Chapter 70: A New Era
Chapter 70: A New Era
Aetherium Crystals.
Rhain swept his gaze over the glittering mountain of dark bronze coins inside the ring.
"There are exactly ten million Aetherium Crystals in there," Harmon said, his tone incredibly solemn. "It is the combined wealth of both our sects. If you are going to face the powerhouses of Mirravele City in the future, you will need hard currency."
Rhain stared at the ring.
In the world of cultivation, Aetherium was the absolute standard.
They were used to buy everything from information to Epic-Grade artifacts in the massive auction houses of the central cities.
To put it in perspective, a typical Essence Condensation expert might save for an entire year just to earn a few thousand crystals.
Ten million?
That was an astronomical sum.
Rhain didn’t refuse. He casually slipped the ring onto his finger.
"I’ll take it."
Money was always a necessity, especially if he planned to leave Greymist Town.
Harmon and Dorris simultaneously let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Rhain slipped the ring onto his finger, completely unbothered by the fortune he was now carrying.
"I will leave the rest of the distribution to you," Rhain said flatly.
Harmon and Dorris nodded solemnly.
Rhain turned around and strode out of the fortified treasury.
Harmon, Dorris, and others watched his retreating back until he disappeared down the stone corridor.
Their eyes were full of profound reverence.
The dark-robed youth had casually handed them an empire, and walked away as if he had just given them a cup of water.
...
Two days passed.
In the span of exactly forty-eight hours, the entirety of Greymist Town was completely and utterly turned upside down.
The sky had changed.
The news hit the citizens like a meteorite falling from the blue sky, shocking all people of Greymist Town!
The Ironpeak Sect, the tyrannical overlord that had dominated the region for decades, had been entirely wiped off the map.
The Barlowe family, the wealthy and untouchable aristocrats, had been massacred to the very last man.
And the ones who had done it were the Azure Cloud Sect and the Graves family.
To the ordinary citizens and wandering cultivators of Greymist Town, it sounded like a ridiculous, incomprehensible myth.
But the rivers of dried blood at the Ironpeak gates and the scorched ruins of the Barlowe estate told a completely undeniable story.
The Azure Cloud Sect, a faction that had been slowly bleeding to death just a month ago, was now the undisputed, absolute ruler of the region.
At the main gates of the Azure Cloud Sect, the scene was entirely unrecognizable.
In the past, the Azure Cloud Sect was considered an unnecessary existence, a forgotten corner where no talented youth would even bat an eye against them
A few weeks prior, the sect was struggling to recruit even a handful of marginally talented youths every few months.
Today, the mountain path leading up to the sect gates was completely blocked.
A stream of crowd lined up at the sect gates, practically begging to join.
Hundreds of young talents, escorted by their hopeful parents and minor clans from neighbouring towns, were desperately lining up, praying to any god that would listen for a chance to join the Azure Cloud Sect.
Genius youths who would have previously flocked to the Ironpeak Sect were now fighting tooth and nail just for the opportunity to become an outer disciple.
The line waiting to join was probably long enough to stretch between the south and north gates of Greymist Town!
The Azure Cloud Sect, which had once struggled to recruit even marginally talented youths, was now troubled by the sheer volume of applicants.
They now had the luxury of being ruthlessly selective, turning away hundreds of applicants who didn’t meet their newly skyrocketed standards.
But the shocking changes outside the sect were absolutely nothing compared to the earth-shattering transformation happening within its walls.
Harmon Vael and Dorris Graves were not foolish.
They knew perfectly well that hoarding the mountain of resources Rhain had given them in a dark vault would be a disastrous mistake.
In this brutal world, wealth only mattered if it was converted into raw strength.
And so, the resources rained down upon the disciples and elders like a torrential storm.
The strict, archaic rules of the sect were completely shattered.
Outer sect disciples, who previously had to painstakingly save sect contribution points for years just to glance at a Common-Grade manual, were now freely permitted to practice Uncommon-Grade martial arts.
Inner Sect disciples were granted unrestricted access to the Rare-Grade martial arts.
Techniques that had once been the sole, exclusive lifeline of the Sect Master were now openly studied in the training grounds.
But the most terrifying advancement came from a single, logic-breaking treasure.
Crimson Core Seeds.
Harmon decreed that any disciple who had reached the third level of the Essence Awakening Realm or above would be awarded a seed.
The results were explosive.
The tiny, blood-red seeds forcibly widened their meridian channels and cleansed their mortal bodies.
Their innate talents were permanently multiplied several times over.
The sounds of joy and laughter after the breakthroughs rang out across the disciple courtyards continuously, day and night.
Disciples who had been stuck at the fourth or fifth levels shot up the ranks.
Within just two days, the sect went from having barely any elite youths to boasting exactly ten disciples at the absolute peak of the Essence Awakening Realm.
However, the explosive advancements of the disciples completely paled in comparison to the high elders.
Deep within the secluded elder quarters, a deafening boom echoed across the mountain.
Third Elder, Thorne.
An old man who had been bitterly trapped at the peak of the Essence Condensation Realm for more than a decade, his vitality slowly rotting away.
With the aid of the Crimson Core Seed, and the unbelievably dense essence herbs plundered from the Hollow Realm, the unbreakable chains binding his dantian finally shattered.
Spirit Manifestation Realm!
But the miracles didn’t end there.
Just hours later, another oppressive aura erupted from the central peak.
Torin.
He had deliberately and forcefully suppressed his cultivation at the ninth level of the Essence Condensation Realm for years, solely to lead the Hollow Realm expedition.
Now, with the expedition over and the restrictions lifted, he foundation exploded.
Driven by a Rare-Grade resources, Torin crashed through the barrier like a battering ram.
Spirit Manifestation Realm!
In the span of a mere forty-eight hours, two brand new Spirit Manifestation Realm experts had been born into the Azure Cloud Sect.
Even Harmon Vael himself, sitting in the Sect Master’s Hall, felt his own bottleneck loosening.
Surrounded by the dense energy of the Epic-Grade martial arts Rhain had provided, Harmon was already set to break through to the sixth level of the Spirit Manifestation Realm within the week.
The overall power of the Azure Cloud Sect had skyrocketed to a level that was completely incomprehensible.
They hadn’t just surpassed the old Ironpeak Sect.
They had completely shattered the ceiling of Greymist Town.
The disparity was so vast that Greymist Town could no longer contain them.
If this terrifying momentum continued, backed by Epic-Grade techniques and a mountain of rare grade treasures...
In just a few short years, this once-dying sect would possess the qualifications to march into Mirravele City and compete with the towering major powers.
And every single elder and disciple in the sect knew exactly who had given them this sky-reaching fortune.