"It's good to see that you're doing well," the Black Tortoise Matriarch said. Both of the sisters sat before Alex, Pearl, and Bai Jingshen in the palace hall underneath the massive sea where the Black Tortoise Palace lay.
"Thank you, Matriarchs," Alex said. "And I'm glad you didn't enter closed cultivation just yet, or I might have missed you."
"I was planning to, but I decided not to for a while. I will enter soon and only come back out before the great festival and tournament," she said.
"Tournament?" Alex asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.
"Yes. We have a tournament that we hold between the four families and some other families from around the world. It takes place every few millennia," she explained. "The next one is scheduled for a few centuries from now."
"Ah! I see," Alex said. "I will have to miss that then."
