Yin Long couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the black-haired woman that was politely waiting for his response. He hadn't expected them to reach out to him this quickly, it was to the extent that he faintly guessed that she had probably been waiting in the area since the day started. But his surprise at their rapid approach didn't mean that Yin Long would send her away, patting Jin Wang on the head so that he would stand up.
"Good morning, Sister Xia, thank you for coming to pick us up. We can leave at any moment, so please lead the way."
Lan Yun had already risen from her seat, expecting Yin Long's response the moment Qiong Xia introduced herself. Jin Wang rose in a slightly lazy manner, only glancing disinterestedly at Qiong Xia for a second before turning his gaze away. Qiong Xia smiled softly at the two and then led them out of the building, Jin Wang taking up a position next to Yin Long and making sure that Qiong Xia didn't get too close.
Qiong Xia expertly ignored Jin Wang's attitude and instead stuck closer to Lan Yun, which didn't result in any negative responses from Jin Wang. The group swiftly left the building, running into a few familiar faces and allowing Yin Long to confirm the guess he made when he returned to the seating area.
"So this really is what you meant when you said you'd see me in the hall. Makes sense, if they'll even go out of their way to recruit someone like me then they'll definitely recruit someone like you too."
Standing outside the building along with an unfamiliar woman clad in the same robes as Qiong Xia were Fang Yau and two other members from his team. They looked like they had just left the dome under the guidance of the woman, Fang Yau turning his gaze over to Yin Long when he heard him address him.
"I wasn't sure before, I was mainly just guessing. With how freakish you are, there's no way that the Thousand Blades Hall hasn't approached you. And looking at how you acted earlier, I guessed that there's no way you would have turned them down."
Thousand Blades Hall was a somewhat strange organization, it didn't give a whit about its own power or standing, nor did it care about the personality or appearance of its disciples. You could be evil and vile or just and saintly, the hall would encourage both. It only had one doctrine, one goal it followed, to raise strong cultivators, to push its disciples to the highest peak they can reach, no matter what sort of peak it may be.
As such, anyone with sufficient strength or potential would be invited, it dragged in people from not only the surrounding provinces but also the surrounding planets. And if one were to mention the scariest part about the Thousand Blades Hall then it would be the fact that they were still only the second-strongest independent organization on the planet.
The strongest was still the Hungering Heaven sect, which won out by a margin so large that it supposedly even counted multiple Province Emperors among its students. The only drawback to the Hungering Heaven sect was that they only accepted new disciples every ten years, and the trials were so dangerous that about 1 out of every 100 challengers died while undertaking them. As for any more specifics about the Hungering Heaven sect, Yin Long had no idea as he had never really read up on the sect, it never really entered his radar.
Fang Yau's group joined up with Yin Long's since they were heading to the same place after all, the two women clad in light grey robes remaining silent as they guided them. Fang Yau was the one who took the initiative to speak, explaining some things to Yin Long since a wanderer like him should have some gaps in his knowledge.
"The Hall isn't located too far from here, the previous Province Emperor founded it so it's located pretty darn close to the abode of Emperor Starblood. I don't know what they told you when they recruited you, but it's better to take their flowery words with a grain of salt. They are an organization that focuses solely on nurturing people to reach the peak of their potential, no matter their personality. As such, there are extremely few rules in the Hall, they won't even pursue you if you kill anyone there, it just means that you've added another stepping stone to your path. They have excellent cultivation resources and cultivation locales, but you need to produce results if you want to use either, you need to show that you are worthy of using them."
The fact that the Thousand Blades Hall was founded by the previous Province Emperor was such common knowledge that even Yin Long knew about it. But what he didn't know was the name, or title, of this previous Province Emperor. Despite being such a big shot, his name had never shown up in any texts Yin Long had read, no matter how old they were. It was a rather odd point, but the number of names that had been lost to history was so vast that they could drown out even the greatest ocean so it wasn't a fact there was a point in thinking over too much.
"At the start, you'd do well to either stick to yourself or hanging around those you know. As far as I know, that Kuan Xiao, Shuang Shen, and Xue Shuiye from the Heron's Ascension Dojo have also accepted the invitation, hanging with them might not be terrible. That Xiao Yin Yu has also accepted the invitation, but I'd recommend being a bit cautious around her. She may act somewhat similar to you, but her reasons for wanting to become stronger don't feel as pure as yours, I fear that you might become a target if you stick around her."
Yin Long didn't find it strange that Xiao Yin Yu would receive an invitation from the Hall, she was after all currently ranked second out of all the cultivators participating in this Three-Fold Territory Clash. The way Fang Yau spoke of her in a manner that made him seem more familiar with her than he let on, but Yin Long didn't bother pursuing this line of thought since Fang Yau didn't say anything more on the topic.
