Chapter 81: Departure
Chapter 81: Departure
"Mirravele City?" Harmon’s expression drastically changed. "Rhain, that is walking straight into the tiger’s den. If they discover your identity..."
"I know the risks," Rhain interrupted calmly. "But we don’t have a choice."
He looked at Harmon with unflinching eyes.
"You know the truth as well as I do," Rhain continued, "With our current strength, the Azure Cloud Sect cannot endure the full wrath of the Ashvele Clan. If we wait for them to strike, everyone in this sect, and the Graves family, will be slaughtered."
Harmon opened his mouth, but no rebuttal came.
"Waiting is death," Rhain continued with a cold voice. "The only path that gives us any chance of survival is to disrupt them from within, and stop them before they can even mobilize their forces."
Harmon’s hands clenched and unclenched at his sides.
He knew Rhain was entirely right. In the face of absolute power, passive defense was just a delayed death sentence.
"I will be careful," Rhain added, "I have ways to conceal my identity. They won’t know who I am."
Harmon stared at the youth before him for a long, heavy moment.
He let out a long, shuddering breath.
"I’m coming with you."
A soft, but firm voice sounded.
Both Rhain and Harmon turned their heads.
"Seris," Harmon frowned slightly. "Mirravele City is very dangerous."
But Seris didn’t budge, she just looked at Rhain with stubborn gaze, "I promise I will not be a burden this time. Please, let me come with you."
Rhain stared into her beautiful, unyielding eyes.
Mirravele City was dangerous.
But leaving her behind in Greymist Town, while a Core Formation powerhouse might still slip through the cracks to seek revenge, was equally risky.
"Alright," Rhain said after a pause. "You come with me."
A relieved smile broke across Seris’s face, though she quickly composed herself and gave a firm look.
Harmon looked between the two of them, sighed deeply, and shook his head with a reluctant, bitter smile.
He knew better than to argue with either of them when their minds were set.
"When do you want to leave?" Harmon asked.
Rhain’s eyes turned sharp. "Tomorrow morning. We don’t have the luxury of waiting."
Harmon gave a solemn nod. "I will have everything prepared by dawn."
With the decision made, Harmon left to make arrangements.
Seris lingered for a moment, her gaze soft as she looked at him.
"Thank you for letting me come," she said quietly.
"Don’t thank me," Rhain replied with a faint smile. "Just make sure you keep up."
Seris let out a small, indignant huff, but the corners of her lips curved upward.
After a while, she also left to make the preparations for the journey.
____________
Rhain sat down cross-legged on his bed and reached into his spatial ring.
Three perfectly round pills materialized in his palm.
The Rare-Grade Essence-Condensation Pills Roderick had gifted him.
Rhain placed the first pill on his tongue and swallowed.
The pill dissolved the instant it entered his body, transforming into a torrent of pure, refined essence that surged through his meridian channels like a flooding river.
The Abyssal Sovereign Physique began its work instantly, devouring the essence and compressing it efficiently.
Within twenty minutes, the first pill was entirely consumed.
He swallowed the second.
Then the third.
The dark essence within his dantian compressed further and further, until the barrier at the peak of the third level began to break under the mounting pressure.
CRACK.
Essence Condensation Realm, Level 4.
Rhain exhaled slowly.
The pills were indeed of flawless quality, completely free of impurities.
If not, the break through would not have been very quick.
But he was far from finished.
He reached into his spatial ring once more.
Three dried, golden-brown roots appeared in his palm.
Nine Leaf Spirit Ginseng.
He had stripped them from the Ironpeak beast tamer’s corpse inside the Hollow Realm.
These were miraculous herbs capable of helping a cultivator forge their spiritual sense—a power exclusively restricted to the Spirit Manifestation Realm.
Although Rhain had briefly experienced the power of Spiritual Sense while using the Spirit-Ascension Lotus, that was merely borrowed power.
Once the effect faded, his perception had returned to normal.
Now, he wanted to awaken it permanently.
Rhain consumed the three Nine Leaf Spirit Ginsengs.
A warm, electrifying energy burst across his tongue and flooded directly into his consciousness, bypassing his meridian channels entirely.
It rushed straight toward the center of his mind.
Deep within his consciousness, something stirred.
A boundless, invisible sea opened within his consciousness.
Spiritual Sense.
An invisible wave of perception rippled outward from his body, instantly covering the entire courtyard.
He could ’see’ the dust settling on the floorboards, the exact flow of wind outside his window, and the legs of a tiny insect crawling on the roof.
The awakening of Spiritual Sense was a qualitative transformation, a fundamental evolution of how a cultivator perceived the world.
Where before he had relied on the Eyes of Truth and raw instinct to read the movements of his opponents, he could now perceive his surrounding as naturally as breathing.
Rhain did not stop there.
He accessed his System Inventory with a single thought.
Three translucent, perfectly spherical pills materialized in the dark void of the inventory space.
Nine-Revolution Spirit Elixir.
The Rare-Grade reward from his Ironpeak Sect Sign-In, specifically designed to strengthen the soul and fortify spiritual power.
Rhain retrieved all three and consumed them without pause.
