Elder Cai quickly crossed the enormous city, flying while carrying the boy behind him with his spiritual energy.
The elder token at his waist glowed faintly, recognized by the city's anti-flight formations, allowing him to advance at great speed through the sky instead of being forced down to the ground.
He didn't stop nor explain anything to the Young Master Su he was carrying, simply following the route as fast as possible.
But for Aotian, who had thousands of minds—including several powerful Void-Tier minds—that wasn't any different from a slow stroll. He could see everything and analyze everything in detail even at high speed.
Besides, the body elder Cai carried was a Divine Incarnation with late-stage Soul Formation cultivation, far stronger than that elder's early-stage cultivation.
Thus, he observed the entire majestic city they passed through with ease in those few minutes of flight that, in the eyes of others, would have been nothing but a blur.
Soon, they arrived before a massive plaza, where a large gate made of ancient wood floated, emitting a majestic and solemn aura.
In front of it, several cultivators in black robes guarded the entrance.
The gate wasn't fully closed, and there was a large gap through which many people could easily pass.
As soon as elder Cai appeared before the gate carrying him, the guards only bowed slightly upon seeing the token, saying nothing else.
The elder also remained silent and stepped directly into that world, bringing the "Young Master Su" with him.
Aotian only felt the world spin and, moments later, found himself in a completely different place.
The sensation was similar to the short-distance teleportation he created in the Hundred Thousand Beasts Tower, except this one was even more disorienting.
Quickly regaining his senses, he analyzed the environment around him.
There, he noticed it was still an enormous city, and the plaza was almost identical to the one before the previous entrance gate. The main differences lay in the people on the streets, who had much stronger cultivations and wore far more powerful, rich, and imposing equipment.
But before he could continue analyzing, he was once again dragged by elder Cai to another place nearby.
It was a huge plaza with hundreds of circles filled with runes and array patterns on the ground. Those circles reminded Aotian of something.
'These are… long-distance teleportation circles! Just like the one I saw in the Shadowfallen Burial Mountain!' He took a deep breath upon seeing them.
Even if he sold all the materials of the current Infinite Dao sect, he likely wouldn't be able to buy what was needed to set one of these up—assuming he even found someone willing to sell them, which would only be possible in the central continent.
Now, however, they were placed there as if they were common, hundreds of them, used constantly and casually.
Of course, what Aotian was considering were only the common materials he had stolen or acquired in his calculations, not counting those obtained through the Equivalent Exchange ability, such as the large quantity of high-grade spiritual and elemental stones, or the Transcendent Sky-Lotus.
While he was thinking, he was dragged without delay to stand before one teleportation circle.
Elder Cai pulled out his token and showed it to the guard beside it. As soon as the guard saw it, he bowed deeply, clasping his fists with respect.
"Greetings, elder. Where do you wish to be teleported?" the guard quickly asked.
"Send us to the Cai clan in the Green Dragon zone," he spoke without hesitation as he stepped onto the circle with the 'young master Su.'
Aotian noticed that other people paid before stepping onto the circle, but it seemed that an elder didn't need to do so.
"No problem, elder. I will teleport you now."
"Mm."
With those words, a flash of light appeared, and the two vanished.
…
For the second time, Aotian felt that disorienting sensation. When it passed, he found himself in a large city, though far less majestic than the previous one.
At that moment, he realized two things.
The first was that this small world was simply enormous—so huge that it was divided into regions and cities.
The second was that he apparently wasn't going to the sect he had expected.
Looking at the elder, the young master Su seemed to hesitate, but still asked after gathering his courage.
"I-I… elder Cai. Where are we?" he asked, apparently unsettled and afraid of offending the man.
Of course, Aotian had no fear of that elder, but he needed to keep up appearances to enter the Celestial Mist sect.
The elder continued carrying him in tense silence, but after a few moments, he at last explained.
"A Void Refinement sect is not like the sects below that realm."
"As we possess a vast private world, to manage it better, each elder of the sect can create and administer a city. These cities receive quotas and send talents to the sect."
"The Cai clan is relatively old and has had several elders in the sect throughout its history. Therefore, every decade, during the annual recruitment, we can send ten candidates to undergo the admission process of the Celestial Mist sect, but only the elites manage to pass the challenge. As for someone like you…"
He looked at Aotian—or rather, at young master Su—and a trace of disdain appeared in his eyes.
"… forget it. You wouldn't be worthy even if there were a thousand slots in my clan, and you certainly wouldn't pass the sect test if you were nominated."
There was no mockery on his face, only the clear view that he considered him trash.
Pretending, Aotian began trembling and shrinking back as he looked at the elder.
"I-I… then… then…" he stuttered, apparently confused and distressed.
