Under Master Lu’s control, the giant serpent flew taking its passengers with them. The body extended several hundred meters and the thickness of the serpent was at least 20 to 30 meters wide. Upon the head, Master Lu and Bo Ning sat while behind them were the Deacon followed by the other family which had children accepted into the sect while some only had one or two people because they were accepted into the army.

After taking off, Ning stared out into the sky in a daze. He remembered the feeling of being on the back of the Wind Dragon and knew the speed of this strange snake was just a small bit slower but it was still many times faster than other creatures.

“Child, do you like flying?” Master Lu asked.

“Yes sir.” Ning nodded, “But how are we flying?”

This was an obvious question for any common mortal who lived away from a sect. This isn’t some kind of dragon, it's a Giant Python. No legs, no arms, no wings.

He laughs, “That is an ability of Riders. This old man has lived a very long time and has already formed his Sprouts, even before that, this old man discovered many secrets of the Riders seeds but even so this old man’s talent is shallow. Even so, as you can see, I am able to tap into the power of one of my other Dao Beasts and imbue this ability upon another. It is more convenient to use this old girl because she has a broader back and longer body than to use Gara who can probably only carry around a few hundred which would far outnumber the number of people present.” He said.

“Wow~!” Ning said in shock.

“Child, I have been wondering, where did you obtain your Dao beast and gain the cultivation manuals for them? Riders are an ancient and almost forgotten branch of cultivation so how did you learn it?” He asked curious.

Ning slightly scrunched up his face into a frown upon hearing this. Just from his expression Master Lu’s brow rose, “By chance did you have the amazing heaven defying luck to meet a Caretaker?” He asked.

Ning showed surprise, “Master knows about caretakers?” Ning asked.

“Of course this old man does, there isn’t a single large sect in there right mind who doesn’t know what one is. We even protect more than a dozen of them after making a contract to provide help to each other and maintain a perfect harmony of hunting without massive bloodshed. They are quite sensitive towards maintaining nature’s balance and aren’t nice beings to provoke.” He explained, “So what race was it?” he asked.

“There are different races?” Ning asked.

“Yes, mostly extremely powerful, but docile variations, will become caretakers upon being born. They are raised to become caretakers by the previous one. Dragons are the most respected.” He said. He noticed the child twitch at the mention of dragons and nodded, “So it was a dragon caretaker, not such bad luck child. Truly impressive you weren’t killed. There aren’t many Dragon race that will willingly hand over the Dao beasts.” “So which kind of dragon was it that gifted you your little friend?” He asked.

The boy looked away but still spoke one word, “Wind…”

The eyes of the old man widened and a smile spread, but the next words made the man wake up, “But she asked me to speak of it only to those I trust… Greed of humans are worst than the most despicable beast.” He said.

The words woke the old man up, indeed greed is mankind's worst sin. It makes brothers stab each other’s backs, it makes brings downfall to a sect, it can bring calamity to a nation. Greed is indeed mankind’s worst sin. The old man nodded, “You don’t need to worry, we will not cause trouble, caretakers are an important asset to our Rider’s Hall because without them we would not possess the Dao Beasts for our disciples.” He said.

“Can master Lu tell me about the Riders hall? What is it?” Ning asked.

“The Rider’s Hall is one of the Factions inside the Geo Royal Family sect. It is compressed of only people with the Riders constitution and there are even large powerful families that have formed through the ages. Rider constitution is a rare exception in the world because they are hereditary. Once it appears in a person no matter how many generations it will remain but if it is just commoners who they pair with the talent of the child will gradually lower due to inferior gene. You need to undergo another test for your Innate talent once we get to our Riders hall.” He said.

“Another one?” Ning asked confused.

“The reason isn’t that your innate talent isn’t black, it's because riders are talented but within the talent of the riders it also not all the same. We have grades of our own and it is this talent that is important. Anyone with constitution will be a black ranked innate talent by common tests but it is the Rider test that is truly important.” He said

Understanding this Ning nodded.

Following that Master Lu explained a few rules but left it vague because it would be explained in details at the Hall.

They flew for two days before landing at a large city with an even larger platform with many inscriptions and many pillars with right on them. This pillar was protected with high security. When they landed all the family got off and the massive python suddenly began to shrink until it was no longer than 20 cm and 2 cm thick. It wrapped itself around Master Lu’s hand and made many people amazed that such a thing was possible.

