After listening to the answers, Wu Guang remained silent for a few moments before speaking

"I understand most of it. Although I still don't know how I can help with such a thing. In any case, given the situation I will try to do whatever I can as my current place is in the Sect and so I should protect it in return. Even though for the matter behind the assassination, I think that you could have asked me before as this is my personal matter. But taking in account the mine or even just some shards are involved, I may need the Sect's help indeed. What still bothers me is why I am being the one or at least one of the possible candidates for using the key?"

"You are right to question that, but the truth is simple. You are far more talented than all the new disciples"

"But... aren't there older disciples nearer to the Soul realm? I doubt that between the thousand or so high inner circle disciples there are none close to breakthrough" Wu Guang already guessed from the fact that the elder only mentioned new disciples that they did not want to use people that were present during the key incident, as they had not found the reason or culprit if any. Still, a confirmation was needed.

"Hmm... You should have already guessed it. The only people that know the truth are the members of the council, as no one of us qualifies and we have not been able to discover the reason, the only possible decision is to find someone who neither knew nor was present at the time. What's even more, in your case, you were not even a cultivator during the incident"

"Thank you for the explanation Elder. I can not promise to reach the Soul realm immediately, but I will do whatever I can to do it" In the end, Wu Guang decided to accept the role he was asked to play, albeit he firmly decided to check the key, instructions, and portal before doing anything. As for now, he could simply use the extra resources and protection, after all, he was far from being strong enough to provide himself the former and not depend on the sect for the latter.

"Before you leave..."

"I know" Wu Guang interrupted Elder Mo who seemingly did not want to press for an oath, and said it himself

"I swear by the heaven's law that no information revealed to me in this room will be shared with anyone else without the permission of the 'Three Hills Sect' High Core Elder" Such an oath was considered unbreakable, as not only the oathbreaker would call upon himself a heavenly tribulation, but even in the case of being protected by experts, formations and sacrifices enough, his cultivation would also start to dissipate and nothing could stop it.

***

Wu Guang left the hall an hour or so after the oath as both Elders passed him knowledge, information, and even items that could serve him. Seemingly after revealing him the truth and him accepting to carry the task out, he would have no problem in obtaining anything he needed. For now, the information and items were mostly related to the mission and dangers he could find, while the knowledge was intended to help him cultivate, albeit for Wu Guang it was not needed, he still appreciated it nonetheless.

But the most important reward would be given to him after on return - a permit that would allow him to enter any of the restricted areas. This meant that except for gaining points, which would be also provided to him if needed, Wu Guang could take resources, techniques, or weapons from anywhere in the sect, including the Palaces and even the treasury.

Wu Guang also reached a deal with Elder Mo about the Earth's Cry Ridge cave. If it was a deposit, then the sect would provide manpower and all the shards would be divided equally between him and the Sect. And in the case that it was truly a mine, then Wu Guang would get the entirety of the shards mined between the start of the operation and him leaving the sect. In this case, when he left, the Sect would keep the mine, so the deal was equally beneficial for both involved parts.

As Wu Guang returned to the residence three or so hours before dawn, he decided to give a run or two to the second manual of 'Cleaving the Mountain'. As Elder Chen explained, Palace Master Zhen intended to check on his progress, but something had occurred and so he had decided to pass him the manual, wishing that when Wu Guang is ready, he would be able to show both of them mastered.

With the sun starting to rise, Wu Guang stopped training, took a quick dip into cold water, and walked to his room. He quickly moved a pair of clean uniforms he had bought during his last visit to the Sect store and changed into his battle attire. His main holding pouch was full of supplies and items that he had not spent during the missions and so his preparation was pretty quick. For weapons, he decided to bring only his blade bow and the newly acquired saber. He would only carry the latter on himself while the former would be stored into the pouch. The saber simply was not hideable into the pouch because of its size, but Elder Mo solved the issue for him. He issued a permit to carry the weapon openly, and so Wu Guang would not break the rules.

Yuan Taotu met him outside their residence and seemingly was ready to go. As usual, the former did not ask anything and so after nodding to each other, they walked towards a warehouse that was meant to serve as a meeting point with the convoy. Wu Guang had bought an extra packed meal yesterday, so he ate it on the go. After all, they were running pretty short of time.

The open space in front of the warehouse was their meeting point, and as they arrived, they found that they were the last to do so. The outer elder in charge of trading was Elder Di. Wu Guang knew from tonight's talk that the elder was actually the head of the inner circle and so actually was the highest authority in both circles. Obviously, his cultivation was also far above the beginner or intermediate level Spirit realm required for entering the sect as an outer circle elder, and in truth it surpassed most of the inner circle ones as well, being in the late stages of the Soul realm.

Wu Guang greeted the elder normally as he was supposed to refer to him as an outer elder and after checking that Kuang Jing and Wei had already arrived, informed that the team could move at any time. Elder Di confirmed that the caravan could do so as well and so after a brief formation and route discussion, the five horse-drawn covered wagons started moving.

Wu Guang and his team would act as guards and so would divide into two pairs that would move in front and in the rear of it respectively, while the wagons would be driven by supposed outer disciples. Wu Guang knew that in reality, the weakest of them was actually a Discipline Palace Elite disciple, while the strongest was an elder from the same palace that was wearing a hood so as to not disclose his age.

With their cultivation retracted and dressed correspondingly, they were the secret backup in case that the caravan was targeted by someone far above the team's capabilities or if Wu Guang needed help during his real mission.

Actually, the sect had several tamed Spirit beasts, but as controlling tamed beasts was something that only Soul realm or above cultivators could do, for the sake of maintaining the cover they would use normal horses and non-rune wagons. From this, it was easy to understand that their speed would be limited and so the 180 or so miles that separated the sect from the Coastal Hill City would require about 36 hours of travel, adding the need for sleep and rest, they would be traveling for four days. And should arrive right on the day before the start of the 'Autumn Riches' week.

As they moved on and left the sect, Wu Guang was immersed into deep thought. Not only about all the things he had learned and had to do, but also to revise the list of things that he wanted to do before leaving the sect.

His initial intention of remaining mainly unnoticed was now impossible, so he also had to plan for it. This change was mainly because of the real task he had, after all, Elder Mo specifically mentioned that Wu Guang had to openly become a Soul realm cultivator.

And openly meant taking part in all the competitions, missions, and events for both the Higher Inner Circle and the Elite disciples. The latter because his official status would change after his return. After all, he would officially be chosen as a personal disciple to a high elder, comparable if not superior in status to any of the Elite disciples from the Palaces.