Chapter 48: Heading Out
On the eighth day after Yang Mountain opened, a bell rang in the Sea Cloud Sect.
The bell was not loud, but it lingered in the ears of everyone who heard it.
When they heard it, Yu Nianzhen and Jiang Yue were in the West courtyard.
Yu Nianzhen was practising his sword, and Jiang Yue was playing his pipa while he watched him.
The atmosphere was very harmonious, but the bell shattered the picture and brought them back to reality.
"It’s finally time." Jiang Yue lamented.
He knew that the bell would ring sooner or later. However, he found that he wasn’t ready when it actually did.
After all, they had just reunited after five years!
He still wanted to spend a few more lazy days.
Wake up after dawn, spar for a time, and watch Yu Nianzhen practice to his music. Eat together afterwards, and cultivate a little before repeating it the next day.
"There will be time in the future, don’t worry."
Yu Nianzhen approached Jiang Yue and rubbed his hair.
Although he didn’t say it, he was also a little disappointed.
However, his disappointment was momentary.
In his mind, everything he did now was to forge an ideal future.
Jiang Yue smiled, and a meaningful look flashed in his eyes before he spoke, "yes, our future will be long."
The lifespan of a meridian awakening realm cultivator was only one hundred. However, it doubled to two hundred after breaking through to the origin forging realm.
If they cultivated to the nascent soul realm, their lifespan would be five thousand years.
At that time, they would have enough time to do whatever they wanted.
"Let’s go."
"Don’t you need to say something to master Yang before we leave?"
A complex look flashed in Yu Nianzhen’s eyes, but he sighed in the end.
He didn’t know what happened, but his master was in a strange mood when he returned from speaking to the sect master.
Since then, his master stayed in his courtyard and didn’t allow the two to disturb him unless there was an emergency.
Yu Nianzhen bowed towards the south courtyard and then turned to Jiang Yue.
"Let’s give him some time."
Jiang Yue nodded and released his treasure boat from his storage ring.
He pulled Yu Nianzhen aboard, and soon after, the small boat flew away from Yang Mountain.
The boat was extremely fast, and it quickly raced across the sect.
However, it often had to detour to avoid other flying treasures that were also rushing to the gathering point in the inner sect.
When the boat landed, thousands of inner sect disciples were already there.
Jiang Yue put the boat away, and the two walked towards a less crowded area.
"I wonder how many disciples will fall this time around." A disciple wondered.
"Close to five thousand fell in the last war. However, it was nothing compared to two hundred years ago." His friend lamented.
"Senior brother, what happened two hundred years ago?" A girl asked as she looked at her two senior brothers.
One of the brothers turned solemn, and the other sighed before he spoke.
"Normally, sea beasts stick to their own territories and don’t interact with each other. Two hundred years ago, there was a half-step class six beast that united the territory lords. That year’s attack was very fierce. More than half the disciples fell."
The girl trembled in fear when she heard that.
She was promoted to the inner sect in the last decade, and this would be her first war against the sea beasts.
"Will that happen again?"
Although she wanted to earn resources in the war, her life was more important.
It was already difficult to survive a normal beast tide. What would she do if something happened again?
"Junior sister doesn’t have to worry." One of the senior brothers said when he saw the girl was frightened.
"After that incident, the sect made changes."
"Changes?"
"Our Sea Cloud sect has nine armies that are permanently posted at the sea line. The armies would notice if a powerful ruler rose among the sea beasts."
"If there are nine armies, why do we need to go?"
"The junior sister doesn’t know that the sea beasts riot at least once a year. However, the scale of the ten-year riot can’t be handled by the army alone."
Jiang Yue looked at Yu Nianzhen when he overheard that conversation.
Yu Nianzhen had also heard it, and he nodded in understanding.
Although they had taken it easy over the last week, they had made preparations for the war.
However, the overheard conversation made them realise that they had still taken the war too lightly.
Even if the army was stationed at the sea line all year round, it wasn’t impossible to miss something.
If something unexpected happened, they needed to have a way out.
"Let’s listen to the elders first." Yu Nianzhen said and pointed to the front.
At that moment, an overwhelming presence spread, and silence fell at the gathering point.
"Our Sea Cloud sect is one of the sixteen rulers that guard our world. We must prevent the sea beasts in the Eastern Sea from invading our human territory."
This was spoken by a white-haired man who was followed by a group of elders.
The white elder had an amiable appearance, but his qi presence was full of sternness.
"Contributions will be rewarded accordingly, and disertions will be punished severely."
As soon as he said that, the disciples felt a buzzing sound from their identity jades.
Jiang Yue grabbed his jade and sunk his consciousness within.
When he did that, a lot of information flooded his mind.
From the information, he learned that the Sea line was divided into nine sections.
On the side of sea beasts, each territory was ruled by a class five sea beast.
On the side of humans, each section was guarded by an army led by a nascent soul realm commander.
During the war, class five beasts and nascent soul realm cultivators would appear to check each other.
However, they would rarely get involved in the war.
Instead, the fighting would be left to lower-level cultivators and sea beasts.
"I have been assigned to the second legion. What about you?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
"I am also in the second legion."
The two sighed in relief when they confirmed that they were in the same army.
Although they understood that they couldn’t always act together, it was always better to be together.
"What’s on your mind?" Jiang Yue asked when he saw that Yu Nianzhen was frowning.
"How do they calculate contribution points during a war?"
Jiang Yue thought about it, but he also didn’t have an answer.
When he went for missions, he needed to bring back heads or some other proof.
However, it was unreasonable to ask disciples to take back heads during a war.
"It’s okay if you don’t know, we will know when we get there."
They temporary put the matter aside and continued to listen to the elder.
The elder enumerated a few more rules and then brought the matter to a close.
After that, the disciples grouped up according to the legions they would join.
"How to get there?" Yu Nianzhen asked.
This time, Jiang Yue knew the answer, and he couldn’t help but be a little happy.
Normally, Yu Nianzhen was the one who always knew the answers.
However, Yu Nianzhen was in seclusion for five years and didn’t know enough about the sect.
"Teleportation array."
"The sect has a teleportation array?"
"There are several dozen arrays in the teleportation valley. Fifteen led to the capitals of other regions. The others are for our sect’s strategic locations."
As Jiang Yue guessed, the disciples were directed to the teleportation valley.
The arrays leading to the sea line were located on the right side of the valley. Next to each array was a platform with a flag and number.
This way, the disciples could locate the array that led to their legion.
"Each teleportation will take three hundred people." An elder shouted.
Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen walked toward the second array when they heard that.
Soon after, they stepped on the array with two hundred others.
An elder threw in some spirit stones, and the array activated.
A moment after, white later enveloped the group, and they disappeared.
When they reappeared, they were standing on another array.
However, this array was not in a valley but at the edge of an island.
"Move out." An impatient voice shouted.
Jiang Yue and Yu Nianzhen looked at each other before walking to the side.
They joined the people that had arrived earlier and waited for instructions.
An hour later, all the disciples that were joining the second legion arrived.
The total was close to five thousand, and most were in the origin forging realm and the qi transformation realm.
"Follow me to the camp." A voice shouted.
The voice was female, and everyone turned to look at the speaker.
