The 3rd Elder of the Origin Sect, Wu Song, knelt beside the cold, still body of the massive snake. With a flash of light, he sent a pulse of Spiritual Energy through it, scanning for something. After a moment of probing, he stood and sighed with relief, before turning towards the group behind him.

[Wu Song] - "Thankfully her Beast Core was undamaged. Wei Fa, take a few Foundation realm Cultivators and return to the Sect with Elder Chang Xiuron's body. Insure sure she goes right into the Resurrection Pool. We don't need a repeat of the last incident."

One of the larger men stepped out of the group and saluted the older man, then pointed out a dozen others from the crowd. As one, the Cultivators approached the massive body of the giant black snake and placed it on their shoulders. Wei Fa for his part approached the fallen head and placed it on his head like he would a basket. The group then began marching forward towards the distant trees, moving at a speed that belittled the burden they carried.

With one issue taken care of, Wu Song turned to the remaining group and addressed them as a whole;

[Wu Song] - "Well, that explains what happened to Elder Chang Xiuron. But it doesn't explain who did it, or what happened to the Fallen Star she went to retrieve. Now we have to decide, do we continue? Or do we head back?"

The gathered group began to murmur among themselves when a tall, pale beauty of a woman stepped forward from among the few Earthly Transcendent Cultivators present.

[Qi Mingxi] - "Teacher, Elder Chang Xiuron was a Flood Dragon already at the Peak Level of Earthly Transcendent: Soul Fusion. Only one step away from evolving into a True Dragon. Whatever did this to her, It was powerful. I don't thi..."

[Fang Peng] - "Bah! So what? Master is already at High Level, 5th Step, 2nd Realm. There's nothing for a thousand Kilometers that can touch him. Elder Chang Xiuron let her guard down, but with Master and us here, ain't nothing going to be any trouble. And why the hell are you still using that ol' archaic ranking system. Get with the time, girly. "

The Beautiful woman turned and glared daggers at the large, shaggy bearded man who had walked out behind her.

[Qi Mingxi] -"G-Girly?! I'll have you know I am your Senior Disciple and I will not tolerate such disrespect! And As for the 'archaic' system as you call it, that is our Heritage! But I'd not expect a muscle-bound meathead like you understand that!"

[Fang Peng] - "Ah! Right, not girly, Aunty. Sorry, I always forget."

[Qi Mingxi] -"W-why you!!! You son of a...!!"

[Wu Song] - "QUIET!"

Elder Wu Song shouted, shaking the air with the power of his voice. The two arguing disciples stopped immediately, and stood at attention, cold sweat dripping down their backs. Elder Wu Song was just as famous for his ruthless adherence to Discipline as he was for him calm and patient nature. It's always the quiet ones you don't want to get angry, as it is said.

Wu Song gave a deep sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose before, calling out to a scholarly looking young man standing among the Mortal Foundation Cultivators.

[Wu Song] - "Lin Weiyua, please, once again, explain to my Idiot of a disciple the PROPER terminology he should have memorized long ago..."

The young man, Lin Weiyua, stepped out and gave a salute, before taking a stance as if he was giving a lecture.

[Lin Weiyua] - "Yes Sir!... erhum *cough*"

"The Path of Cultivation follows the Laws of 3s and 7s.

There are 3 Greater Realms to each Path, 7 Lesser Steps to each Realm, and 3 Levels to each Step.

Each Set makes up one of the Great Cosmic “Paths”. Only one Path (the Path of Cultivation) is currently known on this, the Skybreaker Continent, though other Paths are rumored to exist across the Boundless Seas.

Each Lesser Step is different for each Greater Realm, however even step is broken down in to Low, High and Peak levels.

The Greater Realms, and their sequential Lesser Steps, are as follows;

Mortal Foundation – 90% of all Cultivators reside here. The Cultivator works to build their body and spirit.

