42 The Inter-Sect Tournament's True Purpose!

"All of you here are confirmed to be the best of this generation's disciples. You have all been tested and have grown greatly during this time, but we must now tell you about things that you will soon be expected to deal with."

The Elders began to go into great detail about the state of their world. On this planet most of the surface of the world was arctic wasteland, habitable only to those with high enough cultivation or species that were made for that type of life. There were a number of species living out in the wastes, but only one of them was intelligent. The Eizuru were large, bearlike, and very few. Their race had an abysmally low birth rate, but a fairly long life. They were capable of cultivating, but their system was so different from the system of the Lynhär that no one was able to judge cultivation of them. The Eizuru were not a concern, however, because they were peaceful traders who just enjoyed solitude.

The Elder then went on to detail the world to them. The minor continent they were currently on was called The Cradle. This continent split off from the single large landmass of the planet eons ago in a major tectonic disturbance. The disturbance that happened at that time caused the planet to move further from the Suns, causing the eternal Ice Age they lived in now, as well as causing massive volcanic activity across the globe. Every landmass on the planet had at least one volcano, and this massive level of volcanic activity created the only zones of habitable temperature to the Lynhär and many other species.

Due to the number of volcanoes and mountain ranges in the Cradle they maintained a fairly steady temperature across the minor continent, though the regions the farthest from the mountains tended to be cooler, which was the only reason the Volvaka hadn't taken over the entire continent yet.

After detailing the state of the world in such general terms they went on to speak more specifically about the state of the Cradle. Across the Cradle were a total of nine volcanic mountain ranges with many of the mountains in each range having some level of volcanic activity within them. In addition to those nine ranges there was also one extremely large volcano at the southern tip of the continent, Foska Vakaal! Every major volcanic region had its own Volvaka hive with its own Queen, but all of those hives are descendants of the first Queen to make its way over from the mainland to Foska Vakaal.

Foska Vakaal was also home to four major hives, one in each cardinal direction, and all of these hives hosted a very large population of the Fire Eater variant of Volvaka. The other hives scattered throughout the mountain ranges across the Cradle were host to all sorts of other variants of Volvaka. Each Queen was capable of causing various mutations in their offspring, bringing about new strains of specialized warriors and workers.

After explaining all of this to the five chosen disciples the Elders faces grew extremely solemn.

"You five will likely deal with this sooner than the others, so the next part is very important to you. Every hundred years or so the various hives across the Cradle will begin to become more aggressive, trying to take over the territory we've managed to secure. In a great conflict that spans the entire continent we will have to fight, from those at small success of Body Forging to those at the peak of Houtian, to drive the Volvaka back into their tunnels and win ourselves another century of peace before they try again. You five, as the leaders of your generation, will lead the disciples of our sects against the enemy. The three sects will begin to work together in cooperative missions to build trust before this major event."

Soon enough, after such an incredible amount of knowledge was given to them, the five were escorted back to their sects. Through this Yunlong learned that Long Wuying was from her own Hunting Hall, while the other three were all from the Iron Warriors. None of the top ranked fighters were from the Bone Tool Sect. This was not surprising, as the Bone Tool Sect's cultivators were focused heavily on crafting professions for cultivators and not on combat.

On the journey back to their home they spent a good deal of time walking across the land. They could have taken a boat all the way back to the city, but this strange territory, as the Elders told them, was an excellent training opportunity for all of them.

On the trip back they took the better part of a month to travel, but during this time they all began to develop certain levels of trust for each other, as warriors do when they protect each other's backs.

Yun began to trust in the righteousness of Xing Zhenya and Zheng Xinya, and she respected Long Wuying. Those three all had levels of righteousness and honor that were deep within their bones.

But Fang Niu... She was vicious, petty, and fickle. Yun could not bring herself to trust such a person with her back.

During this trip they all also had opportunities to cultivate. They were instructed to keep the cultivation stones they received hidden within their spatial storage artifacts until they returned to their sect and could use them in their private spaces. These were mostly powerful cultivation resources that could easily attract an enemy who was sensitive to energy.

In addition to this instruction, they were finally told the true values of these stones. Each level of Energy Stones contained nine 'stars'. These were the energy values inherent in the stones. When an Energy Stone condensed enough energy it would gain a 'star' and be able to release a higher level of energy when used.

The known Energy Stones on this planet were Heavenly Stones, the lowest level of stone, and the incomparably rare God Stones. Each 'star' level of each stone was worth twenty of the star level below it, so twenty 1-star Heavenly Stones equaled the energy of a single 2-star Heavenly Stone.

But things changed when you reached 9-star. It took fifty 9-star Heavenly Stones to equal a single 1-star God Stone!

Judging by these numbers there was a massive disparity in the quantity of cultivation energy given to each rank in the tournament. But at the same time, the Elders made sure to point out that using these stones too much would significantly impact the effectiveness of the energy. Using one 1-star God Stone for every three levels of Neidan Forging was already pushing the limits of what most young cultivators could absorb, but at the same time it would have significant benefits for their future growth. The reason for this was that Neidan Forging was essentially wrapping an energy seed in layers of 'food'. This 'food' would be made up of condensed layers of energy that the cultivator would absorb and then press down onto the Neidan core. The reason God Stones would benefit this process is because the energy they provided was significantly more pure than the energy that someone at this level could personally absorb, creating a layer of incredibly pure and dense Heavenly Qi within the Neidan for it to grow from in the future.

With all that information they all agreed that this would be a great opportunity for them as young cultivators. As they completed their month of trekking through the woods south of Myhrrwar they finally reached the ferry to cross the river. They were finally home.