"A protector and its army majorly number between 100 and 500 men, depending on the protectors pattern of thwarting threats…

In fact, the most successful protector in history had only twenty men under his tutelage, and they have dealt great blows to empires and even thwarted entire invasions before the military forces could arrive" Ki Ting spoke with a fanatic gleam shimmering in her eyes…

"I can see you really want to become one…" Min Hong smirked at Ki Ting who gave a furious blush before pouting;

"Yeah, like reaching the Saint Stage is as easy as drinking water… Simply merge a wrong soul with the right one and you will explode…"

"Then think about merging nine of those together into one, the odds of survival is almost zero…" Ki Ting spoke with a downcasted tone;

"Well, you simply have to start preparing for the Saint Stage the moment you form your first nascent soul, and make sure that all the souls you form are in the right sequences…"

Min Hong spoke leisurely with a smirk still plastered on his face, but little did he know that all the disciples around him actually got enlightened by that seemingly simple statement he had just made;

"I think it would be better if experts start with the five elements of nature and then move into their nearest form of duality…"

Min Hong stopped there deciding to keep the rest of the information as premium content, and just as he did so, he saw the gaze of the rest of the group fixated on him thinking he was going to continue, but his smirk simply elongated into a smug grin instead;

"Hehe, that was the pinnacle of wickedness… it's just like placing a bottled grains in front of a bird…"

Little Ming's laughing voice sounded within Min Hong's mind causing him to smile internally…

"Um, the second perk of being an intern protector?" Min Hong brought the attention of the group back to reality…

"Oh, yeah- sorry…"

"Um secondly, is because there will be given the chance to join the imperial academy, and because the Imperials wouldn't want to issues arising because they are poaching talents from other sects, the disciple would then be co-owned by both the Imperial Academy and the Sect the disciple is from, depending on if the disciple wants to completely switch over to the Imperial Academy, simply return to his/her sect, or still wants to have ties to the sect which built them into someone worthy of being scouted by the Imperial Academy…"

"Then finally, the top ten of strongest of the Dogon Empire would then leave the empire to the go for the entrance selection competition of the Super Sects…"

Xiao Gui took over from Ki Ting who had explained her part of expertise;

"Super Sects?"

Min Hong asked with the shake of a head and a deep sigh when he realized how his knowledge about the world actually was compared to what people of his age were actually supposed to know;

"Well, hearing it from others is simply much better than reading history in the library and studying maps…" Xiao Gui continued;

"I prefer to listen to people summarize the several regions present within the empire, and then when it is time for me to head over to these places, the map simply simplifies what I have already known making it easier for me to understand the terrain and better plan my travel route…"

Xiao Gui spoke before Gong Yi finally took over once again;

"As you know, the terrain of every continent is split into; village, town, kingdoms, empire, dynasty and Super Sects…"

"The villages are ruled by tribes, while the towns are controlled by large families, the kingdoms by clans, the empire by super clans, the dynasty by super sects, and finally the entire continent is ruled by the alliance of these super sects…"Gong Yi explained;

"The Dogon Empire, East Wind Empire, Jun Empire and the Guan Empire all from a Dynasty controlled by a single Super Sect; The Divine Sage Sect…"

"But I think all that information could be furtherly spoken about after we have even managed to make it into top ten, otherwise we will just be wasting our time and energy with all these talks…" Gong Yi continued;

"As of now, we are only seven and we need three more disciples to join our ranks, so we can start preparing for the Imperial Seeding Tournament in about six months' time…"

Gong Yi then turned to gaze straight into Min Hong's eyes, but he was stunned to find out that Min Hong didn't even flinch in the face of his solemn and intense gaze, but rather still had a grin plastered on his face with an aura of leisure, nonchalance and unbothered swagger around him…

It was like he was not interested in the competition in any way…

"Also, this means a lot to the sect, as we have always been at the bottom of the top five sects for the past five decades, so we are really hoping to elevate out spot even by a single spot…"

"In return, not only does our sect get more resources from the Imperials, they also gain more prestige which leads to more influx of talented disciples and we also get a fraction of all of those also…"

Gong Yi spoke clearly looking out for his stepfather/master and ensuring that the sect was at least elevated during his reign…

It was more like Gong Yi was more intent on repaying the sect leader's years of kindness from this competition rather than giving a rat's ass about the sect itself, and Min Hong knew that…

But for Min Hong, his plan was on an even larger, deeper and grander scale than that…

He was now extremely interested in this competition…

If he could enter the army of mad saints 'the main military force of the Long Super Clan' and quickly rise to the ranks of having a say in how things are being run there, then that means he also had a say in what the Long Super Clan does to a certain extent…

Add that to the princess Cui and her Cui Super Clan that makes two insanely powerful allies…

When you combine that to being a protector and having the favor of the Imperials, which will not only ensure that every super clans flocking after him join his allied forces, it will also ensure the support of the imperials themselves…

Having these four allies alone, was enough for him to take over the East Wind Empire…

Then after getting into the Divine Sage Sect, it will ultimately ensure the security of the East Wind Empire and the Dogon Empire, and if he could possible rise through the ranks in that Super Sect, then he might get to a stage where he would possess the right amount of power, support and resources to merge the two Empires together into one alliance…

Min Hong thought about all of this and was raring to get started, but he also understood that before he can guarantee all that, he needed to get his hands on the Nihility Essence Flame, but he couldn't just steal it, or barge into the place and take it…

Thus, he had to do something to warrant such a level of access, and simply asking the crown prince when he had barely even done anything to merit it would be a wild fantasy…

Thus whilst they were speaking, Min Hong was already daydreaming of being the sovereign of the merger of two Empires, and this made his blood churn with sheer anticipation and determination…

His mind came back to reality just in time to hear Gong Yi mention;

"So, I was going to ask-"

"Stop there… I'm in!"

He spoke with so much excitement and enthusiasm that Gong Yi's group became instantly stunned…

They have not even explained the rewards they were going to receive from it, but this guy was already willing to join in?

Wasn't that a little too easy?

If they had known he would agree so quickly with this much enthusiasm, wouldn't they have just told him about it when they settle the matter between him and Bai Gui?

But now that he had agreed, there was no need to keep thinking about what was and what could be…

"Great, but we still have two slots left, and I have to start looking for two more disc-"

"Don't bother, I already have two candidates in mind…" Min Hong said with a smile;

"Oh, cool… But we will have to go see them in person…" Gong Yi was taken aback for the third time today…

This guy in front of him seems to have the solution to most of the hiccups they have mentioned today;

"Oh, no problem… Do you want to go now?" Min Hong asked…

"Sure, if it's fine with you…" Gong Yi replied;

"Alright… We are heading towards District 21…" Min Hong sat up and prepared to leave;

"District 21!?" Ki Ting blurted in shock;

"Isn't that the outer court!?" Xiao Gui also followed suit;

"Don't tell me the person you want us to allow into our group is an outer court disciple!?" Rin Chen joined in, but Min Hong simply smirked at them;

"Less than four weeks ago, I was also an ordinary outer court disciple, you know…"

"We are simply going to go take a look, we haven't decided on anything yet…" Gong Yi defused the entire situation before following behind Min Hong…

When they got outside, Gong Yi whistled and a large figure swooped down from the clouds and the moment it landed, Little Ming trembled slightly as she blurted into Min Hong's mind;

"Now, I know why this guy gives me the creeps!"

"That is a Void hawk King!"

"Hmm!?"

"What are they?" Min Hong asked;

"Their ancestors hunted Void Serpents for sport; we are like their natural bloodthirsty enemies!" Little Ming revealed…