The next morning, Verus awoke at the crack of dawn to the sound of ringing metal. A servant was walking down the hallway outside his room while hitting a bell. This was a normal occurrence when the elders wanted the initiates up early, so Verus just sighed and got out of bed. Across the room, Warin was doing the same.

“All graduating students are to meet in the dining hall,” the servant yelled as he passed by their door.

Both Verus and Warin quickly got dressed and headed out. As initiates, they had no possessions of their own, so they didn’t need to pack up anything.

“We’re finally going to the main branch to become real cultivators! Can you believe it?” Warin asked his roommate as they stepped into the hallway. There were plenty of sleepy-looking initiates shambling their way to the dinning hall around them.

“We’re already real cultivators. We're of the Foundation Realm. We have ki cores and can use them,” Verus reminded him.

“Maybe, but once we get to the main branch, we’ll have the chance to train for real and discover our talents and attunements. We might even become elders eventually!”

Verus didn’t reply. He just frowned nervously. Becoming an elder was his life goal. He could picture no better life than that where he wielded the aloof power and dignity of a senior cultivator of the sect. However, getting there would not be easy.

The elders had never explained exactly how their training would continue after they left the temple that had been their home for most of their lives, but it would undoubtedly be difficult. Verus knew there would be some testing so that they could be assigned cultivation techniques, and then everyone who passed would become official disciples of the Great Wind Sect, but that was about it. The uncertainty bothered him more than a little, despite all the time he’d spent meditating and training last night. What if he wasn’t ready?

Upon reaching the dinning hall, Warin and Verus both found seats and sat down. Servants immediately began bringing out gruel for breakfast while an elder watched.

“Go ahead and eat. You have a long journey ahead of you, and nothing to gain from waiting,” the elder told all the initiates.

Silently agreeing, all the young cultivators wasted no time and dug into their food. Most of them finished eating quickly, including Verus and Warin. They didn’t have to wait long though. Within a few minutes, the elder excused all of the initiates and sent them to the front gate. There, they met Elder Sevus and several servants. Elder Sevus simply ignored the initiates, but the servants began handing out packs, one for each young cultivator. Verus took his pack and looked it over. It wasn’t light, but it seemed to contain everything he’d need for a long journey, including a sleeping roll, a spare robe, a flask of water, and some dried food.

When every initiate was assembled and had his pack, the tall gates of the temple swung open with a loud creak and clatter of chains, revealing a narrow path leading down the mountain. There were excited murmurs from the initiates, but Elder Sevus ignored them.

“Follow me,” was all he said as he turned and exited the temple. Nervously, the initiates went after him.

Verus glanced around nervously as he stepped outside the temple. He’d been out here many times of course, but he’d rarely gone far. This time he wouldn’t be returning to High Mountain Temple for a long time, if ever. Looking back over his shoulder, Verus studied the home he was leaving – with its stone walls and proud architecture – before turning to focus on what was ahead of him. Behind him, the banners of the Great Wind Sect flapped in the cold breeze.

Off in the distance, white-peaked mountains rose proudly into the sky and split the clouds floating by overhead, but the path the elder was leading the initiates down was cobbled and well maintained. Stairs made even the steep inclines easy to traverse, but the path was not very wide and was surrounded by sharp stones. It also occasionally veered near tall rock walls or ran next to dizzyingly high cliffs. The young cultivators had to carefully walk in line as they made their way down the mountain path.

There was no shortage of awe-inspiring scenery to take in. Verus and his peers passed crystal clear lakes and tumbling falls of white water. Leaning over a cliff, Verus saw a vibrant forest growing in a sheltered valley as the piercing cry of hunting eagles echoed through the air.

