"Thud!"
Gong You's body fell to the ground, his head a bloody mess. Silence ensued, every single person currently present looked towards Wang Tian in shock. "He really did it." Someone muttered, roars then echoed out from the Skyward Sword Sect Disciples.
"GET EM BOIS!"
"TIME FOR REVENGE!"
They roared before charging ahead. Wang Tian had already tipped the odds in their favor by eliminating a good amount of the 8th Layer disciples, but now it was completely one sided after all he had taken down Gong You one of the biggest threats they were currently facing.
"Retreat!" Jiang Fu commanded, and just like that the Sects fell back. 'I'd have no chance against that monster.' Jiang Fu looked towards Wang Tian fearfully before running away with all his might. It wouldn't be too late for the Essence Condensing Elders to take care of them.
Seeing this the Skyward Sword Sect disciples were about to chase after them, but they soon quelled that desire as Su Wu produced another fluctuation. Due to all the adrenaline of the situation they had forgotten about Su Wu.
Fortunately for them it seemed as though they didn't disturb his breakthrough and that Su Wu would comfortably enter the Essence Condensing Realm. Well either way this was quite a shock to them, as after all for them the Essence Condensing Realm seemed like the peak of cultivation.
"Don't chase after them." Wang Tian commanded before falling backwards. In reality that life saving technique took a heavy toll on his body, otherwise he would have tried to use it back then. Seeing him in his current state, the disciples listened to his words.
After all if they chased after them what were they going to do to combat Jiang Fu? They'd have to at least wait until Su Wu broke through before deciding on their next move.
"So what happened to you?" Mu Feng asked as he approached Wang Tian. "We lost the Seniors and some Juniors, but it seems you suffered much worse than us." Wang Tian sighed lying on his back. "...Yes we lost all the Seniors and about half the Juniors, the only reason we even managed to survive was because I employed some tactics." Mu Feng replied before sitting down.
It seemed as though he was also tired out. "What are we going to do now?" Wang Tian muttered. After all they couldn't go back to the Sect as they had no chance against those Essence Condensing Elders, but moving in a group of over 500 people was becoming too risky.
"I assume the Sect we'll be dispersed and we'll all never see each other again, I don't see any other option." Mu Feng reasoned. "But we still have some unfinished business." He continued while motioning towards Su Wu.
"Seems so." Wang Tian muttered. They then sat there in silence as they waited for Su Wu to breakthrough. Time ticked by slowly, and an hour later Su Wu's body released a violent aura as the surrounding Qi rushed towards him.
His body then slowly floated into the air, a majestic image of a sword appearing behind his back. A few seconds later the phenomena ended, Su Wu's body then slowly descended sitting upon the water. He then opened his eyes before gazing at all the disciples.
Within his eyes he held guilt, pity and a hint of sadness. But no one noticed these emotions. Immediately the disciples began to congratulate Su Wu from afar.
After Su Wu exited the lake he took a breath. "I couldn't hear you within the lake, so I apologise for not being able to hear your words. Thank you all for waiting for me." Su Wu said while taking a slight bow.
Hearing this they were all dumbfounded, even the Core Disciples seemed unaware of this. "A noise suppressing formation." Mu Feng muttered seemingly realising what was at play. Wang Tian on the other hand was confused, but he didn't question further as he was preoccupied with his aching body. 'Fuck that technique takes a toll.'
"So what now?"
"Ya where are we going from here?"
"Are the Elders going to take us away?"
"I know you all have a lot of questions and are confused, I'll tell you now what we're going to do." Su Wu replied before taking a long breath.
"Firstly I must explain the landscape of the Azure Tree Kingdom, it is a relatively small Kingdom on the Limitless Continent, in what is called the Violet Flower Domain. Within the Kingdom there are 100 cities. There are 50 Small Cities, 40 Medium Cities, 9 Large Cities and the Capital.
Our Sect, the Mountain Shaking and Falling Rain Sect can be considered the leaders of 3 Small Cities. This means that their power is top tier within Small Cities, because of this we have to escape to either a Medium or a Large City.
Now the closest Medium City to us, is Red Ridge which is at the eastern end of the Hissing Forest, it will take us about 10 days to travel from here to there. After that we will disperse the Sect and the Skyward Sword Sect will be no more."
