"Yiahhh!!! Let's go!!!" Yulan's cute battle cry rang out, somehow both fierce and adorable at once.
The Wandering Sword Sect wasn't unaffected by this 'movement' as it could be seen by how Yulan let out a cute battle cry, the airhead having been 'caught up' in the movement and throwing herself upward with a 'fierce and determined' expression.
But before she could fully take off, a firm hand caught her by the wrist.
"Wait a minute," Mikael said flatly.
The sudden halt made her spin slightly mid-air, eyes wide and blinking as if only now realizing what she was doing.
Her 'fierce and determined' expression faltered into confusion, the contrast so ridiculous that her friends nearby snickered and even let out a few giggles at her expense…
"Don't charge recklessly, we can go help, but we need to be cautious, alright?" Mikael said seriously.
He wasn't blinded by emotions or swept up by the crowd's movement like Yulan, he had taken the time to calmly and rationally analyze the situation, and because of that he quickly came up with the best course of action.
Which was to follow the general action and also take off to the sky to support the Sect Masters as not doing could be seen negatively while at the same time while they go 'support' the Sect Masters being careful and taking care of staying far.
In this way if a conflict erupted there would be a lot of meat shields before them and could safely get away from an potentially extremely dangerous situation, understanding the potential danger of the situation he was being cautious which is why Yulan's 'hot-headed' charge really really wasn't to his taste…
"Eh!?" a cute squeal escaped the airhead beauty before she gave a small nod, "Okayys~"
On that note and without further ado, Mikael and the girls, lead by an pumped up Yulan flew in the sky joining the sea of cultivators who were blanketing the sky, their presences so numerous that the opposite Varnari looked like ant trying to stop a tsunami because of the immense disparity in numbers!
Crack, Boom, crack.
The air crackled with tension and power as the weight of all these numerous powerful cultivators in a battle ready state affected the heaven and earth.
The air growing 'thicker', the gravity heavier and an invisible weight seemed to press everybody as they felt the approaching battle that was about to erupt.
On one side there were the thousands of human cultivators while on the other the dozens of Varnari were present, they were far less numerous but were more powerful and this was especially the case with the Sect Master!
On the lower and mid level the Suncrest Region had an overwhelming advantage while on the upper level the Eidolon Path Sect had an advantage because of that both sides were in a stalemate as these cultivators readied themself for a bloody battle.
At that moment the sky was truly a power keg where a single spark would make everything explode in an unprecedented war!
Thump…Thump, Gulp.
The heart of some human cultivators loudly beat as they nervously gulped while eying the center of this power keg, the center being where the three human Sect Masters were in a silent confrontation with Varathen.
All eyes—weither humans or Varnari—were on them because they were who would decide whether a bloody battle would erupt or not!
"..."
Some seconds passed in silence with neither of these four saying anything and for a moment, it truly looked the spark would appear but then—
An intelligent glint passed in Varathen's unique eyes, 'It seems, like entering the Realm of Broken Skies won't be possible, at least not for free, so time to pass to Plan B and take out compensations…'
This was the thought that passed through his mind because while the Varathen being a Varnari loved to battle and fight, a consequence of being a Varnari which was a warrior oriented race.
A warrior didn't only mean being a good fighter that was able to hit and kill hard but also being tactically smart when it was needed, which meant that he knew how to plan and strategize when he needed to!
"Hohoho, no need to be so tense, the Eidolon Path Sect don't intend to force our way in!" he laughed loudly and with his words the tension seemed to dissolve, not on the human side as while some were affected and calmed down the majority stayed unaffected but on the Varnari side… it was another story.
The moment they heard their leader's words, all the Varnari below calmed down and retracted their aura, losing their previous battle ready posture and adopting a more casual one.
The fierce, battle-ready tension that had filled the air vanished in perfect unison, showing the iron order that defined Varnari society where one strength and warrior prowess was paramount and where lower ranked warriors obeyed high ranked one to the letters!
Varathen continued, "We won't force our way in, the previous display was just… a little probing, I hope the cultivators of the Suncrest Region won't take offense to this little display of strength, after all only weaklings would!" he finished with a booming laugh.
"Fufufu, of course not, the Wandering Sword Sect or the Suncrest Region Sects aren't soo… small minded…" 'laughed' Qiu Yuelan, answering as the 'representative' of the Suncrest Region as she adopted a carefree expression.
One which showed nothing of her true feeling, 'Politics, fucking politics! I hate that! I prefer a thousand times over to sleep, heaven even cultivating is far better!' she inwardly cursed feeling really really tired with all that but knowing that she 'was here to suffer' she could only endure and answer in a carefree tone.
"Hohoho, I expected nothing less from the cultivators of the Suncrest Region but that we don't say that the Varnari are unreasonable so we prepared gifts for the three Overlords Sects in exchange of allowing the Eidolon Path Sect to participate in the Realm of Broken Skies which is to open soon!"
