Alex was surprised to see it was the same two girls he met yesterday.
'Fellow Daoist? Is that what the cultivators call each other?' he wondered. He decided to reciprocate the greeting.
"It's good to see you once more, Fellow Daoist. I don't really think fate has to do anything with us meeting again," he tried to make small talk.
"Oh. Are you trying to imply that you met us here on purpose then, Fellow Daoist?" she asked with a smirk. She knew the answer, but still decided to tease him.
Alex's face changed to a brighter shade of red. "Of course not, It was just a random meeting. I just came here because I heard a sound."
"Haha, you don't need to defend yourself, Fellow Daoist. I was just joking." Her laughter made her look even more beautiful.
Alex looked a little hurt. "I shall take my leave then." He said as he started to turn around.
"Wait a minute, fellow Daoist." She called from behind.
Alex stopped where he was and turned around with a questioning look, "What do you need, fellow Daoist?" he asked. He was starting to get used to calling others 'fellow Daoists.
"Since we met each other, why don't we hunt together?" she tried to invite him to the group.
Alex was surprised. 'Why would she want me to join? I'm the weakest one here and am not even that strong-looking. There must be some other reason.'
"If you want something, you should just ask it, Fellow Daoist." He tried to figure out what she wanted.
"Quite a sharp one, aren't you? Yes, to be honest, fellow Daoist, we do require something." She said as she sighed a little.
"Senior sister, you shouldn't. It's risky to tell him." The girl in the back spoke for the first time tonight. She was about to talk some more when she was interrupted by the other girl's hand gesture.
"I think we should introduce ourselves first. I am Luo Mei, and this is Meng Yun. We are disciples of the Tiger Sect." The girl introduced both herself and the girl at the back.
"I am Yu Ming. I am a disciple of the Hong Wu Sect." He decided to introduce himself as well. "So, you said you wanted something? If it's something I don't mind parting with, I can give it to you." He said. He was slightly worried they might just attack him, and take it away forcefully.
Luo Mei immediately corrected herself, " Oh no. We don't want something you have. We just want your help in something."
"Okay, what do you want my help in?" he asked.
"We are at our last leg, so we need the help of an alchemist like yourself. Please, follow us," she said as she started walking in a certain direction.
Along the way, Alex stopped a bunch of times to collect the alchemy ingredients he found. The two ladies were very surprised when they saw him pick so many things.
Meng Yun softly whispered into Luo Mei's ear as she said, " Senior sister, do you think he knows what we want him to do? He seems to be showing off by randomly picking up ingredients. I think he is a fraud."
Luo Mei frowned when she heard this. "That is a definite possibility, but it doesn't look like he is faking it. Some of the ingredients he picked were ones even I recognized. He must be a genuine alchemist who recognizes the ingredients. I hope he recognizes that one too."
Luo Mei continued to walk deeper and deeper into the forest. Alex started to get worried. They were now constantly meeting monsters that would definitely be able to kill him easily.
But to a Mind Tempering realm cultivator like her, these monsters were a piece of cake. She killed every single monster they came across and took all the drops from the monster.
Alex didn't mind her behavior as he was already getting enough benefits from the ingredients here.
After a short while, she had managed to kill over a few dozen of bone tempering realm monsters. This was an amount that Alex couldn't even hope to have achieved in all the 3 days he had taken a leave from the sect.
And this girl had somehow managed to kill them in less than 2 hours.
"We're here," Luo Mei said as she increased her walking speed a little faster. "It's right around here, somewhere."
Finally, she stopped as she saw a small opening in the forest where there were no trees and only bushes. In front of the bushes was an Ox-like monster currently sleeping.
[Meridian Tempering 3rd Realm]
This was a monster that Alex didn't doubt could kill him in a single blow. He was really scared now. He looked at Meng Yun, and she was shivering a little as well.
Luo Mei however showed no fear, only some irritation at the fact that she had to fight when her goal was so close.
She kept her sword in its scabbard on her waist and started moving her arms in a certain manner. Alex looked at her arms and saw Qi slowly seep out of her palms.
The moment the Qi left her body, however, something weird happened. All of the Qi started to change as they slowly transformed into water.
Alex had unconsciously started focus mode due to his fright, which was why the transformation looked so slow to him. In fact, the transformation happened in a split second.
A massive ball of water appeared in front of Luo Mei which she sent towards the Ox. Within seconds, the Ox opened his eyes and frantically tried to move. But it couldn't.
Luo Mei had already encased the Ox in the water ball and was slowly drowning it to death in midair. The ball started to move higher and higher as the Ox tried to breathe more and more and failed. Minutes passed by and the Ox finally stopped breathing.
It was dead.
Luo Mei then let go of the water ball, and the entire thing, water, and Ox fell to the ground with a loud bang. She then turned to Alex and said, "This is where I need your help, Daoist Yu."