The flight towards the inner portions of the sect is quiet. Done at a dizzying speed, it reminds me of looking out the window of an airplane. Except the plane is invisible. Which is leagues more terrifying.

From my estimation, it should take us another hour or so to reach the Halls of Exalted Purity, where most of the experiments, cultivation items, and other things are. Beyond that is the gate separating that area in the palace of the ancients, where the sect master and elders live.

But to my surprise, Senior Song slows down our swords, until they come to a stop.

She looks behind us in confusion and despite my scan being able to reach far distances, I still can’t perceive the same things that one could with the spiritual sense.

Our swords turn around and we head in the opposite direction. Before I can ask anything, she answers the question in my mind.

“It appears that the elder has decided to recover in one of his core disciples’ towers.”

She seems a bit puzzled by this.

I can just barely hear her mutter to herself.

“Could he have expected this?”

She says nothing more, as we soar silently back towards the core disciple tower areas. Below us, is countless peaks and valleys of darkness in her space between.

These are areas with resources and creatures under the thumb of the core disciples and elders. A dense combination of training areas and resource gathering places. Some even operate as storage locations for sensitive materials.

Most times, it’s also used to provide an area for those with tamed spirit beasts to roam. Even some elders keep their creatures in these areas, letting them establish their own domains within it.

But even with that sort of atmosphere, the area where we are going to seems a little rougher than the surrounding ones.

I quickly realized why.

Since the elder in question is a swordsman, and it is likely any disciple, he takes will be focused towards that area as well. Their training will be primarily combat focused. So, they will need more creatures and enemies to fight within certain realms.

… I’m not sure how I feel about raising intelligent creatures just to farm them. It’s something I’m going to need to consider eventually, as well. Since as a core disciple, I’ll have my area that I can control too.

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I mull over this train of thought for the rest of the trip.

Soon enough, we reached the approach to his core disciple towers. The very first thing I notice about it is that despite the relatively similar architecture of the buildings, the air is filled with sword Ki, causing everything to appear sharp, smooth, and dangerous.

Of course, we head to the largest tower, as Senior Song must suspect they’ll be there. But we have a welcome party.

Standing at the ground level of this pagoda are two individuals. One female, one male.

The guy appears to be a person with flowing black hair… but is gaunt and wiry. A listless individual, who looks like they only want to sleep.

Rather than just one or two swords on his back, there seem to be 12 swords on his person.

… twelve swords.

To use that many swords either denotes that they have a high amount of Qi to control the swords or they are proficient enough with Sword Arts/Ki, that they can do the same thing but in a much more proficient and deadly fashion.

Either way, this, besides their status as a core disciple, means that I shouldn’t underestimate them.

The woman appears more normal, for this world at least. A traditional, black-haired jade beauty who has a sword on her back. But this casual, normal appearance denotes its own sort of strength as well. Why would someone like that be here as a core disciple otherwise, if they weren’t exceptional?

Their eyes lift to us, one gaze uncaring, the other with a tinge of anger.

Despite this, when we land, they still give a deep bow of respect to Senior Song.

“Honorable Elder Song, thank you for gracing us with your presence.”

In response, Senior Song nods her head briefly in acknowledgement.

They quickly lift they rise back up and quickly ask they really want to know. The jade beauty is the one to speak up.

“If you don’t mind our asking, are you here to see Elder Gu?”

“That is correct.”

… But she says nothing else. In a tone that leaves no room for speaking or argument.

This is just a small taste of the dynamics that happen within a sect. It’s not the place of weaker people or those of lower rank to question those of higher ones. Regardless of their thoughts.

The core disciple bites her lip before bowing and leading us up the pagoda towards where the Elder is staying. Clearly, she is dissatisfied, but she has no way to vent her emotions.

It only takes a minute or two, as there is some type of elevator system at play inside the building.

Soon enough, we arrive at a medical room very similar to the one that I was just in before the tribulation at our core disciple area.

Laying on the medical table is Elder Gu, breathing with difficulty in a meditative posture. I can see the remains of medical pills, meant to recover from intense battles.

They look expensive. And he looks to be in bad shape.

His eyes open as we walk into the room. She breaks etiquette and rushes to his side.

He gives a rare tired smile to Elder Song before speaking up.

“Thanks for coming Nuan. I appreciate it.”

He looks at me.

“I could definitely use your disciples' help with this. That bolt was much worse than I had expected.”

Her face, tight with anxiety at his condition, softens a bit.

“You know you don’t have to ask for such a thing from me.”

They definitely have a deep relationship to drop the formalities so quickly.

She looks over at me, expecting me to get started.

Time to get to it, I guess.