Librarian looked towards Nalser with a twitching smile as he asked suspiciously, “Is this not the exact opposite of the effect you want to achieve?” Nalser just let out a little laugh as he chuckled, “I have not told you how I grew up right?” Everyone looked at each other as Librarian shook his head. Nalser just said, “Well, before all the events that brought me here, I enjoyed doing two things: 1. drilling in the martial arts my Grandpa taught. 2. I like reading the Immortal Cultivation storied my Grandpa brought for me. I had over 300 books on them.”

Hearing this far, they didn’t understood what Nalser was getting at. They knew somewhat how Nalser grew up from eavesdropping on Old Dragon’s and his talk. “What do some books on Immortal Cultivation have anything to do with this situation?” As Sweeper asked that, Nalser just laughed, “Those books tell the stories of young men, usually with mediocre talent or outright crippled. Through a fortunate encounter they get a precious Artefact that usually has some kind of an old grandpa that will guide him on his cultivation path.” Speaking this far Nalser paused for a second before continuing. His words became sharper as he continued, “Following their journeys they are accompanied by a lot of treacherous plots against them. In those books, these situations are extremely usual story progression methods. However, what makes them useful is that there are several stereotype situations that occur.”

Listening thus far, it confused everyone except Librarian. In his eyes there was a gleam as he asked, “These books. This far you have been relying on piecing different things together from them to make heads or tails of situations?” Nalser nodded. He continued, “These stories have similar cultivation paths or completely different. However one thing you can count on is that the journey is no smooth sailing. When you have read on a lot of different typical plots like that, you start to understand the signs a lot better. It is the same in this situation. There are some, who are loyal on the surface but have an allegiance elsewhere in this patch of people. And the chances are that they are quite far up on the trusted people list.”

Librarian nodded but Dummy and Sweeper had no idea what the heck they were talking about. In terms of scheming, Librarian could have these two help sell themselves off and happily count the money as well. Dummy finally exploded and asked, “What the heck are you two talking about?”

Librarian sighed and said, “Through talking with Mei, Master discovered some traces of betrayal in their family. For example, how did the Golden Branch know they were in the city? It was supposed to be a secret known only to select few. How did they know how many people to bring? You had to know how many people the other side had. These kinds of minute details point to a traitor amongst them and he seems quite loyal on the surface so...” Finally having explained it in black and white, both Sweeper and Dummy finally understood.

Dummy asked again, “However, what does that matter to you? You could just root him out later, no?” Nalser sighed again in disappointment. Dummy truly deserved the name. Nalser just asked in return, “What makes you think that they will allow the family leave that easily?” Saying it like that it finally dawned to them. Since the enemies couldn’t take it easy any more, they had to take care of this before Mei and his family reached Nalser. “Why concern yourself so much with it? If those guys succeed let them succeed.” As Sweeper said that, he was quite puzzled by the nosiness of Nalser. Nalser just let out a sigh as he said, “Yea, honestly I have no idea, exactly why, I care so much about it. The main reason would probably be because I promised Mei to help her. Other reason would be that I don’t want poisonous snakes here.”

Finally Sweeper and Co were satisfied with the answers. They didn’t care about the overcomplicated plots. If you told them that you wanted them to move, they would. Librarian however just sighed as he said, “I’ll prepare some people that can use Qi Sense and have them look over Mei and the rest. Should some complication arise, they will move to help out.” Nalser nodded his head and was glad that at least Librarian was not a muscle head. “Wait, not everyone of you can’t use the Qi Sense?” Dummy just shook his head as he said, “We are puppets who gained sentience. Since we were born in Foundation Establishment, only a select few of us have Qi Sense.”

Nalser just nodded, well it made sense, so why bother with it yet. When Librarian returned from sending a few people, they all just sat in the room again. Finally, Sweeper couldn’t take it any more and asked, “How is it possible that you can teleport now?” Nalser lightly smiled as he said, “From my comprehension, I realized that all Qi is connected. I can’t explain it completely but it is like I connect to the Qi of the Realm and then fusing with it, I can teleport from one location to another.” Librarian and all others thought about it, it made sense.

They all know a few teleportation techniques and the feeling they got, when they teleported, was pretty much the same. Currently Nalser knew how to do it but he couldn’t explain it. His knowledge was lacking and this kind of knowledge only grew with time, as he gained experiences himself. They also talked a bit on how Nalser progress was elsewhere and when he told them that he had reached the “Bones like Steel”, everyone looked at him like he was a genuine monster. When they finally explained his progress rate in normal terms to Nalser, he just let out an unsurprised “Ohh”.

