Chapter 5：Spatial Disturbance (1/2)
Tens of thousands of kilometres away from Wu Lim city, stands a sky piercing mountain surrounded by hundreds of smaller mountains, hidden within a mystifying fog a paradise existed filled with the cries of beasts, enchanting fragrance of spirit herbs and dense clouds of spirit qi.
On the smaller mountains one could see thousands of disciples moving about, some training on the fields, some selling precious materials, pills, and weapons in the market and some silently cultivating in their pavilions.
This place was the biggest sect in the Great Zhou Empire, having millions of disciples and an area bigger than that of any country in the Great Zhou Empire, even the Grand Capital of the Empire being ten times smaller than it. It was also one of the only few sects in the Great Zhou Empire that had Dao Treading Realm elders cultivating within and was also rumoured to have an Immortal Ascension stage ancestor living in seclusion.
On the tallest peak of the sect stood an elegant palace decorated with auspicious statues, gilded gates and beautiful ponds filled with charming carps swimming within them. This was the grand palace of the sect where the sect patriarch and the top elders lived and pondered upon the matters of the sect.
Within an enormous hall sat a middle-aged man clad in white Daoist robe, his long hair held up with a silver pin, his beard well groomed and straight. The man had a calm demeanour yet his eyes held an imposing presence, within his left hand he held a jade seal while in his right he held a scroll; the man was engrossed in reading the scroll, when the doors of the hall opened and a black robed elder walked in.
The black-robed elder was old, having long white hair and a similarly long white beard, yet did not have a single wrinkle present on his face. The sleeves of his black robe had gold etchings denoting his rank that of a head elder. The elder walked towards the sect patriarch who was reading a scroll and waited for fifteen minutes until the patriarch finished reading it.
Once the patriarch finished reading the scroll, he held up the jade seal and waves of intense spirit qi erupted from the jade seal, then the patriarch pressed the jade seal upon the scroll whereupon the waves stopped and on the scroll was left a golden seal mark made of pure condensed qi.
The Sect Patriarch rolled the scroll and placed it on a table beside him where six more scrolls lied, looking towards the black-robed elder he asked,
”What did you have to report elder Han, something important I presume otherwise you would have just sent the regular report with a disciple instead of coming in person?”
The Black robed elder named Han with a slight smile on his face replies,
”The Patriarch is as perceptive as always, indeed I do have something' to report which I believe you may find intriguing. The common reports are within the scroll, while I wanted to tell you about two matters, the first being the crown prince breaking through to the core condensation realm at the age of 20 years old becoming the youngest person to break through to the core condensation realm in all the countries of the Great Zhou Empire, of course not counting the core disciples of the top three sects. In celebration of this the Emperor is organising a grand festival, and has sent invitations to all the noble families and the top sects of the empire.”
With an unimpressed look the patriarch speaks,
”Hmm, that is indeed a cause for celebration for the emperor especially after the first prince gave up his claim to the title of the crown prince all those years ago letting the second prince become the crown prince instead. Now that the second prince has this achievement, his position as the crown prince is more secure, I wonder what price the Empress paid to let her son reach core condensation realm this fast.”
Elder Han gazed at the middle-aged patriarch thinking to himself 'It's been over 30 years since he became the sect patriarch and yet he still has his youthful inquisitiveness left, it was a right decision the previous sect patriarch made in choosing him over the other candidates' then spoke,
”The disciples from the shadow pavilion reported that the empress had some dealings with the Rainbow Pill Sect, the exact nature of which is unknown, if you would like I could ask the shadow pavilion disciples to investigate more into it. Also, there's going to be a tournament being held during the festival for the youths to demonstrate their skills.”
The Sect Patriarch now looking slightly interested said,
”Yes, ask the shadow pavilion to investigate more into it, also choose some suitable disciples and send an elder as the representative of our sect to take part in the festival as well as the tournament.”
Taking a momentary pause, the patriarch says,
”And the second matter, what about it?”
Now Elder Han had a serious look in his eyes, with a stern face he replied,
”The Star catching peak detected spatial disturbances coming from the Empire”
Now having a calm look, the patriarch said,
”That is indeed uncommon but I don't understand how it's a cause for concern, meteors fall every year randomly all over the empire even when the star catching formation is active it can't attract all of them with the formation.”
Elder Han replies,