6 Breaking Through

Moral Timere Sect

In the middle of the night, a loud clash had awoken everyone within the sect. The sect head, disturbed from his sleep, walked toward his balcony to see what was going on.

Residue from white and yellow streaks roamed the skies. Feeling a divine presence, the sect head looked upon the sight in awe and quivering horror. Despite the profoundness of the two energies that collided, even the sect head, the most powerful existence at sixth-stage Martial Spirit level 2 even had trouble perceiving and understanding what was before him, and he felt fear. Not just from not being able to understand what he saw, but because he knew that if either of those energies met with him, there would be nobody sitting at his seat.

An aged man came rushing into his room. "Sect Head! I apologize for barging in like this, but there was—"

"I know, Elder Nele. Something... has come." Seeing the morbid look on the sect head's face, Elder Nele's throat dried up.

"Then... Sect Head, should we investigate this?" Thinking that the sect head would decline and just let the two powerful beings clash, he was still querying of what he would do.

Turning to the elder, the wind began to howl. He was old, but he still had much time to live. His long gray beard breezing through the blowing wind, his face turned to dismay.

Thinking for a little, the sect head resolved himself. "We must." His body appeared grand, and the imposing aura around him grew, making the elder uncomfortable. "Even if our men are unable to find out the source of what is going on, this is still a threat. The Moral Timere Sect shall fear nobody, not even the existences that clashed, causing our sect to shake. Send out the experts! We will start the investigations at once."

Elder Nele was astonished. Thinking the sect head didn't want to face whatever was out there, the elder was glad. Joy then turned to shame, as he was ashamed of himself when he heard the sect head's words and a new feeling of determination welled up inside of him.

"Yes, Sect Head!" Dashing out of his room, he began the preparations of calling the guards to create several scout teams, gathering the experts of the sect, and finding more information of what happened. The history of such occurrences was minute, but there must have been some sort of reputable scholar that experienced or researched something like this.

Outside of the gates of the Moral Timere sect, many of the sects most powerful figures were there. The eight elders were giving orders to their subordinates, the geniuses of the sect were taking charge in certain groups, and the guards were investigating the mountains, sending teams of ten to scout out the surrounding areas and eventually, the place of action.

The top twenty scholars of the sect were gathered in a large tent prepared for them, discussing and reading to find anything, even a smidge of information to give them some sort of lead on what woke everyone in the sect.

Those that weren't assigned any special role were delivering supplies to the setup, but mainly the newly accepted disciples. Those of their second and third years who were dabbling in their professions also searched in their respective libraries to see if there was anything written there.

The blacksmiths were investigating if a weapon did this, the pill pavilion thinking it was due to an explosion of a failed pill, and even the array formation masters were looking to see if there was an array capable of displaying what had just happened.

The sect was doing his own type of investigation. He was looking for Yaila, his daughter who was, at the moment, missing. A few breaths of inquiring later, he found out that one of the guards had let her leave in search of a Blood Moon herb some time ago.

Furious, the sect head slapped the guard, causing him to fly several meters before crashing into a wall, coughing up blood. "Impudence! Not only did you let my daughter go out late at night, but you even allowed her to search for the Blood Moon herb! That herb is very rare, even she wouldn't be able to find it!"

Struggling to stand up, the guard hung his head. "I'm sorry, Sect Head..." After getting this out, he collapsed once again and was in critical condition. A few of the physicians saw this but didn't dare make a move to help the guard as the sect head was still cooling down.

Looking toward the anxious physicians, he spoke, "Help him if you wish." The sect head turned and left to attend to the organization of the sect. The physicians then rushed over and began applying medical care for the guard.

Approaching the tent of the scholars, the disciples and elders of the sect greeted him. Inside was a frantic rush and scouring of books that matched tonight's situation.

When the tent flap opened, one of the scholars turned and shouted, "What took you so long! We're—!" Seeing it was the sect head, the scholar lowered his head, "My apologies! Scholar Bael greets the sect head!"

Regarding Scholar Bael, he could care less about his actions. He understood that everyone was rushing and trying their best to find dissect the situation.

"What has been discovered?" The rest of the scholars turned toward the figure and greeted him.

Scholar Bael was the first to respond, "Reporting to the sect head! Unfortunately, we have yet to find anything regarding the streaks of light a few moments ago! Our sincerest apologies!" Bowing, everyone followed suit.

"Keep working. I expect something to come up soon."

"Yes, Sect Head!" Invigorated, everyone worked even harder. The sect head walked out of the tent and began consulting the elders.

"Has anything bizarre been reported yet?"

"No," began Elder Nele. "Nothing has been reported yet. Currently, we have several teams searching the Mountains of Arbor and they haven't come back. However, they should be here soon."

Nodding, the sect head began prodding elsewhere.

"Apologies! We haven't found anything yet!"

"Sect Head, we will work harder, but currently nothing arose!"

These were common comments he got from each group. It seems that there hasn't been a phenomenon like this in the history of the Moral Timere Sect.