The group continued walking for a few minutes, Fang Yau providing Yin Long and Lan Yun with several tidbits of information about the Thousand Blades Hall and some of the other stronger organizations in the area. But a small building that was only about ten metres in each direction quickly entered their sight. There was a large sign hanging atop the building, the words Thousand Blades Hall beautifully carved into the sign, carrying a pressure reminiscent of gazing upon a cloud-piercing mountain. Yin Long always kept his senses spread out, so the building was slowly getting enveloped by his senses as they approached it.
And just as his senses reached the very back of the building, he was rocked by a splitting headache. A silver crack appeared on the three-dimensional map his senses created for him, the crack immediately swallowing up the entire map and throwing his senses for a tumble. His pupils fiercely shrank for a second as he forced down the splitting head-ache, retracting his senses so that the silver crack didn't keep messing with him.
Only Lan Yun noticed his split-second reaction, Yin Long giving a light wave of his hand to show her that there was nothing to worry about. He let out a slow breath as the headache receded, his eyes staring at the small building with some wonder. He had never expected that Thousand Blades Hall was located in such a location, nor had he expected a location like that to interact so violently with his senses. But learning it now was better than figuring it out later, it at least prepared him for the fact that his senses might react violently to other similar locations that interacted strongly with the surrounding space.
The two women stepped forward and opened the gates of the building, respectfully ushering in Yin Long and the others. They entered a very simple room that occupied a bit over half the building, containing two desks and two smaller seating areas. There was a graceful and charming woman seated behind each desk, smiling gently at them as the guides walked past them to the door embedded in the wall just behind the desks.
Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
"Please, step through without worries."
The two guides pushed open the door and revealed a slightly smaller room that didn't contain any furniture, it only contained the entrance to the true Thousand Blades Hall. And that entrance was a shimmering crack in space, the thing that had interacted violently with Yin Long's senses. The Thousand Blades Hall didn't rely on any space-contracting or space-expanding arrays, it was instead located inside a separate space, an additional dimension that had been torn open on top of the normal space.
It was something that could only be done by people who actually had the law of space or other laws that could interact closely with space, so Yin Long could guess that the founder of Thousand Blades Hall was someone who actually had used the law of space. Fang Yau and his people didn't look very surprised by the spatial crack, not even Lan Yun looked shocked at it so it seemed like Yin Long had been the only one who didn't know about it.
The two guides had told them to step through without worries, but they still walked through the spatial crack first, entering and exiting it a few times just to fully show Yin Long and the others that it was safe. And as Yin Long and the others stepped through the spatial crack, a slight spell of nausea overcoming the others while Yin Long felt as if he stepped through a curtain of warm water, a vast world spread out in front of them.
Their feet landed on soft and slightly moist ground, ankle-height strands of grass bending in the breeze as white clouds populated the sky above them. Forests, mountains, lakes, Yin Long even saw some volcanos and desert-like areas scattered across the horizons. Thousand Blades Hall was the greatest haven for sword users in the entire province, it accommodated all types of bladed weapons and cultivation manuals focused on weapons. As such, it housed all manner of environments so that every cultivator could find one that suited their needs.
Everything around them was the exact same as the outside world, but Yin Long was able to sense a slight alteration in the flow of space here, the only sign that implied that they were currently in a separate space. Fang Yau and the others allowed their gazes to roam around the area, taking in the grand sight of the world spreading out around them with bated breath.
Only members of Thousand Blades Hall were allowed to set foot here so it was the first time any of them saw how it truly looked, and the vast number of environments spreading out so clearly in front of their eyes was truly a sight to behold. Even Yin Long and Lan Yun were no exception as they gazed at their surroundings with some awe, even Jin Wang was eyeing the surroundings somewhat excitedly.
But Yin Long quickly felt something that doused his awe, the sensation of a pair of eyes sweeping over him. The sensation was exceedingly similar to when Emperor Starblood had observed him during the competition, with only a slight difference in the aura that the gaze seemed to carry. The gaze only swept over him once before the sensation vanished but it still spawned a somewhat frightening guess in his mind, could the ancient founder still be alive and present?
Thousand Blades Hall had been formed so many years ago that it could be considered truly ancient, it was definitely more than just a handful of millions of years old. If that founder was still alive, just how old did he have to be? And for him to live that long, he would surely have already reached the fabled Sovereign God realm, no?
