(MC POV)
After a short 'walk' with the supposed boss of this town, he graciously told us all he knew about the current state of the Cloud Plane and the Royale.
As I had thought, there were three more days left before the largest portal opened and all the prominent Sects had already gathered there.
According to him, there were five Grand Sects that stood above everyone else. One of which was the Twilight Sword Sect, which was the Sect of the guy whom I smashed the face of back at the monster Sanctuary.
And of course, this Sect was especially infamous for bearing grudges no matter how small the slight was. I wouldn't be surprised if they have already made wanted posters of me and were actively trying to hunt me down or something.
Not that they could do anything to me anyway but it's my disciples that I'm worried about. If they were to try and harass my disciples… I have no qualms about deleting them from existence either.
The next Sect on the list was The Sect Sect.
Yeah I am not kidding, the name of their Sect is literally 'The Sect'. Apparently their founder's aspirations was that their Sect would become the only Sect in the entirety of the Cloud Plane by integrating every other Sect around.
The idea was to have every Practitioner in the Plane assemble in one place and practice together without discrimination, but unfortunately the later generations twisted that ideal into something else. Now they've become a Sect focused on aggressive expansion and constantly try to absorb other Sects by any means including the usage of force.
Then after them, there's the Eternal Brotherhood Sect and the Moonlight Sisterhood Sect.
From what this guy knew, the relationship between these two Sects were basically like cats and dogs. One side was a purely male Sect while the other was a purely female Sect and both of them really hate each other.
If disciples from either Sect were to meet each other, they would definitely start a fight. Their fights were never to the death but the destruction they would cause is quite extensive sometimes.
As for why their Sects are like this, no one knows, not even the members themselves since the hatred has been going on for an untold amount of time that even the Elders have forgotten the reason.
The only problem with them is that their hate does not just stop at each other but also Practitioners of the other gender as well. If they were to run into any promising Practitioners, they would try to recruit them if they were of their preferred gender and if they were not, they would simply beat them up.
Last but not least, there's the Golden Ascension Sect, also supposedly the current strongest Sect within the Cloud Plane.
The only reason why they were regarded as such was because of the formation their founder had created that protected their Sect against any intruders. Even if the other four Sects banded together to attack the Sect, the formation could have eliminated all of them.
But the drawback of such a formation is that it cannot be moved and thus, they couldn't use it to subdue other Sects either.
These five Sects maintained peace with one another since a war between any one of them was sure to result in casualties on both sides. This would provide the other Sects the prime opportunity to swoop in and take advantage of their moment of weakness and eliminate them.
What's more, there's also countless other Grand and Minor Sects that would not pass up the opportunity to take over their position as the top five Sects either.
In summary… It's the kind of crap place that I remembered it to be.
"Kukuku… Isn't this place interesting, Master?" Kiyomi giggled while hugging my arm.
Of course she would think a place full of conflict would be 'interesting'.
"Unn… Are we going to those ruins now, Master?" Lian Li asked.
I nodded, "You should notice that despite this town having so many houses and shops, most of them are closed and the people on the street are also quite few. That's because every Practitioner worth their salt is gathered there right now, so we should head there too."
My disciples looked around the street we were currently walking and saw that my words were true.
Manami tapped her chin with a finger, "Ara, ara? Then what about these people who chose to stay? Are they the losers?"
"Well… Some of them are, but the others just value their lives more. You see, once through the portal, there are absolutely no rules at all. Since the portal can lead anywhere and no one knows what kind of dangers you'll face, it's only natural that some don't make it back, right?"
Brendan frowned, "The truce between those five Sects mean nothing when they've passed the portal… That's the prime place for them to try and eliminate each other and anyone else they think is a threat to their power."
"That is correct, Brendan, head pat for you!"
Oh my, Brendan actually let out a cute squeal of surprise when I did that. How cute.
"Buuu… I want head pats too, Masteeeeer…" Akari whined atop my shoulder, only to have her head smacked by Shiori and told to be quiet.
Elaria tugged my sleeve, "So how are we going there, Onii-sama?"
I considered our options for a moment, "Hmm… Of course I can simply just teleport us all there right now, or would you rather we make the journey there on foot? It's about a two day journey from here so we wouldn't be late for it if we do."
Dian Chan started giggling, "Ehehehe~ Of course we'll pick the long route, Master! Then we would have many more opportunities to… Ehehehe~"
I already expected her to say that and judging by the looks on the other girls' faces, they had the same idea as well.
I raised my finger, "Just so you know, there are also other Practitioners like us who are also heading there at the last minute so we might be in the company of some of them."
Right as I said that, a group of five Practitioners leading their travel horses walked past us. They gave our group a quick glance before looking away, their curiosity sated.
Manami tilted her head, "Ara? Why is that, Master? Shouldn't they have tried to reach there as soon as possible?"
"Well, if you can eliminate your competition without anyone catching you doing it, then why wouldn't you, right? The outside of the portal is just as dangerous as inside it, so technically you'd be minimising your risks if you reach there at the last moment."
My disciples nodded in understanding.
"Don't worry Master! We'll protect you from those ruffians!" Lian Li declared while puffing her chest up cutely.
So cute, head pats for you too!
Now we'll just take our time to head to those ruins and hope any Practitioners we meet on the road aren't troublemakers…
…
There are going to be troublemakers aren't there?
Oh whatever, it's not like I can't deal with them anyway.
