Eternal Thief

Kai said respectfully, "I don't know much, my lord, since I'm only a Nominal City Disciple and my origin is very humble, but I'll tell you what I know. The Sect Alliance City was founded thousands of years ago by Five Grand Sects and is located in the Beast Calamity Mountain Range.

"The Beast Calamity Mountain Range falls into the territory of the five Grand Sects, and that's why they all named it Sect Alliance City. But the main reason for their collective control over this city is the Lower Grade Spirit Stone Mines!"

At this point, Ace asked, "You said earlier you mined Spirit Stone in this place, so what are they used for?"

He had never heard of Spirit Stones before, so he wanted to know what they were used for. Since these five grand sects were willing to build a city for them, they had to be quite precious.

Kai finds this question strange and starts to doubt Ace, but he replies nevertheless since he still feels intimidated by him, "The Lower Grade Spirit Stones are above Grade-9 Qi Stones, which contain Spirit Qi instead of Elemental Qi in Qi Stones, and they are equally useful for cultivators of Law State."

'No wonder they built this city for these mines, so these Spirit Stones are like the Qi Stones, huh? But what is this Spirit Qi? A higher version of Elemental Qi, he said, means I might be required to use this Spirit Qi to use my skills and abilities now. Is this the reason I'm feeling like this?

'I want to ask this information, but I can't be too obvious, or he might become suspicious. Since I'm in this state, I don't know how powerful the experts are in this place. I need to tread carefully…'

Ace was secretly shocked by this information, but he still maintained his impassive expression and nodded, "Oh, it's been so long, I nearly forgot about these lowly pebbles. You may continue."

Kai was alarmed when Ace called the extremely precious Spirit Stones lowly pebbles so nonchalantly, and his heart rate quickened, and he continued.

"According to the history of the Sect Alliance City, it was created to mine all the Spirit Stones, but when the Grand Sects found that these Spirit Stone Mines were far larger than they had anticipated, they decided to make the Sect Alliance City into a cultivation city to recruit disciples for their sects from the human tribes scattered in the Beast Calamity Mountain Range.

"Since then, the Sect Alliance City has become a cultivation hub for people like me from nearby villages. Every ten years, when the Sect Alliance City opens its gates for the decade recruitment tests, many youths with great inspiration come here to try their luck.

"But not all of them succeed in the end. There are three ranks of City Disciples in Sect Alliance City: Nominal City Disciples, Outer City Disciples, and Inner City Disciples. I'm only a Nominal City Disciple to the very bottom of the Sect Alliance City.

"Nominal Disciples like me are like servants, and any disciple of the Outer City can order us around. I was also a servant of an Outer City Disciple, and I made a terrible mistake. Then, I was transferred to Spirit Stone Mine to work as a miner. This information is also what I've gathered while working as a servant, so please don't be offended if I'm wrong somewhere." Kai bitterly stated, with a hint of resentment in his voice towards the end.

However, Ace didn't care about Kai's personal affairs, and he was more interested in these grand sects after hearing about this Sect Alliance City.

"This only explains how you become a disciple of the Sect Alliance City, but you said the Sects recruit disciples for their sects. What's this about?" Ace asked, still impassively.

Kai sighed when he found out Ace hadn't been moved by his humble story and hardship. But he didn't find it unexpected since he knew powerful cultivators were always cold towards lowly beings like him, and only true power could draw their attention.

He clenched his fists tightly, but he didn't let it show and quickly replied, "This is indeed the case, my lord, but to be eligible for a disciple of one of the five grand sects, the City Disciple needs to first become an inner city disciple before the age of 50 and reached the Law Awareness Realm or Law Comprehension Realm cultivator before the age of 100!

"Even then, an Inner City Disciple would only be eligible for the entrance test of Five Grand Sects because if they fail, they will be sent back to the Sect Alliance City and given the position of a City Guard, or if they have a connection, they can still become someone of a higher position.

"There is another way, and that is to be noticed by one of the five grand sects' overseers anointed in the Sect Alliance City as City Overseers, which is the highest rank in the city. But this is even more difficult since only true geniuses can enter their eyes!" Kai clenched his fist even harder as nails threatened to dig into his rough flesh. His eyes were filled with unwillingness and resentment toward his own humble fate.

On the other hand, Ace was again marveled by this information since he wasn't expecting the cultivation standards to join a cultivation power to be so high. The difference between the Mortal Sky, Heaven, and this place was like earth and sky.

Ace couldn't help but feel somewhat anticipated about this place. He wanted to explore this mysterious heaven. But he knew he first needed to wait for the system upgrade to finish before he could dream of doing anything. This was especially the case for his current powerless state.

Ace then asked another question, which he had held out on for quite a while, but he still maintained his nonchalant attitude: "What about the Law State? Are they not welcome in these sects? And are there such cultivation realm experts present in the Sect Alliance City?"

This time, Kai pulled a difficult expression and replied, "Forgive me, my lord. But the information about the Law State is strictly forbidden by the Five Grand Sects. I was only able to learn the name of this from the Outer City disciple who served preciously!

"But I personally think that the City Overseers should be in this realm since they are simply too powerful. I've heard a story about them killing vicious beasts who try to attack the city with a simple wave of their hands. They are like Deities revered by everyone in the Sect Alliance City!"

'Now this is problematic…' Ace's heart sank a little since this meant he couldn't make any kind of mistake!