Chương 43: Chapter 42: Departure Ceremony

Miya told him the entire story. As it turns out, while he had been out having a meeting with the dungeon core's avatar. All the adventurers that had been sent over to stop the dungeon's forces have gotten pushed back instead. It had turned bad enough to force the alliance of sects within the City of Silver to announce that they'd all personally send reinforcements too to back up the adventurers. At first, it was a select few who'd agreed on this, but now, all hands were on deck.

She further clarified, "Of course, this doesn't mean they'd be sending any actual direct disciples to deal with such a small threat. But they'd be sending their own respective direct disciples in training, alongside many more inner and outer disciples."

She lowered her voice, "Let me also let you in on this secret," she leaned in, "apparently, rumor has it that the Council of Seven had been really displeased with them, since they refused to send any reinforcements despite all the trouble the Silverine Knights had been facing dealing with the floating dungeon."

"I see, but why aren't they sending the adventurers directly to the layers instead of fighting the overflowing spawns outside? Shouldn't destroying the core be their top priority?"

"Btzz btzz," she crossed her hands in a big no.

"That's not something you get to do with a dungeon spirit—they're far more invulnerable to such tactics than in their initial form. Of the huge amounts of records the guild holds on dungeon core and spirit destruction, not a single one mentions them finding the dungeon's spirit before destroying all its spawns, including the boss." Nero nodded, "That's one troublesome type of dungeon." Miya nodded too, "Yep, they aren't called pseudo-immemorial dungeon tributaries for no reason."

Immemorial dungeon—the words sparked the tale Sister Sofia used to speak of back at the church. These were the dungeons, led by dungeon lords, who'd banded together to destroy the last empire of the sapient races, forcing its people to take shelter in its capital city. After some more chitchat with her, Nero parted ways for his sect. On the way, he dropped by the church, donating a single crown there, which had Sister Sofia staring at him dazedly again.

"Where'd you get this much money, Nero?" Nero scratched his head; he hadn't prepared a decent lie for this kind of question from her. In fact, he hadn't planned on coming here to donate at all. It was just an odd sort of compulsion that suddenly made him come over. After a second of deep contemplation, Nero decided to just tell her the truth. Well, half the truth. Sister Sofia stroked his head gently, a wide smile on her lips.

"God has finally granted you the breakthrough, huh," she said.

"Keep the faith, boy. You've worked hard to be able to defeat the beasts of that dungeon with ample spawns. You deserve all its riches. Naturally, invest them well, so you may retire early." She brought a finger to her chin, mulling something over.

"Should I start looking up some potential brides for you?" Nero's face immediately turned red at that.

"No, sister, I'm not interested in marriage," he firmly denied.

"Also, it's been very foolish of me not to tell you this, but I've also been accepted into a sect!"

"Oho, which one?"

"The Nether World Sect, sister!" Her eyes immediately widened; he'd never seen her make such a surprised expression. Seeing her reaction, even the other children of the slums who now occupied much of the church hall came over, as Nero began to explain the whole thing. As he continued, he felt his usually calm heart grow more and more excited.

Before he knew it, he'd turned into an attraction, as even the parents from destitute households of the slums who'd taken shelter here, and had been depressed thus far, began to gather around him, listening to his story—how strong that Oni had been, and how heroically Elder Zyran had defeated them. He made sure to keep any important details that might make him stand out too much hidden, like the endless path gene talents. This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

After the story was fully told, a chorus of claps and applause lit up the hall. Nero could see Sister Sofia simply smiling at his interaction with the others. After the little event ended, Nero bid Sister Sofia goodbye. Once back, he didn't bother going to the sect kitchen to eat, since the bites of food he'd gotten from the parents' own lunches had already filled him beyond what he could bear.

Eating bits from each of their lunches, as they'd offered him as compensation, had also shown him how fine some of their cooking was.

"Seriously, I should give them some money to open up a restaurant with them as the chefs—their cooking skills are something else!" With a cheery mind and cheery heart, Nero went straight for the grand hall and got himself four spirit stones before quickly returning home. After a much-needed bathing session, Nero got back to his room, resuming his cultivation like usual. It took him five minutes to calm himself fully and enter the qi refinement step.

After a long while, Nero also finally got to smell the scent of jasmine as it permeated his room once again. He then repeated his usual routine until the 15th of the month rolled around, and he finally had sufficient qi in his lower dantian to start nurturing and awakening his core. During these two days, he'd also made sure to take full advantage of his library pass, gulping down as much knowledge on beast core awakening as the various guidebooks could offer him.

On the 16th day, while he was busy reading books for nearly five hours straight, commotion outside caught his attention. The whole sect's otherwise quiet atmosphere was taken over by the sounds of festivities, as drumbeats rolled through. Seeing even Senior Sister Xiao go outside with a spring in her step, Nero quickly understood what the occasion was about.

"It's time, then, huh." He closed his books and put them back on their respective shelves one by one before leaving for the sect compound. … The sect compound had been turned on its head in terms of appearance as Nero walked outside. Colorful decorative flowers dressed the otherwise plain walls with vibrancy, with two large drums placed on either side of the Grand Hall's exit.

Even white doves flew overhead cheerily, and through the barrier of the sect, only a slight amount of snow was allowed in, far less than before, and he could also feel a whole lot warmer than usual. So they'd not only tightened the restrictions over snowfall, but even regulated the temperature… Standing at the far end of the compound, Nero took in the whole view.

Food stalls had been set up around the perimeter of the gardens on both sides, with mainly outer disciples cooking and selling food to senior outer disciples and inner disciples, who had now come out by the dozens and roamed the compound, chatting with each other happily. It was lively, to say the least, but in his heart, Nero felt amazed—amazed at the power of a cultivator. Because if one peered beyond the barrier, an intense blizzard was actually taking place.

And yet, the atmosphere inside the compound reflected the liveliness of summer.

"With enough strength, one can do anything." Nero turned around to find Senior Disciple Chang leaning against the wall. He waved at him, and Nero quickly went over to greet him.

"You were busy studying again, weren't you?" he asked.

"Yes, senior. This junior apologizes if he was missing while all these arrangements were being made by my fellow disciples." He bowed. Senior Disciple Chang didn't speak for a while, only eyeing him intently, before waving his hand and gesturing for him to stand beside him.

"You know what all this is for?" he asked, still looking at the festivities with a distant, almost nostalgic gaze. Nero nodded.

"It's the departure ceremony. The selected disciples will be sent to deal with the dungeon spirit that has appeared in our circle."

"Indeed. If you have anyone you're particularly close to here, be sure to spend time with them before they leave," he instructed. Nero didn't leave, since he didn't have anyone here he was particularly close with or had spent any significant time interacting with. Well, maybe Sylvia, but it wasn't as if he could barge into the third story of the sect building to meet her. The elders would have his head. He just remained beside Senior Chang and watched the festival.

After a while, the drums that had been beating in rhythmic, musical tones turned more rigid and militaristic. Everyone in the compound stopped whatever they were doing and began filing into neat formation across the compound. Even the elders, who'd been absent thus far, began flying out of their quarters on swords, one by one. They stood at the head of the opening of the Grand Hall. The inner court disciples stood at the very front, while the outer court disciples stood at the far back of the compound.

After a moment, a huge explosion resounded as small clouds formed over the sect building before turning into a black slate. On top of it read The Merit Obelisk. What followed was an intense wave Qi that crashed forward from within the grand hall, as two figures walked outside, side by side. The Direct Disciples.