In a faraway location, a small group of people was standing in a certain place. The atmosphere was tense, everyone had a solemn expression on their face while talking.
“What should we do… the Sect Master is still in seclusion, it would be unwise to interrupt him.”
One of the old men in the room said in a grim voice. He then glanced at the others that were with him, this being three other men at his age and an old woman.
“No, we should report this as soon as we can! What if he punishes us for not doing it swiftly enough.”
The woman said while trembling slightly, the simple thought of that made this person panic outwardly.
“Yes the information was dire, but… will you be the one to report it? How will you explain yourself?”
The old woman averted her gaze from the man and quieted down. No one here was willing to be the bringer of bad news, everyone was afraid of how the leader would react to it. The group of five was standing around a table, on that table lay a crumbled tablet with the name ‘Yang Kai’ written on it.
“Maybe we can withhold the exact time of this event transpired?”
A slightly chubby man said while whipping his forehead with some white cloth.
“Can’t we put the blame on a junior member, just tell him that they mixed things up?”
The man laughed slightly while the others looked at him strangely. Throwing another person under the bus wasn’t something they were against, but not like they had a reason to do that just yet. They weren’t really at fault here and needed more information before deciding. Before the group could come to an agreement another person burst into the room while shouting.
“Bad news, bad news!”
This man’s eyes were wide open and he was carrying a similar-looking tablet that was there on the table. It was cracked in the middle and he was holding each piece in a separate hand.
“What is this? You dare to come into this meeting that we the Grand Elders of the sect are having!”
The man stopped and looked like a frog was stuck down his throat, he quickly regained his composure and dropped down to his knees, his head hitting the floor.
“I do not dare Grand Elders! New circumstances have come to light, Elder Cuifen had ordered me to gather information about the ‘situation’. A-a new problem has arisen.”
The man visibly shook while not looking up, the five people in this room were all Grand Elders of the sect and were of the Nascent Soul level. He wouldn’t dare to speak any more than this without their approval.
“Yes, I gave him that order, but you were supposed to be discreet!”
The old woman glared at the man that had burst in through the door, but her rage soon subsided as she knew that he probably had a reason for that.
“Speak, what has happened? I hope for your own sake that it’s important.”
The woman scoffed and then sat down at the table with the other three elders.
“Y-yes, I thank you for your benevolence grand elder!”
The man moved his head up and then presented the broken tablet so that everyone could see what was written on it. The moment he brought the two pieces together the characters for ‘Wu Ming’ could be seen by the grand elders.
The five elders were visibly shocked, one of them slammed the table while shouting.
“That bastard Wu Ming is dead? How is that possible, he was one of us!”
The elders looked at the person that was showing them the broken tablet. They all could feel that this was really the spirit tablet that belonged to one of the more fearsome grand elders from their sect.
“T-there is more, by the Grand Elder’s order we looked into lord Yang Kai’s whereabouts. We have reason to believe that the young lord had left the sect not too long ago together with Grand Elder Ming. Their location was Jade Grass City that is situated in one of the lower regions.”
The man hastily recited everything he knew, he brought up that the two left for the auction house about two weeks ago. They had information that the two did indeed arrive at their destination and that the so-called Dao festival for the lesser clans was held there.
“Then all communications halted you say?”
The man that was asked nodded while replying.
“Yes, we have been given a report that the region had gone dark, we are not able to reach the outer sect that is located there or any of the sect members that reside there.”
One of the Grand Elders rubbed his beard while thinking, his eyebrows slowly changing directions.
“That is indeed peculiar… sounds like some organized attack by some other sect.”
“I agree, someone had to have planned an ambush for either the young master or Wu Ming, maybe even both.”
The Grand Elders all quieted down, this was turning out to be worse than expected. The Sect Master would have to be given this information, a nascent soul grand elder had just perished. There was also suspicious movement in the background, they had to be really careful now. These people were naturally suspicious, there were many reasons that could have lead to Wu Ming’s death. They hoped that it was only some kind of internal struggle rather than with another sect.
“We should report this to the Sect Leade…”
“Bad news…BAD NEWS!”
“What is it now!?”
Just before the man could finish his sentence another man in a Dark Palm sect robe burst in through the door. The five elders looked ticked of which made the man instantly drop down to his knees right next to the other man.
“R-reporting… there has been trouble at one of the Sect’s treasured sites! I-it has suffered an attack by a nascent soul enemy!”
One of the Grand Elders slammed his fist on the table which made the wood that it was made from a crack.
“What is this, are we truly being attacked? Who is this person that attacked us? What is the site that was attacked? What of the damages?”
The man shouted out questions in rapid succession that made the Dark Palm member’s eyes spin.