The Deacons began to split up the people who would go to the sect and the army. Those assigned to the army would be teleported with a representative who would then introduce them properly and pass them off to the commanding officer while the others would go to the outersect. The same was for Ning but he would go to the outer sect of the Rider’s hall. The fact of being a Rider already made him a half inner disciple because his talent for learning was higher than other people.

His family could follow him but he rejected that notion and wanted only his grandfather and mother to follow him to the Riders hall but the old man was stubborn in staying with the Bo Clan since they were his children and he knew Bo Rei would properly care for him so with just his mother he would head to the Rider’s Hall.

Besides Ning, his second brother would also become a sect disciple while the rest were either rejected or go to the army.

So once the arrangements were complete, all the army recruits stepped upon the platform and soon the entire platform and pillars shined as mana was used to completely transport them several hundreds of thousands km away to where they would train.

After that it was finally time for the sect disciples. There actually weren’t that many even if it was outer sect disciples. Only around 12 family had a sect disciple but with just 1 it mean the family would get access into the training ground of outer disciples.

It should be know that sects were made near of Spirit Veins. Spirit Veins are Ley Lines of the land which get near the surface and release the energy within. Within this region it means mana, Qi and Infernal energy was very present in these regions.

Bo Ning, Master Lu and his family went first with another two family because the platform wasn’t excessively large.

The mana in the air began to vibrate excessively until there was a massive rush from below which engulfed them all and they felt like they were in the middle of a storm. When any of them noticed they found that they had never been tossing and turning and were instead standing on top of another platform but this time they noticed how rich the energy in the air was.

Everyone was dazed while a Deacon came up and bowed, “Welcome back Master Lu, we have already reported your return.” The Deacon said. He was a young man unlike Deacon Chen who had been old.

“Good. Get ready for the others, this time there were quite a few that got in from my side. Also report to the Rider hall leader I found new blood.” He grinned as he patted Ning’s shoulder.

The Deacon’s eyes widened as he saw the little beast on Ning’s shoulder before it took flight gleefully in the energy rich air.

“Yes Master Lu, I will report it immediately.” The Deacon said and bowed.

“Come now, let us clear out of the platform.” Master Lu ordered snapping everyone out of their daze.

They quickly walked off and soon the platform lit up again. Only after several minutes all the family were transported over and Master Lu lead them up.

The Royal Families sect was situated in a vast mountain range. At the current location, they were on the outer edge of the sect on one of the mountains left for outer sect disciples. Each and every outer sect disciples humble abode was like a small courtyard. At the bottom of the mountain was a vast city formed by the families of the sect disciples who have long since come here.

The people of the families grow and give birth to children born in an amazing location can become sect disciples with greater ease but as a result they would also pay a price by becoming affiliated to the royal family as or other commoner jobs. Families that can birth a genius get a bump up in quality of life giving rise to a stronger family clan. Conflict only happened business wise because fighting cannot occur within because the sects hall of Law Enforcement will investigate and they have a high rate of success to discover who it was.

They walked until they found a large building with the name written above the door, “Outer Sect Management hall”. Master Lu walked towards it followed by the crowd and called out when they were in front and soon a man walked out and bowed to Master Lu.

“Are these your recruits Elder Lu?” The man asked.

“Indeed Vice Manager Wu, all disciples walk forward!” He shouted but pulled Ning to the side.

The several dozen people stepped forward and bowed to the Vice Manager of the Outer disciples. He nodded and looked at Ning who Master Lu clung to and raised a brow.

Master Lu laughed, “This one is for my hall.” He said.

“Oh! Congratulations Elder Lu, to bring new rider blood into our Royal sect is indeed a fortuitous occasion. Does Elder Lu know to what extent his talent is?” Vice Manager Wu asked.

“At the very least Yellow color. The Pillar was pure black that even the edges weren’t visible.” He said.

“Oh indeed something to celebrate to. I shall take care of these. Does this young man have any family that will go with him?” He asked.

“Yes sir, my mother is to come.” Ning said and bowed, “This junior is named Bo Ning, I hope Vice Manager will take care of me.” He said.

“And the rest of the family?” the vice manager asked.

“Common end.” Master Lu said.

“Ah. But since they still came it means there are others?” Vice Manager Wu asked.

