(MC POV)
"Papa! Papa! 'Pwetty'!" Cai Hong squealed, pointing at the bolts of lightning and explosions in the distance, no doubt the site of another Practitioner fight.
"Haha, it is indeed pretty isn't it? But Cai Hong is more pretty."
Cai Hong looked up at me with sparkly eyes, "'Rweally' Papa?! Cai Hong wuv Papa!"
So cute.
"Ma… Master…" Iris muttered, pinching the hem of my robes with her fingers.
Aww, Iris is feeling a little anxious about this place. There, there, here's a few headpats for you.
"Masteeeer! Me too! Me too!" Akari squealed from my shoulder, only to get whacked by Shiori's tail.
Naturally, I gave my two foxes head pats as well.
Hmm… I think my disciples should be done by now so we should be able to go back and continue on our way. Just to be sure, I even made use of omniscience to check and… Yep, they're done.
Hmm… I don't see any bodies around so I guess my disciples must have scared them off. That's my cute disciples for you!
I teleported all of us back to the clearing and my disciples immediately ran up to hug me.
"Master! Welcome back!"
I gave each of them a pat on the head, "Were there any problems?"
"Not at all, Master!" They quickly assured me.
Well, I admit I cheated a little and made sure ahead of time that there wouldn't be any danger. I checked with my future sight if any of my disciples would get hurt and even put down more protection inscriptions for them just in case.
Only after I was sure that there was no possibility of my disciples being hurt in any way did I leave them there. This whole trip was for them to get more experience after all, so if I simply did everything for them it would just make this trip meaningless.
Now that those troublesome meddlers are out of the way, we can finally move to our real objective of finding the treasures and cultivation materials for my disciples!
Our first destination was the giant mountain where the peak reached above the clouds. From what omniscience has shown me, that should be where the former owner of this place cultivated due to its high concentration of Quarks.
If my disciples were to take some time to cultivate there, they should be able to make quite significant improvements.
In other words… We're going on a hiking trip!
Naturally, there were also several other Practitioners who were also headed there, no doubt also aiming for the same thing we were.
Most of them ignored one another and concentrated on getting there, but some felt the need to eliminate as much competition as they could and fought anyone they saw on the way.
"You don't deserve to get on that mountain!"
"Neither do you! Get lost!"
"You dare get in my way?!"
"You're courting death!"
Such words were being thrown around by the group of Practitioners in front of us, all of them trying to kill each other.
I tried to usher my disciples to circle around them to not get involved but we bumped into another group of Practitioners who were doing the same thing.
"Tsk! Just our luck! Get ready to fight, my brothers!" Their leader yelled, adopting a combat stance.
I waved my hand at him, "Hey, how about we just get there without fighting?"
"Like hell! You're just going to stab us in the back, you trash! Time to die!"
I shrugged, "Oh well, I tried. Do you guys want to take them?"
My disciples immediately leapt ahead of me and started beating them up, quite literally.
They didn't even use their Techniques but simply beat them down with their fists before dumping them in a pile behind some bushes.
Huh… For some reason they look quite pissed?
Umm… Did Diao Chan purposely strip one of them naked before dumping them there? Nah, I must have imagined it.
While my disciples were doing that, the group we were trying to avoid had finished their fight and now had their attention turned to us. These people really were quite ruthless considering the fact that they killed their opponents by lopping off their heads.
Well, good thing my disciples were distracted with dumping those people behind the bushes so I simply killed this group of people by separating their heads too. Easy peasy.
Now with the obstacles removed, we can continue onwards!
… Is what I like to say but another group of two Practitioners jumped out in front of us before we could even take a step.
"Ha! You group of nobodies think you can get to the mountain to claim its benefits?! Not if you can't get past us first!"
"Err… Ok?"
I gestured towards them and this time Lian Li simply raised her hand and blasted the pair away with a lightning bolt.
Right, now we can--
"That mountain belongs to us! You're not taking another step--"
"Manami," I called out.
"Ara, Ara? As Master commands~"
My fox disciple summoned an explosion of fire that sent them flying away from us.
Ok, now--
"I see all of you are strong! Allow me to challenge you to prove my--"
Eris dashed forward and smacked the guy across the face with the back of her sword, sending him crashing headfirst into a tree and leaving him stuck there.
"You! Shall not! Pa--"
Kiyomi froze him in a block of ice before this next guy could finish his words.
What the hell guys? Go and find your own cultivation spots damnit! It's not like we're preventing any of you from getting to the stupid mountain yourselves right?! This is why your Plane is such a shitty place and no one likes you!!
"Ok, that's it, we're cheating a bit and teleporting there," I told my disciples, right as another group of Practitioners were flying straight towards us.
All of them nodded their heads in assent and I snapped my fingers, teleporting our entire group to the base of the mountain quickly.
Yes, this is cheating because any teleportation Technique should not be possible here as one of the 'laws' of this dimension. But naturally, such laws do not apply to me so I'm free to break it however I want.
"Oh? Why didn't we end up at the peak, Aniue?" Tsuki commented, looking at the stairs in front of us.
I wagged my finger, "This is the benefit of this mountain. As you ascend the mountain the concentration of Elemental Quarks you absorb will increase until you reach the peak, so you only gain the maximum benefits by climbing it normally."
"What about us, Onii-sama?" Elaria asked, gesturing to herself and Diao Chan who were the only non-Practitioners.
I grinned, "This place also benefits non-Practitioners by improving your bodies and mind. You'll find that you'll be able to think clearer and your body becoming healthier the more you ascend so it's not useless to both of you too. Don't think it would be easy though, the pressure will increase the higher you climb."
Lian Li pumped her fist, "Oh! In that case, let's go, Master! Let's show this mountain that Master's training won't let us fall so easily!"
The rest of my disciples cheered and immediately began ascending the stairs. How diligent.
It's not like it's a competition but I suppose it's good that they're motivated?
Oh well, at least Cai Hong is happily holding my hand while climbing up the steps. She's so cute.
Now what are the odds of us meeting idiots while climbing these stairs?
You don't need to tell me… I know it's too damn high.