“The site that was attacked is the Glacial Gorge, where the sects spirit stone mine is located.”
The people that were in the room gasped, this mine was one of the more lucrative places that the sect had it was even protected by a nascent soul elder at all times.
“T-the assailant has been identified as…”
The Dark Palm member stopped before saying the name, the pause clearly noticed by the Grand Elders in the room.
“Well, who was it? Who dared to attack our mine!”
The man that was kneeling shivered somewhat before finally replying, the information causing mostly confusion among these elders.
“The attacker has been identified as, Grand Elder Wu Ming!”
Everyone looked at the man with a funny expression on their faces. The five nascent soul elders glanced at the other man that was holding the tables, the name ‘Wu Ming’ clearly written on it. Another hand smacked the meeting room table turning it into dust, the two men that came with the bad news jumped away in fright.
“What nonsense are you spouting, Wu Ming’s spirit tablet is broken!”
The man kept kneeling while replying in fright.
“T-this is the report I was given!”
“Explain in detail, what happened there! How long ago was this, is this ‘Wu Ming’ still there?”
Another elder threw his two cents in, the five were sure that something had to be off with this story. Either this was some kind of imposter or Wu Ming was scheming something behind their backs.
“Yes, the report stated this…”
………………………..
A while earlier, somewhere out in Dark Palm sect territory.
“I’m getting close to the destination, I should change now.”
Matt came to an abrupt stop while flying through the air. He glanced at the surrounding area, pine-like trees that were covered in snow-filled his vision. He landed on the ground and made sure that there weren’t any people in the area peeking in on him.
“This probably isn’t going to work… but better than just going in guns blazing.”
He took out the spatial ring that belonged to the nascent soul elder that he had killed not too long ago. He took out one of the robes that were placed there. He changed into it, a large dark palm insignia was now on his back. His facial features soon shifted and his body began getting smaller. Who walked out from the snowy forest was someone that was the spitting image of Wu Ming the Dark Palm Sect Grand elder.
“Hmmm… testing, testing… you are courting death! … Almost…how about… I, your Father…”
Matt made it sure to have the exact same voice as the man he killed. He could mimic his appearance and maybe some of his mannerisms but he couldn’t do the same with his cultivation method. He also had the dark sword to protect himself with, he would have to hide his lightning and divine techniques while being at that mine. This was the best plan that he came up with, which was probably better than just barging in there.
“This should at least give me the drop on them.”
He slumped his shoulders forward and took into the air once again. He placed the new won sword to his side and was sure to look as constipated as he could.
‘They shouldn’t ask too many questions if I look pissed of, right?’
He was close to the spirit stone mine, his map even started picking up some life signals. The moment he pushed into the nascent soul level his system also had an upgrade. His map range had increased and it even started giving him more info. The number of colors that the dots had increased, the color pallet showed him in what cultivation realm the person there was. If they were hostile or dangerous they would just flash instead of appearing in red.
‘I also got that free technique with my skill tree.’
Going back a week, after Matt had pushed into the nascent soul realm the system provided him some rewards. He received a free skill for managing to cultivate into a greater realm on his own without using the systems help. This was something new, as the system never really rewarded him for doing things himself. He never got anything when he was going through the core formation realms on his own. This made him think that it could be another change that happened after the secret ground adventure.
The skill here was the Soul-Beast one. This was the reason he had it ready so early after reaching his new realm of power. He even received a small creation kit with a couple of options to design his monster. The choice was limited to some beast types, like large monster birds like a phoenix, flying serpents with wings, even a giant option. Matt was still someone influenced by his western earth values so he went with a popular choice and created a dragon.
There wasn’t much to choose when it came to the features. The dragon was big and golden from the get-go, probably due to the way his cultivation method was upgraded. He was able to change the eye color and choose how bulky the dragon’s body would be. The body choices changed the statics making the beast be more speed or power-based. He went with the middle choice not wanting a glass cannon or a slow tank, an all-rounder is what he decided on.
While Matt was remembering his Soul-Beast choices he had finally arrived at his destination. He saw a wide gorge, it was all covered in ice but looked like it was made from blue crystals instead. There were many holes in these crystal-like walls, probably leading into the mine shafts inside. There were settlements on both sides of the large gorge. These buildings looked rather plain and boring, probably only being used as cheap housing for the people working there.
From the top, rocky stairs with ramparts were leading into the previously spotted large holes. He could see people moving back and forth while pulling out carts filled with rough looking ores. Even from here he could feel spiritual energy coming from those ores, small crystals were sticking out of those chunks which made Matt’s eyes glisten.
‘Time to get this show on the road.’
He thought while his face went into grumpy cultivator mode, the people below slowly getting aware of his existence.