15.1. Red Glazed Swamp

Faust paced around the Inner Sect courtyard as the sun began to set, long shadows dancing across the paved, slightly overgrown stone. The blue moon was already peaking out beside one of the mountains of the sect, overseeing the change from day to night.

Damarius was the only one already here, mediating with his pitch black spear atop the same large boulder as always, like a guardian deity of the Inner Sect courtyard.

“Senior brother!” Sirius’ voice suddenly cut through the cool air, catching Faust’s attention.

Faust turned to see the group Sirius had gathered descending the Purple Gem Mountain stairs.

Phalecia, Satheon and Sue Jane were all familiar faces, but there were two others Faust didn’t recognise.

“Faust from Fallen Petal Ridge.” Faust stopped pacing and cupped a fist in his hand, showing respect to the two new faces.

“Dan Chen, from Elder Grove.” A man with muted black hair returned the fist salute with a controlled and restrained counterance.

“Yue Zhong, from Peacock Valley.” A woman with free flowing ginger hair and a bow hanging around her introduced themselves sharply, her voice overflowing with confidence and pride.

Sirius spoke up, “Dan Chen is a recently made deacon of the alchemy hall, Yue Zong is Satheon’s friend, we’ve gone on a few missions together.” She added.

Damarius, seeing the assembly also alighted from his meditation, joined the group.

“Thank you all for accepting this mission. Two friends of mine are among the disciples we’re rescuing.” Faust gave a small bow while cupping his fist to all the people present.

“Haha! Rescuing our juniors is naturally what we should do as fellow brothers and sisters!” Satheon laughed jovially.

“He’s right. There’s no need to thank us, junior brother Faust.” Dan Chen spoke softly, shaking his head gently.

Faust nodded, “Then, we registered the team at the mission hall and then set off. Is everyone prepared for the Red Glazed region? I’ve also borrowed a Golden mirror formation in case we encounter any golden Core beasts.” Faust let seven golden mirrors fly out of his spatial pouch, before floating in front of everyone.

“Ohhh… Senior brother is prepared!” Sirius chimed, admiring the golden mirror.

“Hmpf.” Damarius snorted in acknowledgment, stowing the artifact away.

“If you hadn’t already, I would have suggested it, but since you’ve acquired the GOlden Mirror formation then I don’t think there’s much more we could prepare even if we wanted, junior brother.” Dan Chen affirmed.

“Uh… What does this thing do?” Satheon, a new, still first grade halberd slung over his shoulder, asked, pinching the mirror by the corner.

Surprisingly, before Faust or anyone else could explain, Damarius spoke up, “Like formation flags, but these mirrors create a formation that can bind Golden Core beasts.” He answered in a terribly concise explanation.

Faust was pretty sure that was one of the longest sentences he’de heard from Damarius in his little time in the inner sect.

“What he said.” Faust nodded along.

“I see! So the eight of us could kill Golden Core beasts with this?” Satheon asked, stowing the mirror away as well.

“Precisely.” Damarius answered again.

Faust was about to add more, something along the lines of “More like…” But a glare from Damarius made him reconsider his choice of words.

“If it’s not at the late stage of the Golden Core realm.” Faust added, avoiding any contradiction with Damarius word’s.

“Incredible! Then with such a large group! Are we planning to hunt one?” Satheon continued, his eyes blazing in anticipation.

“I would… Rather not…” Faust admitted, along with a few others in the group whose gaze turned hesitant. Damarius seemed to be the only one nodding along with Satheon’s words.

Turning to Sirius, Faust remembered something else, “Here, take this as well.” Faust passed his new spatial pouch, from Rozaline to Sirius. He had already emptied the contents into their places within his own manor and he doubted he would need more than one himself.

“…” Sirius seemed surprised for a moment, her expression going wide, before she quickly recovered and snatched the pouch out of Faust’s hands. “Thank you, Senior brother!”

“Oooh. How romantic.” Sue Jane purred, earning a glare from Sirius while Yue Zong looked between them rapidly, then between Sirius and Faust.

“Then, brothers and sisters, shall we go?” Faust turned to lead the way to the mission hall and the group ascended.

The mission hall, which was especially crowded during the evenings when many returned from their missions, parted almost frantically before the large group of Inner Sect disciples that suddenly entered together.

Even the deacons seemed to be under some invisible pressure, their backs unnaturally straight compared to usual before the group as they quickly took the mission slip, signed with Qi by an elder themselves, processing it and returning a more detailed mission slip with all their names listed out.

