Inside the mansion

“They are still here?” Allan asked his butler, Karl.

“Yes, sir. Every day there’s more.” Karl said.

There were hundreds of cultivators and mortals outside his mansion.

They all wanted to become his apprentices.

In a world in which the sects were stringent in their enrolment, normal and talentless cultivators had nowhere to go.

They were called rogue cultivators.

Some started their cultivation with incomplete magical tomes while others inherited Arts from their ancestors.

“What do I do with all of them?” Allan asked himself.

Cain then said: “ Why not turn them all into dragon warriors?”

Arkul flew into the room in his bird form and said: “If I turn so many, it will not be a secret anymore.” He then looked at Allan: “If you succeed in stealing the Fire ascension sect for yourself, I suggest that you change these stupid rules that ask for one to be a genius to enter a sect...Look at this...So many cultivators left behind...As if it’s a matter of being a genius to become a cultivator...The human realm only requires for one to absorb primordial energy. That, everyone can do it, but the sects are looking for the ones with bodies that have more affinity with primordial energy so they can focus their resources on them.”

“If I change the rules to let everyone in, where am I gonna find the resources to nurture them?” Allan asked.

“You can leave that to me. All they lack is primordial energy to reach the Immortal realm. Primordial energy is everywhere. All I need to do is trap it in one place, creating a concentrated pool of primordial energy for everyone to use.” Arkul said.

“Good. We’ll move on the sect when you completely recover.” Allan said to Arkul.

He had his butler deliver a message to the rogue cultivators. He had him tell them that he would soon open a sect and that anyone will be allowed to enter it. He asked them to be patient as well.

The rogue cultivators and mortals then scattered and returned home with anticipation towards the new sect.

Several days later

“The southern desert. They chose quite a place to build their sect.” Arkul said as he looked at the towers below him.

They had arrived above the Fire ascension sect.

Cain, the only one who could not conjure wings to fly because his inner world was still at the 4th tier Human realm, was riding Arkul.

Edwin, Alistair and the rest of the dragon warriors were waiting for Allan’s orders.

Allan looked at the seven towers below as well.

From above, six towers were placed in a hexagonal shape with the seventh tallest tower being in the center. Around the hexagon were little buildings believed to be sleeping quarters of the disciples.

Edwin then said: “That tower in the middle is called the Tower of the Fire God. It helps one temper his body. It has nine floors. The higher one goes the hard it is to withstand the fire.”

Arkul then said: “Yeah. I can feel it. It is earthly fire boosted by primordial energy. Surviving the ninth floor can’t even allow you to gain a fire attribute divine body. Just a Fire attribute body. Nothing Godly about it. Allan’s divine body allowed him to reach the God realm in physical strength. This ninth floor can at most give the Fire attribute body an Immortal realm strength.”

Allan then said: “You’re just saying that they do not have a dragon like you to allow them to possess divine bodies.”

Arkul rolled his eyes but still felt smug.

“Mr. Kreel. Do we attack?” Cain took out his Dragon Claw. Allan had gifted it to him to use as protection. With the Dragon Claw in hand, even with his 8th tier Immortal demonic cultivation, he did not fear any early stage, God.

Allan had also given the Dragon sword to Alistair whose demonic core had reached the 7th tier Immortal realm.

“There’s no need to attack. Look we have a welcoming committee.” Allan answered as he looked at three individuals flying towards them.

It was two middle-aged men and a woman.

The one in the leading position was a 3rd tier God. He was the sect leader, Wil Greycastle. The woman was his wife Arla Gudrun, a 2nd tier God.

The Other man was 2nd tier God, Menas Gold.

When they arrived near the group of thirteen men and dragon, they maintained a safe distance.

Wil then said: “I am Wil, the Sect leader of the Fire Ascension sect. Who might you be? What are your intentions?”

Allan then said: “I am Allan Kreel. I came here to commandeer your sect.”

Menas, the 2nd tier God then said: “That’s it. Let’s just kill them.”

