Beastmaster of the Ages

The qilin continued toward its destination. Strong winds blew across the back of the gigantic beast, and soon, the expansive Azurecloud Continent was visible ahead of them.

"Where'd these bugs come from?" The qilin brushed at its body in a puzzled manner, sweeping away quite a few silver cockroaches.

Tianming immediately asked Yin Chen to not simply crawl around. "I'll need you to send out a hundred thousand cockroaches at the Azuresoul Palace, so for now you'd better stay put."

"Fine fine." The bugs were still lining up and bathing in Tianming's lifebound space.

"Amazing. Now, you have a free pass to spy on all the baths in the Azuresoul Palace. No beauty's naked body will evade your sights," Ying Huo enviously said.

"Nonsense. It isn't like I share Yin Chen's vision."

"You can still feel the sensation through the telepathic link."

"Enough!"

They were about to reach the Azuresoul Palace soon. "I hope we can get enough cultivation resources, including divine pills, caeli, and especially divine ores for Yin Chen. I know it isn't as grand as the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect, but it's still ranked thirty-eighth among all the sects. That's already an impressively high ranking."

Though, with the recent developments, whether he could get resources from the Azuresoul Palace was still in question. "Gan Gangan, come here," he said.

Yu Ziqian looked like he was returning to his sect, filled with glory. Even as he came over to Tianming, he was brightly smiling. He was the one who cared the least about not being able to go to the Xuanyuan Dragon Sect. After all, he was the respected chief disciple in the Azuresoul Palace.

"What's up, handsome?" he asked, waving his Reginal Fan and showing off the female artifact souls.

"How many veins of divine ores does the Azuresoul Palace own?" For sects or factions, the most important thing was access to divine ores, herbs, and hazards. Divine ores were crucial ingredients for divine artifacts, and even some formations.

"There's around eighteen of various sizes and types," Yu Ziqian said.

Yin Chen could increase in number by consuming more divine ores, so that was crucial. For it to become the sea of silver stars Tianming had dreamed about, it had to keep consuming divine ores. Though it could consume divine artifacts as well, that was not only wasteful, but really inefficient. It didn't need refined alloys, only ores in large quantities. The Xuanyuan Dragon Sect might have been able to offer him quite a lot of it, but now it was different.

"Do you think I'll be able to enter the mines as I please?"

"No problem. With me around, you're free to do so," Yu Ziqian promised.

"Things won't be that simple." Tianming glanced at Jiang Qingliu, who had been receiving one transmission stone after another. No doubt he was communicating with Gujian Qingshuang. As far as he was concerned, what happened with the Azuresoul Palace was far from optimistic.

Since they were about to arrive, Tianming asked Yu Ziqian about how the sect was organized. Basically, they occupied half the territory of the Azurecloud Continent. The remaining tens of smaller sects were all part of the Myriad Solar Sects, seven of which were third-rate ones.

"The Azuresoul Palace was founded by the Azuresoul Progenitor, who was exiled from the Empyrean Sword Sect. After leaving his old sect, he formed his own and rose to prominence. At the very end, he conquered the Azuresoul Sword Mountain and made it his home base. The sect now has nearly a million years of history, so it's considered rather old."

The power base of the sect was located on the Azuresoul Sword Mountain, followed by the many cities they controlled. In other words, the Azuresoul Sword Mountain was akin to the Archaion Sect's Taiji Peak Lake.

"The most famous people in our sect are the six Swordbearers, a title the six most powerful members of our sect hold. Their leader is our chief instructor, Gujian Qingshuang. My master, Jiang Qingliu, didn't have that kind of power before, but after gaining the recognition of the Azuresoul Tower, he became a Swordbearer as well, albeit the lowest ranked."

Even so, that meant he was still the sixth most powerful person in the sect. Apart from that, Yu Ziqian went on to explain the hierarchy and structure of the sect. "The Azuresoul Palace recruits juniors under the age of thirty every year. Those that fit the bill are allowed to cultivate on the mountain until the age of a hundred. During that time, they're simply known as youthgrand disciples, as in young disciples of a grand age." That would be where Tianming and the rest fit in. For them to refer to those under the age of a hundred as youths showed how differently superior lifeforms perceived age. In the Vermillion Bird Kingdom, those above a century old were most likely already dead.

"Most other factions also have a similar designation for those of this age. Past that is the fork of most people's lives. Taking disciples of the Azuresoul Palace as an example, we have three choices at that age, namely swordpupils, swordtroops, and swordcitizens."

"How are they different?"

"After the test at a hundred years old, the best of the best will be allowed to continue training. They'll no longer be junior disciples, but will become swordpupils. The ones that aren't as good as them will leave the Azuresoul Sword Mountain to join the Azuresoul Sword Army as swordtroops, eventually becoming soldiers or generals. The ones who do even worse will leave the mountain and get posted in the various cities to administer the subjects there as swordcitizens."

So there was a path for true elites, a path for soldiers, and a path for civilian officials. Such a scheme was emulated by most other sects as well. The lives of everyone would be determined by the test they took at age one hundred. Tianming was still far from that, so it wasn't something he would need to consider yet. All he needed to know was what his status in the sect would be.

Yu Ziqian continued, "That means there's only swordpupils and normal disciples under the age of a hundred on the Azuresoul Sword Mountain. The swordtroops and swordcitizens are all elsewhere. Swordpupils are graded one to five according to their power, contributions, and status. Normally, grade-two swordpupils need to be at the Solar stage in power. Grade-five swordpupils are the strongest among them. Our master is also a grade-five swordpupil, incidentally. There's only six grade-five swordpupils, which would be the ones we call Swordbearers."

"Then what would our grade be as Sky Palace disciples?" Tianming asked.

"The highest, of course. In essence, we're considered equals of our master and the chief instructor. Offending them isn't a worry at all."

"You mentioned that most other factions have a similar structure, right? And it isn't just a measure of power, but also status and position. Do other sects have any ranks that're considered superior to grade-five swordpupils?"

"Of course. The one behind you is one such person."