"Hohoho, I can understand them, it's true that seeing Yuelan's attitude… it can give a shock," laughed Theren once he was alone with Mei.
Grand Elder Mei gently shook her head, a fond smile curving her lips as she thought about her 'daughter', "True, for these disciples it can be shocking, but they'll get used to it…"
Grand Elder Theren looked at the old woman beside him and sighed, "That they will, but it's not like they have much of a choice, Yuelan won't be changing anytime soon, so they can only grow accustomed to their lazy Sect Master…"
A wry smile crossed Mei's features, "Changing… it's true she won't be doing that anytime soon. Even with all our efforts we were never able to make her less lazy, in truth it only became worse, and I don't think it will be changing any time in the future either!"
"True, Mei… true…" On that note the two old cultivators fell into silence for a while, and after exchanging a glance they both suddenly 'disappeared'.
The two Grand Elders left the Sword Assembly, for with the Sect's highest combat power—the Sect Master—leaving the Wandering Sword Sect, they needed to take the appropriate measures and prepare so that the Sect wouldn't be caught unprepared and defenseless in case something happened.
And this was exactly why the three Grand Elders, together with several other high-level members, would remain behind to make sure the Sect wasn't left unguarded while Qiu Yuelan escorted these members of the Wandering Sword Sect to the Realm of Broken Skies.
***
Meanwhile, as the Grand Elders were on the move, Qiu Yuelan continued walking forward with all the cultivators following after her, and this went on until the lazy mature beauty reached a large open space.
At which point she seemed satisfied and raised her hand, and in that instant a flash of light erupted and it appeared!
Flash.
Suddenly a titanesque flying sword materialized, and instead of crashing to the ground it remained suspended, floating in midair even though there was nothing to support it.
This flying sword was absolutely immense, at least a 100 meters long and more than 15 meters wide, broad enough that hundreds of people could have easily stood upon it without feeling cramped.
Its blade was a striking metallic grey that caught and reflected the light, giving the weapon an imposing aura, an aura only amplified by its sheer size and by the nearly imperceptible 'weight' that descended upon the place the moment it appeared.
"Whoah!"
"A Flying Artifact!"
"One of this size… it should at least be one at the Core Formation level or maybe… even higher?"
The disciples—especially the Inner Disciples—were awed by the sight of this majestic sword and stood rooted in place, their eyes fixed on the colossal artifact, but—
Sect Master Qiu Yuelan didn't seem to care an iota about their awe or anybody's reaction, for with a lazy and bored expression on her visage she simply leapt onto the flying sword.
From there she began strolling across its vast surface, looking for a comfortable spot to settle herself for the 'voyage' they would soon undertake atop the artifact, entirely unconcerned with the confused Inner Disciples below or with the wry smiles of the higher members who knew her well.
Fortunately the lazy beauty remembered at the last moment that she was supposed to be the Sect Master, and just before disappearing from their sight her languid voice resounded, "Elder Ren, you are in charge."
Elder Ren, an old man with a 6th layer Core Formation base and wearing the recognizable Taoist Robes of a Core Elder, exchanged a wry smile with another elder before stepping forward, his voice resounding as he began issuing instructions.
He directed the Inner Disciples, Core Disciples, and even the other Core Elders, none of whom made the slightest fuss as they all obediently 'climbed' onto the titanesque sword and settled into meditative positions atop its massive blade.
Vwooooom!
Once everyone was in place Elder Ren gave the signal to Sect Master Qiu Yuelan, and the bored beauty didn't waste a single moment before the enormous sword lurched into motion and soared into the sky.
Swish.
The flying sword cut through the air, and within moments it reached the edge of the Sect Wide Formation, its faint 'barrier' shimmering into view, and with the speed they were traveling it truly looked as though they were about to collide directly into it!
Some faint-hearted Inner Disciples felt their hearts skip a beat while others clenched their fists in fear and anticipation of the collision that seemed all but inevitable.
Of course that wasn't everyone's reaction, as the majority remained calm and unaffected—and their composure proved to be the right one the very next moment as—
Suddenly a hole wide enough for the immense flying sword to pass through opened within the Sect Wide Formation, allowing the group of the Wandering Sword Sect to move through it without difficulty, and then—
HWWWWOOOOOOOHHHH!
The Flying Artifact took off for 'real', and if before it was already fast enough that Early Stage Spiritual Foundation Realm cultivators had difficulty following, now its speed multiplied by an untold number of times!
Instantly it leaped to a velocity that even Core Perfection cultivators would have difficulty following!
And this showed that the Flying Artifact was anything but ordinary and was a bona fide Core Perfection Artifact, for otherwise it would never have reached such speed, and that was especially true considering how all the passengers remained completely unaffected by the insane speed at which they were traveling!
With them all moving at Core Perfection speed, the overwhelming majority should have been torn to pieces by countless factors if this were a more 'scientific' world, but fortunately the Flying Artifact shielded them from such a gruesome end.
Swish, howl.