BOOM!
The newly awakened spritual sense within his mind expanded explosively.
His spiritual perception became sharper, more resilient, and covered a much larger range.
It was the difference between a thin sheet of glass and a slab of tempered steel.
When the last trace of the elixir’s energy was absorbed, Rhain slowly opened his eyes.
His strength had taken another qualitative leap.
Yet, it was far from enough to face the enemies.
Rhain had never experienced this sense of urgency before, but now he felt that he was not strong enough, he needed to grow stronger.
He closed his eyes and continued to cultivate for last few hours before dawn.
______________
The night passed quietly.
When dawn arrived, the sky was still a hazy, pre-dawn blue.
Rhain was ready.
He wore his usual dark robes, the Shadow-Stealth Cloak draped over his shoulders.
The spatial ring sat firmly on his finger, packed with pills, weapons, herbs, and ten million Aetherium Crystals.
He stepped out through his courtyard gates and walked toward the main plaza.
The sight that greeted him stopped his steps for a brief moment.
They were all there.
Not a single person was missing.
Harmon stood at the very front, his spine straight despite the deep fatigue beneath his eyes.
It was obvious that the old sect master had not slept a single minute through the night.
Beside him stood Silas, Amos, Torin, and Thorne.
The five Spirit Manifestation pillars of the Azure Cloud Sect were arrayed in a solemn line, their expressions carrying the gravity of a farewell they desperately hoped would not be permanent.
Maren, Victor, Bria, all stood together.
They wanted to follow him. That much was written plainly across their faces.
But they knew their cultivation was far too insufficient for where he was going.
Behind the elders and inner disciples, more than than five hundred old, and newly recruited Azure Cloud Sect members filled the plaza.
Outer disciples, inner disciples, even the cooks and groundskeepers had emerged from their quarters before the first light of dawn.
Row after row of faces stretched back toward the sect buildings, a sea of azure robes standing in the cold morning air.
The Graves family had come to see him off as well.
Dorris, Roderick, and Kory, all three of the Spirit Manifestation Realm were present.
Not a single one of them had slept last night.
Rhain swept his dark grey eyes over all of them.
So many faces. So many lives that now depended on the outcome of his journey.
"Rhain." Harmon was the first to speak, "No matter what happens in Mirravele City, remember that Greymist Town is your home. Whenever you will need us, you will always find us with you."
"I will remember," Rhain replied with a heavy nod.
Torin stepped forward.
His newly stabilized Spirit Manifestation aura flickered with barely restrained emotion.
"Supreme Elder Rhain, come back safely," Torin said gruffly, his voice thick.
The corner of Rhain’s lips twitched. "I’ll try my best."
"Rhain," Dorris also spoke, "We have prepared the finest mounts the region has to offer. They can cross the distance to Mirravele City without tiring."
At that moment, two powerful, muscular beasts were led forward from the stables by a pair of Azure Cloud elders.
They were Ironmane Chargers, each one standing nearly six feet at the shoulder, their sleek, dark-grey coats rippling with dense, compressed muscle.
Their eyes glowed with a faint amber light, and the aura they radiated was unmistakably at the second level of the Essence Condensation Realm.
Seris was already waiting beside the two beasts, her silver-blue hair tied back neatly, her Rare-Grade Frost-Bite sword secured at her hip, and a light traveling cloak draped over her shoulders.
She looked composed, but the slight flush on her cheeks revealed her nervous excitement.
Rhain walked to the nearest Ironmane Charger and placed his hand on its thick, muscular neck.
The beast snorted once, steam curling from its nostrils in the cool morning air, before lowering its head in acceptance.
"I am grateful for your thoughtfulness, family head Dorris. Thanks a lot." Rhain replied.
Roderick grinned, though his hawkish eyes were dead serious. "Just give those city bastards hell for us."
Rhain’s lips curled into a faint smirk. "I will."
He swung himself up into the saddle with a single, fluid motion.
Seris mounted hers with equal grace, settling comfortably and gripping the reins.
Rhain turned his gaze back one final time.
He looked at Harmon’s steadfast, aging face.
At Torin’s gruff nod.
At Maren’s tearful smile.
At Victor, Bria, Hale, and the hundreds of azure-robed disciples standing in the cold dawn, watching him with eyes full of hope and unwavering faith.
"Guard the sect well," Rhain commanded, his voice echoing clearly across the silent mountain. "Do not slack in your cultivation. As your Supreme Elder, I promise you all that I won’t let anything happen to my sect."
"WE WILL AWAIT THE SUPREME ELDER’S TRIUMPHANT RETURN!"
The deafening, unified roar of hundreds of cultivators shattered the morning silence.
Rhain turned to look at Seris.
"Let’s go," Rhain said.
"Hmm!" Seris nodded, looking back at the place where she had been adopted, and lived her whole life.
Tears filled her beautiful eyes, but she did not let them fall.
She finally turned her head with a last, reluctant look.
The two Ironmane Chargers surged forward, their powerful legs propelling them through the newly built sect gates, down the mountain path in a thunder of hooves.
Ahead lay the vast, uncharted wilderness of the Greymist Beast Mountain Range.