“Indeed, there was one other who joined, the boy doesn’t care about most of his family, only the clan head, treat him fair. I shall take my leave for you to go about your business.” Master Lu said.

“Of course Elder Lu.” The man bowed and turned to the sect disciples and told them to enter.

Master Lu turned to Ning and waved for his mother to come with them as he left all the others behind. There were looks of envy but soon they were out of view. Master Lu lead them near the edge of a cliff before the serpent appeared and flew off the a different mountain peak.

Unlike the previous one, this one had much larger houses but in each were lots of small beasts that roosted and seeing the large serpent approach they began to make a racket which attracted the attention of the families within who walked out.

Master Lu stopped at the bottom were a large area was made as if it was a landing zone for those flying to land. There was a paved path up the mountain.

“Ah home sweet home. Come let us go to the Management hall of the Riders. This mountain is the one that contains the outer disciples of our Riders hall.” He said.

“Why is the riders hall separated from common disciples?” Ning asked.

“It's because riders strength depends on your Dao beast sweety. The resources given here are different compared to others since you can possibly obtain any kind of beast and you need different resources to raise them properly.” Bo Rei said.

“Oh, you're quite knowledgeable young miss.” Master Lu said.

“Please Master Lu, this one just follows common logic. One rider can have many beasts and there is a possibility of one person getting Magic beasts, Profound beasts or even Demon beasts and it will require very specific materials to grow them healthy. Not to mention the knowledge that Riders need are greatly different including cultivating methods.” She said.

“No wonder you were not like the rest. You are very open minded. I can see you crippled your cultivation once. Was it to marry that husband of yours? Such a wasted talent. If your talent is enough we can help you regain your lost power it would even help the boy grow.” He said.

“I would be in the debt of the royal family if they aided this one with such a thing. I have already long lost my power and simply wish to see my child grow strong.” She said.

“Growing strong yourself will allow you to follow your boy longer, well let us put this aside let us proceed and see the full extent of this child's talent shall we?”

With him in the lead, the three ascended the mountain along the path. As they passed the lower mountains the people walking at the door would greet him and he would greet them back but would push on saying he was busy which he currently was.

As they reached half way they reached the building that was for the outer disciples management. Beyond it was only wild foliage without a single building. That said most of the mountain was covered in a gorgeous scenic image and many plants were of magical or profound nature though they were the most common and had little in the way of medical needs but gave a tiny boost to purify the polluted air and remove some small traces of impurities in the energy from the spirit veins.

“Elder Lu, I am impressed, to find a lost Rider and bring new life into our Riders hall.” The man said.

“Ahahah! Old Tian, flattery gets one nowhere but it does please the ears, come I have been curious for his talent because he completely blacked out the common pillar. I wish to see the extent of his innate talent.” He said not beating around the bush.

“Alright, first what is your name child?” he asked.

“This junior is Bo Ning, how should junior address senior?” He asked.

“I am vice manager Feng Tian, you will probably not meet the manager because he is one of the elders and to manage every little thing is below him and only the most important things we would refer to him so do not worry. Is this the only family he brought?” He asked Master Lu when he saw Bo Rei.

“This one is Bo Rei and I am Bo Ning’s mother, it is an honor to meet this esteemed elder Feng.” She bowed.

The old man’s eye shined, her beauty was indeed above the common masses but after the moment of admiration the shine vanished. Women used by another man and still married, would only lower his status if he touched her and it could be very bad if the boy had a magnificent future. No one knew if he had low talent but heaven defying luck which could overturn the heavens.

“Alright, come.” He said and with the three they walked into the huge building and the first thing that was seen was a platform with a mystic array which held 8 pillars each corresponding with the same colors that Innate talent pillars shined but each pillar already had these color and instead it was not glowing. These pillars would instead they would light up depending on his talent.

“Child walk up to the white pillar and releasing your aura touch it.” Vice manager Tian instructed.

Ning nodded and walked up, calling Tora he touched its head and it grew to its full size and released his Half step Houtian strength causing it to flare to its max extent and he touched the white pillar.

Woosh!

Instantly the White, Red and Orange ones lit up. After a few moments the yellow pillar lit up while the green one began to flicker. Very slowly the flickering began to strengthen and soon the green glow stabilized at a strong solid green before it stopped.

