Chapter 67: Returning to the Sect (66)
Ruvan and his group finally arrived at the Hidden Flower Sect's territories. It was finally at this moment that Ruvan was finally able to appreciate the landscapes of the Sect in a leisurely manner.
The Hidden Flower Sect occupied a series of valleys which were connected to each other. Each valley had its own characteristics making the Sect quite a diverse place; some valleys even had their own forests, in which a large number of spiritual beasts could be seen.
'Wow, it shows that this Sect is inhabited by a large number of women...' Ruvan thought to himself when he saw the great attention paid to the details of the roads they passed through. Whether it was from the elaborate gardens to the well-laid path, everything had been crafted with meticulous and delicate hands.
'The location of this place is also quite strategic...'
'The surrounding mountains are a great natural defense to protect against any enemy attack without the need to build larger walls'
"What do you think of our Sect?".
"I guess you haven't had time to appreciate it, have you?" Yu-Hee asked with a smile. According to what she had heard from Ruvan, he had not lived in the Sect at any time, so he was basically someone new to this place.
"I like it… It's quite picturesque if I must say so" Ruvan said with a smile as he surveyed the vast fields they passed through.
"This is the Outer Valley… It can be said that it is the outer part of the Sect. Here are only our crop fields and our defensive facilities" said Elder Yurie at that time, who had decided to join the informative tour.
"So, the big gate we just passed is the entrance/exit to the Outer Valley?" Ruvan asked curiously as he remembered a huge iron gate which was guarded by several female disciples who looked like sentinels.
"It's right"
"The Great Gate is our largest defensive installation… From the Great Gate inwards it is now officially considered the territory of our Sect".
"Wow… It sure is quite big," Ruvan said as he remembered the small valley where they had landed a couple of days ago with Xiong Mei. The distances between that valley and this valley were quite large.
"That's right… The territory of our Sect covers approximately almost one hundred valleys of different sizes which are interconnected with each other…"
'Damn... This is really another scale' Ruvan thought with a smile as he remembered the small territory that the Three Swords Sect occupied.
'At most the Three Swords Sect's terrain was only the size of this outer valley… Not to mention the other ninety-nine valleys…'
"How many disciples does the Sect have?" Ruvan asked curiously.
"We have approximately two hundred thousand members between elders and disciples…" Elder Yurie said.
'Damn… As I remember, the largest Sects in the entire Marxus Continent had at most ten thousand members'.
"Do the other major Sects on the continent have similar numbers?"
"Mmm no… We are the Sect with the largest number of disciples" Yu-Hee said but her tone did not sound very proud about it.
"Is this because the Sect has much softer entry requirements than the other Sects?"
"Phew… That's right."
"The Hidden Flower Sect always had the goal of being one of the largest suppliers of female cultivators to the Thousand Desires Sect…"
"Many great female cultivators of the Thousand Desires Sect have come out of our Hidden Flower Sect but the Founding Master had another intention and that was to give the majority of women an opportunity so that they could cultivate regardless of their talent" Said Elder Yurie with a tone full of admiration.
"Really? So, the Hidden Flower Sect is pretty lax when it comes to recruiting women?" Ruvan asked curiously.
"That's right… The Founding Master of the Sect wanted the Hidden Flower Sect to be a place where female cultivators could feel protected from the dangers that lurk out there."
"That is why our Sect has never distinguished itself martially speaking after all many of the disciples do not even practice any combat disciplines" Yu-Hee complemented.
"That is quite a noble ideal I must say…" Ruvan said in disbelief after all it was rare to find such noble and selfless people who would do such acts as the Sect Founding Master had done.
From what he had heard from Xiong Mei, the Founding Master of this Sect had been the previous Master of Jena. Apparently Jena had decided to continue her Master's legacy.
"Yes… Initially the martial performance of the Sect was not a problem after all we had the Thousand Desires Sect as backup but since the apparent 'breakup' all that has changed" Elder Yurie said with a bitter voice.
"And was that why the Sect has started to accepting men into their ranks?" Ruvan pointed out astutely after all he had already started to form his own hypothesis about it.
"That's right… The Council of Elders saw an opportunity to increase our combat potential if we recruited male disciples."
"And apparently that measure has not been effective…"
"Phew yeah… Since then, not only has our potential not increased at all, but the internal problems of the Sect have only increased," said Elder Yurie with a bitter smile as she remembered the large number of problems that arrived daily at the Hall of Discipline where she worked.
Finally, after a somewhat long journey, a series of buildings began to appear in what seemed to be a city on the edge of the Valley.
"And this place is?"
"That is the Outer Court… It is located at the end of the Outer Valley and is the largest place in the entire Sect" Yu-Hee said casually.
"Big Sister Yu-Hee"
"Elder Yurie! Elder Yurie is alive!!"
"Elder Yurie, it's a relief to see you well" A crowd of female disciples began to appear as they greeted Yu-Hee and Elder Yurie who were undoubtedly quite popular figures within the Sect.
"Wow~ Looks like almost all of our sisters survived."
"Hey, but who are those people inside the cages?"
"I don't know~ but the one that intrigues me the most is that guy who is riding on top of the snake."
"Damn… That guy is really hot."
"Since when do we have such a handsome disciple in our Sect?" The female disciples did not stop chattering as they surrounded Ruvan's caravan.
Finally, upon reaching the outskirts of the Outer Court, a group of People in Blue Robes were waiting for them. Among them was Jena who had a half smile hanging on her face.
'It seems that what Mei said were not empty words after all'.
'There are certainly interesting days ahead...' Jena thought to herself with a smile.
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From the prologue to chapter 40, most grammatical errors have been corrected!
Thank you always for your support and patience guys!
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