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Long Zhiyuan disagreed but said nothing. It wasn’t his place to do more than advise them.
A short two days later, his group boarded the Sect’s cloudship and flew to the regional capital of the planet.
They were greeted by Provincial Governor Adam, who was an outer disciple of the Smithing Hands Sect. The Tier 47 Sect was responsible for overseeing this weak planet and all of the on-planet Sects reported to them.
Once all thirty-seven local Sects gathered, he asked, “Are each of you prepared, body and spirit, for Minkalla?”
As the Young Master, Long Zhiyuan reported for his Sect and listened as each of the other Young Masters, or eldest disciples, did the same.
Despite there being thirty-seven Sects represented, there were only nine Young Masters on this voyage.
Five were Tier 13, three were Tier 14, and he was the sole one at Tier 12.
The other Young Masters had all been killed during the Cullings, and their Sects hadn’t raised up a Young Master in time to the proper Tier for Minkalla.
Deep Sky Ravagers Sect was the only one with two Young Masters; two years ago, it would have been three, but Long Zhiyuan had personally killed Shen Fung in the last culling, returning a Young Master position to Flowing Grass Sect.
Their two Sects had an incredible enmity already, and he knew that he had to watch his back in Minkalla’s halls. For their blades, and the other Great Powers’.
Still, he had practiced fighting both of them with his Talent many times and was confident in his victory against both sides. Killing them would be harder, but he could defeat them without issue.
Provincial Governor Adam was a charming host, and once they arrived on the large, chaotic ship, he gathered the Young Masters for an elegant dinner. Long Zhiyuan thought the event was a waste of time, but maintained a polite mask during the meal, as was expected of one of his position.
Provincial Governor Adam had strong backing, and despite their statuses as Young Masters, he had more power than them. However, status was a fickle thing, and the man was sucking up to them in case one of them made it past Tier 20 in the program. Though, they were guilty of the same in hopes of using him as a recommendation to join the higher-ranking Sects.
As Long Zhiyuan played the game, the Servants who stood along the far wall never left his mind.
All the men were exactly 5’11, and the women were 5’8. Each of them wore the same robes in the same way, and stood in the same position, hands clasped in front of them. The only way to tell them apart was their facial features. But even then, that was muted, as they all had one of four haircuts.
Long and unbound, except for a single tail to keep hair off the face, long and twisted into a bun at the nape of the neck, short and tidy with the hair combed and styled to precision, or cleanly shaven with not a hair in sight.
That was it. No Servant had anything except those four styles.
Most of them had their hair long, either in a bun or loose, but one of the women had a shaved head, and two of the men had the closer cut.
It was unnerving to see so many people look so similar, but with small differences.
His own Servant was the only one who never stopped smiling, but somehow, even that did not seem out of place with the other Servants.
It was uncanny.
After the appropriate amount of time chatting, Long Zhiyuan made his excuses and rose to leave.
Young Mistress Caring Jade joined him, and they silently walked through the ship’s spacious interiors until the paths to their destinations split apart.
He thought she wouldn’t say anything, but she turned just as they were to separate and asked, “Young Master Blood Hand, can I rely on you and your people to watch my own in Minkalla?”
Long Zhiyuan paused as he thought it over.
Her Sect, Sleek Blades Sect, wasn’t an ally of Soaring Clouds Sect, but it was neutral enough that he didn’t suspect foul play in her suggestion.
A full alliance was out of the question, but nonaggression was possible.
“On behalf of the Soaring Clouds Sect,” he replied, “I can agree on a pact of nonaggression within Minkalla.”
He noticed an almost imperceptible frown flit across Caring Jade’s face before she nodded back, accepting his word. She turned without saying anything more, with her own Servant a silent shadow trailing behind her as they made their way to the Sleek Blades Sect’s quarters.
Returning to his cabin, Long Zhiyuan started his own martial practices. His Talent let him practice at all times but doing it himself in conjunction with his idle clone sped up the progress, and he needed to be at his best for what was coming up.
When they were halfway to Minkalla, he started bringing each disciple of the Soaring Clouds Sect to his cabin and offering his experience to help them with any issues. It was expected of a Young Master to be both a strong fighter and a leader.
Long Zhiyuan didn’t care for that expectation, but he would do his job. Anything he did, he would do to the best of his abilities, so he didn’t slack off, and offered whatever he could to his juniors. It wasn’t like any of them were a threat. If they were, they would have challenged him when he was Tier 5.
None had.
Few of the disciples had anything large to ask of him, and with those, he simply conversed and ensured that they knew what they were getting into. Those with larger hurdles, he spent more time with and helped them work through whatever individual obstacles they had in front of them.
Most were simple, but Han De was having trouble with his [First Dawn’s Spiritual Might] technique, and the modifications toward close combat necessary for stronger punches according to the Sect’s manuscript.
He had messed something up in the technique’s structure, and instead of strengthening his chest and core, it now focused most of its power to his legs. Han De wanted to discard the technique and try again, not wanting to be thought a coward only trying to run away. Instead of that, Long Zhiyuan convinced him to not be so hasty, and taught him a few new kicking techniques to take advantage of the technique’s modification.
If Han De got a kicking shin guard, he could turn that mistake into a devastating surprise attack.
And if all else failed, it would make for a good escape technique.
There was nothing wrong with running away from a fight you couldn’t win. The Great Sects preached differently, but the Clash of Fates taught him better.
He didn’t say it, but he could see in Han De’s eyes that he understood.
The trip itself was mostly uneventful, though he was still unable to get [Heavenly All Seeing Eye] to peer past the surface and find out what techniques people were hiding. Long Zhiyuan believed he was close, but there was a bottleneck that he couldn’t yet overcome. After his continued failures, he suspected that he couldn’t do it without a refinement sphere and intended to buy one before they entered Minkalla proper.
The only eventful thing to happen was when the Titans Fist Sect and Deep Miners Sect came to blows, and eleven of their disciples were slain before they were reined in by the other Sects.
Those two Sects hated each other to the bone, so it wasn’t surprising. The Sect Masters had a longstanding feud, and that had seeped into the younger generation.
Long Zhiyuan just found it a waste of good bodies ready to enter Minkalla.
They could have killed each other there, and at least served some purpose, after all.
When they arrived at the Minkalla system, Long Zhiyuan knew his time to shine had come.
- Writer
