Spirit Cultivation

Xuefeng spent the rest of the day reading books in his room. After eating dinner, he borrowed a bunch of them from the library to learn more about this world. Even on earth, he was a bookworm, so this situation worked out well for him.

Even though he didn't get much information about cultivation, he read a lot about the region he was in. He learned about all known locations and tried to remember various local species in case he needed to hunt. Remembering the world map and details about Spirit Beast would greatly benefit him in the future.

He also managed to find some information about the several Sects and Clans that ruled the Eastern Region.

"To think there would be so many…" Xuefeng commented.

The Eastern Region was shared by one Empire, ten Kingdoms, and thirty Countries.

The Azure Dragon Empire was the strongest and controlled all ten Kingdoms which had to pay a lot of Spirit Stones yearly as a tribute.

Because of that, the thirty Countries were divided between all ten Kingdoms to ease that burden. Some powerful Kingdoms had more Countries under their rule and the Sacred Sword Kingdom that ruled Aurora Country could be an example, having five.

In every Kingdom, there was only one Ruler who came from the Royal Family. In the Sacred Sword Kingdom, the Royal Family was surnamed, Zhen.

Even if the Liu Clan grew stronger than the Zhen Family in Aurora Country, if its ruling was threatened, the Zhen Family from the Sacred Sword Kingdom would send some experts to suppress them.

Because of that, Royal Families could rule without any problems for generations.

Unfortunately, ten powers grew strong enough that even Royal Families of countless Kingdoms couldn't touch.

These ten powers were the Empire's top ten branch sects. In the Azure Dragon Empire, ten sects competed against each other to be the number one sect of the entire Eastern Region.

After Sect Leaders fought for over a decade, they finally decided to do something different. They created Branch Sects, one in each Kingdom, trained their disciples for 5 years, and let the younger generation compete against each other in a competition to decide who is the strongest.

The one Sect which won could call themselves the strongest for the next five years.

In the Sacred Sword Kingdom, the top sect branch was called Sacred Institute. Three years ago, they were placed 5th in the competition. Not the best, but they at least weren't the biggest losers.

Xuefeng thought this whole idea of who was the strongest was stupid, but who was he to judge those experts.

"I'm glad I wasn't born in those Sects… The power struggles are too intense there…" Xuefeng muttered as he continued to read.

Other than those powers, there were Clans like the Liu Clan, which ruled smaller parts of the country.

After reading about all this information, Xuefeng ate something before taking a shower and went to sleep.

Tomorrow was his big day, so he decided to have a good rest.

————

Every year, kids that were around ten years old, would gather at the Spirit Awakening Hall to start their cultivation. The Spirit Awakening Ceremony was always grand so many elites from the Clan would come to watch it.

After all, what if a genius was born? They would be the first to witness it.

This year, the ceremony was even more festive than usual. The reason for that was one of the participants with the name of Liu Xuefeng, the Liu Clan Leader's only son.

When everyone in the city heard about the news, they were astonished. Everyone thought that the Liu Clan Leader bought a Rank 3 healing pill for his son, which was as expensive as a city. Even some Rank 5 Spirit Strengthening Pills were less expensive than a pill that can heal a broken dantian.

They were even more curious about today's Spirit Awakening Ceremony, unfortunately, it was only open for Liu Clansmen and people with an invitation. To get one, you had to be either a Sect Leader of a big Clan or be a stand-alone powerhouse.

It wasn't a surprise that this year, the Liu Clan's Leader sent a lot of invitations to many high-ranked figures.

It was early in the morning but there was already a crowd of people surrounding the southern gate of the Liu Clan's territory. All the guests would come inside this entrance so many gathered to see them.

Many were curious about what Xuefeng's talent would be. If it was the bottom tier like an orange one, it would be a great shame to the Liu Clan and they couldn't miss it.

"The Liu Clan's Leader sure is making a huge bet! What if his son's talent is garbage? Wouldn't they become a huge laughingstock for everyone in the country?" One man commented in the crowd.

"Well, we know he has balls. What can anyone do to him? The Liu Clan is the overlord of this area. Who would dare to laugh at them?" his buddy answered.

"Yes, you are right. Who do you think will arrive? Do you think the Royal Family will send someone as a representative?"

Just as he asked, they heard a commotion in the crowd and immediately gazed at the approaching person.

"Look! That's Manager Wu from the Golden Phoenix Restaurant."

There was a space left in the middle of the crowd so people who were invited could smoothly enter the Liu Clan's territory.

Manager Wu was walking elegantly in her high cut, red dragon dress. Her mature beauty was something different than a ripe young maiden's. She looked like the type of woman who would give you endless happiness if you managed to conquer her.

After an elder checked her invitation, she was let in. Many people wondered why a manager from a restaurant would be allowed inside, but how could the Liu Clan not know the truth. It was because not only was she the manager for the Golden Phoenix Restaurant, but she was also the owner of Phoenix City's Spirit Artefacts Pavilion. Her role as a manager was only a cover-up.

The next person to arrive was the Clan Leader of the Lu Clan. He came with his beautiful daughter and many people sneered at that. How could they not know what he was planning? If Xuefeng's talent was outstanding he would instantly propose a marriage.

Although Lu clan was weaker in comparison to the Liu clan, they didn't lose that much. They were also located far away from Phoenix City, so their relationship could be considered friendly.

They arrived on a flying Spirit Beast, else it would be impossible to travel a few thousand kilometers in just one day on land. With a flying Spirit Beast, they only needed a couple of hours.

In the next hour, more and more flying beasts were landing near the Liu Clan's southern entrance. To everyone's surprise, the Lu Clan's leader wasn't the only one who came up with the plan of bringing their daughters to the gathering.

Suddenly the topic among the crowd wasn't how many clans would take part in this Spirit Awakening Ceremony, but rather from how many beauties would Xuefeng choose his wife.

The crowd completely lost it, when they saw a Spirit Eagle landing on the ground, and on its back, an old man was standing smiling and with him, two young and beautiful women. One was even older and looked to be around 20 years old.

"Can someone tell me what is going on? It's been already a 12th party that came and 10 of them brought a young woman with them. That old man even brought two."

"I think he was from the Gao Family in the North. He probably wants to increase his chances."

"Are we going to witness a new marriage between clans?"

"I think that almost all top Clans and Families from the Country came. Do you think that someone from the Zhen family will come?"

"That might be possible! Look, almost all the clans came. Even if they didn't receive an invite, they would come for su—"

Roaaaar!

Just as one cultivator was finishing his sentence, a roar reverberated throughout the plaza, crashing into everyone's ears.