With that Su Wu ended his explanation. "So that's it." Wang Tian sighed, it seemed Mu Feng was correct. While Wang Tian held no deep attachments to the Sect it had still been his home for some time and the place where he began his cultivation journey.
This caused some dissatisfaction among the disciples but they knew it was for the best. Sometimes things just ended abruptly in life. At least they were being taken to Red Ridge otherwise it was highly likely they'd have been hunted down and killed.
Su Wu had a bitter smile as he heard the discussion that the disciples were having. He himself wanted to disband the Sect the least, but it was what his father ordered and he had to go through with it.
"Also as a final farewell gift, you can all use the Spiritual Lake. The Core Disciples have already experienced it, but it should benefit the rest of you quite a bit." Su Wu declared. Hearing this the disciples' ears perked up.
Spiritual Lake? They had never heard of such a thing before, but clearly it had assisted Su Wu with his breakthrough so it should be something good. 'I used about half of its energy during my breakthrough, but the remaining half should be sufficient for many of them to breakthrough.' Su pondered as the disciples began to enter the lake one by one.
Naturally the energy required for a Qi Refinement cultivator to breakthrough a layer was miniscule when compared to that required by someone breaking through from Qi Refinement to Essence Condensing.
Wang Tian would naturally not miss this chance. With all his might he got up from the ground and began to head towards the lake. "Here I'll give you hand." Mu Feng said before helping him towards the lake. "Seems you're a bit of a softie on the inside." Wang Tian chuckled as they neared the lake.
"If you want I can just throw you in, if you drown its on you." Mu Feng replied irritated by Wang Tian's comment. Still, he helped Wang Tian all the way to the lake before he too began to cultivate. They all wanted to grow stronger for one reason or another.
'If I fail to grow stronger I'll lose, as a cultivator I must take every opportunity.' Wang Tian thought, he then began to circulate the Skyward Sutra. At some point he'd probably need a better cultivation technique, but for now it was sufficient for Wang Tian's needs.
The energy within the lake began to coalesce into Qi before entering the disciples. A few minutes later those in the 1st Layer of Qi Refinement made a breakthrough. With excitement in their eyes they continued their cultivation, if they could enter the 3rd Layer there chances of reaching the 6th Layer in the future would be that much higher.
Soon after them those in the 2nd Layer entered the 3rd. At this moment Wang Tian's cultivation soared as the surrounding Qi entered his body. 'Already a breakthrough?' Su Wu gazed at Wang Tian in admiration.
This cultivation speed was only somewhat slower than his after obtaining the Skyward Sword. This was quite an impressive feat in his eyes.
The Qi within Wang Tian's body surged, before settling a few seconds later. 'The 7th Layer, I can continue.' Wang Tian thought before absorbing even more Qi.
At this moment those in the 3rd Layer of Qi Refinement finally entered the 4th Layer, and at this moment Mu Feng's Qi surged as well. He managed to enter the 7th Layer just as Wang Tian had.
'Although he's slightly worse than Wang Tian, Mu Feng is also extremely impressive.' Su Wu sighed in admiration. Had another year gone by would they have needed to fear the opposing Sects?
Some time later those now in the 2nd Layer entered the 3rd Layer, while those disciples in the 4th Layer the 5th Layer. The disciples in the 6th, 7th and 8th Layers had all managed to reach the peak of their Layer, including Mu Feng.
On the other hand Wang Tian was a special case. His aura was surging once again which could only mean one thing, he was breaking through once again into the 8th Layer of Qi Refinement. This feat was simply shocking to the other disciples.
"Boom!"
Due to the intensity of the breakthrough a small boom echoed out from Wang Tian's body. 'Seems my fatigue has been washed away as well.' He thought happily flexing his body.
At this point in time the Spiritual Lake had been sapped of 99.9% of its energy, meaning there wasn't much left for the disciples to absorb. Needless to say they had all benefited greatly. On the other hand Mu Feng was somewhat disatisfied.
'Damn it had I not helped that bozo I would have entered the 8th Layer.' Mu Feng sighed, although he was disgruntled he wasn't going to stay making a fuss about it he still made great gains after all.
"I guess its time to set off. To Red Ridge we go."