Chapter 9: Avalon Evergreen
A new Sect was such big news that all the other excitement immediately got brushed aside.
Everyone surrounded Hazed and began to ask him a million questions.
"Where did you find the inheritance?!"
"How can you only be a Second Step but you're a Sect Leader?!"
"Yeah, how can you release such a powerful Spiritual Presence at your strength… and age?"
Before the crowd got too carried away, the elder who almost lost his hands, pulled Hazed aside and led him away.
They were heading to the top of the Personal Realm where the Wullin Leader resided.
This was the exact moment Hazed had been waiting for, and it was one of the reasons why he registered his Sect even though there would now be a target on his back and he'd be hunted by Unorthodox Clans/Sects but even 'Righteous' Clans will hunt him down too.
The opportunity for a Sect isn't something that you come across every day.
And that's the exact reason that the Wullin Leader would be forced to meet him, something he'd have trouble getting her to do otherwise.
After weaving through the massive crowd and to a locked door the Elder pulled out a key and opened it before saying, "The Alliance Leader is up here, I've already told her you're coming. You have to go the rest of the way on your own as no one else is allowed up unless invited."
Hazed nodded and walked to the room, however he didn't forget to say, "Make sure to keep your hands to yourself in the future, never know when you might lose one..." as he entered.
Inside was a small room like a phonebooth that was apart of some roots. These roots seemed to hang down from the clouds themselves and extended everywhere.
The elevator looked like it could go along the roots in any direction, a true wonder.
As he entered his nerves and memories overwhelmed him but he did his best to hide it.
The elevator door opened to reveal one of the most breathtaking sights of both of his lives.
One that he'd never forget and one that was much better this time around.
Through the door floated a cloud with a simple office on it. A desk, a few chairs, nothing more.
When one looked down through the cloud though they could see the hustle and bustle of the Personal Realm below. Arrays worked to allow you to see into different floors from different locations, it was like a kaleidoscope, changing views with each step.
From here you could see that most floors were inside of a massive root, while only a few remained 'outside', and most of these were Arenas or the like.
Growing out of the cloud from directly behind the desk, was a tree that doubled as the roof that had drooping branches that created 'curtains' that were the walls of the room.
This was the [Wonder Willow Tree], one of the most amazing treasures of the world; at least one of the 'coolest' and most mysteries treasures he knew about.
Most people wouldn't believe it, but the 'Wonder Willow' was the source of this Personal Realm.
The Wonder Willow isn't, 'planted in a cloud', instead, the cloud is apart of the seed.
From the moment of it's birth its already a unique and mystical tree, when it pierces the cloud it also pierces 'space' becoming its own Personal Realm.
The rules of this space are simple, 'anything under the willows leaves' as it grows the cloud soars into the sky and its branches droop to the ground, and the higher it gets, the larger the personal realm becomes.
What separates the Wonder Willow from most Personal Realm is it's potential; the higher it flies the better the Cultivator Environment it creates.
Sitting directly below the Wonder Willow, at the core of the Wonder Willow where she'd have access to everything and was the best Cultivation spot, was a beauty unlike any other.
She had sleek black hair that reflected purple in the light, mesmerizing silver eyes, and an aura and demeanor that couldn't be ignored.
Even though she looked younger than most Cultivators, look around seventeen still, she had an air of dominance that people could not overlook.
She wore a simple black hoodie that didn't match her status and had as much 'adorableness' as she did 'gorgeousness', but this girl was still so beautiful that many would find it difficult to even control themselves while looking at her.
This is one of the main reasons she doesn't allow people in this room and she's not very social.
And right now Hazed found it difficult to control himself too, but for a different reason.
He wanted so badly to run over there and give her hugs and kisses and say, "I'm so happy you're alive! I promise to protect you this time..."
However, he had to control himself, even though the memory of her dying in his arms made it difficult to keep the tears out of his eyes, he still managed somehow.
He knew that he needed to become more powerful before he could even be considered worthy of her, and trying to rush things could easily backfire.
The amount of people who are either a Patriarch of a major Sect or their equal trying to woo her is terrifying.
This was his Second Wife from his last life, Avalon Evergreen, and the current leader of this Wullin.
She's also the only Wullin Leader who isn't part of a Sect, being the only Wandering Cultivator with enough strength, capability, and connections to make it happen.
While Hazed was doing his best to control his emotions, Ava was staring at Hazed in confusion.
'How could he possibly have inherited a Sect? And what's with his emotions when he saw me?!"
She was used to guys ogling at her, but this was completely different.
