Chapter 38: To the Mystic Realm
"All of you will stay within the Beastwilds Mystic Realm for one month.", Jian Wubai announced to the people at the summit of the sect.
"Tonight, you will sleep in the core area. A place for you to stay has already been arranged. We will leave early, so make sure to eat well in the morning." He returned to his wooden cottage after giving his last orders.
Since Zhang Baichi had been chosen as the leader of their team during their time in the Mystic Realm and Jian Wubai had already told him what he needed to do, there was nothing else to say.
Lu Zheng looked at Zhang Baichi with a frown. Originally, the leader should have gotten a lot more information than just that. At least, that was the case last year.
The leader of that time had gone to speak with the Sect Master for hours on end and only returned late at night.
'Has Zhang Baichi known all about the Mystic Realm beforehand? So he was only acting when asking for my advice?', Lu Zheng concluded. From just his face, no one could know what he was thinking about.
The ten youths were lead to the Core Area by Jian Fu and the Lu and Ji family heads.
Zhang Baichi glanced at them and the youths from their families. 'They're staying with us?'
He had expected them to stay at their families' houses since they were from the Core Area anyways, but that was not the case.
Each of the ten was given a private room and Jian Fu reminded them to rest early.
Since they had all eaten, there was nothing left to do but to cultivate, or in Zhang Baichi's case meditate.
The following night was uneventful. Everyone met up the following morning, ate together and then followed the three Elders back up to the summit.
From afar, most of the youths were already shocked and gasping.
Zhang Baichi looked up and his eyes widened as well.
They were still over a mile away from the summit, but could already see an enormous beast resting there.
As they got closer, the youths got more and more perplexed until Jian Fu spoke up. "This is the contracted beast of the Sect Master, the Blue Winged Giant Hawk. You don't need to be nervous."
The best resting at the summit was a hawk of incredible size. It measured multiple dozen meters from head to toe and its blue wings shimmered in the sunlight.
As the name suggested, the gigantic creature was a bird of prey, the hawk.
The youths were soon overshadowed by its size and could only see Jian Wubai standing next to it when they had come close.
He nodded as they lined up in front of him. "Alright, now that everyone is here, let's go. It'll take about two hours to reach the Mystic Realm."
He didn't waste any time and jumped on the creatures back, beckoning for everyone else to do the same.
Without delay, Jain Wubai gave the command for the beast to take flight and they soared thousands of meters into the air, taking towards the west.
'Whoa…' This was the first time for Zhang Baichi to leave the sect since he had taken over the body of the old Zhang Baichi.
While he already knew quite a bit from the old Zhang Baichi's memories, seeing it for himself was different.
The Fleeting Storm Sword Sect was located at the forefront of a seemingly endless mountain range and forest where once side of the sect faced towards human civilization and the other towards the wilderness.
Even so, both the sect and the vast mountain ranges vanished from Zhang Baichi's vision after only a few minutes. The Blue Winged Giant Hawks speed was simply too fast!
He had no chance to take a look at the surrounding area as everything blended together in a blur, yet not a single breeze ruffled their clothing.
Zhang Baichi glanced at Jian Wubai wo was casually sitting at the front, closest to the hawk's head and noticed a fluctuation of Qi. 'Master is blocking the wind with just his Qi?'
He had never really seen his Master make a move, but his cultivation at the peak of the Core Condensation Realm and the fact that he could so casually disperse the wind pressure were testament to his strength.
Seated behind the Sect Master was an old man Zhang Baichi hadn't seen before.
This man had joined them when they left the sect whereas Jian FU and the Ji and Lu families' heads stayed behind.
The atmosphere was a bit weird since no one spoke, so Zhang Biachi quietly closed his eyes and meditated.
Some saw him and chose to do the same, while others were too worried about any complications due to riding a bird.
A bit over two hours later, Zhang Baichi and everyone else were awoken by Jian Wubai's voice. "We've arrived. Everyone, get ready."
Zhang Baichi looked to the front, but saw nothing there other than a simple plain of grass.
Moments later, the Blue Winged Giant Hawk flew down to the ground and landed close to two other giant beasts; A pure white, gigantic swan and a gigantic tortoise with some kind of building on the top of its shell.
The Blue Winged Giant Hawk quietly settled down across form the two beasts and Jian Wubai jumped down with a smile. "It seems like we have made everyone wait. I apologize."
Only now did Zhang Baichi notice a small table in the middle between the three beasts with two people sitting at it; An old woman with greying hair and a middle-aged man with a sickly complexion.
