The next day, Amon woke up as the sun rose. He washed his face and put on a clean set of clothes. He looked at himself in the mirror for a long time, paying attention to his ashen hair. Then, he shook his shoulder and turned away.

"You know, I like your hair. Gives you an exotic air." Lya's voice made its way into his mind as usual.

"Good morning." He said, as if he ignored her, but his ears reddened slightly. Lya chuckled seeing it, but didn't point it out.

Amon took Brightmoon from under his bed and was about to strap it to his back when he hesitated. He looked at Lya, a bit unsure.

"I see no reason for you to carry the sword with you." She said. As she didn't materialize, Amon couldn't read her expression, but he was sure he sensed some hesitation in her voice, as if she was avoiding something.

"But I'll be inside the ring. You can just call me and I'll answer." With a 'swoosh', the silver sword flew through the air and disappeared as soon as it was about to hit his hand. Amon looked at the iron ring in awe.

"Come on kid, are you going to stand there in a daze?" Lya's voice made him awaken form his daze. His ears turned red again and he left.

He said goodbye to his mother and said he would go to the mountain to buy some stuff. To his surprise, Rebecca didn't ask, simply nodded and told him to be careful.

A bit confused, Amon took the Bottomless Pouch Daniel had left behind and decided to use it to carry the manuals back.

He made his way out of the house and slowly walked to the Northern Station, enjoying the morning sun and the cold breeze that blew in the Outer Sect.

"This really is a nice place." Lya said from the ring. She could use her divine sense to probe outside the pocket dimension and look around.

The farmland glistened with droplets of dew, making it seem as if small diamonds had been sprinkled all over it. The small streams flowing through it seemed to be made of gold as the sunlight shone on them. It was really a beautiful sight.

"Yes, it is." Amon agreed. One of the reasons he liked to walk from his home to the Northern Station was to enjoy the view.

As soon as they arrived at the Northern Station, Amon found a carriage and paid a few dozen contribution points to the owner to take him to the mountain. It was a somewhat small carriage, but the two horses pulling it seemed to be strong and healthy. As the carriage was small, they would take longer to tire and the trip would be faster.

It was a pleasant trip. As the carriage followed the stone-paved road, Amon enjoyed the large expanses of green around them and the breeze, and Lya couldn't stop mentioning how beautiful the Outer Sect was. She was like an excited girl, pointing out everything she saw. This made Amon smile for a moment, but the smile soon disappeared.

Maybe in truth she was excited about leaving that lake where he found her rather than the landscape in itself. Thinking about all the years she spent alone, Amon started feeling sad. He was inwardly surprised at how she managed to stay sane.

It took them almost two hours to reach the foot of Hell's Keeper Mountain. What greeted them was a huge golden gate, at least twenty meters tall and ten meters wide, carved in the mountain itself. The gates were opened, and beyond them was only a pitch-black darkness.

Taking a deep breath, Amon stepped through the gates, only to be stopped by a curtain of light that blocked his way.

"Entrance to Hell's Keeper City is three hundred contribution points." A mechanical voice echoed, making Amon displeased.

He knew about the rules, but it was still a bit too much. All of this was to hold traffic in Hell's Keeper City to a minimum. He took his purple card from his clothes and swipe at the curtain of light with it.

The curtain seemed to dissolve, clearing his way. Amon was slowly engulfed in the darkness as he walked through the gates.

When he walked out of the dark, he had to squint his eyes at the blinding light coming from inside the mountain. Hell's Keeper Mountain was actually hollow, and from the huge hole in its peak, sunlight could enter and shine on the inside of the mountain. Hell's Keeper Mountain was actually an inactive volcano, and the headquarters of the Abyss Sect was actually located inside Hell's Keeper Mountain.

What greeted Amon was a myriad of small houses occupying most of the space inside the mountain and surrounding a few palaces made of jade and gold. It was really extravagant, but Amon knew that these palaces were actually the most important buildings in the whole sect.

The inside of the mountain was close in size to a small city, so people called it Hell's Keeper City. Still, the vast majority of Hell's Keeper City was nothing but empty houses.

Living in the city was strictly forbidden for anyone but members of the Inner Sect, common Elders and servants. That meant that in a city that could house tens of thousands, only two thousand at most lived in it.

The empty houses only existed in case the Abyss Sect found itself in a dire situation, so the entire Outer Sect could take refuge inside Hell's Keeper City. The mountain itself would be more than enough for defense. It was not unlike a stronghold.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The streets were paved with black slabs of stone, and a few trees were planted between the houses, giving a bit of color to the monotone of the place. In the exact center of the mountain, a gigantic tree towered above everything.

The tree was more than three hundred meters high, and its crown could cover all of the jade palaces surrounding it. Its trunk was pure-white, with a few blood red lines twisting around it, like veins. The massive trunk had a diameter of at least fifty meters. The leaves were the size of Amon and were all ashen-gray, just like his hair.

"The Ashen Heart Tree." Lya mumbled, seemingly impressed.

"You know of it?" Amon asked, raising a brow. From what he knew, the Founder himself had planted this tree when Abyss Sect was founded.

"I know of its existence, nothing more." Lya said and returned to her silence.

Amon himself didn't know much about the tree, but no matter how much he asked Lya just kept quiet. He gave up as he walked through the empty houses, making his way to the palaces always covered in the shadows of the Ashen Heart Tree.

