"Each and everyone of you have been personally selected by the elders of the inner sect as those who stand above your peers so walk with your backs straight and your chests proud as you represent our sect in the tournament. In order to help strengthen your cultivation and prepare you for the tournament all of you will receive one hundred essence supplement pills, ten mid grade demon cores, ten low grade lightning talismans and a single channel nourishment pill. All of these items are only for your use as chosen and a spell has been placed onto them so that only the first people who touch them are able to use them or else they'll explode. The tournament begins in six months but since our sect is located too far from the Crimson Sky Sect we will be setting out at the break of dawn tomorrow. So if you have anything you need to do, I suggest you get it down and prepare for our journey" Elder Jong said as he waved his hand causing thousands of rays of light to soar through the air and arrive in front of each of the chosen.
"Normally the lightning talismans already explode." Cai Cao laughed as he pocketed the items that were given out.
"Those lightning talismans can probably bathe our entire courtyard in lighting for a few minutes. Although they are low grade talismans they pack enough power to turn early fragment realm cultivators to a char and can probably heavily injure those in the later stages" Cai Cao replied.
"They won't go off unless you inject your essence into them and splash some blood on them." Cai Cao laughed as he watched how carefully Zhang was while putting away the talismans.
Thus the gathering concluded and the elders took shot into the skies and disappeared into the mountains. Within the Misty Mountain Sect there were generally two types of elders, those who stay in the vicinity of the gathering halls and manage the various facilities of the sect and then there are those who do closed off training in the mountains that only appear when there was a task that needed to be done.
"Let's go sell off that demonic core. We can use the essence stones when we leave the sect and now that we both received low grade demonic cores from the sect we won't have to worry about lacking cultivation materials." Cai Cao said to Zhang as they made their way out of the hall.
"It should be at least a mid grade core so I'm guessing if we directly sold it then we'd be able to get about ten thousand essence stones? If we auction it then there's a chance of getting about thirteen thousand?" Cai Cao replied with some estimates.
"Ten thousand essence stones with each essence stone worth around five hundred gold coins, so a total of fi-five million gold coins!" Zhang said as money signs appeared in his eyes. Although Zhang's family had been really well off and five million gold coins was something that he had seen before, it had been a long standing belief in his clan that if there was money to be made then there was no such thing as enough money.
So while they would be filled with glee from even picking up a single copper coin from the ground, the members of Zhou clan would still spend lavishly if they wished.
Squeezing their way through the crowd, Zhang and Cai Cao headed to a place to sell their large demonic core. It did not take long for them to locate the outer sect's auction house and made their way inside. This auction house was entirely ran by the sect and made it possible for rarer items such as Zhang and Cai Cao's demonic core to be sold.
"We would like to place something up for auction." Cai Cao said after he and Zhang arrived at a service counter.
"I guess we will have to auction if off after we get back since we have to set out tomorrow." Zhang said to Cai Cao.
"Of course we can." The clerk said with a smile.
After scanning the crystal cards with another crystal card the clerk returned the cards to Cai Cao and the demonic core was deposited.
"As long as we are within the southern region essence stones can be sent and stored within these cards magically." Cai Cao said, giving Zhang a brief explanation of how the crystal cards work. Basically, essence stones could be sent directly to an account attached to the cards and stored in the Southern Region's central bank. This made it so that large transactions could be easily processed without the need to transport essence stones out in the open.
As Zhang and Cai Cao each sat atop a large boulder within their courtyard and refined one demonic core after another, Zhang could slowly feel his body become stronger. It was not until he had absorbed three demonic core did Zhang feel a sudden change in his body.
"Congrats on stepping into the fragmented realm." Cai Cao said as he noticed Zhang's body was undergoing a transformation that happens to everyone when they first enter into the fragmented realm.
The reason as to why the fragment realm was called the fragment realm was because of the countless crystallized shards of essence that would form within the cultivators body. The moment these shards come together and bind with one another the cultivator would have entered the elementary realm. As more of these shards form and bind together, they'll eventually form into a core which would symbolize a cultivator's ascent into the core realm.
Sadly although Zhang had reached the fragmented realm, battle prowess wise he was still deemed inferior to his peers because some of his essence points were still blocked.
Like it's name states the channel nourishment pill is used to help enlarge and nourish essence channels which would allow cultivators to circulate more essence. Such pills although not rare are very pricey and usually only have miniscule effects, but nonetheless they are still helpful.
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So as Zhang, Cai Cao and their pups descended the mountain they spotted the other chosen moving together in large groups. It seemed that many of the chosen had banded together unlike Zhang and Cai Cao who kind of isolated themselves from the rest of the sect.
Once they arrived at the Outer Sect Gathering Hall, an extravagant and majestic looking boat came into the view. But unlike any other boat, this one was floating in the air.
As people began to show up one after the other, the airship began to lower its elevation until it landed on the ground. Once everyone was accounted for, the chosen began to descend the airship.
Over the next five months besides stopping to restock on supplies the airship would not stop or else the delays may cause them to miss the start date of the tournament.
The airship pierced through the shroud of mist that blanketed the mountains year round until finally it was outside the boundaries of the sect. Once they were outside of the sect, an abundance of warmth showered down from above. Since there was no more mist to hinder the sun, it was free to bathe everyone in it's warmth.
"Hey quit daydreaming, let's go check out our lodgings and get the pups settled." Cai Cao laughed as he placed his hand on Zhang's shoulder.
"Well this sure is convenient, now I won't have to go look for you." Zhang laughed as he pushed open a set of wooden doors that led into a small room that would be his home for the next five months.
Thus began a new adventure, an adventure that will lead to new beginnings.