"Silence."
The elder spoke simply, and young master Su immediately fell silent as if he had been shouted at, continuing only to tremble.
Without looking again at that "useless boy," he explained:
"Don't think I'm being petty and giving you a quota you couldn't possibly pass. Not even the greatest talents of my clan have high chances of being approved when they take the sect's test."
"I truly value the life your ancestor helped me preserve, and my repayment would not be something small and useless. Every thousand years, my clan receives a quota that allows one disciple to be accepted into the Celestial Mist sect even if they fail the recruitment."
"This slot is extremely precious. I had to argue fiercely with my clan's elders and call in many favors just to obtain it, all so I could offer it as repayment to one of Brother Su's descendants for the debt I owe."
He placed his hands behind his back and landed with Aotian in front of a large residence.
Walking forward with indifference and coldness, he finished.
"This quota will be available when the next recruitment takes place in five months, and you will use it when the time comes."
"After that, the karma between your clan and me will be severed."
…
Back at the Infinite Dao sect, far away on the Beixu continent, time flowed slowly as the sect continued its rapid progress.
Within its gates, as the months passed, the ranking board of the Hundred Thousand Beasts Tower grew more and more filled.
The difficulties varied, but aside from Aotian, Rihai, and Lei Yun, no challenger of extreme level or above had appeared so far.
Even so, a few extremely talented core disciples managed to overcome the challenge on "hard" difficulty, which consisted of surviving for one minute against 5% of Aotian's combat ability.
They tried to prolong the fight as much as possible, using defensive spells and talismans while running, and even then it was far from easy.
Another change was the presence of female leadership within the sect.
The female disciples began seeking them out to solve their problems. Although their doubts were no different from those of the male disciples, the women always preferred to ask the female elders, as they felt more comfortable, familiar, and at ease with them.
Likewise, boys preferred to ask male elders.
Of course, there were the perverts who hardly had any doubts and wanted to interact with ulterior motives. But Aotian had no patience with people coveting their bodies—especially the female ones, toward whom he was more protective.
Thus, many punishments and point deductions were applied before the message became clear: everyone was to abandon improper thoughts, whether men or women, directed at female or male elders.
The presence of other pavilions also stood out more and more in the sect, increasing the variety of skills and proficiencies among the disciples.
The Spear Pavilion, which had strong competitiveness with the Sword Pavilion, emerged and attracted many disciples.
Likewise, the Body Refinement Pavilion and its benefits also became very popular among beasts and cultivators.
And the two special pavilions: the Puppet Pavilion, which could recruit disciples from the Refinement Pavilion and the Formation Pavilion, functioning almost like a secondary pavilion; and the Shadow Pavilion, which could recruit from any pavilion, was also a constant topic of interest and discussion in the sect.
The difference was that the latter served as a main pavilion, and if a disciple wanted to focus on a specific area, they could enter other pavilions as secondaries. But to join it, a disciple could only be invited, not choose, which differed from the other pavilions.
Outside the sect, various changes were also occurring on the continent under Aotian's orders, but the main news attracting attention was the one announced four months earlier in all cultivation cities of the Beixu continent.
The announcement was:
"The Infinite Dao sect will be conducting its recruitment in four months. All interested individuals should be present at location X, X days before the start. A flying ship from the Infinite Dao sect will take you to the destination, and in case of non-approval, the ship will bring you back."
"The only requirements for recruitment are: possessing real spiritual roots and good character."
Obviously, aside from the excitement over the continent's sovereign sect recruiting, it was the requirements that left everyone incredulous.
There was no requirement for the quality of the roots, nor for the number of elements. They simply had to exist. As long as they weren't scattered roots, anyone could apply.
There were also no age requirements.
When the requirements were announced, they caused a huge uproar in every cultivation city. With such conditions, basically almost everyone in those cities was eligible.
Many were suspicious of the intentions of that sect which had been declared overnight as the suzerain of the entire continent.
But with the support of the Golden Core sects of each domain, which for some reason had surrendered to that sect, people felt more confident and willing to try.
There were even rumors that immortals (Nascent Soul cultivators) existed in that sect, which made everyone even more excited.
Perhaps innate talent was a barrier for common cultivators, but for immortals, snapping their fingers was all it would take to grant someone perfect roots.
If Nascent Soul cultivators heard such words, they probably wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry. As if being called immortals wasn't enough, people still thought they were omnipotent.
But funnily enough, in their ignorance, the people of the Beixu continent actually guessed what Aotian intended to do.
Thus, a little over five months after Rihai advanced to the Nascent Soul realm, one year had passed since the sect's planning had been completed.
And with that, the date for both the external competition and the sect recruitment… arrived.