"Is everyone here?"
A loud voice echoed through the sky, overlooking the vast number of people gathered below, on the wide prairie.
To the side stood the great mountain of the Infinite Dao Sect, which now seemed rather lonely, without even a trace of life moving across its terrain, unlike in the past.
"Senior Brother Bai, all 358,756 disciples are already here."
Answering the question previously asked by Bai Yan, from the Punishment Pavilion and a direct disciple of Lie Zheng, another disciple dressed in black robes with white details spoke firmly.
In the sky, several disciples wearing black robes with white or gray details were positioned, managing the crowd of new disciples to ensure no one was left behind in what was about to happen.
However, of the two thousand disciples of the Punishment Pavilion, only around two hundred were present there.
The rest were, in fact, involved with the approximately 4.5 million cultivators recruited by the Infinite Dao Empire. Assisting with such a workload were several elders and other disciples from different pavilions, as well as officials that the sect had been training over the past year.
Aotian had not been reckless enough to recruit so many people without having manpower to manage them. Ever since the cities were built, he had been supervising and separating people of good heart, ability, and merit, allowing them to secretly practice the castrated cultivation techniques.
Thus, the empire was not going from zero to one hundred all at once, but rather from ten to one hundred.
It might seem like a small difference, but had it started from nothing, it would have been several times more difficult to manage the influx of personnel the empire gained practically overnight.
Fortunately, his preparations were sufficient, and things on that front were proceeding smoothly.
Setting the empire aside for now, on the sect's side, Rihai, Aotian, and several other old disciples were also present on the prairie, mingled among the new disciples.
"Didn't I say that more people would pass the recruitment than the number you mentioned? It was almost double." Rihai smiled, looking at her husband in a teasing and playful manner as she observed the crowd made up of people of different clothing, ages, and cultivation levels.
The recruitment had ended just a few hours ago, and everyone had gathered there by order of the sect.
Although the new disciples had no idea what was about to happen, the old ones already knew, and from time to time they cast glances at the majestic mountain beside them, slightly dazed.
It was as if they wanted to engrave into their memories and hearts that place which, for nearly two years, they had called home and a safe harbor, where so many memorable moments had been created and preserved.
Moments of discovery, of hope, of laughter, of companionship, of struggles, and of joy.
Aotian also felt a faint melancholy upon noticing the atmosphere surrounding his disciples.
Rihai, despite smiling, revealed to her husband's attentive eyes a note of sadness in her words as they conversed, and a complexity in her gaze whenever it unconsciously drifted toward the mountain.
Aotian did not comment on it, merely smiling as he wrapped an arm over her shoulder and gently pulled her closer to him.
"Well, my beautiful wife is the most intelligent. When you spoke that day, I agreed, and now this number of recruited disciples has only proven your point." He laughed, amused, and kissed the top of her blonde head.
She rolled her eyes, also amused, knowing that he was trying to comfort her without directly touching the subject.
Even so, she gently rested her head against his chest and continued looking at that place.
Beside them stood several old disciples of the sect, whose powerful auras, though unremarkable to one another, felt terrifying to weaker cultivators unaccustomed to such things.
It was like a great congregation of monsters, and because of that, they received many fearful and admiring glances from the new disciples, who clustered together at a certain distance.
Shen He and the old man Lian Shou stood at the front of the enormous group of newcomers, after all, they had been the first to complete the judgments of the stairway.
And both of them could sense an atmosphere of discomfort and uncertainty hanging over the new disciples. The crowd's unease stemmed from those at the front, who could see the sad expressions on the faces of the monstrously powerful senior disciples of the sect, making everyone feel that something was wrong and that events would not proceed as expected.
Even more so due to the fact that they had been gathered on the prairie, rather than on the sect's mountain.
Although a mountain with a third-level vein would become very crowded if it housed more than fifty thousand disciples, that mainly concerned the need for cave mansions for everyone, as well as sufficient space for sect activities, buildings, and wide open areas for flight, training, and the like.