After that, the group ascended atop their flying swords, rising into the sky and letting the sect disappear into the horizon. Faust expected the journey to take around 7 hours, passing over Sunflower Plains, the Horned mountains and the Elder Grove Forest heading North East. Lastly, they would pass over Blood Mirror lake before reaching the entrance of the Red Glazed forest. Fortunately, it wasn’t at the edge of sect territory like Dark Petal Valley was, which bordered the Verdant Cliffs in the sect’s far North West.

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“No. Listen kid.” A disembodied voice spoke. “This is the Inner Sect. You are an Outer Sect Disciple. Therefore, you may not enter. Do you understand?”

“I told you, I’m here to see senior brother Faust.” Long Tao rebuked, standing on a rough stone path surrounded by a thick canopy of rainforest trees, covered in moss and vines such that not a bit of brown showed.

“And I told you that unless you’re invited in, you may not enter.” The detached voice echoed around Tao, over the sound of buzzing insects and birds.

Tao narrowed his eyes into a glare at the statue with glowing eyes, which stood beside the stairs at the base of Purple Gem mountain.

The motionless statue seemed to stare back.

“Hmpf.” Tao humphed before turning away.

“Finnaly.” The voice complained, before the statue’s eyes stopped glowing.

Tao leapt for the stairs.

“NOOOO!!” The voice returned and the statue’s eyes started glowing in an instant.

BANG!

Tao smashed headfirst into the shimmering gold wall that suddenly appeared before the stairs.

“No! I said NO! Sit!” The voice shouted as Tao bounced off the barrier and landed with a thump on the ground.

Tao slowly got up, dusted himself off and glared at the statue.

“Humpf.” Tao humphed again, turning around and leaving.

The statue’s eyes didn’t stop glowing this time until Tao was out of sight of the entrance to Purple Gem mountain.

A few minutes later, on Diamond mountain where a bridge connected to Starry Mountain which held the massive colosseum like amphitheater.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

Tao looked around the flat, grassy plain where on one side the mountain continued upwards, the Diamond Mountain Market occupied another other and the last two sides were vertical drops that met at the corner where the bridge was.

Seeing nobody around, Tao looked back to the bridge, since the path from the base of Purple Gem mountain was blocked he would just run across to Starry Mountain and then across the next bridge to Purple Gem mountain.

Tao ran forward.

“NooooOOO! What did I just say!” The disembodied voice spoke as the eyes of one of the two statues on either side of the bridge began glowing.

“Tch.” Tao spat in annoyance, but didn’t stop running forward until he connected with a pale golden barrier foot first.

“ARGH!!!” Tao shouted as he felt his foot almost break from the impact. He jumped around, hopping on one foot as he held his other in his hands.

“See! See! This is what happens when you don’t listen! You stupid boy!” The voice began as Tao seethed pained breaths.

“What even are you? An artifact spirit!?” Tao shouted.

“Yeah. Yeah, I am. I’m the artifact spirit of every mythical beast statue in the sect. In charge of managing the entrances to different areas.” The disembodied voice spoke pridefully. “You can call me Gardaia. Guardian of the sect gates.”

“Tch. Why is the path to Starry Mountain blocked off even?” Tao muttered.

“There are sparring arenas if you follow the path down Diamond Mountain to the Outer Sect courtyard. The Amptithetere is for special events only.” Gardaia’s voice grated on Tao’s ears as he screwed his eyes shut, furrowing his brows.

“Yeah, yeah. Complain all you want. If you reach the Essence Unity realm, I might care.” With that final quip, the statue’s eyes lost their glow.

After grumbling some more, Tao gave up trying to break into the Inner Sect.

“I told you.” The old ghost appeared and Tao promptly rolled his eyes. “Most Sects have denser and purer Qi in certain areas. If they allowed Outer Sect disciples in, they would just crowd the Inner Sect area and make it worse for everyone.” he continued to explain.

Tao walked back through the markets and across Clear Jade Bridge, then he paused at the intersection on Jade Road Mountain.

Should I go see Foria? Tao wondered.

“Bu Danxing! A mongrel like you actually dares enter the sect behind the clan’s back?” A crisp voice cut through the air.

Tao turned and followed the voice, finding the commotion.

A skinnier boy similar in age to Tao was on the ground clutching his gut, lying on the ground, while another wearing several golden ornaments with their outer sect robe stood over them, fist clenched.

A crowd was quickly gathering around the scene.