"I greet the second elder." Feng Zhiming bowed to the round old man in front of him while cupping his hands.
He had decided to let Anissa wait for him outside the Sect, it wouldn't be easy to explain where he picked up a Spiritual Awakening expert.
"Rise, disciple Feng, you have done well this time." the elder was looking at the scroll Feng Zhiming had brought back.
At this point in time, only Feng Zhiming and the elder knew the contents of the scroll.
"Do you know what the scroll says?"
The elder inquired after putting the scroll into his storage ring.
"I had to read it to verify if it was the artifact." Feng Zhiming was not apologetic and stood his ground.
The elder look conflicted for a moment, then gave up.
"Just make sure not to tell anyone else."
Feng Zhiming bowed to him.
"I am now going to transfer an information transmitting technique to you, don't resist."
Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment level and above could directly talk into peoples minds, in this case the elder was going to send the technique instead of a sentence or message.
A sharp feeling came and left Feng Zhiming's mind as he tried his best to not resist despite it being instinctual.
"This technique describes how to make a messenger to carry a message from one place to another, it can be fast and slow depending on the user. The upside is however that the messenger if caught self-destructs along with the message."
"Thank you to the elder for this technique."
"No need for thanks consider it my parting gift, now you must infiltrate the orthodoxies, if you find any sensitive information communicate it using the technique."
Feng Zhiming turned around to leave, but before he walked out the door of the hall, he turned around again.
"The man who stole the artifact choose between greed and longevity, what would your choice be between."
He didn't know why he wanted to know the answer to this question, it just felt like something he was interested in, so he asked.
The second elder was a little surprised by the question, but in the world of cultivation questions were the basis of enlightenment, so he answered.
"If you asked me a hundred years ago, I would have said there is no choice to make and there is only longevity."
He slowly rose from the chair he had been sitting in.
"But now I feel, for me, that choice would be family. I made the wrong choice once before, and it won't happen again."
When he said that a complicated look appeared on his face, it was obvious that he had learned his lesson the hard way.
"Thank you."
Feng Zhiming walked out of the hall feeling like a huge burden had been lifted off shoulders, he was now ready to explore the world without fear of retribution by his sect.
"Let's start with this bounty on [The Creature of the Wildlands]." He thought to himself as he saw the notification in his head.
[Assembly wide announcement to all Ethereal Core Participants]
[The Creature of the Wildlands is a worthy opponent, the first participant within the Ethereal Core realm to hunt it will receive a reward from the administrator]
"Seems the show is too boring for the administrator." Feng Zhiming chuckled as he left the sect.
…
Somewhere in the Wildlands a group of three people stood at the entrance of a cave that led underground, two women and one man, the three wore loose fitted blue cultivator robes.
An eerie silence had taken a hold of the surroundings and a feeling of ominous foreboding was present.
"Brother Fang, I really don't think we should be going in this cave."
"Come on little Hua have some faith, I'm just a step away from Spiritual Awakening, how could a Condensed Ethereal Core stage demon be my match, tell her Hani, she's worrying for no reason."
"That's right with brother Fang here, we disciples of the Flowing River Sect have nothing to fear."
Fang was sure, how could three ethereal stage cultivators lose to a single demon in the same stage.
"Killing this demon is a huge merit, this will help the entire sect, and we'll be rewarded by one of the three great orthodoxies. I'll lead us, so don't be scared."
Although he had conveniently left out the part about him gaining great fame from the subjugation, it was an otherwise accurate statement.
Fang led them into the cave, however the moment the three entered their expressions soured.
"What a disgusting stench." they all said in unison.
As polished veterans in the world of cultivation they had experienced innumerable battles before, they had seen people ripped in half, demons that had three heads and much more. But this stench made all those seem like nothing in comparison.
"This floor is so muddy." Hani said as she walked through the cave.
The ceiling was far too low for them to consider flying.
"Deploy your spiritual sense and don't miss anything, don't rely on your vision, it's too dark." Fang ordered the two girls.
The three deployed their spiritual senses, but just as quickly as they deployed it, it was equally quick that they all came to a grim realization.
"B-Brother Fang, m-my spiritual sense is completely dark." Hua spoke nervously.
"This isn't good." Hani added.
"Don't panic, clearly there is some sort of formation array here, let's just head back to the surface and find some formation dispelling talismans."
Fang turned around to exit the cave and froze up, his face held an ugly expression, Hua fell to her knees and Hani's eyes shot wide open as if she had seen a ghost.
The entrance to the cave that had been just a few steps behind them vanished, leaving behind only a gaping darkness.