"Heading east was probably not the best decision." Vasari lamented his decision as he sat down on the lush green grass beneath his feat.
"Agh it stinks."
All around Vasari laid the corpses of several large ants ranging from 30cm in size to 2 metres. Vasari unfortunately ran into a colony of Green Mandible Ants that abruptly attacked him without warning. Although they were mostly Infant stage beasts comparable to Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators, their numbers were truly terrifying and the queen was on the verge of maturing into an Adult stage beast.
'Why would they randomly attack me? Green Mandible Ants are known to be mainly herbivorous and avoided conflict with other beasts and humans.' Vasari's thoughts swirled and the only possibility was that they were trying to protect something. Something that the queen would protect even at the cost of her life.
'Eggs? No, they wouldn't attack me just to protect some eggs. Maybe a rare plant or fruit?' Vasari found this to be the most logical.
'It must be nearby but I can't smell anything besides the blood of these ants. Sigh...I guess I'll just walk around the area and hopefully stumble into it. Damn, I wish Miss Covington wasn't watching us then I could use my eyes for a little bit.'
Exhausted and grumpy, Vasari got back up to his feet and tried to find what the Green Mandible Ant Queen was trying so desperately to protect.
-----
Running hastily through the seemly never-ending tree grove was a young maiden with platinum blonde hair tied into a lush and voluminous high ponytail. Her piercing blue eyes darted side to side as she searched for something that to her, was of utmost importance.
"Aww, what is that smell?" The maiden slowed down when a horrible stench wafted into her nostrils. Looking around she noticed a few corpses of oversized ants with green mandibles nearby.
Curious about what killed them, she approached a few corpses and found most of them to be cleanly cleaved or dismembered. She detected and followed a trail of ant corpses leading further away. Her eyes widened in disbelief when she saw the number of corpses and the blood of all these ants tainted the earth, grass and the bottom of nearby tree trunks a yellowy-green colour.
Out of the corner of the young maiden's eye, she notices a pair of yellowy-green bloody footprints heading east and decides to follow it.
"I wonder who killed all of these ants. It must have been a hard battle, I hope that person is alright." Remembering what Miss Covington said about intervening if she thinks a student is about to die reassured her that at least this person was not dead, maybe just a little injured.
Suddenly the girl spots a figure crouching about 200m away from her and almost instantly her eyes light up and her pupils dilate.
Circulating her Qi, the girl mutters something under her breath and with a sudden burst of speed she starts running towards the figure all the while a massive, borderline crazy grin is stretched across her face.
The girl covers a hundred metres in 3 seconds.
"VASARI!! I FOUND YOU!"
The girl shouts causing the crouched figure to stand up and turn around. The figure spreads its arms wide and bends its knees slightly, preparing to receive a heavy impact.
The young maiden jumps, spreading both her arms and legs. She would look similar to an upside-down 'F' at the moment.
"Oof."
The young maiden slams into the figure who doesn't even take a step back as he catches her firmly in his embrace.
"Mmm Vasari I found you." The girl repeats her words but this time much softer and filled with affection as she practically melts into Vasari.
It was not the first time that this girl has left Vasari speechless who was no different to a koala holding onto a tree branch for dear life. Patting her head gently, Vasari asks her a question. "Witney, how did you find me so quickly? Don't tell me you came looking for me and forgot to look for any plants."
It baffled him as it has not been more than 90 minutes since they arrived and she has already managed to find him.
"Hehe" Witney giggled when she felt Vasari's hand stroking her head, "No silly, I landed in a huge glade filled with plants from the list so it was easy to finish. I then decided to look for you and I instinctively felt as if I knew in what general direction you were."
Vasari's eyebrows shot up in surprise after hearing her words and his lips trembled slightly.
Vasari forcefully calmed his emotions down and 'looked' at the golden blonde-haired beauty snuggling into him. His thoughts were unknown and luckily Witney did not notice his expressions as she had her head pressed against his chest.
Once she was perfectly comfortable, Witney looked up and found Vasari staring looking down at her. Their faces were so close, they could feel each other's breaths against their skin. Witney could not stop herself from blushing profusely, she felt as if Vasari could see her even though she knew he was blind.
Vasari was truly unlucky that he could not witness the sight unfolding before him. It was enough to send even the most disciplined of monks into a heated frenzy.
"V-Vasari I managed to pick extra plants for you in case you couldn't find any." Witney's voice was so soft and meek that Vasari couldn't help but let out a small smile.
Witney watched as Vasari leaned down, closing what little distance there was between their faces even more. She hastily closed her eyes and pouted her lips slightly as she waited to receive her first kiss.
*Chu*
"Huh?" Witney abruptly opened her eyes in surprise when she felt Vasari's soft lips press against her forehead.
"Thanks." Witney heard him whisper before he lifted his head again back to normal.
