"It's just that this the only path towards the annual joint meeting if you come from our border region…"

"How do you know I came from there…?"

We weren't that close to the border region anymore, so him mentioning that only made me more suspicious.

"It's nothing really, my sect master seemed to have taken notice of your heroic act back in the 'Green Earth' village, so once he realized that you were probably heading to the annual join meeting, he asked me to invite you to travel with us, I'm just a messenger…"

'Oh...'

There were indeed quite a number of prescences close to this location, if it was that sect that everyone in the village talked about then it was indeed possible that they are just passing by…

"Hmmm…"

Thinking about the fact that I was going to head to the meeting with nothing in hand but an invalid sect identification jade plate, and also about me not knowing the distance left to reach there, it didn't really seem like a bad idea to join them…

"So, what do you say?"

"I don't see why not…"

"Alright follow me! Wait…"

Just as the elder apprentice of the sect seemed to have realized that I was on my legs while he was riding a horse, I was already running beside him with ease…

"Hmmm?"

I looked back at him in confusion…

"Nevermind…"

`~~`~~`~~`

A few seconds later…

The convoy of the sect that I didn't know its name yet wasn't actually anything fancy, it only consisted of two carriages and and a few men who rode their horses ahead of the carriages…

Well, but that didn't mean one could ignore that the horses that lead the carriages were actually a rare breed called 'Cold Wind' that would be normally hard to find in the Nature Domain.

"You can go ahead and board the master carriage, our sect master will welcome you inside."

"Alright…"

It wasn't overly bad to hitch a ride instead of taking the whole distance on my legs, since they took the trouble to invite me anyway…

"Oh, young hero! I'm very glad that you accepted my invite!"

Upon entering the stopped carriage, I saw a white haired man with a youthful face and a long white beard who hurried to greet me with a smile…

"I'm thankful for your thoughtfulness…"

I just nodding to return the gesture as I sat on an open spot not too far from the white haired man while silently using my perception to gauge the situation's actual meaning…

"haha, no need, no need, we of the 'White Spear Sect' have heard of your heroic deed which ended up saving a whole village, this was originally our duty to perform as the righteous sect of the border region, but as we were quite busy at the time we failed to act on time, so it's only right to give our thanks…"

As the white haired man spoke once again, it was easy to deduce that he was the sect master that guy spoke about, as his elemental presence had already reached the third stage…

On the other hand, while I was also on the same stage, I wasn't yet at his level as it was obvious that he didn't reach the third stage recently, he probably spent several years as a third stage expert already, mastering quite a bit of his 'Elemental Manipulation' technique…

"I was just passing by as I helped out of habit, not to mention that one of the assailants tried to attack me personally… Instead, it's more honorable of you as the sect master of the whole 'White Spear Sect' to care about such a trivial accident…"

He was obviously not telling the truth, there was no way a simple unknown man would be invited to join the overlord of the border region because he managed to repel the attack of a few petty thieves, it wasn't hard to tell that he might have already associated me with the 'Lightning of Acknowledgement' that flashed with Light's birth…

'He doesn't seem to hold any malicious thoughts yet though…'

While he seemed to have figured it out, it looked like he had decided to befriend or show goodwill as a bridge to get into whatever treasure I had…

'I really miss Light…'

Thinking about only reminded me of Light who was miraculously still sleeping to this point as if he has learned that bad habit from the dead weight pseudo sky dragon, he surprisingly didn't even wake up from his little pouch after I roared till everyone in this region should have heard it personally…

"Like I already said, it's part of our duty, so you don't need to be polite young…"

"Lan, you can call me Lan."

"Lan, what a great name! You can call this old man as old White as well!"

"Senior White."

"Alright, Alright, just do as you wish…"

Clap. Clap.

Old White, the sect master of the 'White Spear Sect' simply clapped his hands as the silent carriage already began to move again with no coachman to guide the horses as they were already intelligent enough to follow orders on their own…

`~~`~~`~~`

A few minutes after the convoy finally resumed their travel...

"So, young Lan, what are your goals for the year's joint meeting?"

Seemingly trying to start a conversation but also secretly probing, I was tempted to lead this calculative sect master along his assumptions…

"Nothing much, my master had finally let me leave the mountain after years of seclusion, he told me to take some time and experience the world, he also hinted that I should try going to the joint meeting once to meet other young talents, he didn't seem to put an emphasis on a certain rank that he wanted me to achieve or what sect should I join to get some experience so I will just try to relax and do what I can!"

"Oh!"

'This wasn't hard at all, it looks I read too much novels back then...'