“Ahahahah! I knew he was good but Green innate talent. This is indeed great, even in our sect there aren’t many green color rider talents.” Master Lu laughed.

“This is indeed quite impressive, a diamond in the rough indeed.” Vice Manager Tian.

“Old Tian, you know the arrangement. Just the sect master but keep quiet about his talent level from other family. The boy has no backing and this old man is only an outer sect elder so I can’t provide much cover from the inner sect disciples. It would be bad to let them know there is competition coming from a low place.” Elder Lu said.

Ning felt warm inside seeing how the old men were caring for his well being.

“Alright, the result I will release is a faint Yellow talent. This should keep the vultures off of him while he can peacefully train for a few years. By then he can attract the attention of a master from the inner court and get a strong enough backing.” Vice Manager Tian said.

“Good. Now even though he has a beast, as custom I will take him to get a free one from the Riders vault.” Elder Lu said.

“That has already been authorized and the guards already know you are coming.” He said.

With a nod he took the two outside and around the mountain. There was only one path after the Management hall and it lead to a large rock face which had a massive stone door and in front were several powerful guards.

Elder Lu stopped and looked at Bo Rei who nodded, “Little Ning, I will wait out here.” She said.

Ning understood this was an important place so he watched her take several steps back.

“All of you…” Elder Lu said in a cold deadly voice, “If any of you dare touch the gentlelady you will become an eunuch! Am I understood!?” He said.

All the men shivered as soon as the words were said. They hadn’t taken even half a glance at Bo Rei and the old man had already seen through them without having to see their barely formed lecherous glances. “YES SIR!” They roared shivering.

“Good, open the door.” He said.

Very quickly they pushed open the door into a very well lit passageway. With a wave, Ning followed after Elder Lu and entered.

“Now child, within this place are countless Dao Beast Eggs we have gathered over the years. A basic rule of the sect is that Rider disciples should not bind any egg that isn’t shining Red or Gold. This will make the beast easy to raise and the compatibility to your personality is the best. It will allow you to avoid trouble in the future as well. Also there is a general rule that the sect will only allow you to gain a Dao Egg that has potential to rise 1 or 2 small realms above your highest potential beast. Any other you need to purchase with contribution points.” He explained. He looked back at the Flying Tiger Fish, “That little fellow is a Flying Tiger Fish, their common max is Peak Houtian but an alpha gets up to Initial Xiantian. We regard the highest potential of a race so it is an Initial Xiantian rank Dao Beast since a Dao Beast has the highest potential and can rise to the peak with the assistance of the Rider cultivating them. That means you can get at most a High Success rank Xiantian beast only or a Small Solid Core that can undergo at least 4 to 6 nova bursts.” He said.

As soon as he finished, they reached a single door at the end of the passageway and he pushed it open.

Ning sucked in a cold breath as he saw what lay inside. With countless nests and huge constructions, there were countless eggs in nests in large shelves. Eggs from the size of a chicken egg to ones the size of Ning’s own body were all around but they were all organized. They were split by potential, element type, body shape, strengths, weaknesses, regions they come from. There was a description of each egg’s content.

“This is our Dao Egg storage chamber, within these halls no one dares to be rowdy less they face the consequences.” He said.

“Wow so many!” Ning exclaimed.

The Wind Dragon’s cavern possessed between a few hundred to the mid thousands but even than just this floor had more than the cavern of the dragon itself.

“Just so you know, even though these are split up there are high ranked creatures with the same potential in the floors above.” Elder Lu said.

“Why?” Ning asked.

“Bloodline of course. A Dragon’s offspring will obviously be more powerful than a tiger’s. The potential between them is like comparing clouds and mud. Even so it isn’t guaranteed that you will have a perfect partner even among all these eggs but that is a low chance. There are five more rooms on the first floor so even if you can’t find a good one here you can look at other rooms which hold more eggs.” elder Lu explained.

Ning nodded and pondered for a long time before asking, “Which kind of Dao Beast does Master Lu suggest?”

“Hahaha! You probably don’t know how Dao Beasts affect a Rider, well this can be a good lesson. That little Flying Tiger Fish has Wind attribute which it flies with. Wind attribute means speed but it also has mixed tiger meaning a bit of strength so this is a mixed Speed strength beast but speed is primary. That if put in clear thought the Flying Fish is a Primary Speed beast which improves your agility and speed but not so much other aspects. Dao beasts of this type will cause your speed to rise and when you finally access the wind element you can fly faster and run faster. So to offset this pure speed I would suggest a strength type earth element Dao Beast to improve your strength with the natural strength of a beast and earth element for defense and endurance improvement.” he said.