The Wandering Sword Sect's Flying Artifact continued to tear through space, covering insane distances with each passing moment, while for the cultivators inside the surrounding landscape was reduced to nothing more than a blur as they traveled at incomprehensible speed.
This spectacle continued 'for a while', with the cultivators losing all sense of time because of the insane velocity at which they were moving, until finally—though they couldn't tell if it had been 5 seconds, 30 seconds, 5 minutes, or even 2 hours—the Flying Artifact began to slow, revealing the outside once more to the 'weak' cultivators within.
Craaaack… shhhhhhrrrk…
Not far from them, floating in the void, there it was.
The world itself seemed split apart as a jagged tear in reality manifested, a rift that looked as though space had been violently ripped open, vast enough that the massive flying sword would have no difficulty passing through it.
Of course, that was only if they chose to enter, for the edge of the rift glowed faintly, thin lines of light spreading outward like cracks across shattered glass.
Within, the tear emanated a colourless radiance that flickered unsteadily while bending the space around it, wrapping heaven and earth as though the very heavens had been irreversibly broken and this tear was the undeniable proof of it.
The sight was absolutely horrifying, especially the lethal threat that EVERYONE—including the Sect Master—could feel as their eyes lingered on it, knowing deep inside that the moment they dared to draw near they would be torn apart by the violent space fluctuations.
Even Qiu Yuelan lost her perpetually bored and lazy composure, a rare trace of seriousness surfacing on her features, for she wasn't foolish enough to be careless before something so dangerous.
Wave.
With a wave of her hand the Flying Artifact shifted course and finally landed at a safe distance from the tear in reality.
The moment the Flying Artifact touched ground everybody understood that they had reached their destination, for they now stood at the very edge of the Suncrest Region, and this tear in reality from which such a lethal threat emanated was none other than…the Realm of Broken Skies!
The very Secret Realm these Disciples would soon enter in search of fortunes amidst the dangers that surely awaited within that ancient, war-torn land.
Hummmm.
With a final humming sound the Flying Sword stilled a few meters above the ground, leaving the disciples to comment on their surroundings with awe.
"So this is the Realm of Broken Skies!?" exclaimed an Inner Disciple in shock, his gaze locked onto the massive tear in reality as he gulped nervously, "It looks absolutely terrifying…"
A Junior Sister beside him nodded in affirmation, her gaze following that of her Senior Brother, "To think we will enter it…"
Similar comments rippled through the disciples of the Wandering Sword Sect as they took in their surroundings and the Realm of Broken Skies itself.
And while they were awed by this 'spatial anomaly' they didn't focus only on the Secret Realm as they also took what… or to be more precise, who… were near them!
And the reason for that was that Sect Master Qiu Yuelan, as lazy as she was, didn't place her Flying Artifact at any random location so that she could then go to sleep…
The thought certainly passed through her mind but she didn't and placed the titanesque flying sword just beside a large gathering of cultivators.
One in which there was an enormous diversity in the Taoist Robes that these cultivators were wearing, showing that a large number of Sects and other similar Organizations were present.
At the same time other Flying Artifacts used by these Sects and Organizations to reach the Realm of Broken Skies could be seen, yet none of them were particularly eye-catching, and compared to the one belonging to the Wandering Sword Sect they were clearly incomparable!
Or at least that was true for nearly all of them, except for a… duo.
The first of this 'duo' was a Flying Artifact resembling a 'large sun', from which a terrible heat radiated, heat strong enough to calcinate any nearby cultivator!
Fortunately this dreadful heat was restrained by mysterious means so that the surrounding cultivators weren't instantly reduced to ash by the power sealed within this blazing 'sun'.
Instead they 'only' felt waves of heat that drenched them in sweat, irritating without a doubt, but still far preferable to becoming dust…
Stationed upon and around this Floating Sun was a large group of more than 200 cultivators, each clad in crimson Taoist Robes interlaced with threads of gold that accentuated the striking, almost wild beauty of their attire.
One detail stood out immediately within this gathering—the gender ratio was far from the balanced 50% men and 50% women seen in most Sects, for here men accounted for at least 70% , while women made up less than 30%.
But no matter whether they were men or women, the overwhelming majority of these crimson-robed cultivators wore either fiery expressions or arrogant ones, and the one thing that was common to all was the blazing aura they exuded, an aura that seemed ready to set the very air alight.
And when all of this was taken into account it became excessively clear which group this was, and it wasn't a gathering of nobodies, no, this was the group of one of the three Overlords, and more precisely… the Flame Sovereign Sect!
A Sect known for its devotion to the Flame Dao, and equally for the short temper of the majority of its disciples, who were 'famous'—or rather infamous—for their arrogance, their harshness, and their tendency to lose their tempers more often than not.
This covered the first part of this 'duo', but what of the second?
The second Flying Artifact of this 'duo' was positioned far from the blazing Sun, in fact it seemed placed at the farthest possible point from the Flame Sovereign Sect, almost as though it refused to remain near them.