Long ago, the Lord of the Great Flock and the many demonic birds that followed him were slain in a cataclysmic battle.

The corpses of the many birds of his flock slowly became the foundation for the birth of the Great Flock Realm.

Within said realm were countless worlds, each formed from a particular ancient demon, such as the Golden Eagle World, Giant Dove World, or the Jade Sparrow World that Bing Meilu currently occupied.

Upon said world were five continents.

The Bird Talon Continent was ruled by the Twelve-Headed Avian Sect.

The Bird Beak Continent was ruled by the Migrating Flock.

The Sparrows Tail Continent was ruled by the Gold-Jade Nest.

The Shattered Shell Continent was ruled by the Kunpeng Emperor’s Hold.

Finally, the largest and most important continent was the Jade Wings Continent, which actually consisted of two landmasses, a west and east wing. Said continent was fought over by the top four sects in a constantly flaring and receding war.

Naturally, in her first life, the Twelve-headed Avian Sect had dominated upon Bing Meilu's ascension to immortality. Though such petty mortal infighting was generally supposed to be below an immortal, it would be a loss of face for her if she couldn't even ensure the sect she came from dominated its world.

However, there was already a large difference between Bing Meilu's interactions with the Twelve-Headed Avian Sect from her first life. This time, she would not be a member of the Moon Crying Swan Palace. Instead, she had to join the Sky Swallowing Gulper Armada.

Standing in front of Bing Meilu and her two followers, was a tall fearsome-looking man. His body was muscular and huge, with nasty scars covering his face. Given that cultivators had a great deal of control over the appearance, they had either been left intentionally or had been such a severe wound that even cosmetic pills could not hide them.

He wore loose-fitting white robes emblazoned with golden dragons and flying pelicans.

From Bing Meilu's knowledge of the Sky Swallowing Gulper Armada, such robes marked him with the rank of Strike Force Commander, the Armada's equivalent to a Core Elder of the Moon Crying Swan Sect, two ranks below Bing Meilu's master had been. Theoretically, this made should make them of equal seniority within the Twelve-Headed Avian Sect but...

Bing Meilu sighed, before giving a quick bow.

"Junior Bing Meilu greets her elder," she said.

Given her 'master' was dead, her sect destroyed and her cultivation base so low, there was no way she could get away with treating the man as an equal. Bing Meilu had been in her mortal body long enough to have gotten decently used to bowing to her lessers.

"You're Prime Grand Elder Hai Yu's disciple?" he asked. "My master, Fleet Admiral Yu Houyi was good friends with her."

"I naturally have heard many good things about the fleet admiral," Bing Meilu said.

"Such as?" the man raised an eyebrow.

Bing Meilu paused. It appeared he was testing her? He might have some suspicions she was not who she said she was, as was expected. What did she remember learning about the Fleet Admiral from her Master?

"Master would often praise the Fleet Admirals' completion in the Six Whale Felling Spears," Bing Meilu said confidently.

"...What?" the man said with shock. "You- How did you know that?"

After a moment of shock, he quickly composed himself. Whatever suspicions he had, would likely have been erased, Bing Meilu thought.

"Whatever let's head to the Port," he snorted.

He raised his hand and suction force pulled Bing Meilu, Xia Xuefeng and Zhang towards him. With a flash, the man took off through the sky, the three lower-level cultivators pulled after him by a whirlwind.

---

Several hours later, the four of them landed atop a hill overlooking a massive port city. She wasn't personally familiar with it but knew enough about geography to recognize it as being Sky Spear City.

Already, Bing Meilu could feel much richer spiritual qi filling the air. As the top-ranked branch of the Avian Sect, the Armada's Sky Swallowing Prefecture was the best of the twelve prefectures, being the very southern tip of the bird talon continent, which held the most resources and power.

"This is Xiao City," the Commander said. "It's the nearest city to Snake Port, so if you want any mortal items, this will be where you go,"

'Xiao City? Why did I remember the wrong name?'

Bing Meilu's memory of her time in the Bird Talon Continent were the most faded of all her memories, as her cultivation had yet to be high enough to truly memorize all details, so it wasn't unusual for her to have remembered wrong, but something about the wrong name bothered her.

With another short flight, they arrived at an isolated compound at the edge of the waters.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

"This is Snake Port, one of the Armada's Twelve Ports," the Commander continued his explanation.

The Sky Swallowing Gulper Armada was responsible for controlling and defending the Bird Talon Continent waters, from pirates, and demon beasts to foreign invasions, any matter pertaining to the sea fell under the control of their many fleets.

The 'real' sect existed only in the ocean, aboard their many ships, demon beasts and magical islands. These mainland ports were essentially the 'Outer Sect' portion of the Armada, which made Bing Meilu frown.

While this was technically the normal starting position for a new disciple, it was actually pretty unusual. Given her perceived status as a grand elder's disciple, she wasn't wrong to expect a higher starting position.

Then again, the Armada was the closest to a mortal army of any of the Twelve branches, so perhaps their lack of nepotism was explained by that militaristic mindset in which all backgrounds were equal?

In the end, it was a minor issue. Bing Meilu could rise through the sect the normal way, even if she would start at a lower position than she'd expected to.

"When is the next general disciple examination held?" Bing Meilu asked. "My junior sister needs to become a disciple as well."

"In a few months, the first day of the new year," the man responded. "That building over there is the Recruitment Hall, which is in charge of new disciples."

With that, the man abruptly vanished, leaving the three of them standing alone in the unfamiliar compound.