However, the hours passed by, and eventually the heavy packs began to tire the initiates out. Despite their trained physiques and their ability to bolster themselves with ki, the young cultivators were unused to so much running and Elder Sevus kept them moving at a very fast pace. Gliding along the ground with graceful steps that made him move deceptively quickly, the elder seemed unwilling to let the students slow him down any more than absolutely necessary. With his arms clasped behind his back, he didn’t even bother to look at them. He simply kept running. Meanwhile, the initiates were too busy sucking down air to talk among themselves, so the long journey was done without anything in the way of conversation. At one point, Verus thought he saw a huge creature fly into a bank of clouds off in the distance, but it was gone before he could get anyone’s attention.

Thankfully, the path of cobbled stone didn’t go on forever. After a few more hours, they entered a dark forest at the base of the mountain. The shadowy branches overhead formed a dark canopy that hid the sky, and the entire place was eerily silent. However, upon following the trail past a row of thick bushes, they finally reached its end and found themselves next to a road. The road wasn’t empty either. A large merchant caravan was parked on it. Made up of a long line of beasts and wagons, it stretched out of sight. It was also full of people, more than Verus could remember seeing in one place. He gaped in surprise, and he wasn’t the only one among his peers.

“Oh, thank the Archon!” Warin groaned as he stopped beside Verus. He was hunched over and huffing and puffing. The chubby initiate had struggled more than everyone else during the run. Endurance wasn’t his strong point.

Elder Sevus stopped running as soon as he reached the road, and after looking around for a brief moment, he stepped over to talk to a large man in a blue robe and a floppy silk hat. The chubby merchant had several gold chains around his neck and a gleaming bald head. With his neatly trimmed beard, he was the picture of a successful merchant.

“We have been expecting you, Elder Sevus. It pleases me beyond measure to greet an elder of the Great Wind Sect as illustrious as you,” the merchant announced before giving a deep deferential bow. “Your might and wisdom will be a great boon to us on this journey.”

“It is good you are here on time, Master Husen,” Sevus replied. “As decided, the initiates and I will be travelling with you to the capital. I hope you have made the proper arrangements.”

The merchant swiftly bowed again. Despite his riches, as a non-cultivator, his status was technically lower than any of the initiates and far below Sevus’s. “I believe you will find everything to the satisfaction of yourself and your storied sect. I have personally labored to make sure it is so.”

Elder Sevus nodded and turned to face his students. “We will be travelling with this caravan since it would be difficult to move all of your frail bodies using quicker methods of travel. I expect you all to be on your best behavior and to be grateful for the effort and time being used to get you to the main temple.”

The initiates immediately all bowed and gave their assent. That done, the elder began walking toward the caravan and the merchant hurried after him. Unsure of what to do, Verus and the other initiates hesitated, but a servant stepped forward to guide them to their place.

“This wagon is for your use,” the man announced after leading them to a long wooden wagon that had a bright blue cover made from cloth.

Some of the other initiates began climbing into the wagon through the back, but Verus took a moment to look around. Beside him, Warin was still sucking down as much air as possible.

They were surrounded by other colorful wagons, most of which were piled high with trade goods and crates. There were also lots of people around, way more than Verus was used to seeing. There were guards with leather vests and swords at their hips, porters in dirty work clothes, and several more merchants in luxurious robes. It seemed like some of the merchants had brought their families, because Verus also caught sight of some women and children. Everyone was bustling about and barely spared the initiates a second glance.

However, what caught Verus’s eye was the beasts pulling the wagons. While a few of the smaller ones were pulled by horses, all the larger wagons had huge ox-like beasts tied up in front of them. Covered in shaggy brown fur, the giant beasts were far taller than a man and had two spiraling horns growing from their heads. Snorting and huffing, the creatures looked incredibly strong. This impression was only reinforced by the ki Verus could feel radiating from them.

“Are those soul beasts?” Verus asked aloud as Warin looked up at the beasts.

The nearby servant chuckled. “Of course. What did you think they were? Demons?”

“I apologize. I’ve just never seen anything like them,” Verus replied. Soul beasts were animals that could naturally cultivate. They were very rare in the empire’s lands, since cultivators hunted them in the wild and raising them in captivity was difficult. They were also dangerous and thus heavily regulated by the imperial authorities.