Seeing this reaction was outside everyone’s expectation and Dummy exploded again, “What Ohh? We just said that your progress rate is unreal even in terms of Ancient Era Geniuses.” Nalser looked at him and said as if it was obvious, “Hard work never betrays anyone. You can say my progress rate is monstrous but have I genuinely slacked in my cultivation?” This shut everyone up and made them reflect on this. When they thought back to Nalser’s training, all they could do was shudder. No normal person could withstand that amount of torture. Seeing this Nalser closed his eyes as he said, “The amount of pain I suffered by tempering myself was tens times worse than anyone else. Why should my progress rate be slower? The tempering built the most solid foundation and foundation is the key to everything.”

No one could refute Nalsers words. The amount of tempering he did was unreal, even though he had now calmed down and taken care of his hidden injuries, his Qi purity and body had been tempered to the maximum. The amount of impurities he still had was minimal. If he perfectly trained in all of the body tempering arts as well, they felt that Nalser was going to be an unstoppable monster under the Tribulation if he survived the ordeal of Foundation Establishment. Although, they knew that it would be a terrible ordeal for Nalser and the chances of him dying were higher than him surviving, they pushed it to the back of their minds and decided not to think about it for now.

Librarian looked towards Nalser and said, “There is something else we need to tell you about Starry Island.” Nalser eagerly listened.

***

Mei had no idea what Nalser was thinking or planning so all she could do was pick the people to accompany her. Her mother Father and brother didn’t need a second thought however the other spots needed more careful consideration. This all had to be done is secrecy as well, so they had to be careful. As the time limit was breathing down her neck, she carefully chose the people.

***

On a distant rooftop were a few people keeping and eye on Mei. They were Medic and a few others Librarian had chosen. However, just as Medic scattered all the other people to take their positions, she looked towards a nearby tree, “You don’t need to hide like that and isn’t it degrading of your status for a Excalted Celestial to lurk in the shadows like that?”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

As she spoke, a smile was always on her seductive face. As she said that, an old man in azure robes walked out from behind the tree, he sized up Medic for second before sighing, “I do not know what fortune that little lass encountered to have so many Empyrean Experts behind her but I wish to ask you what you are trying to do in my clan?” This old man was precisely the Azure Branch Founder and Ancestor. Medic just laughed lightly and asked, “You call this fractured snake hole a Clan? Isn’t that a bit too far fetched?”

The old man was enraged but he could do nothing more but suppress it deep down as he stayed quiet. Medic said in a cold tone, “Your Clan is honestly a shit hole. If my Young Master hadn’t intervened in time, the little girl would have been captured and currently she would be nothing more than a sex toy for someone of the Golden Branch.” The old man had a face of disbelief as he said, “This is impossible, the Branches are all like one big family. Something like that to happen is impossible!”

Medic just laughed as she said, “A lot of time has passed since you and your sworn brothers founded the Five Heaven Clan. Take your own branch for example, currently side branches are colluding with outside people to overthrow the Main Branch. However, the question is: What are you doing about it?” Before the man could even answer, Medic continued in a cold tone as a freezing aura spread out from her, “You sit in your sad little cave and play the unfettered expert. Your Clan is on decline and you still won’t do anything about it. You should know the value of that little girls special body, right?” The old man could weakly nod to that before Medic continued, “So why did you allow the Golden Branch poison her with a Severed Fate poison?” This completely stupefied the old man.

Severed Fate poison was something he had only heard of. It was a very vicious poison that corroded the Qi, crippled the meridians, lowered the innate talent and made the person subservient towards the one who refined the poison before administering it. The old man stuttered, “But, but-” Medic just cut him off, “That little girl lost her faith in this snake hole and asked my Young Master to take both her and her Family under his protection. He agreed when he heard the circumstances of this snake hole. If you decide to step in the way, I will mercilessly cut you down.” The old man was completely embarrassed about this, he had no way of refuting anything.

He always kept an eye out on what happened with the Clan, so of course he knew everything that had happened. However, he decided that if fate had this in store than it was meant to be. Now that Mei wanted to leave then Clan with the current Patriarch, a Nascent Soul Expert, with another 3 Nascent Soul Experts. Not only that but her brother as well, even the Ancestor had taken a liking to his talent. Also they took a lot of the juniors with good talent with them. If they all left, the Clan would fundamentally be crippled. Their pillars disappeared and also the future pillars. However, he could do nothing about his as he had invited this by himself. This made him seriously reflect on his management of the clan.