"Elder Nele, come."

"Yes, Sect Head!"

"Have everyone begin researching the books throughout the continent. Something of this scale shouldn't have been missed." Looking up into the night sky, the streaks of yellow and white were still outlining the stars. They were more transparent showing that they were disappearing soon.

"Sect Head!" A member of the System Watch ran up to him. The System Watch was where every action in public and the outside of the sect was recorded. There are very tall and imposing towers around the sect which record their surroundings. The member was dressed in a purple robe, the color only the System Watch are allowed to wear.

"We've found the section when the explosion occurred." Handing the sect head a crystal ball, he bowed and took his leave. The sect head looked at the ball. It was a recording crystal ball, and in order to activate it, one needed to pour some spiritual energy into it.

Expending a little of his energy, the ball began to show images of what happened. What could be seen in the distance were the Mountains of Arbor. White lightning had flashed, looking almost like a row of sharp teeth wrapped in a ghastly aura. Then, a brief beam of yellow shot out from the forest in the mountains and clashed with the lightning, causing the explosion to ring out.

"So that's what it was..." Pondering, he still couldn't fathom what was recorded on the crystal ball. Just then, the guard scout team came out.

"Sect Head! Elders! We have found something." The guard ran in whilst saying all of this and knelt down.

"Speak."

"Yes. We've stumbled upon something that was very misty. When we sent one of our scouts in, a few moments later he came walking back out! When asking what happened inside, he was confused. He said that he was still inside the mist and never reached the other side. We believe from this that is an array, a very powerful one!"

"A mist array?" The sect head looked intrigued. He was versed in the way of array formations and had even modified some of the basic understandings to be understood easier and more effective. Some say that he was a genius array formations master in his prime.

"Do you know something about this, sect head?" One of the elders perked up.

"Yes, a mist array is something that is hard to create, even for me. I've known only a few who were able to create one, but even then they were unparraled geniuses. I know that they very rarely leave behind treasures within these mist arrays, but I've never found one before."

Another elder turned over. "So, does that mean the lights from before were from a weapon?"

"Yes, that is possible, but something else was there. A white lightning bolt descended upon the place and was struck most likely by the weapon. It felt like divine retribution happened upon the area." Tossing the elders the recording ball, they all gathered and watched, mystified.

"Amazing... a streak of lighting of that caliber?"

"This is too much."

"How is it possible to disperse the pure energy of that lightning bolt?"

The elders held uneasy looks, glancing at one another.

"Yes, the power is great," began the sect head. Standing up, he walked away. "But we, are greater. Bring me the array masters, the pill pavilion experts, and the scholars. We're going up the mountain."

In a moments time, the eight elders, ten array masters, five pill experts, and twenty scholars formed a group of 43 all led by the sect head.

"Everyone, I wish to trouble you all tonight. Come with me to the spot depicted in the recording ball, and we will find a way to break the reported mist array there and see what is inside." Once again, he tossed the crystal ball toward the group and they all watched. Horror, confusion, uneasiness, all sorts of emotions flooded them.

"I sense you all have your doubts, but do not forget who we are!" Flashing his aura, the group watched the sect head with respect and a sense of duty filling them. "We are the Moral Timere Sect! We do not fear, they fear us! Anybody who impedes on our sect, looks down on our sect, or even disrespects our sect will be punished! Don't look at fear, have fear look at you!"

Vigor and determination flooded the group as they all shouted in unison, "Yes, Sect Head!"

They began to trudge into the mountains.

Nearing the array formation, the party noticed something off about the forest. The trees began to appear taller and sturdier. The spiritual energy also grew denser the nearer they got.

"This place is refreshing, yet eerie," commented one of the scholars. Everyone nodded.

When they got to the array formation, even the experts of arrays were dumbfounded. The mist obscured their vision from seeing in, and the scholars testing the array only ended up walking straight out not even two breaths later.

"Peculiar..." The scholars had no words.

"Sect Head, unfortunately, we aren't able to break the array..." Looking dejected, the array masters hung their heads.

"This energy is too fathomless for even us to comprehend...!" The elders were shocked.

Peering at the mist, the sect head had an idea.

"Everyone, stand back. I will attempt to break the array." The array formation masters looked up in reverence and excitement. The rumors of the sect head were far, earning respect everywhere, especially for the art of array formation mastery.

The sect head began chanting in the face of the array formation, determination set his eyes ablaze and a new wave energy surrounded him.

"Foul mist, treacherous fog, expellable vapor, disperse before me and my spirit, begone!" Numerous flags filled with spirit energy flew from his hands, dismantling the structure, the mist upheaving itself.

Throwing out the final flag, his voice rang out in the night. "Brazen path, open before me, for I, am Sect Head Kahn!"

Katong!

The final flag blasted from his hands, unable to contain the amount of spirit energy that was infused within, sticking to the central portion of the array. With a deafening blast, the array blew apart, unraveling the scene that lay before them.