"Huh?"
"Old man, you want us to join your Celestial Nirvana Sect?" Ash and the others did not expect that.
"I do but you must understand your situation. Right now, you three have special talents that rarely appear once in an era but for your age, your cultivation realms are relatively weak which puts you in danger if anyone with the same cultivation realm as me seek you out for nefarious purposes." The Ancient Elder explained.
"So, under the sect's protection, we'll be able to grow stronger without having to constantly watch our backs? Hmm…" Bryan was deep in thought.
"I say, we join." Ray expressed his opinion.
"Oh right, old man. How strong is your sect?" Ash was curious.
"Haha, the Celestial Nirvana Sect stands at the top of the world and dare I say, the whole galaxy." The Ancient Elder chuckled with confidence.
"Stop thinking too much, Bryan and let's join." Ash instantly agreed to joining the sect.
As much as he wanted to find any faults with the situation, Bryan can't help think that this was an amazing deal for the three of them. He let out a loose smile and agreed with the others, "Alright, I agree to joining the sect as well."
The Ancient Elder had a brilliant smile form on his face and said, "Wonderful!"
"But…" Ray suddenly butted in. The other two wondered what he was going to say.
"Hm?"
"If we're going to join your sect, we don't want to start at the bottom of the ladder. We want and need to grow powerful as soon as possible and adapt to the cultivation lifestyle since we're lagging behind according to you." Ray addressed his concerns.
"That's alright, I had the same objective anyways." The Ancient Elder stroked his beard in extreme satisfaction. He managed to rope in three rare and special talented geniuses to the sect. 'The galactic battle should be in our favour soon…'
"Are you three ready?"
The three nodded and the Ancient Elder snapped his fingers. Weirdly enough, the three couldn't hear anything from the snap.
"Old man, why couldn't we hear anything from that snap?" Ash raised his right hand and asked.
"It wasn't meant for you." The Ancient Elder replied.
"Then who was it meant for?"
The Ancient Elder replied with a faint smile, "You'll see."
Soon enough, they understood why. A humongous silhouette resembling a dragon descended from the sky, heading straight for them.
The dragon had dark purple scales all over its body and golden shaded wings on the inside. It was at least 300 metres tall and the wingspan was at least double its height. Its tail was long, marred with glowing spikes. Its massive body covered the sky, blotting out the sun, making it seem as if darkness has befallen onto the young men.
Its nose was fuming like a chimney and its deep black eyes could pierce you soul with a single glance. Sharp teeth protruded out of its mouth with razor sharp claws attached to its legs. Two golden horns curved backwards were seen on the top of its head. A terrifying aura emanated from the dragon signifying its strength and presence.
*ROOOAAAAARRRRRRRRR*
It was safe to say that the dragon had a terrifying appearance and scared the shit out of the three friends. The Ancient Elder chuckled with slight surprise and floated over to the hovering dragon. Its massive wings sending waves of destructive wind across the forest.
With fluttering clothes and a chaotic surrounding, the three were terrified and shocked beyond their understanding. It was their first time ever witnessing something so massive and horrifying. On one hand, they were extremely fascinated that it was a dragon but its terrifying aura didn't allow them to be fascinated.
"Alright, Nirvana. Supress your aura, you have scared the kids more than enough." The Ancient Elder communicated with the dragon.
The dragon's massive eyes stared at the three young men with slight curiosity and supressed its aura, enough for the three to handle.
"That's a fucking dragon…" Ray uttered with amazement.
"WOAH!"
The three suddenly started to float towards the back of the dragon where the Ancient Elder stood, displaying his prowess and authority.
"Who are they?" A dark but somehow a soothing voice came out of the dragon.
"They will be the future of our sect, Nirvana." The Ancient Elder answered the dragon.
Now that they were on the dragon's back, their slight fear faded away and just displayed curiosity towards the dragon.
An invisible barrier formed around the three as the dragon took off in an unknown direction.
Soaring through the clouds, Ash asked the Ancient Elder, "Old man, who's the dragon?"
"Her name is Nirvana and she is one of the two Guardians of our sect." The Ancient Elder replied.
"That's a beautiful name!" Ash caressed the scales underneath him. A low vibration reverberated the dragon's body showing her satisfaction.
"I guess Nirvana likes the compliment." The Ancient Elder smiled.
"We are actually riding on top of a dragon…" Ray was still amazed.
"This guy and his mythological fanaticism." Bryan shook his head.
"I didn't expect the three of you stand still in front of Nirvana." The Ancient Elder sat down in a cross-legged position with his eyes closed.
"Was something else supposed to happen to us?" Bryan lifted his eyebrow.
"Cultivators stronger than you three have fallen unconscious just from experiencing Nirvana's aura. But instead, you three handled it well despite your cultivation realm being so low."
Bryan felt smug, "What can we say, we're just special!"
On the other hand, Ash spoke to the dragon without any restraint, "Nice meeting you, Nirvana! I'm Ash and these two are my best friends, Ray and Bryan."
"How does flying feel like?"
"Can you breathe fire?"
"Do you eat?"
"What kind of food do you eat?"
"How strong are you?"
"Are you the strongest dragon?"
"Can you breathe something else apart from fire?"
"Why are your wings golden?"
Nirvana, the dragon, lightly growled before responding, "You're a funny man, Ash."
