A few months had passed since Chen Yating, Inner Elder of the 'Fish Gazing Sect', returned from Shuomen City. And every single passing day, he did not forget to thank the heavens for the sudden stroke of luck he had met there.

The Sect had been long divided between the expansionists and the managers. The former faction clamored for a more aggressive posture, including the creation of forward bases, against the permanent threat called 'Beast Lands'. While the latter considered that the best way for the Sect to proceed was to work on the territory they controlled already.

And as rare it could be, both of the factions had agreed on a single thing. That to proceed on of the two ways, they required more external and outer circle disciples. Normally the number was kept equal to the inner circle, but they would need far more labor force for whatever project was decided upon by the Sectmaster.

This made the Sect send a far bigger delegation than normal to Shuomen, and the task was to recruit at least a thousand members. Even if the normal qualifications, which were peak Soul realm and Mid Sage realm respectively for external and outer circles, had to be lessened.

Chen Yating, as one of the rare Inner Elders that was no open supporter for any of the two factions, was decided to be a good compromise as the leader of the delegation. Or maybe it was the fact that he had just fought with a few better-placed elders.

In any case, whatever the reason was, he and twelve inner disciples were sent out to Shuomen and were meant to spend the entire nine months of the Recruitment Period there. Sending the newly recruited disciples to the sect every month via the teleportation formation.

But when he was already despairing because no one was promising amongst the ones he recruited, which meant he would barely receive even any thanks for it. It was then that a strange-looking youngster suddenly approached him in the Exhibition Square. He would not deign himself to speak with some peak Soul realm rabble, but for some reason, he felt that he should.

And he never lamented that decision he made. A cultivator with a bloodline related to the Heavenly Peng! A cultivator with no limits except the resources and environment to advance. And from another plane, which made him have absolutely no attachments on this one!

Yuan Taotu was a bit surprised to be practically grabbed right after showing the crystal plate with his testing results. Still, Wu Guang, no Bai Qi was right that each required a suitable environment. And from what Elder Chen explained, the 'Fish Gazing Sect' was indeed the perfect one for him.

Specializing in the water element, they had a trove of special training locations attuned to it. Not to mention the aquatic beasts that they constantly fought, meaning plenty of beast cores. Having found several ways to improve, with no small help from Bai Qi, Yuan Taotu now knew that as a bloodline cultivator, he could absorb them entirely. Thus improving his cultivation in a temp incomparable to the one he had on the 'Seven Islands Plane'.

And he did, as today, just three months since he had arrived on the plane, Yuan Taotu was already a 3rd level Sage realm cultivator.

***

Seeing the tall, brown-skinned, and bald youngster that was approaching the 'Gazing Platform', one of the closed cultivation spots, the two inner elders standing guard went all smiles.

"Are you planning to enter the platform again, Disciple Yuan?" One of them, muscular and rugged asked while stepping forward.

Yuan Taotu simply responded with a nod, followed by a questioning hand sign as if asking if it was okay.

"Go ahead, your master, High Elder Cai has already notified us" The other elder, with a far more lean complexion, also approached.

"I will do so then. Thank you Elders" Yuan Taotu lightly nodded and proceeded to cross the golden glow of the formation.

A few moments later, after he had crossed it and was now separated from the Sect grounds, the muscular elder shook his head while saying

"When Chen Yating brought him in, I doubted that it could be true. And look at three successive breakthroughs, he is still planning to continue"

"I have to admit that someone that uses Spirit and Saint cores for cultivation is indeed amazing" The other elder followed suit.

"Status or not, his bloodline is the surprising thing. Who could think that some weak plane with nothing stronger than a Warrior Lord hid such a treasure? A shame that I wasn't the one to discover him" The muscular elder sighed while returning to his side of the formation gate.

"Indeed. Even if Chen Yating did not get him as a disciple, he still got a hefty reward. But you know, the fact that someone like High Elder Cai decided to even consider an unknown Soul realm as a disciple, that's the surprising thing" The lean elder also resumed his position and spoke while continuing to shake his head.

"Now it's just a matter if he will be able to prove himself and become one. After all, from what I heard, Zhuan Qigang is very angry that someone else is being the star now" The muscular elder spoke in a hushed tone, even though there was no one near.

"Zhuan Qigang? But he is about to reach the advanced stage of the 6th Warrior Lord level! Seems that not only proving, but also remaining alive until that moment will be hard" The other elder exclaimed in surprise, turning to his companion.

"From what I heard, Zhuan Qigang expected to become a personal disciple of no one else than High Elder Cai. After all, he was the only High Elder with no disciple" While saying this, the muscular also turned to face his companion.

And so, they continued to discuss the latest gossip of the Sect. A gossip that was shocking indeed. After all, the only one of the 17 High Elders that had no disciples had announced that he will be taking Yuan Taotu as one. Albeit he had been already providing him with resources and other help, the official announcement would be only made when Yuan Taotu entered the Warrior Lord realm.