Now it was too late to have Mei and the rest stay but he had to make sure this kind of a thing never happened again. He looked towards Medic and said, “Since this was originally my fault, I won’t make things more difficult to you than they already are. However, would you pass on my apology to the Patriarch and his family?” Medic nodded and took the apology the old man had prepared. She understood that the old man had understood his wrongdoings and most likely the Azure Branch is going to go through a thorough reformation in the near future.

***

With the old man not making things difficult for Mei, she had an easy time gathering the people she intended. Time passed and now the deadline had been reached. In the early morning, outside the Azure City, was a group of 70 people, both young and old. They were all wearing long cloaks with hoods. No matter how you looked at this group, they were suspicious. However, one voice sounded out that said, “Let’s go.” and everyone started following that person.

The person in front was Mei. The location she and Nalser chose was half a day’s worth of travel away from the Azure City. Even now, only Mei knew where they were going. As they travelled through the woods, Medic and the rest kept following time from the shadows. In the meeting spot, a group of 13 were waiting. They were Nalser, Sweeper and co. This was the spot that Nalser had laid down an Imprint. Soon half a day passed and Mei saw Nalser’s silhouette in the distance. But he wasn’t alone, there were 12 people with indescribable aura’s surrounding him.

Even though the weaker ones couldn’t tell, all the people who were in the Core Formation and upwards felt their faces pale. All of those twelve people had passed the Tribulation. When they finally reached the spot where the people were, Mei said a few words privately with Nalser and after that Nalser’s booming voice sounded out. “Now, everyone empty your minds and let the Qi flow through you. This is something that needs to be done and if you for some reason do not want to allow that, they can step back and go away.” All of them were puzzled, but did as they were told.

When Nalser saw that they were all ready, he nodded towards Librarian who closed his eyes and powerful Qi Fluctuations spread out. Everyone were alarmed but did as they were told and allowed the Qi flow through them. 5 minutes passed and then Librarian opened his eyes, he looked towards Nalser and said something to him. Since, Sweeper and the rest had put on a sound disrupting barrier over them, no one else could hear what they were talking about. However, the more the scholarly man talked the more Nalser frowned.

In the end, he stepped forward and said, “Now then, the people in the positions I name are going to move to my right, away from the rest. When everyone heard that, without pausing Nalser poured out a number of positions. Like 3 row, 5 person from the right and so on. When everyone named had moved to the right, they soon found out that it was actually a vast majority of them. Out of the 70 people present 48 had been called out.

Since no one of them knew why they were called out they could only stay silent. However, when Nalser raised his hand, the twelve people protecting him, surrounded all of them. Before anyone could ask what he was doing Nalser’s voice boomed out, “You have guts. To appear here like nothing had happened after you had tried to overthrow the Main Branch. Do you guys seriously take me to be a fool?” As the words sounded out, everyone understood the meaning. These people had been malicious to the Main Branch but had been hidden deeply.

However, Mei’s Father could not accept that one of the old men was also there, so he asked, “May I ask why you think they have anything to do with the traitors?” Nalser just glanced at him and sighed, “The Qi waves from before were actually from a memory reading technique that is long lost in the Realm. I had that man read their memories and filter out the people with malicious intents.” This shocked everyone, however the Patriarch asked in a shocked tone, “But but-”

However Nalser’s cold voice answered him, “I honestly don’t care about their situation. I am the Master of Starry Island, I have no leeway in taking in people who can turn that serene place into a snake hole.” This drenched cold water on everyone. It is not that they didn’t understand the logic behind it but rather the people filtered out had all been loyal to them, alteast on the surface. They had a hard time accepting that they were traitors.

Mei grit her teeth and said, “That old man has followed my Grandpa and my Father for his whole life. Are you sure that he is one of them?” Nalser just gently struck her head with a fist. It wasn’t a hit it was more like a tap as he said, “I am sure.” Then he narrated everything from his suspicions to why he formulated this kind of a thing. Having everything explained like that, no one could say anything about it.

Nalser’s questions and everything he had done pointed to the obvious answer in front of them. With heavy hearts they could only accept that their sight had been blinded by trust. Now all that they felt towards the people in the circle was not that they were wronged but anger. They had betrayed their trust time and time again and now had the thick skin to follow them when there were benefits involved. Nalser looked towards Mei’s Father as he said, “What to do with them is up to you.”

The Patriarch thought for a second before saying, “Let them go. They used to be loyal to me and on the account of past relationships I will forgive them this once.” Nalser nodded and the 12 puppets disappeared. The people who were filtered out wanted to apologize but before they could do that, Nalser waved his hand and everyone who was no filtered out, disappeared into thin air.

All the people left could do was defeatedly scamper back to Azure City.