Wood Body – The Cultivator works to strengthen their body to the strength of Wood. Stone Body – The Cultivator works to strengthen their body to the strength of Stone. Iron Body – The Cultivator works to strengthen their body to the strength of Iron. Bronze Spirit – The Cultivator works to strengthen their Spirit till is shines like Bronze. Silver Spirit – The Cultivator works to strengthen their Spirit till is shines like Silver. Golden Spirit – The Cultivator works to strengthen their Spirit till is shines like Gold. Shackle Breaking – The Cultivator user their own power to break the shackles of Mortal limitations and transcend into a Spiritual Cultivator.

Earthly Transcendent – Only 10% of all Cultivators manage to break their shackles and enter this Realm. Cultivators of this realm are the Elites and Elders of powerful sects, or Sect Leaders of more mundane ones.

Spiritual Awakening – The Cultivator uses their new found Spiritual Sense to learn how to manipulate and use Spiritual Energy. This is the First Awakening. Elemental Dominance - The Cultivator uses their control over Spiritual Energy to shape the elements of the world to their will. Core Condensing - The Cultivator begins to condense their Spiritual/Beast Core, gaining greater control over their Spiritual and Elemental Powers. Soul Fusion - The Cultivator fuses their Soul with their Spiritual/Beast Core, gaining a vastly increased life span (Between 200-300 times their species' base lifespan). As long as their Spiritual/Beast Core remains intact, the Cultivator can heal from nearly any form of Injury, if given enough time. Shedding Flesh – The Cultivator begins the process of shedding their mortal body and transform into a more spiritual/energy based one. Divine Awakening – The Cultivator has completed their Second Awakening and gained a new, Energy based body. They no longer have to eat or drink and are functionally immortal, and can even rebuild their Body as long as their Spiritual/Beast Core remains. Shedding Regrets - A Preparatory stage where the Cultivator transforms their Soul into a Celestial Seed. A Celestial Seed will only transform into a Celestial Spirit when tempered by a Heavenly Tribulation.

Firmament Breaker – The Final stage before Cultivators attempt to break the Firmament surrounding the world and enter into the Celestial Worlds above. Cultivators at this stage are often the Sect Leaders or Ancestors of powerful Sects and Nations.

Divine Domain – Having passed their Heavenly Tribulation, the Cultivator’s soul has transformed into a Celestial Spirit, and gained immense power. Only 1% of Earthly Transcendents ever manage to pass their Heavenly Tribulation. Mountain Breaker – First of the Three Trials, Cultivators who reach this state are able to reshape the world around them to a limited degree. Pure Body – Cultivators of this state have “perfected” their body. At this point, they are invulnerable to anything below Pure Body. Sea Splitter – Second of the Three Trials. Cultivators in this realm are able to control fundamental forces such as Gravity, Space-Time and Souls, to a limited degree. Pure Soul – Cultivators of this state have “perfected” their Celestial Spirit and transformed it into a Seed of Ascension. Sky Piercer – The Final trial, Cultivators who pass are able to rewrite reality itself to some degree, and teleport by bending Space-time. True Celestial - The final Stage before Ascension, the World itself has started to reject the Cultivator’s presence. At this point, they must either attempt to break through the Firmament surrounding the Planet and enter the Celestial Worlds, or be Erased from Existence."

His "lecture" finished, Lin Weiyua, took a deep breath, slightly winded, and stepped back into the crowd. Fang Peng simply stared into space, blank-eyed, before suddenly coming to his senses and shaking his head.

He glared at the scholarly looking man and mumbled under his breath,

[Fang Peng] - "Bloody Nerd..."

Wu Song coughed and drew Fang Peng's eye, however, as the man once more straightened to attention. Wu Song stared at this most troublesome Disciple, in frustration, and said in a stern ton;

[Wu Song] - "Now, if you had paid attention, this time, you may have noticed that Elder Chang Xiuron and myself are separated by only two Levels. While the Lesser Step does play a major factor, Elder Chang Xiuron already had a foot in Flesh Shedding before this... accident. Tell me, boy, You've seen and Elder Chang Xiuron spar before. How would you describe such fights?"

Fang Peng tilted his head in thought and answered

[Fang Peng] - "It was...EPIC! I've never seen so many Arts used in such a variety of ways."

Wu Song closed his eyes and nodded, then asked again.

