Returning to the Flowing Stream sect was a sad affair. I had to hand over the control of the army of hair to the righteous cultivators. Losing my army so soon after getting it was not very pleasant. I was looking forward to taking the fight to them with the constructs. That was not to be.

The flowing stream sect hadn't changed in our few days of absence.

We went to the mission center to report our mission's success and get the points we won from our efforts and for going above and beyond what was expected of us. The clerk seemed a little shocked at how much we managed to earn from one mission while we were only in the foundation building stage, but other than that, there was little fanfare.

Bin Ji and the others seemed a little shocked at our welcome. There wasn't a colossal welcome from the sect, or a nascent soul elder congratulating us for our deeds. Even though it had been a dangerous ordeal for us, it had little meaning to the overall conflict. Other than allowing the Flowing Stream Sect to take over some useless land.

We would still be greatly rewarded for what we did. Plus, our actions would have got the notice of a few talented elders in the Towering Mountain Sect.

We walked to the rewards area for the missions. The blue building was built to tower high into the sky, greatly resembling a waterfall from afar.

We would be able to get some good discounts on items and herbs that wouldn't aid the war effort; anything else would be horrendously overpriced. It would be better to convert our points over to Towering Mountain credits and work with the far better-regulated market over there.

That didn't stop most of the squad making speculative bets on what would be able to be brought to the Towering Mountain sect and sold for a significant profit even though we had no access to the Towering Mountain rewards pavilion from here.

It was quite cute. Bin Ji helped out where she could, pointing out the deals that would never turn any profit. There was a reason most of them were so cheap in wartime. Since most cultivators were always in a battle of some form, it was pretty universal what was expensive and what was affordable.

They were excited to try to play the market no matter what. Their spending didn't stop there. They bought all manner of armor and weapons with the non-transferable portion of our rewards. Far more expensive than they should have been, but since the currency meant very little to us. It was an open season for the squad to spend. I bought some simple herbs and array flags that I would be able to turn into something far more valuable in the future.

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I was walking through the collection of manuals they had on offer, to see if there was anything in their physical store that was of value when the communication talisman on my waist broke. Signifying the higher-ups wanted to see the squad and give the full proper rewards and get the situation report of what happened.

We met up once again in the main lobby of the Flowing Stream sects Grand Waterfall as they called it. It didn't live up to its name. A simple building the same as many of the others. A little bigger, maybe with many small waterfalls littered around the room, all falling into a gentle stream visible below our feet.

The water itself was the only impressive thing—a variant of cerulean healing water. Quite a bit less powerful, but the show of such an amount of healing water simply pooling below our feet spoke to the wealth of the sect. For a medium-sized sect, it seemed to be doing quite well. That made the other less experienced members more excited about what they would receive from the sect as a reward beyond the bounty we had already got, of course.

We were called into the Grand Elders chambers soon after our arrival. They were in a general rush with it all. So I expected us to be quickly in and out.

The room itself was smaller than I was expecting, a simple chamber with six chairs that seemed to be crafted out of a waterfall, All surrounded by streams of water flowing down from the roof into another pool down below. The water here was quite a bit more potent than the water in the entrance hall. Still, nothing compared to pure cerulean water. It would be a potent potion nonetheless. A waste using it in such an ostentatious manner. Nevertheless, I wasn't running the sect, so I couldn't comment on how they decided to budget their resources.

The seats weren't all filled as well. Only four grand elders were in the chamber. All the powerhouses of the sect, yet not one of them being as strong as my prime. They had only stepped into the nascent soul realm. Their cultivation method inherently limiting them to a low level.

Not only did they see many talented youngsters with access to cultivation techniques that would take them far further than they ever could. Now they also had to deprive their sect members of resources instead handing them to these people from a far greater sect. It made sense why they weren't the happiest people in the world.

They stared down at us from up high. Their cultivation was slowly growing to fill the room. Silence reigned for quite some time.

"Your actions were impressive young ones; you have done your sect proud. We have decided to gift you items from our treasury that would equal the army of constructs you managed to gain to our side."

We all nodded our heads, our robes forbidding us from going any lower in a sign of respect. The flowing stream sect called upon our sect to help. It wouldn't do for us to be bowing in front of any of their members, no matter how powerful.

Now we would have the true rewards we deserved from the fight.