Witney stared at him in disbelief. "Vasari you kissed my forehead..."
"I did."
"kiss me again but aim a little lower."
"Why?"
"Cause you have to kiss my lips otherwise it can't be considered my first kiss."
"That was a thank you' kiss."
"No, no, no, try again but this time on the lips."
"Wha-"
Witney seized upon his moment of weakness and decided to take matters into her own hands. She wrapped her arms around his head and pulled him down, crashing their lips together. Their kiss was short and sweet, quite befitting of an innocent first kiss.
Witney burrowed her head back into his chest and her skin from the neck up was practically completely red.
'Aii Vasari that is the second time this has happened now. It is time to man up.' Vasari berated himself on his attitude when he remembered a girl, not so dissimilar to Witney in terms of personality although he had to admit that Hannah was a lot more aggressive kisser than Witney. Hannah was also the one who initiated their kiss and it made him feel as if he was a dense main character.
"Ahem...I was looking for a plant before you found me. Do you want to help me look?"
"Yes."
"Okay lets go."
Vasari continued his search for whatever the ant queen was trying to protect but now he had Witney who moved from his embrace and made her new home on his back.
------
The Cloud Haven Sect was considered more than just a sect but also a city. It was split into three layers commonly known as the Outer Haven, Inner Haven and the Core Haven.
The Outer Haven was not only home to Outer Haven disciples but also citizens that were not disciples but were still considered part of the Cloud Haven Sect. The Outer Haven was the most populated of the three layers and even those from the Inner Haven and Core Haven would spend some of their free time here as this was where most of the recreation areas of the sect were.
The Inner Haven had a few recreational areas but it was mostly for cultivation otherwise it was filled with large houses on oversized plots since there was so much available space.
The Core Haven was home to the Core Haven disciples, all the elders, the ancestors and the Sect Master. The Core Haven was larger than both the Outer Haven and Inner Haven combined meaning that all the properties were massive and so spread out from one another that it would be a stretch to say the person with the property next to yours could be considered a neighbour.
But what many in the Cloud Haven Sect did not know what that there was a fourth layer. The Faction Haven.
Those factions in the top 20 of the League rankings were given their own faction headquarters where they could train and live with each other.
Within an inconspicuous medium-sized building in the Core Haven, 10 figures were seated around a large circular table, they all sat with their eyes closed and seemed to be waiting for someone to arrive. If someone randomly saw this scene they would automatically think that these 10 figures were dead but the powerful auras exuding from their bodies would tell them otherwise.
The eyelids of all ten figures suddenly burst open and they all swung their heads towards the single door in the room.
The door opened and in walked a figure wearing navy blue formal boots with a golden soles to add some flair. The figure wore sleek black pants with an expensive and elegant belt that held it up. A black turtleneck shirt was tucked into the pants neatly and a light blue Eastern Europe medieval-styled overcoat with golden trimmings was worn over it.
This figure was tall, standing roughly 190cm tall and had a slim yet muscular build. He had long, flowing silver hair hanging freely behind him. His face was chiselled and square which made him look quite masculine. Thick dark eyebrows sat menacingly above his cold silver-blue eyes.
His every step echoed throughout the room and the 10 figures instinctively stood up from their seat and bowed their heads.
"Raise your heads and take a seat." His tone was nonchalant but none of the 10 figures felt it to be that way. They could tell that this man was not in a good mood which meant they had to tread carefully today.
The man sitting at the head of the table was a man that went by the name Jin Reynolds, The Silver Cloud Saint. He also went by another name...
The Sect Master of Cloud Haven.
"Let's get this meeting underway shall we." Jin Reynolds orders as he glances at each of the 10 figures sitting with him.
The first to speak of the 10 figures was a good-looking man with a lean build and 2 sheathed swords were placed next to his chair, leaning on the table. Grey, shoulder-length hair tied into a ponytail accentuates his handsome features with the most noticeable being his sharp, sword-like eyebrows and dark, cold eyes.
"Sect Master we have received a letter from the Glacier Bay Sect and the Heavenly Sword Sect stating that they are happy with the arrangements made and agreed to the friendly competition between our Core Disciples. They agreed to randomly select 10 of their Core disciples to spar against ours."
"That's good, let them know we will have the competition in 1 month. Elder Di Nicola tell the children to prepare and let the rest of the Sect know a week before the competition."
"Yes, Sect Master."
"Now that that's out of the way, can someone please tell me how we lost control of one of our farming planets?"
The 10 figures gulped and clinched their rectums. This was the topic that they were fearing since before the meeting started.
"Sect Master I believe the Church of Parasufis somehow infiltrated the planet and killed the members in charge of overseeing the planet before disabling all our spatial portals and communication devices."
The figure who answered this time was a short old man with hardly any hair left on his shiny round head. If Vasari heard this person's voice he would immediately know who it was.
Elder Equus.