Death... and me

Cynthia was the only member of the Lukimira Sect to join that caravan, so she left everyone behind after receiving her payment of ten Divine Stones from the Merchant Guild. Of course, Rean, Roan, Kentucky, and Celis followed her as she said, "Alright, I'm going to head to the Lukimira Sect now. Do you want to do anything else in the city before we leave?"

The twins' group shook their heads as Rean replied, "We can learn more about the city later. We're rather interested in the side occupation halls of your sect."

"Our side occupations?" Cynthia was confused to hear that.

Rean then explained, "I noticed that the weapons and formations here are a little different from ours. That's probably because of how far apart we are. I want to check if there's anything I can learn. The same goes for Roan in alchemy."

Roan glanced at Rean before saying, "You could have started the conversation by telling her that you're a Formation Master and a Blacksmith. She didn't know about that, after all." Roan then looked at Cynthia and told her, "As for me, I'm an alchemist. Rean and I are both in the Silver Middle-level in our side occupations."

Sure enough, Cynthia didn't know about that. "So that's why. It makes me wonder if there is anything you can't do..." However, she refused to continue thinking about it as she got used to the weirdness of the twins' group. "Very well, let's go to Lukimira then."

Cynthia then guided the group to one of the nearby teleport formations, which sent them to one of the south gates. There, they also found more teleport formations that were a little bigger than usual. Cynthia then went to one of them where Rean and Roan could see a few young cultivators using matching clothes protecting it. It was obvious that that teleport formation wasn't open to the public.

"Oh, it's Elder Cynthia!" A girl quickly came out of the group to receive her, greeting Cynthia. "Welcome back, Elder Cynthia."

Cynthia smiled as she patted the girl's head, saying in response. "I'm back, Linfa." Cynthia then looked at the rest of the people and asked, "How have things been during the months I was out?"

Another cultivator, this time a man, quickly came down to report. "Elder Cynthia, everything is still pretty much the same. The other elders already came back from their missions, so the sect is doing fine thanks to the Divine Stones they brought back."

Cynthia nodded, satisfied. Right after, she called Rean's group forward and introduced the cultivators to them. "These are members of our Lukimira Sect. They are on teleport formation guarding duty, as you can see." Cynthia also introduced Rean's group to the others, telling them, "The twins will be our sect's new Guest Elders. As for the demon beasts, they are their friends."

"Guest elders?" The disciples looked at Rean and Roan, slightly surprised and confused. "They aren't much different from us in age, though?"

Cynthia laughed in response, saying, "Hahaha! Indeed! I believe Galo back there is probably a little older as well. However, don't misjudge them by their appearance. These twins are already in the Soul Transformation Realm."

"What?!" The disciples were taken aback. Obviously, they tried to use their Divine Senses to check the twins' cultivation, but none of them could see through it. "Why would they come to such a small sect like ours? Ah!" The guy who said that immediately apologized. "Sorry, Elder Cynthia."

Cynthia simply waved her hand, not minding it too much. "It's fine, don't worry. Simply put, a lot of things happened, so they owe me a favor. They will act as guest elders of our sect for a while, so be polite with them." Obviously, that was the excuse Rean's group and Cynthia came up with for this.

Rean then began to shake everyone's hands, talking to everyone with a smile as he said, "Nice to meet you all. You don't really need to treat us as elders. Just pretend that we're some new disciples and act accordingly. By the way, I'm a Formation Master and a Blacksmith at Silver Middle-level. If you need anything later, let me know."

Roan, on the other hand... "I'm Roan, an alchemist, same level." And...that was about it for the ice block.

Kentucky also wanted to introduce himself but decided to not do it in the city at least. There were a lot of people around other than themselves, after all.

"Alright, that's enough for now," Cynthia said. "This teleport formation can send us directly to the sect, so we can use it. The sect is very close to the city as well, just a few hundred kilometers south, so there is no need for Divine Stones to activate it. Let's go."

Cynthia and the twins finally stepped on the formation before one of the disciples activated it. With a flash of silver light, they eventually disappeared.

The vision of the group blurred for a moment before they were met with a giant cliff right in front of them. It extended as far as they could see to both sides. The top of it wasn't the same, though. They could see its end. Nevertheless, Rean and Roan were sure that the top was at least 50 or more kilometers high.

As for the sect, it wasn't hard to notice many tunnels blocked by gates all around. "The sect is inside the cliff?"

"Surprised?" Cynthia asked with a smile. "However, we aren't trying to act cool. It's just that it was a lot cheaper to simply use our cultivation to excavate our own sect inside than trying to build a proper one."

Cynthia then approached the gate ahead, where the disciples guarding it opened the way. "Welcome back, Elder Cynthia." They didn't ask who Rean's group was, but the curiosity was obvious in their eyes.

"Don't worry. We'll introduce you to all the disciples here at once later." Cynthia couldn't possibly stop for the twins to introduce themselves to every single disciple, after all. "By the way. Although it's cheaper, this isn't a bad place. The earth making up this cliff is very resistant. Not to mention that there's a natural Divine Vein below. The quality of the vein isn't anything impressive, but it's already a lot for a sect of our size."

Rean's group nodded in response. They already could feel a slightly higher concentration of Divine Energy in this place.

Eventually, they passed by the entrance and could see how the sect looked from inside.