He looked at her and was unable to look away, but she could see grief, sorrow, joy, and even some love, instead of the usual, lust, or less usual, appreciation.
However, she put it to the back of her mind for now.
It's likely that she just resembles someone he knows or something.
"Hello, I'm Avalon Evergreen. Please come in and have a seat." She gestured to the chairs opposite her, a root of the tree that was poking through the cloud into the shape of an exquisite chair.
She too was sitting on a root of the Wonder Willow, but unlike the one Hazed was sitting on, her root was a chair before it dove underground.
It looked like a massive throne at the bottom of the Willow, and it's more than likely the same root that becomes the seats opposite her.
Hazed took a deep breath and stepped forward and mentioned the view, because well, it'd be weird not too when coming here for the first time.
"Wow, it's so beautiful here! I've never seen anything like this place!"
Ava smiled and explained a bit about the Wonder Willow, this worked as an ice breaker before they began talking about his Sect.
Seeing the interest in her eyes Hazed laughed and said, "Go ahead and ask away about the Sect, I know you have questions."
Ava nodded excitedly, "How could you Register the Sect at your strength? Even if you managed to find a Sect Cultivation Method you wouldn't be able to register the Sect until you can create the sect, right?"
"Mm, you're right. However there is one thing that you're unaware of still, in the same way, that there are Great Clans, Elite Clans, Royal Clans, Etc, Sects have different tiers as well."
"Actually I know that one of the Sects on the East Coast is a Great Sect... wait, you're saying that your sect is even higher tier and that's why?!"
Hazed nodded.
Ava's eyes lit up, "What tier is it?!"
"Hehe, you'll have to join us to find out!"
Ava sighed, "I'll never join a sect."
Hazed laughed and thought, 'Oh, you'll definitely join mine. Just you wait.' but he didn't say anything.
In his last life he'd struggled for a very, very long time before he managed to get her to join his clan, however this time he'd help her get passed her trauma much sooner.
'Sooner is still later though...' He sighed, wished he could have his wife, his best friend back already.
Standing right in front of her, but not being able to really talk to her is awful.
They spent a few hours discussing things and the awkwardness around Hazed slowly went away, every time she spoke it was like an eraser was erasing the pain of my memories of her death.
How could she really have died when she's speaking to me right now? It must've just been a bad dream.
And even though Ava said she'd never join a Sect, she already agreed to be the Sect's Guardian, so although she's not a part of it yet, it will make it much easier to convenience her.
Her curiosity got the best of her, so in return for protection and some assistance here and there, Hazed allowed her to scan his cultivation method herself, (Since she was worried that he'd lie…), and promised to share more secrets that would intrigue her as he uncovered them.
If this was anyone else he wouldn't trust them no matter what.
The way to scan a cultivation Method was through the Spiritual Presence.
A Clan only marked your Bloodline, but a Sect marked your entire Spirit.
Downstairs there was a specialized spiritual tool for scanning people's bloodline and spiritual presence at the same time without being invasive, but Ava had no such machine.
To 'Scan' it, Hazed has to release his Spiritual Presence which once again shocked Ava.
However, when she got the results of the scan she was even more terrified.
He left her to recover from her shock, but not before she promised her full support.
Entering an alliance with a Sect like Soaring would've been better from the Sect's perspective, this at least gave them some protection and start-up capital.
Although they had some funds from the Anza's and they had one full spirit stone which was a small fortune, it was far short of what an up and coming Sect needed.
While Low-Quality Spirit Stones like the one they acquired become common after 'The Awakening', most Spirit Stones had turned into what's called 'Coal' from the awful spiritual environment over such a long time.
Coal is used as the most common currency, and it comes in three forms, a Coal with 10-24% Spiritual Qi still inside of it is a 'Co', a Coal with 25-49% Spiritual Qi inside is a 'Cool', and 50% and above is just a Coal.
Anything below 10% does more damage than it does good.
The rest of the 'Coal' is 'Filth'.
Filth is the true form of the 'Impurities' that a Cultivator often deals with.
Directly absorbing filth is much worse than absorbing 'Impure Spiritual Qi' like Low-Quality Spiritual Stones have, so the impurities in the cultivator build up much faster when using Coal, but most people don't have any other choice in the matter; if they want to Cultivate its Coal or nothing.
Luckily, as long as you put in the effort, there are ways to cleanse yourself of impurities, even 'Filth'; it just takes a long time.
Ava gave them quite a bit of Coal to use as currency and to cultivate with, of course, Hazed forbade anyone from Cultivating with it since their situation was much different than others.
That being said it was still perfectly good currency.
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