Wil stopped Menas from saying anything else and said: “ It would be an honor for the sect to be in your hands Sir.”

Everyone was astounded by the sect master’s decision.

Arkul then thought: “What a sly person. He can probably feel that he has no chance and wants to keep his life. But how does he know?”

Menas and Arla were disbelievingly looking at Wil.

Arla then said: “What’s wrong with you?”

Menas added to the fire: “Yes, explain yourself.”

Wil looked at them and said: “Are you both blind? He possesses the Divine body of fire. Can’t you feel it?...and that’s a legendary Dragon.”

Menas and Arla then gave the group another look.

Menas shrank behind Wil, not daring to say a single thing.

Allan and the others found the situation weird and wondered how the other party knew such things.

Arkul then broke the silence: “You must have some records in your sect about my race. Am I right?”

“Yes, we do sir.” Wil said.

Allan then said: “Let’s go talk somewhere else.”

The group followed the trio.

Inside the Tower of Beginnings.

Allan sat in a throne-like chair and listened to Wil.

“We have seven thousand disciples still in the human realm and five hundred and seventy-two in the Immortal realm...and us three Gods.”

Arkul then asked: “The Tower of the Fire God. Who built it?”

“This sect was founded after the discovery of the tower in this southern desert. It just appeared one day and at the time, the researchers and archaeologists unearthed other buildings around it. Most of them were empty while others had items and riches. There was a hidden library in which we found arts and remnants of ancient records. We believe that this land used to be a great city in the ancient times. The tower still has a formation built inside of it that makes sure that the fire burns forever.” Wil said.

“What a pity. I thought that there were still formation masters left in this era.” Arkul said.

A strange gleam was seen in Wil’s eyes. He asked Arkul: “Sir. Do you perhaps have access to the memory pool of the dragon race?”

“Yes. What do you want to know?” Arkul asked.

“How many worlds are there?” Wil excitedly asked.

“Too many to count. You are too weak. You should concentrate on the other continents of this planet before trying to conquer a world that is bigger than you.” Arkul mysteriously said.

As everyone was shocked by Arkul’s words, Allan was the first to ask: “How many continents are there around us?”

“Just two. The closest, the Dorton continent, needs one to be a late stage Primordial god to reach it. The other, the Northcrest continent, is too far. You’d have to be an Ascendant god to reach it.” Arkul said. He then said to Allan: “I’m going to make some modifications to the Tower of the Fire God. I want to make it suitable for cultivation.” Arkul then left the room.

Allan nodded to himself and said: “Assemble all the disciples. I’ve got an important announcement to make.”

Wil the asked: “Is it possible to know the contents of the announcement now?”

Allan said: “It will be about presenting myself as well as announcing the new rules.”

The bells rung several times.

The almost eight thousand disciples converged to the tower of beginnings.

Allan had come out of the tower and waited in the sky above it.

He looked at the red robed individuals that were running or flying in his direction.

Several minutes later Wil appeared and said: “They are all here. Those that are still outside will get the message eventually.”

“Your attention everybody.” Wil’s thunder like voice was heard.

The disciples closed their mouths immediately.

Allan then advanced.

He was conspicuous with his wings made of light. Wil, Arla and Menas all had scarlet fiery wings.

Allan said: “My name is Allan Kreel. As of today, I am the new sect master. From now on, the sect will be open to whoever wishes to practice cultivation. We will even accept mortals. It will get a bit crowded but we have the entire southern desert for us to build more lodgings. The hidden library will be open to anyone who needs it. All the arts inside will be made available to you for your cultivation.”

He paused as the crowd below entered into a frenzy. They were still trying to understand what was happening. It was the same for the trio beside Allan. They were thinking that they had let their sect fall in the hands of a madman.

Who could give magical Arts for free in this day and age?

