The next day, even before the sunrise there was a horse wagon that was set out from the village. It was a two-person ride. One was the escort driver himself who was barely awake with half closed eyes and a young man whose eyes were as clear as the midnights moon. It was Agastya himself.
He didn't even blink as he kept his gaze fixed on the enormous Chenobi mountain range and watched as it got diminished in size as they travelled further away and entered the forest of Namyung.
The Namyung forests deeper parts inhabits a deity spiritual beast 'The hells serpent'. It's referred to as a deity because it contains as much strength as an equator level being.
The only way to reach Ilhua is through the Namyung forest and because of the creature that lurks within trade connections are kept at minimum.
Only after the peak of the Chenobi mountain range went out of sight did Agastya close his eyes and then leapt into a deep trail of thoughts.
"A Chants power will only get dissipated if spoken without understanding its meaning or divinity. So, I must refrain from using collapsation without grasping its full essence."
"But since it responded when combined with the teachings of the Unholy world's secrets, it can only mean one thing."
"Every word written in the book is universally true…Haha." Laughed Agastya "Worthless my ass, a priceless treasure is being treated like garbage. This can only reflect the foolishness of the world."
"But I would make full use of this. But I don't think this will be too easy"
"Well, its normal for a martial artist to enter the world of jianghu to gain fame and power. Although I am a scholar, I don't think I can avoid a fate filled with chaos. The peaceful life a scholar is not meant for me" said Agastya while looking at the 'Collapsation' manual scripts in his hands.
...
While Agastya was immersed in his thoughts, a figure appeared on the peak of the chinobi mountain range and as soon as he arrived, the bright midday sun in the clear sky seemed to be dimmed out.
The people outdoors who spotted the man instinctively felt like to kneel and worship him. His eyes were red and beautiful and whomever his gaze fell upon seemed to freeze in abundance of darkness.
"Maybe I am too late. That strange energy I felt is not here anymore. Maybe I should just descend and free everyone from the shackles of life" the man muttered to himself.
The village chief, who was unconscious suddenly opened his eyes and with horrified expression in his face looked in the direction of the ominous source of energy.
"Or not!" saying so the figure left the ilhua province.
The village chief sighed a breath of relief and prayed god for the future ahead.
...
"Let's make a bet sir Jungryong shall we?" said Agastya to the escort warrior running the wagon.
"I bet that the sign board of the Eternal blossom sect would be in black. If I am wrong, I will pay double the fair and if I am right, I would be paying only half of what we agreed." said Agastya.
"What kind of sect paints its sign board black. Where did you get this information?" Asked Jungryong with suspicion.
"I am just guessing. I wouldn't suggest an unfair bet" smirked Agastya.
"Ha-ha…so I am going to get paid double today" laughed Jungryong.
"How did you know?" said the escort with a heavy voice as the wagon reached the Eternal Blossom sect.
As Agastya got out of the carriage, he could see an enormous gate with a sign board in pitch black saying, 'The Eternal Blossom Sect'.
"So, this is the esteemed Eternal Blossom sect. Well, crimson silver is known for its everlasting nature but exposure to humidity overtime turns it black. Given the name of the sect, surrounding ores, location and the value the old timers place on such futile things it was a natural guess" Agastya said this out as his eyes very thoroughly observing the architecture of the establishment.
The escort person took half of the money and left disappointedly.
"State yourself" spoke out one of the guards at the door.
"I am Agastya, here as a reinforcement candidate from Ilhua village as requested from the great sect. Here is my identification badge issued by our village chief" stated Agastya.
"What! Ilhua! Is there such a place in the Sichuan province? I have never heard of it"
"Moreover, I don't even sense any martial arts from you. Even youngsters from third rate clans and houses have some sort of foundation. How can someone send an amateur like you to a warzone," said the guard.
Just as the guard said this, sudden winds have started to blow as large amount of energy was being emitted from Agastya's body.
"What! How is this possible" Shouted the chief guard who was watching from afar back.
It's true that Agastya didn't possess any martial arts. But there's a catch.
When Agastya was seven years old, he wandered into the forbidden part of Namyung forest and met a religious group who worshipped the deity of the forest 'The hells serpent'.
Though Agastya thought that their practices were foolish, he picked up a very important trait from them.
As part of their rituals, they would occasionally spend nights full of inner prayers without sleep. But they would still be active the coming day. They thought this effect was caused by the deity and the more devoted one was the more the effect.
But Agastya reckoned that this was the effect of meditation and thought of an idea to potentially substitute sleep.
From that day onwards Agastya would spend his nights in meditation rather than sleeping. This greatly boosted the energy accumulation in his body and his mental state.
As he spent most of his days acquiring wisdom and meditating at nights, he had accumulated five times the internal energy than people his own age.
Generally, the energy residing in ones dantian cannot be sensed or estimated until the user emits it out.
When martial practitioners perform repeated actions to hone their skills some amount of internal energy starts flowing through their blood vessels and veins and subconsciously remains outside the dantian in their arms or trained body part which indeed can be sensed.
This is the method people use to gauge their opponent's prowess. The intensity, quantity, clearness etc play a clear role to estimate one's level of martial arts which Agastya had none.
He was an anomaly, so the guard was in genuine shock. He hasn't heard of such a case before.
"Judging from his appearance he isn't even twenty years old yet so there is no way he has expertise hide his prowess. So, he clearly isn't a martial artist. But scholars usually don't even have one fourth of a martial artists internal energy."
"Could he be a young lord of some family who was nourished with medicines and elixir's" the chief guard thought to himself.
"You're a weird one now aren't you." The head guard came forward saying so.
"An Intermediate void zone expert!" Agastya thought to himself with astonishment.
"The Eternal Blooming sect should be more powerful than I thought to have someone like this as a guard."
"General third-rate youths like you from outer regions are usually assigned as chore boys or to the backup squad if lucky." The head guard continued.
"I have seen many in my days and can spot a talent as easily as making tea."
"If you follow me, I can recommend you to the squad captain of the red blossom squad, one of the top forces of the sect. But it won't be easy to pass the personal evaluation from the squad. What do you say are you confident" asked the head while guard looking into Agastya's eyes intensely?
"Just lead the way" replied Agastya with unwavering confidence.