Chapter 1348: A Peaceful Journey
As the two Foundation Establishment envoys from the Ice Cave Abode were lost in their own thoughts while the young people from the town gathered together in the square at the center of the city for a simple test, the small group of young people who had been chatting about joining the Ice Cave Abode arrived at the square just when one of the envoys stepped forward and announced that some simple tests would be conducted to test the aptitude of the young people and determine whether or not they were fit for cultivation.
At least in that regard, the group of young people who had ended up arriving last was a step above the rest, as all three of them had already reached the First Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, being among the few in the town that had managed to successfully step onto the path of cultivation.
Although the First Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm might not be that strong in the grand scheme of things, it was still considered strong inside the small town where the strongest person had only reached the Seventh Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm and was still far away from the Foundation Establishment Realm.
“Hm? A few more potential disciples.” Seeing these three show up and how the three of them had all reached the Qi Condensation Realm, one of the envoys who had been sitting a bit in the back as his companion began examining and testing the young people of the town could not help slightly nodding his head upon spotting the three.
Not just because they had already managed to reach the Qi Condensation Realm, but because they were also among the youngest of the people present. Looking like they were between the ages of 10 and 12. Making their low cultivation compared to the rest look far more desirable for the envoys of the Ice Cave Abode when compared to the rest who were mostly between 16 to 18 years old.
Even the ones that had managed to reach the Third Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm didn’t attract as much attention as these three young people, as the young people should be more than capable of surpassing them at their age in the future after entering the Ice Cave Abode.
More importantly than that, they were clearly too talented and should have been missed by the Star Shattering Sect in the past when they had swept through the place to fill up the nearby branch sect that had been established not long ago.
For this reason, the envoy who had been mostly sitting back without doing much so far, stepped forward. “I will go and examine those three, if nothing is wrong, I will immediately return with them while you take care of the situation here.”
“I understand, make sure you head straight for the Ice Cave abode and don’t get distracted along the way.” Hearing what his companion said, the second envoy, still busy, nodded his head in agreement while also warning him to not get distracted on his way back to the Ice Cave Abode.
The reason for this was rather simple, as they had already heard tales about how some other nearby powers with similar strength to the Ice Cave Abode had lost their newly recruited disciples to the Star Shattering Sect on their way back.
In the words of those powers, the Star Shattering Sect had not considered these young disciples part of them, as they had not yet been integrated, thus, they decided to offer these young talented disciples a chance to join a branch of the Star Shattering Sect, something that these young people almost never refused considering the dominant reputation of the Star Shattering Sect as the sole ruler of the territory they lived in.
There was nothing they could do against this, as the Star Shattering Sect was far too strong for them to fight back against, and the Star Shattering Sect did always leave the final choice up to these recently recruited disciples and didn’t interfere in case they ended up refusing the olive branch that had been extended towards them by the Star Shattering Sect.
On the other hand, there were a few times where the elders offering this request had even lent a hand and helped them get back safely after being refused.
It was also because of these small things and the seemingly uncaring attitude of the Star Shattering Sect towards the coming and goings of small powers like them, that they all realized that in the eyes of the Star Shattering Sect, it didn’t really mean much to recruit these young people and was just something that was done in a passing.
With that in mind, it had become the norm for these different powers to rush any young talented people they found back to their sect or family as fast as possible before they ended up being found by the people from the Star Shattering Sect who were active in the area due to its relatively close proximity to the border where demonic cultivators were still trying to enter through.
Because of this, after confirming that there was nothing wrong with the three young talented people from the small town and hearing that they were willing to join the Ice Cave Abode, one of the two Foundation Establishment envoy grabbed the three of them and rushed out of the small town without even giving them a chance to say goodbye to their parents.
All of that could wait until after they had joined the Ice Cave Abode officially. For now, the most important thing in the eyes of the envoy was to get back to the Ice Cave Abode as fast as possible. Resulting in him running with all of his strength while carrying three rather confused-looking children along with him, a rather comical sight for any of the mortals who happened to catch a glimpse as he sped by them.
“Hm? What is that…?”
However, after travelling like this for a little over an hour and as he was getting closer to the location of the Ice Cave Abode, the envoy suddenly noticed something appearing in the distance.
Looking closer, he realized that it was two cultivators locked in battle with each other, both being stronger than him, but not to the point where it was impossible for him to follow the battle between the two. Meaning that they should be somewhere around the Peak of the Foundation Establishment Realm or Earlier Stages of the Core Formation Realm.
“Wooow! Is that a battle between cultivators!?”
“So awesome…!”
“When will I get that strong?”
Noticing the cultivators fighting as they got closer to the two who happened to block the path that the envoy had intended on taking to the Ice Cave Abode, the three children who were being carried couldn’t help opening their eyes filled with amazement as they commented on the battle. Filled with admiration towards the two powerful cultivators who were fighting at a speed that they couldn’t perceive properly with their current strength at the First Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.
Of course, even though they couldn’t clearly see the two cultivators fighting, they could still see the damage caused by their battle, as small craters were left in the ground and trees were directly uprooted wherever the two passed.
This was the first time these children had ever seen something like this before and it steeled their resolve towards cultivating and becoming that strong themselves!
Seeing the reaction of the three, the envoy could not help smiling to himself as he saw their resolve to grow stronger after witnessing the battle between two powerful cultivators. Feeling that these three indeed did have great potential and should be able to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm in the future. Possible even the Later Stage of the Foundation Establishment Relam.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Time to move around before we end up getting dragged into the battle…
As the sound of the two cultivators became clearer and they got closer, the envoy decided to start going around them to avoid being dragged into the battle. Not something difficult given that he and the children weren’t targets for these two cultivators.
Not to mention, there was no reason for them to involve them in their fight.
After all, even though he was only at the earlier stages of the Foundation Establishment Realm, he should still be able to put a certain level of pressure on one of the two people fighting if he ended up being targeted by one of them.
“Quick! Get back!”
“Huh?”
However, as he thought about how unlikely it was for him to get involved in the battle, one of the two quickly called out to him, causing the envoy to look properly at this cultivator-
That robe… Star Shattering Sect Disciple!? Oh no! This is not a normal battle between cultivators, but a battle with a demonic cultivator!
“Hehe, I was about to lose, but some new blood was freshly delivered? Don’t mind if I do…!”
Unfortunately, it was too late for him to retreat, as the second cultivator, who turned out to be a demonic cultivator, suddenly turned to rush towards him filled with killing intent.