Yin Long felt like letting out a long breath, this truly showed the difference between the third-greatest sword-wielder haven and the greatest sword-wielder haven. The leader of the Heron's Ascension Dojo, Park Man, had only reached the peak of the Earthen door realm, he was truly leagues away from Thousand Blades Hall. But after a short moment, Yin Long's eyes lit up. The stronger the leader, the older the organization, the better the things they would have, there was no counting the number of sword manuals they would have here.
The two guides allowed Yin Long and the others to marvel at their surroundings for a short moment before they swiped their interspatial rings. They brought out six silver necklaces, handing one to each person, even throwing one to Jin Wang as they explained their purpose.
"These necklaces have been specially prepared for each of you, using them will create a small-scale spatial array that will teleport you the training grounds that have been deemed appropriate for you. The one for your bestial companion is a bit more special, we aren't too terribly suited for training Demonic beasts so the medallion will only bring him to one of the Demonic beast hunting grounds we have prepared for our disciples. Naturally, that hunting ground has been locked down so that no disciples will be able to enter it, your companion will be able to hunt as he pleases without interruptions."
They were clearly quite well prepared, and the fact that they were even willing to send Jin Wang to his own training ground showed that they were looking quite favourably upon Yin Long's potential. Yin Long exchanged a quick glance with Lan Yun and Jin Wang as he looked at the talisman, the two giving him a short nod before inserting a bit of Qi into their talisman.
Yin Long did the same and activated the array within the medallion, a small array forming around him and surrounding him with a gentle light-weight feeling. He felt as if he was floating in warm water for a short second, the sensation quickly vanishing as he found himself standing just in front of a forest that was being hounded by a terrible storm that sent thick bolts of lightning hurdling down.
He felt a slightly strange sensation coming from the forest, but it wasn't the strange sensation he felt whenever he stood in front of a space-expanding array. Another light-grey robed woman was standing in front of the forest, smiling warmly at Yin Long, clearly having anticipated his arrival.
"Greetings, Senior Brother Long, this little one is Mao He. This forest is called the Thousand-Year Storm Abode and it has been selected as your training ground for the next week. There are multiple martial libraries and resource depot's scattered throughout it, you just have to pass some small tests if you wish to enter them and take advantage of their contents. The entire forest is also surrounded by a time-accelerating array, so your one week of training will become about five months of training."
Yin Long's pupils shrank sharply as the woman explained the details of the forest. Yin Long also quickly understood the strange sensation he was feeling, it was the dissonance caused by the forest being shrouded by a different flow of time. Time-accelerating arrays were among the highest grade of all arrays, they increased the flow of time of everything inside them so that you could enjoy several years of cultivation in a much shorter time.
The Lang clan had only had nine such arrays even when they were at their peak, and they were among the first things stolen when they started to degrade. At this point, the nine arrays were already scattered across the rest of the planet, or even further depending on what they had experienced over the years.
There was no way the Thousand Blades Hall had many of these arrays at their disposal, so it only further solidified Yin Long's belief that they were looking extremely favourable upon the potential he had shown. Yin Long stepped forward quite eagerly, he had never stepped into a time-accelerating array before. But the woman in front of the forest swept her interspatial ring before he could enter the forest, tossing him something while bowing as deeply as she could.
"This is a present the Great Emperor has sent over, he hopes it finds you well."
Yin Long caught the item, a vial filled with six small pills that were amber in colour. He gazed curiously at the amber pills, a symbol resembling four wings folding around an eye floating up in them. Looking at the symbol, Yin Long's pupils couldn't help but shrink violently once more, because this was actually an item he knew about.
"Wings of the Divine Soul, you're really paying out, aren't you, Starblood?"
Wings of the Divine Soul were the name of the pills, and two of the main ingredients were the blood of two separate Divine Beasts, both of which were soul-based. They were quite peculiar, swallowing one would not only speed up your soul's perception of time but also speed up the speed at which your soul acted by a few tens to several hundreds of times.
A second to your body and the real world would feel like a hundred seconds to your soul, and it would even act much faster for the entire duration, it was a holy item for any soul cultivator as it would dramatically speed up their soul-cultivation. They were also very nourishing to the soul thanks to the Divine Beast blood used to create them, they were so valuable that even the Lang clan at its peak would have to sever an arm and a leg to afford just two of them.
And yet Emperor Starblood had sent him six of them just like that, probably in an attempt to strengthen the soul of his lord so that he could quickly return to his peak. But what a shame, the person he sent them to wasn't the lord he worshipped and followed. But they would certainly be very useful to Yin Long, after all, wasn't all his cultivation focused entirely on his soul?
Yin Long thanked the woman standing guard in front of the forest, putting away the vial of pills and stepping towards the forest once more. A time-accelerating array and some supremely useful pills, now he was looking forward to what he could achieve in this one week even more.