If it were built like a city, with tall buildings and little empty space, the number of people it could accommodate would be many times greater, and there would be no problem at all housing so many disciples, with plenty of space still left over.
And on the currently empty mountain, it would be even easier to allow so many people to gather there instead of outside. This fact, combined with the sad looks of the old disciples, caused the new ones to begin growing restless, fearing that something bad was about to happen.
'Master, what do you think is going on?' Shen He hurriedly asked his master, feeling a slight unease in such an atmosphere. It was as if they were pigs about to be sent to the slaughterhouse.
Just as Aotian had felt affected by the atmosphere around him, Shen He too was beginning to grow nervous with the rising anxiety of the crowd.
["Hmm… I probed with my energy and I think I know what's going on. There's no need to be nervous."]
His master's calm voice sounded in his mind, soothing him considerably, though not completely, since he did not explain the reason. Fortunately, with such reassurance, his anxiety slowly gave way to mere curiosity.
Unfortunately, that applied only to him.
But before the crowd's restlessness could turn into an uproar, an enormous shadow in the sky began to tear through the clouds, displacing immense amounts of air that whistled loudly, easily drawing attention.
"What the hell is that?!"
A shocked shout rose from the crowd.
"Huh? What are you talki— AH!! What is that?!"
Soon, various reactions spread among the people and, without exception, everyone turned their eyes to the sky in fear.
A vortex pushed the clouds aside as a dark hull emerged from within them.
Slowly, yet firmly, the hull revealed itself more and more, until a massive black floating ship, which seemed to carry an entire city upon it, burst forth from the heavens, leaving everyone slack-jawed and wide-eyed.
Aotian smiled faintly at the sight.
This time, it was not merely a pile of junk held together by a sea of spiritual energy, as it had been last time. Thanks to the gains he had accumulated over the past few months, he had more than enough materials to create the monster now appearing in the sky.
To give birth to such a behemoth, a vast amount of Formation-Tier materials had been gathered through plunder and trade in the central continent, in addition to those he managed to produce using Bao Wuji's Equivalent Exchange ability.
Its creation was the most interesting part, as it was made using synthesized Formation-Tier inheritances, and together with the bonus from the inner elders, this mega ship firmly reached the frightening Void-Tier classification.
The size it could reach was far greater than the city-ship built back then to carry the slightly over ten thousand disciples in that recruitment, and without trash being glued together by spiritual energy, its energy efficiency and performance were countless times superior.
Descending slowly toward the ground, the air it displaced violently stirred the robes of the new disciples, who watched in shock.
Under the admiring gazes of even the old disciples of the sect, the majestic ship, with an extremely realistic dragon head at its prow, was completely revealed before everyone's eyes.
[Illustrative Image]
When it was no more than a few meters above the ground, it finally stopped, and at the same time, bridges of energy silently fell from its sides, pierced into the soil, and stabilized themselves, ending up directly in front of the countless disciples, who shrank back slightly before the fierce black ship.
Bai Yan landed on the ground beside the other core disciples, watching alongside them with admiration and a hint of strangeness in his gaze.
"We… we're still the good guys, right?" he asked, his eye twitching as he looked at that ship.
"Isn't it super cool?! My master has great taste!" The little girl Lin Xiaoxue from the Refinement Pavilion and disciple of the pavilion leader quickly defended her master, Ting Zao, crossing her arms and smiling proudly, completely ignoring the doubtful expressions of those around her.
Only the other little girl, Bai Jingjing, was there, firmly and seriously agreeing with her, stars in her eyes as she admired the ship.
The beautiful blue-haired Xiao Ling, a direct disciple of Bao Hui, who was also there, smiled and shook her head helplessly when she saw the little girl proud of her own master, who actually had a peculiar taste for flashy and cool things, sometimes even going overboard—like now.
Rihai and Aotian, standing nearby, undoubtedly heard their conversation. While the former laughed in amusement, the latter twitched the corner of his mouth almost imperceptibly.
In truth, Ting Zao's dubious taste was not an act, but Aotian's own questionable taste manifesting through his avatar.