Bryan, on the other hand, was dumbfounded that someone actually managed to find him funny. Ray uncontrollably laughed at Bryan and Ash continued asking questions.
-After several minutes-
Back in the forest where the three underwent their assimilation process, a low whistle echoed from a distance before it got progressively louder and louder.
*Whoosh*
In the open stood a black robed middle-aged man with a pair of deep black eyes, scouting the area. He was about to take a step when his head whipped towards an another direction.
*Whoosh*
A blue robed middle-aged man with a scabbard hanging down from his waist, appeared out of nowhere in front of the black robed man. They stared at each other for a while, trying to assess each other's motive and next move.
"What are you doing here, Blue Sword?" The black robed man menacingly questioned.
"I could ask the same to you, Black Hawk." The man called the Blue Sword calmly said.
"Heh, it seems like someone else reached here before us." Black Hawk said in a mocking tone.
"Since, you're here. We might as well fight." Blue Sword lightly smiled before pulling out a majestic sword from the scabbard. The moment he pulled out the sword, the air stifled in intensity and the surrounding trees shattered just from the mere presence of the sword.
Black Hawk narrowed his eyes and chuckled, "You're crazy as they say."
He opened both his hands and a black sickle appeared in each hand. Cracking his neck and shuffling his sickles, Black Hawk smirked and unleashed a horrifying aura before blasting off towards Blue Sword.
Blue Sword responded in kind and swung his sword towards his opponent.
*BOOM*
As soon as the sword and the sickles made contact with each other, a powerful shockwave was sent out and two sky-reaching auras of blue and black clashed, sending terrifying waves of energy against their surroundings.
The ground beneath them pulverized and everything in the vicinity was either decimated or was sent flying away.
Both the cultivators were knocked a few steps back and they continued their fight to the sky. Massive explosions decorated the sky as a result from their multitude of clashes.
"You're strong…that's for sure." Black Hawk uttered with a serious face before a massive killing intent surged from his body. Inhaling a deep breath, he crossed his sickles in front of him and a terrifying natural energy was growing up murderously.
Blue Sword narrowed his eyes in extreme seriousness. Seeing that Black Hawk was about to unleash a terrifying attack, he started building up his energy. The presence of a majestic sword emitted from Blue Sword as he pointed his sword at Black Hawk.
"Death Cross!"
"Gentle Wave!"
The surrounding space trembled as the two mighty cultivators unleashed their attacks. A deadly red cross that gave one a sense of doom and a streak of sword light that resembled a blue wave were sent hurling towards each other.
*BOOM*
The whole sky vibrated and a titanic explosion of red and blue marred the sky, destroying anything and everything in the vicinity. An invisible wave of brilliant radiance flashed across the sky.
In the blink of an eye, the ground beneath was flattened, and was decked with broken stones and waving dust.
After a good while, the explosion settled down and both Blue Sword and Black Hawk stepped back simultaneously.
They both looked at each other with frigid eyes but Black Hawk lightly smirked, "I remember when you used to thrash me in one move but now, it seems like we're even."
Blue Sword narrowed his eyes and killing intent started bubbling up around him.
"Hold your horse, if I run, you know you won't be able to catch me."
"Hmph!" Blue Sword grunted in annoyance.
"Before I leave, might as well give you a helpful reminder. Of all the powerful cultivators in my sect, I am just ranked 7th. Take that however you want to." Black Hawk gave a mocking smile before vanishing at extreme speed.
*Sigh*
Blue Sword regained his calm face and smiled slightly. He muttered to himself, "If he knew that I was just a clone, I wonder how his reaction would be…"
-Countless of miles away on the back of a dragon-
The three friends were bored to death and the Ancient Elder could observe that.
"Patience comes a long way but if you master it, nobody can stop you."
"Stop with the talks of wisdom, old man." Bryan stared at the Ancient Elder weirdly.
"Nobody knows patience more than us but being bored is an inevitable outcome in the road of being patient." Ray shrugged.
"Yeah, old man. Why don't you teach us something in the meantime?" Ash suggested.
"Sounds like a good idea." Bryan and Ray nodded.
The Ancient Elder smiled and said, "I don't have to."
Bryan donned a confused face and said, "Why not?"
"Look ahead."
The three turned their heads and saw something unimaginable.
"What the fuck…"
In the sky, displayed a colossal set of letters that spelt 'CELESTIAL NIRVANA SECT'. The humongous name seemed to span endlessly across the sky. It merged with the sky and let out a golden radiance, signifying its unhindered glory. Anyone who saw it would be mesmerized and a sense of passion and desire would build up from within one's soul.
Under the name, there were beautiful mountains and lakes that seemed to stretch forever. Tall and wide buildings were erected across the endless land. Countless cultivators were seen on the lands, amongst the buildings and such.
It didn't seem like there was a specific end due to how vast the Celestial Nirvana Sect's territory spanned to and from. Various powerful cultivators roamed the skies accompanied by powerful beasts, safeguarding the Celestial Nirvana Sect.
"This is where we'll be joining…" Ash was enamoured.
"This takes the meaning of 'grand' to a whole new level!" Ray stated with absolute wonder.
"I have to give props to you, old man. That is one amazing view!" Bryan complimented.
The Ancient Elder chuckled and said with a proud tone, "Haha! Welcome to the Celestial Nirvana Sect!"