“As to where the teleportation portal leads to, I’m afraid none of you are familiar with it. Even I myself don’t really know….” The teleportation just now had caused a buzz of conversation to arise, but after hearing Xie Jie’s words, everyone quieted back down.
Meng Hao looked around coldly. They seemed to be surrounded by blackness interspersed with points of light that looked like stars. Everything around them was empty, without the least bit of light. Only the glow emitted by the Feng Shui compasses illuminated the people on them.
Ahead, one Feng Shui compass after another flew along. Most of the Black Sieve Sect disciples were sitting cross-legged meditating. Only the group of Chosen on the violet Feng Shui compass was staring out into the blackness.
Further away, the three Core Formation eccentrics seemed to be discussing something amongst themselves with Divine thought. And then, there was the most powerful person of all, Patriarch Violet Sieve, who sat motionless meditating, his eyes closed.
Elder Sister Xu was sitting silently in the midst of the several hundred Black Sieve Sect disciples. The statue in their midst seemed as if it were about to melt into the blackness of this dark world. Ghost images resonated out from it, adding to its bizarreness.
On Xie Jie’s Feng Shui compass, one of the three late Foundation Establishment Cultivators, an old man in a gray robe, frowned and said, “Fellow Daoist Xie, you said you’ve been to this place a few times before. Yet, you don’t know how to describe where we’re going….?”
Xie Jie seemed to hesitate in thought for a moment and then looked around for a moment. “Well,” he said, “I do know a bit about the path we’re traveling. As Fellow Daoist Tu surmised, this is a path that Cultivators in ancient times would use to travel to the stars to collect foreign Spirit lineages. It is a path between Mountains!” The surrounding Cultivators stared in astonishment at him and, then looked around them, seemingly intent on fixing everything around them into the memories.
“It’s not a true path between Mountains,” said Xie Jie, looking around contentedly at the shocked looks on the faces of the rogue Foundation Establishment Cultivators. “Only Immortals can tread that path. This is just a subsidiary branch, like one of the hundreds of streams which flow into the Milky Way. That having been said, it’s still a path we should not be able to walk, which is why we need the power of the Heaven Forged Furnace of the Black Sieve Sect. It can protect us as we travel the path.”
It turned out that this was not a true path between Mountains, but only a branch of one. Even still, to open it required the power of a great Sect; an ordinary Sect wouldn’t be able to.
Xie Jie’s eyes swept over the crowd and came to rest on Meng Hao. He frowned a bit, then said, “Ah, you must be Fellow Daoist Meng. Please, come sit over here.” He had actually taken notice of Meng Hao much earlier. Before departing earlier in the day, the three Core Formation Patriarchs had personally charged him with the task of keeping an eye on Meng Hao.
He wasn’t sure why, and didn’t understand why three Core Formation Patriarchs would pay attention to a trifling early Foundation Establishment stage rogue Cultivator. He smiled at Meng Hao, but this smile was not genuine. He had no goodwill toward Meng Hao and had called his name simply to sow discord among the other Cultivators. Perhaps in this way he could get some clues about Meng Hao.
Exactly as he had anticipated, his words caused the surrounding rogue Cultivators to look over at Meng Hao. Many of them stared.
Meng Hao’s expression was the same as ever, as if he didn’t care in the least. He’d known that his actions the other night would arouse some sort of attention. It was unavoidable. So hearing Xie Jie’s words, he nodded slightly.
“I’m fine where I am,” he said. “My Cultivation base is weak, so it wouldn’t be suitable for me to sit amongst such powerful figures.”
Of course, the three Core Formation eccentrics who were communicating with Divine thought up ahead noticed this. They didn’t interfere. They weren’t sure what extraordinary abilities Meng Hao possessed. This was why the Black Sieve Sect Leader had issued special instructions to pay attention to Meng Hao.
Xie Jie smiled lightly and was about to say something else, when suddenly the Feng Shui compass shook, and suddenly stopped moving. The Feng Shui compasses up ahead also stopped. The magical light emitted by the compasses instantly went out.
The faces of the three Core Formation eccentrics changed. The eminently powerful Patriarch Violet Sieve opened his eyes for the first time. They shone with both dignity and caution.