[Wu Song] - "Correct. Now, with that in mind, try to think a little. What seems strange about this situation?"

Fang Peng furrowed his brow in concentration, taking in their surroundings.

Then, seeming to come to some realization, answered, though half asking himself as well,

[Fang Peng] - "There... nothing there?"

[Wu Song] - "Correct again! See, you can figure these things out if you apply yourself."

Fang Peng frowned as his Senior Sister giggled in response, but remained silent as their Master continued.

[Wu Song] - "At any level, when those of equal or near power do battle, one would expect to see signs of such a struggle. Such signs tend to be even more evident at Elder Chang Xiuron's and my level. Yet, here we see next to nothing. Not even fluctuations in the level of Spiritual Energy. What does that tell us?"

The group was silent for a moment before Qi Mingxi spoke up.

[Qi Mingxi] - "Could she have been attacked in another location? Then brought here to throw us off the attacker's trail?"

Wu Song simply shook his head and pointed to a large melted patch of earth next to the crater.

[Wu Song] - "Unlikely. I can still feel traces of Elder Chang Xiuron's {Verdant Flames} from this scorch mark. That power is unique to her Bloodline, meaning she was very much alive when it was unleashed. Anyone else? Lin Weiyua? I see the gears in your head turning."

The young Mortal Foundation Cultivator looked up with a jolt of surprise, panicking slightly as he noticed the group's eyes turn to him.

[Lin Weiyua] - "Wh-what? Uhm, Sorry. Yes. Well, Elder Chang Xiuron specialized in stealth and ambush tactics. So I don't think it was likely she was taken by surprise. Very few at her level would be able to match her, and anyone far enough above wouldn't have to. Nor do I think that whatever attacked her did so with a large scale attack as you might normally attempt if you want to disable an enemy in one hit. The reports from the 10,000 years Forest were of a singular, powerful beam of light that swept across the plains.

Elder Chang Xiuron's wounds can attest to something similar as well; she was decapitated in a single motion, and the wounds were cauterized shut, as if by some intense flame. If I had to theorize, as Elder Chang Xiuron approached the site of the Fallen Star, she came across another Cultivator who had arrived before her. Given the Elder's prideful nature, she most likely attempted to surprise the other party with a sneak attack, but misjudged their strength, and fell to their retaliation."

Wu Song grinned ear to ear and nodded, before asking once more;

[Wu Song] - "Good! Very Good. And tell me, how strong do you think this other party was?"

Lin Weiyua paused and blinked before looking down in concentration, then after a moment, spoke.

[Lin Weiyua] - "Given the nature of the attack, and the strength of Elder Chang Xiuron.... the would have to be at least Peak Level Shedding Regrets... M-maybe even Low-Level Divine Domain..."

As Wu Song nodded in agreement, the group started to murmur in worry. Even Fang Peng and Qi Mingxi could only gulp. Even if they were Peak Shedding Regrets, they might be able to escape, if they worked as a group, though there would be casualties. If the other party was Divine Domain, however?

It wouldn't even be a fight.

[Wu Song] - "So, what do you suggest we do then?"

Wu Song asked with a smile. Lin Weiyua stared wide-eyed with shock, not expecting to be asked such a question, being only at the Peak level, Shackle Breaking himself. He stuttered for a moment, trying to find his voice, before swallowing and saying with some determination.

[Lin Weiyua] - "The Fallen Star is important not only to Elder Chang Xiuron, but to the Sect as a whole. Even if it's dangerous, we at least need to gather information on it. The fact that such a powerful party didn't damage Elder Chang Xiuron's Beast Core, tells me that they at least aren't overtly hostile or ruthless. It may have simply been a retaliatory strike for her arrogance. The Origin Sect is one of the Great Five Pillars of the Skybreaker continent, if we can find out who took the Fallen Star, we may be able to bargain or trade for it at the very least.

I suggest that we send half of the Foundation members back to the sect and request reinforcements, possibly from the 1st Elder or even the Vice-Leader. The rest of us should proceed as planned and track down whatever information we can."

Wu Song nodded and turned to the group. Then with a wave of his hand, gave his orders.