Both of them stood up to greet Jian Wubai, respectfully addressing him as 'Sect Master Jian'. Jian Wubai nodded at them and glanced to his right, out in the grassy plains. "Have your sects arrived long?"
"No, Sect Master Jian. My Broad Wisdom Sect only just arrived.", the sickly middle-aged man replied.
The old woman nodded. "It was my Willow Tree Pavilion that came first this year, but we have also only arrived minutes ago."
"I see." Jian Wubai said and turned around to the old man who came with him and the youths. "Elder Yu, I'll have to trouble you."
The old man smiled and sat down with the old woman and middle-aged man, seemingly unbothered. Meanwhile, Jian Wubai told the youths to follow him as he walked into the open plains and vanished.
"What's going on?!", some of the youths were shocked, while Zhang Baichi looked on with wide eyes. Lu Zheng stepped forward, unimpressed. "Calm down. There's an illusory formation placed here. Just walk."
A few steps later, he also vanished. Zhang Baichi said nothing and followed suit. He once again felt like walking through a wall of water yet not getting wet, just like when he walked up the stairs in the Technique Pavilion. This feeling meant he had entered the formation.
In front of his eyes, a lot of people appeared.
Lu Zheng and Jian Wubai in front of him, an old woman clad in white a bit away with ten young woman in white martial arts attires behind her to the left and a middle-aged man of similar stature to Jian Wubai to his right.
The middle-aged man was clad in purple, as were the ten youths behind him, all of them giving of powerful aruras as strong as Ji Jian if not stronger.
'The ones in white must be the Willow Tree Pavilion.', Zhang Baichi glanced at them. Since they were all women, they were easy to differentiate.
The group from the Broad Wisdom Sect, clad in purple, were of mixed genders, but every one of them was strong. 'Those youths were the ones Master mentioned. They're all from some outside influence? Their auras resemble each other, so they must cultivate similar techniques.'
Even Zhang Baichi could tell that the youths were not cultivating the same technique as the middle-aged man in front of them, not to mention Jian Wubai and the Pavilion Master of the Willow Tree Pavilion.
"How rare for Sect Master Jian to be last.", the man from the Broad Wisdom Sect said with a faint smile. His voice was rough and sharp.
Jian Wubai looked at him and smiled back. "It seems Sect Master Guo has me beaten when it comes to speed."
Sect Master Guo huffed. Jian Wubai's bearing was neither humble nor overbearing and Sect Master Guo knew that provoking Jian Wubai with jus this would not work.
Jian Wubai turned to the left and smiled at the old woman in white. "Pavilion Master Xiao, it's been a while."
"It's been a while indeed, Sect Master Jian.", the woman smiled back and responded. Her eyes fell onto Lu Zheng, who entered the formation just after Jian Wubai. "I have heard that Sect Master Jian recently accepted a personal disciple. Is this him?"
Lu Zheng didn't react, while Zhang Baichi stepped forward and respectfully cupped his hands. "Greetings, Sect Master Xiao."
"Oh, my." Sect Master Xiao's eyes shifted to Zhang Baichi. She had been mistaken about who the disciple was.
Lu Zheng's aura was firm and robust, and he was also the first to step into the formation, so she naturally assumed him to be the leader and Jian Wubai's disciple.
She hadn't even noticed Zhang Baichi before since he fell short of the remarkable aura Lu Zheng had. Yet now, it was different. Zhang Baichi had only moved a step forward and bowed, but to Sect Master Xiao, he felt extraordinary.
"It seems I made a mistake.", Pavilion Master Xiao said with a smile. She studied Zhang Baichi but couldn't tell his strength properly. His cultivation at the peak of the Body Forging Realm was obvious, she couldn't tell his exact strength.
Her stare felt uncomfortable as it was obvious that she was trying to see through him, so Zang Baichi stared back into her eyes after raising his head.
Pavilion Master Xiao's eyes shimmered in surprise and she smiled again. How rare was it for a youth in the Body Forging Realm to be able to stand up to someone in the Core Condensation Realm? And for him to do it so brazenly.
Pavilion Master Xiao couldn't help but chuckle. "It seems I was a bit rude as well. Little friend, would you mind introducing yourself?"
Zhang Baichi smiled back and introduced himself again. Pavilion Master Xiao wanted to say a bit more, but Jian Wubai spoke up before she had the chance. "It seems the Broad Wisdom Sect has been hiding it's strength quite well all these years."
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