Willard had once tried to find the master of the Warner family, hoping to battle him to learn if he had reached the divine stage, but the master had been studying in seclusion for several decades and had yet to come out.
When Alex had appeared, Willard had seen a glimmer of hope. Finally, he had found someone to test himself against. But now he was worried that Alex was distracted and wouldn't be at his best. He didn't want to miss this chance, though. Who knew when he would find the next opportunity?
"Can you still fight?" Flora asked.
Willard looked at Flora. She was holding Alex's hand and gently smoothing his hair away from his forehead. That kind of mother-son affection reminded Willard of the kind woman who had acted the same way with him many years ago. It was the same with all mothers around the world.
He sighed with emotion, and then he coughed to get Alex's attention.
Flora turned to look at Willard with tears in her eyes. Then she pushed Alex behind her, clearly trying to protect him. "You really want to go ahead with this?" she asked.
Willard smiled bitterly, feeling a little guilty. Flora had once had the potential to study and excel at martial arts. Unfortunately, she had been neglected for years, and her talent had been wasted.
He then thought about Zoe, wondering if she could lead the family without him. He looked at her, standing at the side with her hands clasped and her eyes filled with indignation, and he sighed. Zoe was still a little too narrow-minded.
Forget it, he thought, feeling carefree. If I survive this battle, then I'll take back control of the family. If I don't survive, then Zoe and the family will just have to run their own course. He waited patiently for Alex to make his decision.
"Meet me at the peak of Marauders Mountain," Alex said, choosing a sparsely populated place. "I'll wait for you there!"
Willard raised his eyebrows, a little surprised at Alex's choice. "Okay. When?" All the messy emotions from earlier were pushed to the back of his mind, and the old man now held himself tall.
Alex turned to face Flora. "I'll end this quickly," he promised. "We need time to reunite properly. For now, I'll take you somewhere safe."
Flora cupped her son's cheek. She had touched Alex's face countless times when she had watched videos of him, but it wasn't the same as having him here. She took great comfort in touching him now, feeling that her life had not been in vain. It was worth everything she had been through just to see him once more.
She secretly swore to herself that she would never leave her son, even if that meant risking her life. No matter what, she would not be parted from him again.
The corner of Alex's mouth curled up in a smile. He bent down and lifted Flora onto his back, and then he turned his head and looked at Willard. "I hope you can keep up," he said to the older man.
With that, Alex straightened up and launched himself into the air.
"Will you look at that? He can fly!" someone called.
The other members of the Rimmer family turned to look at Willard, who had never revealed his abilities to them. Alex had already flown away, and now they wondered if Willard would be able to catch up?
Willard saw the way they looked at him and knew what they were thinking. He laughed. "I've been studying for several decades, and I have my own abilities. How about you all watch and see what I can really do?"
He waved his hand, and a cold light flashed. Then a crystal-clear ice dragon appeared in the sky just above him. Willard leaped up and stepped on the dragon's head.
The ice dragon roared proudly, and its body disappeared in a flash of blue light. It was a dragon soul, and its strength was comparable to that of a grand master, so it could carry people as it flew.
Alex was in front, so the ice dragon followed behind him. One after another, they streaked through the air until, in the blink of an eye, they were thousands of miles away.
On the ground, the Rimmer family were dumbstruck as they replayed what had just happened in front of them. Only then did they realize how big the gap was between their skill level and that of Willard.
Zoe finally knew how childish she had been. She had always thought that grand masters were just powerful humans, and at most, their punches and kicks were slightly stronger than those of ordinary people. She had assumed that they were still bound by the normal rules of existence.
But to fly or to ride a soul dragon? That was truly god-like.
Leroy and Janet also stared into the sky, their eyes wide.
Leroy had never cared about grand masters. As far as he had been concerned, grand masters were just showoffs. He had always thought that he would reach the level of grand master, and then he would make himself so powerful that he would be able to defeat any opponent.
But now, he felt a sense of sadness. He understood that, no matter how hard he worked, he would never be able to catch up with the two people who had just soared into the sky.
Taking someone's head off their shoulders from thousands of miles away was only the major accomplishment that Leroy valued. He believed that a true grand master was just someone who could wave his hand and come and go freely like the wind, generally doing whatever he wanted.
How could he not watch a battle between two grand masters?
He turned around and wrenched open the front door of a car. He smashed the control panel with his fist and pulled out two wires. Then, with a rub of his fingers, the car started.
Although he seemed foolish, he could move like the wind when he wanted to. His actions, however, tended to be extremely violent. The luxury car's alarm was blaring, and the door was hanging off its hinges, but he drove off in it, anyway.
When she saw what he was doing, Janet ran to cut him off. When Leroy drove past her, she ran alongside and then jumped into the car. The pair of them were like madmen as they drove straight to Marauders Mountain.
This was going to be a war between two powerful individuals—a life-and-death battle between the master of the Rimmer family and Alex.
As Leroy drove off, the remaining members of the Rimmer family finally reacted and rushed to their cars, and then they all rushed toward the mountain in a convoy.
Voices called out from the departing cars to those who were a little slow off the mark. "Hey, quick, come to Marauders Mountain if you want to watch a good show!"
"If you don't come, then don't say that I didn't tell you about it."
"Quick! Head for the mountain. A fight is about to start."
"Willard, our family's master, is going to fight someone. Come to Marauders Mountain!"
Hundreds of people from the Rimmer family started to spread the word by phone to those at home, and the news spread rapidly.
Some of them had been asleep in bed and now struggled to wake up. Others were out drinking in clubs and bars. When they heard the news, however, whatever they had been doing was forgotten, and they immediately made their way to their cars.
All the big families in the city seemed to have heard about the impending fight, and soon hundreds of people were driving to Marauders Mountain as fast as they could.
The city was once again filled with traffic. Although it was the middle of the night, the mountain was busier than on a summer's day. One luxury car after another appeared in the parking lot at the bottom of the mountain.
Some people were still unclear about what was happening, but when they saw so many familiar faces, they all started to chat and discuss recent events.
"Quick! Look up there!" someone called, pointing at two figures on the peak of the mountain.
In the darkness, two golden spheres of light shone brilliantly in the night sky. Within those two balls of golden light, two people stood silhouetted. One had a slightly hunched body, and his aura was monstrous. The other was young, but even from a distance, his bearing was proud.
Each stood tall against the night wind. Their clothes were fluttering, but their bodies were not affected at all.
Between the two of them, a visible dual-colored barrier appeared. On Willard's side, there was a white barrier that looked like a waterfall made from snow. On Alex's side, there was a green barrier that blocked the snow waterfall.
Willard looked closely at Alex's barrier. "That is the genuine essence that the ancient people spoke of, right?" he said. He shook his head. "I have studied countless ancient texts and have read about the genuine essence, but I never had the chance to cultivate it myself."
Alex nodded. "That's right; this shield is made from genuine essence. You're pretty good. Your talent must be outstanding to be able to move that snow curtain from the ice plains to up here."
Willard shrugged. "Many years ago, there was a powerful elder who could use the power of nature to form a barrier, but I'm far stronger than him."
"Is that so?" Alex said indifferently. He had already obtained the tricolor flower and had been reunited with his mother. The next thing on his list was to break through to the golden core spirit realm before the goddess Bayon returned.
Alex remembered that, in his previous life, Bayon had descended into the mortal world and had caused a lot of turmoil. At that time, Alex had still been very weak, and he didn't know what exactly had happened after that.
He had spent hundreds of years studying and honing his skills. Then, when he had returned to Earth, he had discovered that things had changed. The spiritual energy on Earth had become thinner, and the lives of humans had undergone tremendous changes.