Allan then continued: “I want to make cultivators out of anyone who wants it. For that to be possible, a friend of mine is making the necessary preparations. The Tower of the Fire God will soon be the only thing you will fight for. The new Tower of the Fire God will be able to refine Primordial energy from the atmosphere. Primordial energy will be dense and easy to absorb while you’re in the tower. You will be able to cultivate while tempering your bodies at the same time.”

“There will be no price to enter the tower but we will make sure that everyone gets to use it sparingly....”

The crowd listened to the unbelievable speech.

Was everything for free?

They could not however know the sinister plan that Arkul had devised the moment he had learned the existence of the Tower of the Fire God.

The opportunity to create soul energy crystals.

Soul energy was needed by those in the Immortal realm to stabilize their inner world.

It was possible for one to use his own soul energy or the soul energy contained inside demonic cores but both ways took a lot of time for one to reach the God realm.

In the God realm, the soul energy was needed to try and attune your body to primordial energy.

The plan that Arkul had enacted involved the many cultivators and mortals that would use the tower to temper their bodies.

While the part about the tower being able to refine primordial energy was true, the hidden mechanism that was only known to the dragon warriors, Allan and Arkul was to slowly siphon soul energy from the cultivators cultivating in the tower to create soul energy crystals.

Those at the Human realm did not need soul energy and the soul energy stolen could be slowly regenerated by the cultivators.

The formations that Arkul was setting were not a bad thing as they targeted those in the Human realm.

With the hordes of mortals and cultivators making their way to the sect, the production of soul energy was sure to be a profitable one.

In the Golden palace inside Allan’s inner world.

He was in the workshop in the second room trying to create another puppet.

“The /Light Emissary/ says that one needs to be a formation master to create a puppet. The only ingredient is the light in my inner world. All I have to do is copy the same formation onto the puppet I made.” Allan said.

He called on the light inside his inner world and conjured a puppet as he remembered it.

“This part is easy... Now the formation.”

He wrote a few crude letters in the air in front of him in a circle. He inserted his soul energy into the circle and then directed everything inside the puppet’s forehead.

Slowly he started feeling a vague connection that had opened in his mind. It slowly disappeared.

“It failed...I’ll keep trying and learning from Arkul how to set formations. How lucky is he to have all those memories that allow him to do all these things effortlessly.”

The new fire ascension sect had welcomed more than ten thousand rogue cultivators and more than fifty thousand mortals in the very first month.

Magical arts were distributed without restraint.

The Tower of the Fire God was always overcrowded.

The production of soul energy crystal couldn’t stop.

“What is the point of going to Demonic sword sect if I have you and your memories to teach me. Besides this Art I cultivate is very good.” Allan said to Arkul.

Allan said as he looked at his second puppet that he had conjured outside. It looked bulkier than the one the art had crafted for him.

It had taken him a month to learn from Arkul how to set formations. He could even imitate the formation of the Fire God’s tower as he’d been learning from them as well.

“Well. You just said it yourself. That art is so good that I want to be human myself so I can cultivate it. I just wonder where that old man got it from and if he has more. Normal arts do not give you palaces that gift you free stuff every time you cross a realm. It’s like you have a customized art that contains many arts in itself. The way I see it, you’re just fine with that art alone. If you cultivate another art, it might just slow you down.” Arkul said.

“One of us must stay to harvest the soul energy crystals and you are the best one. I will go to the Demonic sword sect on my own just to see what else that old man has that can interest me.” Allan said.

“Alright. Cain just became a god and has created a hunting squad with the dragon warriors and the disciples.They will be hunting demonic beasts in the desert for a while but before they depart, I want you to take Alistair with you at least so I can know if you are alright or not. I am connected with the dragon warriors the same way you are connected with your puppets it’s just that I let them have their free will. I will know if something happens to you.” Arkul said.

“Alright.” Allan nodded.

“You’ve neglected your cultivation to learn how to set formations. Take this.” Arkul handed him a storage pouch. He added: “It’s ten thousand soul energy crystals. They should see you through the Immortal realm and beyond.”

Allan and Alistair then left for the Demonic sword sect.