Loudly laughed Varathen, his booming laugh seeming to make the air vibrate with his power before the burly Varnari waved his hands and suddenly a bunch of precious cultivation resources manifested in mid air.
There were precious pills, spiritual herbs, artifact, spirit stones, Cultivation Methods, Cultivation Techniques which manifested before each of the three Sect Masters in a rather generous quantity, enough that neither of them could complain with the compensation not being enough.
'Bastards!' was the thought that passed through Qin Yanlong mind as he saw that the cultivation resources before him were nearly a third less than the two others Sect Masters!
A less intelligent man would have complained but he understood the explicit rules of the Cultivation World and with his Flame Sovereign Sect suffering some decline it was 'normal' that he was receiving less compensation than the other Overlords Sect and he wouldn't be stupid enough to point it out which would serve nothing except giving more ammunition to this bitch Rong Xueyin!
And when we talk of the frozen beauty…
"The Frozen Serenity Sect accepts the Eidolon Path Sect gifts and won't oppose their participation in the Realm of Broken Skies opening." The mature beauty took the cultivation resources in her storage ring before uttering these words.
With Rong Xueyin taking the first step the Flame Sovereign Sect and the Wandering Sword Sect were forced to do the same and accepted the Varnari gifts, allowing them to participate in the Secret Realm opening.
And neither of the three Sect Master needed to get themself prayed to do it because neither of them were enthusiastic at the idea of offending and fighting against a powerful Sect like the Eidolon Path Sect.
So when they saw an opportunity to get cultivation resources, save face for their Sect and evade conflict with the Eidolon Path Sect they jumped on it!
As for the Realm of Broken Skies becoming more dangerous?
It was unfortunate but it was better than the other alternative of a bloody battle erupting and in the end it wouldn't affect them much as the one who would truly suffer were others…
And their thoughts were proving right soon enough as Varathen who needed spots to enter the Secret Realm—not 'spots' in true sense of the term, like him needing to obtain tokens or anything like that because it simply wasn't how the Realm of Broken Skies or other similar Secret Realm on Diron worked!
To enter the Realm of Broken Skies you don't need tokens or any other items, in truth there are no requirements except being in the Spiritual Foundation Realm or lower and anybody meeting that condition can enter!
Of course nothing is truly that easy because while the number that can enter this Secret Realm isn't truly limited, it's more or less the same as if it was.
If a too large number of cultivators enter it the realm would rapidly grow extremely unstable which mean that the danger for those inside would multiply as the Secret Realm would rapidly become extremely dangerous and lethal which is why enough though the Secret Realm doesn't have a 'true' number limitations it's the same as if it had one!
And the number of quotas given to the Sects and organization of the Suncrest Region are right onto this 'maximum' number so the Eidolon Path Sect participation obviously created problems.
And this essentially meant that for the Eidolon Path Sect to participate in the Realm of Broken Skies that was to open, other cultivators needed to be kicked out!
Because of this Varnari Sect necessity of obtaining some spots, the Sect Master that was Varathen approached some third and second rate Sects and offered them some compensation in exchange of buying their spot for his Sect disciples who were with him.
The compensation he offered was rather generous but even then these Sects were unwilling, after all their disciples were already there and ready to participate so having their disciples' opportunities get snatched right under their noses…
It was extremely cruel for these disciples and consequently it was obvious that these Sect were unwilling but unfortunately—
With the three Overlords Sects having already turned a blind eye to the situation and with them being far too weak to offend the Eidolon Path Sect, no matter how unwilling these Sects were they could only grit their teeth and accept.
And this situation showed perfectly well the cruelty of the Cultivation World toward the weak, especially for these disciples who saw a life changing opportunity be snitched under their noses while being too powerless to even dare object…
Once this 'transaction' between the Varnari and the human cultivators was finished, everybody returned to their own Flying Artifact and while the atmosphere was still relatively tense, at least it wasn't a power keg like earlier where a single spark would have made everything explode in an earth shaking war!
In that fashion and with everybody being calmer that time began to quietly and without incident pass.
Yulan cutely tilted her head, "Are you sure? I thought birds didn't act like that…" she inquired while looking at her friend Lian'er.
Hua Lianyu gave a couple of confident nods as she outwardly projected confidence, "Sure of it! After we are finished with this Secret Realm, I'll show you, birds definitively can read one heart and if your heart is pure they perch on your shoulders!"
Lian'er declared with confidence to Yulan who quickly grew enthusiastic, the airhead not seeing the mischievousness in her friend's eyes…
Smirk.
Mikael gained an amused smirk at Yulan and Lian'er antics as he observed them amusedly while waiting for time to pass but as he did that while occasionally conversing with the girls his attention drifted to the Varnari.
Author Note:
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Things are about to go badly but in the end, no conflict erupt, we also have some cultivation style politics and the weak gets 'bullied', nothing out of line for a cultivation world!
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