A Demon's Journey

While they were on their way to the battlefield, Azaroth's group took many breaks. Azaroth wanted them to stay at the peak of their mental and physical health. Thus, these breaks were important.

They would set up a small camp during those breaks, and Azaroth would ask one of them to gather food and water. Naturally, he had sensed that there was food and water nearby available, and that's where he stopped.

It didn't take much time for these women to gather water and food. After that, another warrior among the group would cook food for everyone and distribute it to others.

Once they had finished their meal, Azaroth would even ask them to take a small nap. It would recharge them for the rest of the day.

The nap would recharge them with energy, and then it would be time for some light training and exercise. It would deal with any stiffness that their bodies possessed after hours of flying.

Azaroth was different. He could easily change his posture while flying, and his body remained in an optimal state, but the same wasn't true about these women who were flying through Azaroth's power.

During breaks, some women asked for Azaroth's assistance. This occurred most when it was time for light training and exercise.

The one to most frequently request for Azaroth's assistance was Helena. Unlike the other women, she didn't have a cultivation background. Her background was that of a civilian, and everything she had learned in a couple of months felt very new to her.

She was constantly in need of a guide who would tell her that she was doing fine. She would sometimes also suffer from some lack of confidence as she saw her fellow comrades controlling the Ice Energy that she never thought was possible.

Azaroth noticed this lack of confidence and began to talk to her more and inform her that this wasn't anything strange.

"Lack of power and control isn't anything strange. I understand that you have never trained as a warrior before. But you see, it's not like there is no future for you here. Look at Tiana. She is quite similar to you, actually. It has just been a couple of months more than you since she entered this world of cultivation." Azaroth revealed this information with a smile on his face.

The women around Azaroth immediately turned to look at Azaroth with a shocked expression. They then looked in Tiana's direction and asked her, "I-Is leader speaking the truth, Sect master?!"

Tiana nodded her head blankly, "Yeah."

She didn't understand why Azaroth would reveal this information. She thought she had to hide this information from her subordinates. Or else, they might think she had no experience and all.

She was right to worry about these issues. However, she failed to anticipate their shock. They never expected that their sect master was someone who had reached 4 Star Rank Cultivation in a couple of months.

This sort of speed would very well shake the foundations of a normal sect. In fact, they had never heard of this sort of speed in the top sects.

Even in the top sects, they required multiple years to turn a normal civilian into a seasoned warrior at the 4 Star Rank.

Moreover, these women couldn't look down on Tiana. They had witnessed Tiana's battle against the Sixth Prince of the Glerian Kingdom.

It was a battle that completely impressed them. That battle was the reason they felt that it wouldn't be bad to join Tiana's sect.

She had fought the sixth prince to a standstill, and that also without using that mysterious energy.

It was the first time they witnessed a civilian battling so well against a Royal Prince.

Meanwhile, Helena experienced another kind of shock as she looked at Tiana. She never expected her sect mistress to be the same as her. Someone who had recently entered this cultivation world.

"She appears so strong. She must possess a great talent for cultivation. I am not sure I am cut out for something like this," Helena spoke with a humbled expression.

Azaroth then spoke, "The talent you speak of is nothing but the will to work hard and become better."

"I have seen individuals with their trigger point. Unless that point is triggered, their talent isn't activated. But the day it does, they dazzle the world with their talent. It's not that you aren't talented, but your trigger point hasn't been activated," Azaroth then gently patted her head.

As Azaroth stroked Helena's head, it seemed to possess mysterious powers that completely calmed down all her worries and turned her mind empty. It felt as though she had entered a meditative state.

This allowed her to focus greatly.

"Do remember that I am here, for all of you." He then addressed all the women seated around him.

He was talking about everyone, including Tiana.

Tiana had a slight blush as she stared at Azaroth's face. She found it incredibly attractive at this moment and wanted to lean onto his body.

She was a little tired of leading her subordinates. She felt that Azaroth's presence had greatly lightened her burden.

However, she stopped herself in the middle of leaning onto Azaroth. She didn't want to show any sort of weakness ahead of her subordinates.

As they say, respect was earned, not given. If she lost her respect in front of them, it would be difficult to regain it.

Azaroth seemed to have noticed that internal battle going on in Tiana's head.

He drew Tiana closer to him with his right arm and made her lean onto him.

What he was doing was demonstrating to all these women that he was approachable, and they could lean onto him for any kind of assistance.

Meanwhile, Tiana was blushing madly as her face turned completely red. Her heart was beating crazily, and she looked at her fellow subordinates to see their reactions.

She thought they might be looking down on her, but surprisingly, none of them had that kind of expression on their faces.

Instead, there were admiring glances directed at Azaroth. They even had a trace of envious and jealous expressions on their cheeks.

It was clear that they wanted to replace Tiana and lean onto Azaroth. However, they were too shy and a little scared to do the same.

Azaroth noticed the expressions of these women and was extremely satisfied. He then addressed to all the women seated around him, "You all are going to be the future pillars of this sect. No words could express just how grateful I am to have your support."

Those words somewhat touched the hearts of these women. They felt very nice when Azaroth called them the future pillars of the Sacred Ice Aurora Valley Sect. Moreover, he seemed genuinely grateful to have their support.

They knew that this man had experienced many things. Those mountains of corpses spoke volumes of his journey until now.

When such a man praised you, you would naturally be filled with giddy feelings.

Azaroth wasn't done, though. He continued, "I created this Sacred Ice Aurora Valley Sect because it was a wish from a very special friend of mine. She was one I could proudly call my wife. It had always been her desire to build a sect for Ice Cultivators who found it increasingly difficult to cultivate the Ice cultivation techniques that have spread all over the world."

"You must have experienced it already, right?" Azaroth asked this question suddenly.

The women around him nodded quickly. The cultivation techniques they had been practicing in the other sects weren't actually Ice Technique. It wasn't compatible with their Ice Element. Those techniques were more compatible with Water Techniques or Mist Techniques. But they had no other choice.

Every time they cultivated it, they would experience severe pain, and their physiques would be riddled with impurities. They would need to expend a great deal of their fortune just to buy the spirit medicines or pellets to purge those impurities.

However, the Ice Cultivation Techniques they had received after joining the Sacred Ice Aurora Valley Sect had none of these issues.. Thus, they were also endlessly grateful to Azaroth for giving them these techniques that were completely compatible with their element.