“Yes. Well, they cost a pretty penny to keep, so I’m not surprised. However, the caravan master is quite proud of them, so he doesn’t mind paying the imperial fees,” the servant explained cheerfully before nodding and stepping away to tend to something else.

The carts at the front of the caravan creaked as they began rolling forward, so Verus jumped up into the wagon that had been assigned to him and his peers, and then turned to help Warin up. Soon, the entire caravan was heading down the road.

“At last, a place to sit. I wasn’t made for so much running,” Warin said as he sat down next to his friend.

Verus smiled. “We each have our strengths and weaknesses.”

“Disguising snark as wisdom isn’t one of yours, brother,” Warin replied with a laugh.

The other three initiates were deep in conversation with each other, so Verus ignored them and continued talking with Warin for a while. There was a lot to talk about thanks to their novel surroundings, but eventually all the young cultivators fell silent and simply took in the scenic countryside as the caravan moved. Peeking out through the blue covering, Verus had quite a good view.

Vast plains and forests stretched out in every direction, except for behind them, where they could see towering grey mountains they’d just come down from. There was very little sign of human habitation though. They were near the borders of the empire here, where the lands were wild and dangerous. Back at the temple, the elders had guarded the mountain and warded it using their power. However, out here, spirits haunted the night and beasts stalked through the grass, waiting for a moment to strike at the unwary. The caravan would have protections, but nothing like that of an entire temple full of cultivators.

However, Verus didn’t see any hideous monsters lunge out onto the road or appear mysteriously from the shadows, and not because he wasn’t looking. After spending so long in one place, he was fascinated with watching the scenery as it went by. The caravan was moving surprisingly quickly considering the large size of some of the wagons. The soul beasts appeared to have no problem pulling them, which shouldn’t have surprised Verus. Not only were they massive heaps of muscle, but as soul beasts, they had access to ki to enhance their strength.

Eventually someone tapped on Verus’s shoulder, so the young initiate turned to see who it was. Unsurprisingly, Warin’s somewhat pudgy face greeted him. “What are you looking at?”

“Oh, I was just taking in the view.”

Warin smiled with barely contained excitement. “It’s almost too much, isn’t it? We’re actually on our way to the capital! We’ll get to stay in the main temple and see the imperial palace!”

“Do you think we’ll get attacked by bandits?” another initiate asked.

This earned him a dismissive chuckle from one of his peers. “In a caravan this size? I don’t think so. Besides, we have nothing to worry about with Elder Sevus here. He could easily deal with some bandit riffraff.”

“But I’ve heard that savage cultivators from the untamed tribes sometimes join with bandits. There might even be bloodthirsty demi-humans lurking about. Monsters such as them might pose a threat to Elder Sevus.”

Warin just laughed. “As if the army would let savages roam the empire as they please. Besides, Elder Sevus would crush any such attacker. There is a reason the empire is ever expanding. Our martial arts and traditions are far superior to those of the savages.”

This started a massive argument between the initiates about how strong demi-humans and Elder Sevus were, but that didn’t interest Verus much. Rolling his eyes, he turned to study the scenery again.

Eventually, the caravan stopped for the night and Elder Sevus came back to check on them. However, he had his own lodgings near the front of the caravan, so he didn’t stay long. Instead, he simply ordered them to lay out their sleeping rolls on the ground and reminded them to behave before leaving.

Most of the initiates, including Verus, had great difficulty falling asleep. Verus was used to a hard bed, but his unfamiliar surroundings had him worked up. Thus, he simply laid on his back and stared at up the starry night sky until he eventually began to drift off. Around him, he heard his peers rustle their blankets and the occasional creak of a wagon or sleepy snort from the soul beasts, which was oddly comforting. Verus smiled as he fell asleep. He was finally off on a real adventure. Despite the danger, there was no where he’d rather be. Ahead lay ascension through the Sacred Realms and enlightenment.