[Wu Song] - "You heard him! Squads 3, 4 and 7 will follow after Wei Fa and report to the Vice-Leader what we've uncovered so far. After that, you're to return right away with platoon of Earthly Transcendent realm memeber as well as whoever the Leader assigns to oversee the march. Now go!"

The assigned squads saluted and turned back towards the forest, as Qi Mingxi and Fang Peng readied the remaining group to head out. As they did so, Wu Song eyed the strange tracks that rolled across the plains and towards the distant Iceshear Mountain Range.

Something didn't feel right about this whole thing, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Still, he had his orders, and a Soldier's duty was never-ending...

Around the same time, about a thousand Kilometers further into the Plains.

[Alpha] - "How freaking big is this place?!"

A (mentally) exhausted AI screamed into the wide-open plain. He'd been traveling in cruise mode for several hours now, and it felt as if he'd barely made any progress at all. All around him were the empty plains filled with swaying, golden grass. He'd not even seen a shrub or tree yet, despite having already traveled what would have amounted to half the length of the Great Plains back on Old Earth.

Hell, he'd barely seen a hill for that matter. This entire place was eerily... flat. Well, as flat as a geographical location could be. Still, something told him something about this place wasn't entirely natural. But in what way, or for what purpose, he had no idea. The only other reference he had for areas of similar geography and size, were landing areas for Colony Ships. Ships that stretched for tens of Kilometers.

He had to admit, this place was getting weirder and weirder. He had his Sub-AIs constantly scanning the area and feeding it to his main processors, but the more data he gathered, the more confused he became. For one, the curvature of the planet seems to put its diameter at over 150,000 km. That was bigger than Jupiter. To this point, the largest rocky planet the Federation had ever found was only 1/3 that size.

And the largest rocky planet that could support any form of complex life? Roughly 1/5 of THAT.

Yet despite that, his gravimeter was only registering about 1.3Gs. That wasn't the only strange thing. Despite none of his equipment picking up any kind of standard signals, like Radio, Translight, or even Electrical, they WERE picking up what his Communications Sub-AI believed to be some form of communication signal using unknown radiation.

In fact, the Atmosphere was crammed with these signals, and yet none of them seemed to be encrypted or encoded in any recognizable way, as if whatever (or whoever) was sending them didn't consider the possibility of the signals being intercepted at all.

These signals pretty much guaranteed that there was some form of Sapient life on this planet. Although there WAS that one time he discovered that weird cave on Fomalhaut-2 that played "Twinkle Twinkle little star" whenever there was a strong storm blew through it.

That was a weird (and embarrassing) day. The General would never let him live down wasting 3 months trying to communicate with a pile of rocks.

Though to be fair, they say if you threw an immortal monkey in a room with a typewriter, you'd eventually get Shakespeare.

That being said He'd already dedicated part of his processing power to try and crack into the signals and translate what he could.

Knowledge is Power and all that. (So was a 170mm Rail Cannon, but no one ever appreciated it when you tried to share THAT with them).

As he thought about these things, Alpha's seismographs picked up faint activity coming from behind in and deep underground.

Something was approaching him. Something big. Something fast. Multiple somethings, actually. Holy crap, A LOT of somethings!

Alpha had dealt with burrowing Lifeforms before, but typically they were smaller than a typical humanoid, and could only move at these speeds in loose, sandy soil.

Whatever the things were that were gaining him were the size of small cars, and move through the hard, prairie soil like they were swimming.

Alpha came to a sudden halt, tearing up the rugged grass as all of his forward momentum canceled. The perusing creatures shot past him, swarming in confusion at his sudden stop, but quickly regrouped and began circling him like a swarm of sharks. Alpha readied his weapons, marking each creature's path with the data fed to him from his sonar and seismograph.

Suddenly, one of the creatures broke from the encirclement and shot towards the surface, aiming itself towards the TAWP's legs.

The creature rocketed out of the ground and flew through the air towards Alpha. The moment before his weapons system went live and reduced the creature to a bloody spray on his chassis, one thought crossed the AI's mind.

[Alpha] - "Does that Penguin have fracking Teeth?!"