Bing Meilu would never say that her eyebrow twitched in annoyance at the man's attitude. Even if she was in Qi Condensation, she was the disciple of his own Master's friend, shouldn't he be a little more polite and outgoing to her? Let alone give her a privileged starting position, it seemed he didn't want to even bother showing her around the sect!

"Fine then, let's head to the recruitment hall!"

She strode towards said building, eyes scanning the unfamiliar compound.

Once inside the hall, Bing Meilu strode towards the counter, behind which were several older disciples.

---

The following were several boring hours of formalities and explanations. Bing Meilu's identity token was updated to reflect her status as a disciple of the Armada, she was dressed in a new plain white robe, given a map and primer explaining the basics of the Armada's structure, and set off to the communal living quarters for the lowest level disciple like her.

Once inside of her small new house, she was immediately questioned by Zhang.

"How goes your medicine for my damaged meridians, miss?" the withered man asked, voice weak.

"I already have around half the needed ingredients," Bing Meilu said. "The rest are specialized items only found in Moon Crying Prefecture. I'll need to be in Core Formation to retrieve them."

At this Zhang inhaled deeply in despair.

"So I'll be stuck like this for...decades?" he said despondently.

Bing Meilu snorted.

"Give me three years, five at max."

"...What? Are you joking with me?" Zhang said, voice becoming slightly angry.

"No."

The man's eyes bulged with anger, but he calmed himself down.

"And how exactly do you plan to do that? Such a thing is unheard of in the continent's history!"

"Easily."

At this the man just directly face-palmed, giving up on the line of conversation.

"Xia Xuefeng, go find a good source of blood for your cultivation," Bing Meilu ordered, turning her head to her female servant. "I'll be cultivating in the home for the next few weeks or so."

Bing Meilu planned to directly reach Foundation Establishment before doing anything else. Until then, she would keep her head down,

---

Bing Meilu sat within her home in mediation, slowly cultivating her Crystal Providence Absolute Tome, Icy Yin Qi thickening and condensing in her Seventy-Two Apertures.

With the Rich Spiritual Qi of the lowest tip of the Bird Talon Continent, in only four days she had already reached the sixth stage and was close to the seventh. Her door suddenly flung open and a young, fat man swaggered inside, wearing the same robes as her but with a red dragon badge upon his heart.

"Greetings newbie," the man sneered. "Now that you've joined the-"

A spear of ice ripped through the air so fast it seemed to simply pop into being, stabbing through his stomach and pushing out to the other side.

The fat disciple wheezed in pain, the air forced out of his lungs as he fell to his knees.

"What faction are you from and what cultivation level is your leader?" Bing Meilu demanded, not even having opened her eyes.

Another ice spear appeared, floating silently by the man's neck. The threat was clear.

Like many sects, the Sky Swallowing Gulper Armada allowed and even encouraged heavy competition and combat between its lower-level disciples. This relatively safe combat allowed them to sharpen themselves before having real outside dangers and motivated members to cultivate harder. As such, many disciples formed factions to extort and press-gang others for money and power.

"The Crimson Dragon Faction!" the man shouted in a mix of rage, shock and pain. "Our Boss is at the fifth stage of Foundation Establishment! Yo-You're dead for attacking me!"

"Tell your boss that we'll duel in two weeks," Bing Meilu said, still calmly cultivating in lotus position with her eyes closed. "When I win, I'll be taking over his faction. Until then, make sure it's known any thug to come near my home will receive a spear, but next time I'll be aiming for the head!"

A wave of ethereal water flowed from Bing Meilu, sending the man flying dozens of feet, back slamming into a tree with a loud crack, his disembowelled stomach and entrails splashing blood all over the grass.

'Getting to just peacefully cultivate for days at at a time is such a refreshing experience,' Bing Meilu sighed wistfully. 'I hadn't realized how much I missed it! Travelling can be fun, but nothing beats a relaxing session of meditation!'

---

Xia Xuefeng walked through the Snake Port Compound, looking for the market. She arrived, walking over to a shop that seemed to sell animals.

Stepping inside she saw cages containing rats, snakes, chickens and all sorts of animals. A middle-aged man sat behind a counter, reading with tiny glasses.

Having been so excited to start cultivating she had yet to read here turned to her, noticing her lack of disciple robes.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I'm uh, the servant of a disciple," Xia Xuefeng nervously admitted. "But I plan on joining when the next trials are held."

The man rolled his eyes dismissively.

"Well good luck. What does your master need?"

"Just, uh, fresh animals for blood?" she said.

"What's your budget?"

"I should have a few dozen silver?"

The man paused, looking at her strangely.

"...Silver? Girl, this is a Cultivator Sect, not a mortal bazaar. We only take Sect Points or Spirit Stones."

"Oh..."

Xia Xuefeng didn't think she had any of those.

"Um, how do I get Sect Points?"

"You can't. You don't even have a disciple medallion. Your master should have given you his if you're going shopping for him."

"Is there no other way for me to buy some animals?"

The girl needed animal blood for her cultivation, and she didn't want to disappoint her mistress.

Perhaps some of Xia Xuefengs desperation showed through because the man's face softened slightly.

"You said you just need blood? You can try hunting wild beasts in the forest. Don't go into any of the marked areas until you have a high enough cultivation."

Nodding, Xia Xuefeng thanked the man before heading out. It took nearly thirty minutes of walking to reach the nearby forest from Snake Port.

The girl aimlessly walked around, looking for wild animals.

As she walked, she suddenly turned around, a dangerous feeling welling up from within her.

A moment later a large wolf, nearly the size of a cow burst through the shrubbery. Its eyes glowed red and a black fog poured from it.

"A demon" Xia Xuefeng murmured, eyes wide.

Her stance widened, blood-red qi swirling around her.