He walked forward before going to the earth element section and then the strength beast subsection and gestured for Ning.

Since Ning asked he would obviously listen to the old master’s words until he could choose his own after learning more. So taking a look through them he took a step near the many shelves. Climbing up the latter to see the smaller eggs first but finding only faint white glow. On the ground were much larger heavier beasts but only a Yellow glow from the first group so he moved on.

After looking more and more he eventually reached near the end where there was the largest of the eggs which were the strongest High Success Xiantian ranked beasts and on the smallest of the piles he touched the first egg and suddenly it shined orange before the rest of the nest shined red or orange before the smallest of the big eggs shined gold.

Even Elder Lu was shocked by this sudden change in affinity and walked over and checked out the creature. “Profound Beast, High Success Xiantian potential, Titan Bull.” he said out loud before he paled a bit and his brow twitched, “Hey hey hey! How did this little kid get such a compatibility to this head strong beast!? I’ve only ever seen Yellow glow to these and they are unruly beasts! How did he have such good luck to get such a heavy duty strength type?” Elder Lu marveled before laughing to himself as he wondered how interesting things were going.

With two profound beasts it was almost certain he would focus on Qi instead of mana or Infernal energy. This was for the beast really because he grew up training his physical body so Qi was the best fit for him.

“Here boy, memorize all the information for the beast.” Elder Lu said.

Ning took the plate with information and read about the Titan Bull and raised a brow. “Where will I get Spirit grass?” He asked.

“Spirit grass is the lowest of low grade profound grass. We have an entire plantation for it to feed creatures who are herbivores. The primary food of them is Spirit Grass but other herbs and fruits will improve them at a faster rate. To buy Spirit grass it is 1 contribution point for 100 kilos but these little fellows eat 20 kilos a day.” He said.

“O-oh…” Ning muttered studdering.

“Ahahaha! Get used to it boy, your cultivation is reliant on these fellows. Most basic foods like meat from low ranking profound beasts is sold in hundreds of kilos the same for the grass. If you want higher grade feed than it will obviously be more.”

“How many contribution points do I get?” He asked.

“Outer disciples of the Rider hall get 500 per month but most of it goes into feed. Cultivation materials for them only around 100 or 150 survive per month. You can earn more in the mission hall which can be found in the mortals city at the base of the mountain. With your little flying fish you can easily reach it by flying. Will you take the Bull or keep looking? There are more rooms?” He asked.

Ning though a lot before shaking his head, “I don’t know if I will find a strength type earth profound beast like a Titan Bull with Gold affinity so even if it's a bit hard to train it will be better than spending more time.” He said.

With a nod Elder Lu smiled and moved aside the eggs and took out the smallest. It was only a bit smaller but you could tell it was a bit of a runt compared to the others. The egg itself was 40 cm in diameter while common ones were 50cm. It made one wonder if something with ‘titan’ in their name was really this small as a baby. The much bigger eggs were as big as Ning and looking at the name of those eggs he found that they were for elephant beasts.

He didn’t know if he could even move that thing out of the mountain when it grew up and couldn’t imagine how much they ate.

He took his little egg and walked out with Elder Lu, picking up Bo Rei along the way, and walked back to the Management hall and obtained a special card which held all of Ning’s information, a map which can be accessed by inserting his spiritual sense into the card and contribution points which already numbered 500.

With everything finally set they walked down the mountain and half way down they walked into a compound for a large family which already had their surname, Bo, on the side meaning it was their courtyard.

“Get rested, hatch that egg, in a few days things will get fun.” he laughed but before he stepped out he pulled out a little jade box and handed it to Bo Rei, “Here, in the sect strength is key, you as his mother, should be at least Xiantian so as to not embarrass him.” He said before leaving.

She opened the box and closed it quickly with a smile before storing it. “Come on Little Ning, let's go see our new home and get cultivating.” She said and Ning nodded.

The two entered and together explored their new home before each of them took a room and began to cultivate while Bo Rei took the pill to help her break through to the Xiantian realm.