He was not ashamed to admit that he liked cool things, bordering on the famous chūnibyō.
But now he felt that maybe he had gone a bit too far, seeing the frightened expressions of the new disciples and the strange expressions of the old ones.
'What a bunch of cowards. Looks like only little Lin Xiaoxue and Bai Jingjing have good taste.' He snorted internally and looked at his beautiful black ship.
Some parts of the hull glowed red, like magma. The black dragon, with red eyes, looked alive and cruel, with the majestic and sinister city atop it, everything exuding a strong villainous aura.
The more Aotian looked, the more he felt that he really might have crossed the line a bit, and his cheeks unconsciously flushed.
He had to admit that if he saw another sect flying in a ship like that, he would label them villains without a second thought.
While Aotian scratched his head in distress, Bai Yan, as the leading disciple of the Punishment Pavilion—basically the sect's police force—had to go calm the new disciples, who looked like they were about to flee from the 'demonic sect' they had apparently just joined without realizing it.
"Everyone, calm down, calm down! Our sect is actually very sunny, and that ship doesn't really match the atmosphere. But well… ahem! Maybe our elder from the Refinement Pavilion, who designed the ship, likes making flashy things a little too much…"
Thus, with the support and explanations of the old disciples, the new ones finally calmed down and then found the courage to board the ship, under the orders of the elders who soon arrived.
When they boarded that enormous and fierce ship, which could easily accommodate half a million people, they were immediately amazed.
Despite the oppressive exterior, inside the spiritual energy was intense and pure. The internal environment was cozy and well-lit, and there were several beautiful spiritual herbs decorating the place, making everything quite welcoming.
The interiors of the buildings were not black like the hull, but white and pure, or composed of other vibrant colors.
This allowed the disciples to relax considerably.
Aotian rolled his eyes when he saw their reactions. He wanted a fierce ship on the outside, but that didn't mean he needed to live like a vampire on the inside too.
As the disciples entered and explored, Aotian and Rihai walked along the exterior to the prow of the ship, stopping near the enormous dragon head. Even so, neither of them looked at it.
Rihai's eyes were fixed outside, on the sect's mountain, which now showed no movement at all.
Even the sect's beasts had boarded the ship, leaving apparently no presence in the once lively sect.
Aotian wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and rested his head on her shoulder, feeling his wife's sadness.
The other disciples were also saddened by the departure. They had spent just over a year and seven months there, which might seem like little, but the amount of things that happened during that period made it feel like an entire lifetime—something that would always remain memorable to them.
There had also been a certain melancholy when they left the Bamboo Sword Sect, but they had stayed there for less than four real months—not counting the five months they spent traveling through the region, during which they did not actually reside on the mountain while recruiting disciples.
Moreover, from the very beginning, everyone knew that their stay at the Bamboo Sword Sect was only temporary. But not on this mountain, which they had conquered with their own hands and seen flourish beneath their feet.
Still, Rihai's sadness was several times deeper than everyone else's, and of course, Aotian knew the reason.
Holding her tighter, he also looked at the beautiful mountain, behind which the sun was beginning to set, making everything even more beautiful.
"Don't worry. Even though we're leaving, the empire's officials who have reached Foundation Establishment and above will use the mountain to support their cultivation, and they won't let it change or become empty."
"Some elders will also stay behind to maintain it, so whenever you want to come see it, we can return at any time, and it will still be there, not much different from how we left it."
He gently comforted her, holding her even closer in his embrace.
"Mm…" She nodded with a soft murmur, the sadness in her heart easing a little.
["Besides, your second body will remain here. Only when we are sure of our safety in the new home can we bring it along. So, for now, you won't be leaving the mountain completely, even if the familiar faces are no longer here."]
He kissed the top of her head as he transmitted his voice, calming her even more.
Rihai did not respond this time and stayed with her husband, watching the sect gradually grow more distant as the ship ascended into the sky, preparing to depart.
The two remained in silence, witnessing the place they were leaving behind—a place that would forever occupy one of the most intimate corners of their hearts.
The place where they had been married.