me a little later, but by then the feeling was gone."
Wen Cheng didn't know what to think. "This… this is quite dangerous. What do we do when they come by again?" Wen Cheng thought.
"I don't know, master. But we will surely think of something. I have a fast boat that I can maybe run away in like I did last time," Alex said.
"Alright, I guess that should work if it did last time," Wen Cheng said.
"Is that why the security at the front is so bad? All of them are posted at the back?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, we have to do something," Wen Cheng said.
"What about the sect activities? Any changes?" Alex asked.
"Nope, no changes there. You will probably get 10 different challenges tomorrow so get ready," Wen Cheng said.
Alex nodded and stood up. "I will go back and rest for now master," Alex said.
"Alright, go back," Wen Cheng said.
Alex bowed and left the manor. He had said words of confidence to Wen Cheng, but he himself was worrying a lot.
'Where do I run off to though?' he thought. The entire northern section of this area was nothing but the forbidden fields where Qi didn't work. The only reason more people didn't know was due to the massive mountains that blocked the view of the desert.
Going east or west didn't work either since the Saint beast would catch him in no time. Obviously, going south wasn't a choice anyway.
'What should I do?' he started worrying. 'Should I run away from the sect so that I can keep them safe?'
Many thoughts ran across Alex, but no place seemed any safe. "Oh wait," Alex thought. "The Saint beast didn't come for me during the second time right?"
"I was even helpless during that time since I was back at home. Why didn't it?" Alex wondered. After a few moments, he thought he had the answer.
"Did the Spirit Disorienting formation and the Barrier formation that made new space block my aura?" Alex wondered. "God, I hope it wasn't the one that blocked Images and sounds."
"That's my only hope, I guess," Alex thought. Finally, he had a plan. He would now open a formation and trap himself in so that the beast wouldn't find him.
He thought the plan was perfect. All he needed to do was make a formation, hide in it for a while, and once the feeling went away, he could come back.
Hopefully, the Saint beast wouldn't find him in there and leave this place alone. The people in the Scarlet City could certainly handle a normal beast hoard.
Thinking that he had a perfect plan, he happily walked to his house numbered 177.
It was nighttime, and he had nothing to do, so he decided to make a few bits of formations with what little formation plates he had. After that, he would go back to cultivate.
It didn't take him very long to finish what little formation plates he had remaining. He would have to go sell those in the market tomorrow morning.
For the next hour or two, he tried to understand how the formation that Song Zun made on dirt even worked. He couldn't understand it no matter how much he thought about it.
"Sigh, do I really have to find an expert on this?" He wondered. "I wish I could talk with sister Xing once more. Maybe she could help me with that.." After that, he called out Pearl to cultivate together.