037 Preparing For The Expedition

Liam received no response about his asked question, the hooded man only continued speaking about the darkness qi.

"They have removed the whole of the darkness qi in this sect, they have a formation running under the ground and the 5 peaks that make up this sect are also the pillars holding on to the formation. It constantly sucks out all of the darkness qi, they seem to be afraid of darkness element cultivators." The hooded man said.

"Is that even possible? This sect is massive, how can there possibly be a formation under it." Liam asked the man.

"There are many things you still don't know about, things that you can't even imagine." The man said. "Focus on your water element cultivation for now. There's nothing you can do to cultivate the darkness element currently.

Liam did not say anything more, he knew by now how the man was like, he wasn't going to answer his questions no matter how many times he asked.

"I guess it's time, I'll cultivate until the expedition, when I get my soul pet, I'll think of a way to cultivate darkness qi." Liam said before he sat in the lotus position and began his cultivation.

Without any formation or pills to help him, he was managing about 10 drops of water qi a day, by the time the day before the expedition came, he had amassed 210 liquid qi drops. The blob of liquid qi was almost fully dark blue, like the deep-sea element, the remains of the darkness element were slim.

"Liam, you know we have to prepare." Aria said to Liam. Everyone was waiting for him yet again. They had no classes or work to do in the past week, it was currently the morning of the day before the expedition, Sunday.

"Everyone is going to use this day to prepare for the expedition, we have to hurry before everyone takes all of the good stuff." Peter said, it wasn't like they had credits to buy anything really good, but it would still be better to be first.

"All of the richer disciples are going to buy weapons if they don't already have one. And since this is the best sect in the southern continent, most of the disciples here come from prominent families." Ralph said, as he looked at his group of friends, who we're all nobody's in the cultivation world.

"I remember seeing weapon enchanting in the forging building when we went to the market a few weeks ago, how do they work? We didn't check it out." Liam asked, as he remembered seeing in the forging building, about formations, weapon enchanting and forging classes.

"While we alchemist create pills in our furnaces, from herbs and materials from beasts, under a hot but controlled flame, Forgers, other than formation also craft and enchant weapons. But I don't know much, I am not a forger or blacksmith." Peter said.

"The gear like weapons and armor are a lot simpler than pills, they are divided into common, earth and heaven. Almost no one has heaven grade items, it is said that the royal family has a full set of heaven grade armor along with a sword and ring, also at the heaven grade. No one really know what power it grants. It is one of the reasons why the royal family ruling over the southern continent has remained it's ruler for so long." Ralph said.

"I want a heaven grade armor and sword." Liam said as he took a victory pose, his right foot stepped higher on a rock and his arm held in front of him, as if he had a sword in his hands that challenged the heavens above. Liam imagined himself in gold peerless armor.

"Stop embarrassing yourself." Aria pulled Liam down, as she chuckled at his behavior.

"Dream on, there are only common grade armor and weapons selling on the market, even if you had the money, you couldn't find earth grade, much less heaven grade." Peter said to Liam.

"What! You can't even buy earth grade gear, what's the point then, it must be so weak." Liam said in disappointment.

"Don't underestimate the strength of common gear, it can only be crafted from metals and beast parts above the fifth human realm, that's why you don't see people with armor and weapons walking around, even the common grade is rare." Ralph started explaining to Liam yet again.

"Still, they can't be that strong, my elemental power is enough to get over some lousy weapon." Liam said.

"It's true, some cultivators who have an amazing elemental power prefer not to use weapons, but even if you have good elemental power, you can combine your elemental attacks with your weapon to create even stronger attacks. Not only that, even if you don't use weapons, you can greatly benefit from armor or accessory like a ring or a necklace. Other than general defense, better crafted armors can give added strength speed and other qualities. Earth grade armor and accessories can even give special effects like poison resistance." Ralph said.

"How is that even possible?" Liam was understandably dumbfounded by Ralph's words, how could armor or a ring give poison resistance.

"That's why they are so amazing, when the blacksmith makes them, he infuses his own qi along with the properties of the metal, minerals and beast parts that he is using, that's why the result is dependent on the blacksmith's element and his will. Even if two blacksmiths use the same materials, the same technique and they are both of the same element, cultivation and skill level, they still might end up with different products." Ralph said.

"That's so amazing, I didn't know that. You sound like a blacksmith." Aria said to Ralph.

"No, no. I have never been one." Ralph said, but it only caused more confusion in Liam. How does he know so much?

"We don't have enough credits to buy even common gear, but what do we need for this expedition, that we can buy with the money we have." Liam said to the others, as he didn't really know why they were at the market. Even though they had exited their homes at sunrise, by the time they got to the market it was full. Outer court disciples were buying and selling all kinds of goods.

"We'll need poison resistance pills, food pills and some basic tents to sleep in." Aria said. "It would also be very helpful if you bought some bait for the creatures. There are different types of bait, for specific creatures, or for a specific element. They don't work to well, but it's better than nothing." Aria continued.

"To our soul pet expert!" Liam smiled.

They, then went on to buy all of the required stuff for the expedition, without the bait. Liam and Ralph convinced peter that "it was a waste of credits", because they both knew Liam could attract creatures a lot faster with his murky spirit water.

Spending the whole day around the market was exhausting and the four friends were going to need a lot of energy for tomorrow. Everyone went to bed, excited about the next day.

They had already been instructed on what they should do the next day, all of the outer court students along with a thousand volunteers from the inner court were gathered before the hall that they used to take classes in.

The grand elder, Grant, who was also the second in command of this sect, only behind the sect leader, showed up. He flew above all the disciples, someone of his strength could fly even with the thin qi in the air.

"You have all been gathered here to take part in the soul pet expedition. The expedition will last 7 days and will mainly take place in the grand forest, at the center of the southern continent. Those that come from around there might know that it's quite dangerous even for fifth element cultivators, that's why we have 1000 inner court disciples that will be tasked to look over you. Some deaths are inevitable, but try not to lose your life, you can always gather more beast crystals later." Grant began his speech.

"The areas around the grand forest are allowed, but one must not get help from anyone outside, that will be faced with great punishment. The other sects in the southern continent will also be participating, we know we are better than them, but don't cause too much problems. Their sect leaders will annoy me later on." Grant continued, he knew fights among the disciples of the different sect occurred every year, often leading to deaths.

 "Everyone must form a team of 5, this is to ensure your safety. I will also announce that my own disciple will be taking part in the expedition as well, she is your age and cultivation level. If any of the boys try and court her, they will be killed." The grand elder began explaining as he made a girl float slowly, coming towards him in the sky. "She will be taking part in the team along with the current number 1, Kyle, leader of the flaming faction. May the expedition, begin!" He continued. When Liam saw the girl next to the grand elder, his eyes started to water.

"Hayley!"