He stopped in front one of the biggest palaces. Much like the Exchange Pavilion in the Northern Station, this palace had light-green walls, but the scale was completely different. The palace was at least twenty times larger than the Exchange Pavilion, and it was focused solely on trading technique manuals. A golden pillar was place in front of it, and a black sign affixed to it showed "Myriad Exchange Palace" in golden letters that seemed to be alive.

Just looking at the sheer size of the place made Amon feel intimidated, but he composed himself and slowly walked into it. Everything in the inside of Myriad Exchange Palace seemed to be made with gold and jade.

The already extravagant Exchange Pavilion in the Northern Station looked like Amon's house in comparison to what he saw. He could use the tiles on the floor as mirrors, but he got ashamed of his shabby clothes that completely put him out of place.

Not to his surprise, the palace was almost empty. There were very few Inner Sect members in the Abyss Sect, and they spent most of the time cultivating. Adding that to the fee of three hundred contribution points the members of the Outer Sect had to pay just to enter Hell's Keeper City and naturally few people would use the facilities.

Overwhelmed by all the luxury, Amon walked into one of the many empty counters and was greeted by a young man dressed in purple clothes. His clothes were tidy and his posture was perfect. No expression could be seem on his face except for a trained smile.

"How can I help you, sir?" The man politely asked, giving a bow to Amon and making him a bit embarrassed.

"I would like to sell two artifacts I found in the Scavenging." Amon said in a serious tone. The clerk didn't ask any questions, just nodded and asked Amon to show him the artifacts. Amon quietly retrieved the two daggers Lya gave him from the Bottomless Pouch and put them on the counter.

The young clerk took them and analyzed them carefully with trained eyes. He checked their balance and slowly scrutinized the polished blades. He them gave a sigh.

"Excuse me for a moment." He said, placing the daggers back on the counter and walking through a side door. Amon raised a brow, a confused expression showing in his face.

As the clerk didn't return, Amon turned anxious, until the side door opened again and an old man walked from it, with the clerk following suit. The old man also wore purple clothes, but he seemed to have a somewhat noble bearing instead of the passiveness of the clerks.

His hair fell over his shoulders like snow, and his clear and penetrating eyes made everyone that tried to look at his wrinkled face divert their gaze unconsciously. He had a long beard that reached his chest. Small rings of gold adorned it, making the old man seem quite rich.

The old man approached the counter and ignored Amon, looking at the daggers. He evaluated the daggers much like the clerk before, making Amon realize that he was probably the one that taught the clerk.

"It really is danasian steel…" The old man mumbled to himself as he stroked his beard. "Good job. I'll take over from here." He said to the clerk by his side, which gave a deep bow and left.

The old man looked at Amon and presented himself. "I am the Elder in charge of this palace. You can call me Elder Li." He said, looking at Amon with his penetrating gaze and making Amon look away.

"I am Amon Skoller, Outer Sect member." Amon quickly bowed and stated his name. He was incredibly nervous. The old man in front of him was not only an Elder, but also the one in charge of the Myriad Exchange Palace! This meant he had to be an extraordinary appraiser.

"Where did you find these daggers?" Elder Li asked, raising the daggers at his eyes level and carefully looking at them.

"I found them near the northern bank of the Red River, being held by a corpse." Amon said while sweating. Was there something wrong with the daggers? Elder Li looked at him, analyzing his expression just like he analyzed the daggers. End the end, he put the dagger back on the counter.

"You are very, very lucky Amon." He said as he stroked his beard, never taking his gaze away from Amon. "I'll offer you fifty thousand contribution points for both daggers."

Fifty thousand contribution points!

It was a fortune! Amon could buy everything he needed and there would still be thousands left. He would be able to cover months of expenses with just the leftovers!

He made a great effort to control his breathing and not seem incredibly excited. I truth, he was almost jumping in happiness.

Elder Li didn't explain why Amon was lucky, but Amon could guess. Whatever it was these daggers were made of, it was incredibly valuable. Amon wanted to thank Lya, but he couldn't do so in public.

"I… I accept." He managed to say, his voice trembling a bit in his excitement. Elder Li nodded and extended his hands to Amon.

Amon politely handed him his purple card. Elder Li swiped it in a glowing ball floating behind the counter and returned it to Amon.

"If you ever have anything you want to sell, you are always welcome here." Elder Li said, giving Amon a light nod and walking away with the daggers in hand. Amon bowed deeply, and quietly left the palace.

"Lya, what the hell?" Amon asked her as he left the palace, incredulous.

"How would I know these cheap daggers would be so valuable?" She answered in annoyance. In truth, she was as surprised as Amon was. How bad were things nowadays that such common daggers were so precious?

"If your previous owner was so rich and could casually take such artifacts from his ring, why did he use an iron sword like Brightmoon?" Amon didn't know why someone so rich would do such a common weapon.

"Brightmoon had an emotional value. That's all I can say." Lya's voice was emotional as she spoke, and she returned to her silence as she finished.

Amon didn't pester her further, realizing he had been insensitive. He walked for a few minutes until he reached another palace. It had white walls instead of the green of the Myriad Exchange palace, but a similar pillar and sign stood in front of it, saying "Divine Arts Palace."

This was the palace that held all of the manuals and techniques of the Abyss Sect. It was almost a sacred place for the cultivators in the sect.

Amon slowly walked through the golden doors, entering the palace.