The 'Delicate Forest Palace', the only regional 2nd tier power that accepted females only. And the only power to not claim almost any territory for themselves. Indeed, except for their grounds in the 'Goddess Clearing', the Sect had absolutely no lands, villages, or cities under their control or protection.

And still, one of the richest powers in the region.

Occupying the place where according to the local myths a Goddess personal garden was located in times long past. And being true to the myth, the Palace grew the rarest herbs and flowers. So rare that even Overlord-tier powers would sometimes place orders with them.

But the delicate character of their name wasn't a sign of weakness by far.

***

"Who's next?!" A long-haired girl that looked in her twenties, dressed in the floral robes of an outer disciple shouted. With a long sword held in her slender hands and standing in the center of a small stage - she appeared both beautiful and menacing. Almost like a combat ready fairy, however strange the combination of that words sounded.

"Who's next?!" The girl repeated her shout while looking at the dozens of similarly dressed girls around.

"Mmm, Sister Xue, your combat prowess is almost unmatched. It is not surprising that you have no other challengers around" A girl with extremely white skin and a crown of golden hair jumped on the stage while talking.

"Bai Min, you meant to say that you are my match? And will keep me company on the Petal Stage?" Xue Ru, as it was no one else than her asked with a smile.

"Obviously, with Sister Huang not participating, there is no one to stop you from getting that 11 win streak. Well, no one except me" Bai Min responded with a smile while summoning a long and thin blade that slightly resembled a thorn.

Xue Ru responded with a peal of pearly laughter and raised her lowered sword as well.

***

After the decision to separate was made, and the Gate Elder indicated her one of the recruiters of the 'Delicate Forest', she approached immediately. Different from the others, she had no unique qualities, except a talent for weapons. Still, after sparring against a similar, 5th level Sage realm, she was immediately invited as an outer circle disciple.

The Palace was an interesting place to be, at least for her who was born in a martial family and spent most of her life amongst soldiers and guards.

Here she discovered, unexpectedly for herself, a passion for herbs. So contrary to the other outer circle disciples that considered tending the gardens as something akin to punishment, she spent most of her free time in them. Not that she had much free time, as the Gate Elder had not lied at all.

The Palace could be called delicate, but the number of weapon techniques, and the level they had... was simply amazing.

Not everything was so nice, with the usual issues of any power being present. Thankfully, Xue Ru had grown surrounded by the palace and powerful clan powerplays, and so she managed to avoid most of the issues that new arrivals have.

And being slightly older than most in the outer circle, coupled with the mysterious origin of being from another plane, she did find herself a place here. And even a few people to call friends.

Deng Guiying had recommended Wei to follow the martial path and join a city in place of any other type of power. Not knowing anything about the local cities, Wei was about to choose randomly, but somehow a City power choose him itself.

'Zihoadao', or Pride Island, City. Located in the single island that the Region controlled, to the far north of Shuomen.

Since times long past, the solitary island, three hundred miles from the coast was a place for cultivators to duel. With time, a city was founded on it, but still, the tradition continued. And so, Pride Island City was home to several enormous arenas, as well to the ranking board of the region.

Such was the information that the recruiter of the Yi Company provided Wei after stumbling into him by chance. And it was enough for the latter to understand that it was the perfect city for him.

The Yi Company initially sounded fishy, with disconnected things like mercenary work, trading runs, a betting house, and even city guard being mixed into one. Still, after working for them during the last few months, Wei's initial opinion had made a full turn.

He had been assigned to a team of five, and they had completed seven missions already. And by now, he would say that acting as protection for a young master was the most tiring of all.

"Wei! We got a new assignment" Pei Hao, a Sage cultivator from his team poked his head into the common room where Wei was having an early drink.

"So fast?" Wei raised his head and asked with doubt.

The Yi Company acted more like a band of rogue cultivators than a power, but still, they were a 3rd tier power, and the most powerful one in the entire city as well. Thus their numbers were actually in the thousands and having a mission right after finishing one was very rare. Especially for a weaker team like theirs, with Wei just having broken to the 1st level of the Sage realm, and their commander being a simple 1st level Warrior Lord.

"Yeah, it seems that a young master needs to be protected from himself again" Pei Hao's battered face was followed by his heavily built body as he entered the room. He had a strange manner to walk, with his head always a full step ahead of his body, which made him appear more like a long-neck beast than a man. Not that it was surprising, with him being one of the rare crossbreeds between a Beastman and a human.

"Oh, heavens why?" Wei could only look up and try to avoid swearing.

"Hahahaha, got you! No, we will be going after a beast. A nearby farm was attacked yesterday by a pack of Blood Wolves" Pei Hao admired Wei's dismay for a few seconds before beginning to laugh and explaining the true task.

"Blood Wolves? Hmm, it's the third pack this month already" Wei said while getting up.

"Yes, and the young Lord thinks that we have a new beast king in the forest. But let's go, you know that Yi Na will have both our heads if we are late" Pei Yao waited until Wei was ready and then began to walk ahead of him.