Consuming Earths, Devouring Skies

"Perfect! My name’s Amos Ackner, a member of the Ethereal Blade Guild." Amos smiled broadly in elation. His withered aura and dim light in his eyes seemed to regain some of its youthful exuberance.

"Guild?" Yan Zaizen silently questioned. He had heard of clans, families, sects, but he has never heard of a guild. What was that? Not only that, the name Amos Ackner was odd in and of itself. The person before him was obviously human, he was even a Lycah like himself, but his name completely upended the 27th Heaven standard.

In the 27th Heaven, a person’s name is defined by three sections: Clan Name(Yan), Personal Name(Zai), and Family Name(Zen). The only exception was the removal of a clan name or family name if they had none. It’s even possible to have no family or clan name. Tao perfectly embodied this example, having been adopted and later disowned by his clan and family.

However, the current name didn’t seem to have any sort of trend and Yan Zaizen couldn’t determine how it was constructed.

In the end, he decided to be direct. "What’s a guild?" Even if others suspected his foreign origin, they could only have suspicions. Moreover, Yan Zaizen didn’t fear anyone on this ship.

Amos was taken aback by the question and his eyes did flicker with suspicion in the end, but after some thought, he decided to answer. "Guilds are groups of individuals, factions so to speak, formulated by those with a general focus or lack of a stable backing. Oftentimes, they are forces developed by those without clans, families, or packs to establish a footing in the myriad realms."

Yan Zaizen nodded. As he looked at the individuals in the various ships having different attires with different features and races, he realized that they all likely originated from these so-called guilds. However, he was shocked a little by the explanation. When Amos explained the function of guilds and how they were essentially rogue or independent cultivators gathering together who didn’t have clans, families, or packs, he excluded sects.

"What about sects?" As he had already decided to be direct, he asked.

"Sects?" Amos aged face frowned in thought. Yan Zaizen realized that he didn’t have the faintest clue what a sect was. In truth, a sect wasn’t much different than a guild. However, there was a core difference that clearly separated them.

Sects gathered loose or rogue cultivators and produced something similar to clans. In these sects, often there was intricate schemes and deadly combat between members for superiority.

The struggles were endless and the resources limited. It created an environment of dog eat dog. He suspected the guilds were like this, but upon further explanation, he was very, very wrong.

Guilds were forces devised by independent cultivators but there was barely any conflict within. A large reason was that it carried a similarity to the Anima Syndicate. It was an organization loosely based around strength and authority, but the interactions between members were very little. You can even kill people in the guild openly if you wished. Within sects, this was heavily frowned upon and often led to hidden strikes and plotted schemes. There were even sects that delivered punishment by death for killing another member, regardless if they were in the wrong initially.

Yan Zaizen frowned slightly when he heard this. He felt like there was more to it than just this, but being a member of the Anima Syndicate, a very similar organization, he didn’t doubt the lack of schemes. Unlike sects that were in direct competition, missions were determined to leave very little room for conflict and so was the hierarchy.

Soon, Yan Zaizen walked with Amos to arrive in the Ethereal Sword Guild’s location. When he arrived, he was a little startled. The reason was simple: they were all females! There was a total of seven members, including Amos, and besides Amos, the rest were young women with sharp eyes and radiated a sword aura.

A young woman, about in her early twenties in regards to appearance, appraised Yan Zaizen with a deep and harsh look. This woman had long white hair and wore the Ethereal Sword Guild’s uniform colors - silver. Her dress was slightly imperialistic and her hair flowed freely with the wind.

"Senior Amos, is this man necessary?" She asked, not bothering to disguise her contempt and disdain for Yan Zaizen. Towards this attitude, Yan Zaizen was laughing internally. These women may be beauties, but compared to Ma Xiuren, his first kiss, or Pinaka, they couldn’t hold a candle to their looks. This was the same with cultivation base.

The young woman was at the second-floor of the Heavenly Genesis Realm, but she also had a very faint Astral Soul signature that seemed less intense than Yan Zaizen.

The only thing Yan Zaizen found interesting was the racial diversity. Each of the seven had different races, but they didn’t seem to be much different than Lycah than some markings or skin color. Therefore, Yan Zaizen couldn’t figure out their unique characteristics.

Amos smiled, "Ayala, this Fellow Sir is an expert on the cusp of reaching the third-floor, with his inclusion, our chances of survival will increase." To him who was old, his combat prowess wasn’t too outstanding so any form of support was beneficial. After all, he was doing this so he could have a chance at life, not to die.

"Oh?" The young woman, Ayala, exclaimed curiously. She once again appraised Yan Zaizen, but his ordinary looks and lackluster expressions left her disappointed.

Yan Zaizen ignored this girl, offering greetings to the other women with politeness. He didn’t bother inquiring why all of them were female. He had his own ideas, such as they were all a part of a group within the guild and did missions together. It’s possible their teamwork was highly refined and thus they did all things together.

Yan Zaizen recalled Yu Shi and Yun Baili. They had a bevy of weaker cultivators to help support their cultivation bases and arts, and because of this, their prowess was far more terrifying than normal. He wouldn’t underestimate this group by any means, even if he was far stronger than them.

The other girls were also polite, especially after hearing that he was on the cusp of building his third-floor. They treated him with respect and besides the third-floor females, the second-floor cultivators even had a shining light in their eyes.

This allowed Yan Zaizen to once more realize that cultivation was difficult beyond imagination. A lot of these females may look in their twenties, but their life signatures were nearing one hundred thousand years! That was terrifying.

To use one hundred thousand years of cultivation and only reach the second or third floor! Yun Baili was a genius of an eight-tier realm and in less than thirty-three thousand years, he built his fourth floor! The difference truly was massive.

If he compared Tao, who was only about five thousand years old yet reached the second-floor, they were literal garbage.

"Cultivation...is a struggle," lamenting on the fates of all those who struggle for a higher level, for more life, for more power, and yet can never taste it in the end, he felt a melancholic feeling surge in his heart. Would his path one day be like this? There had to be a limit to the benefit of a Non-Entity!

As they were discussing various subjects allowing Yan Zaizen to get a better understanding of the situation, a cold feminine voice echoed outwards! "All, ready for entry!" When these words were said, the cultivators’ expressions became stern and heavy.

"This is what I was waiting for!" Yan Zaizen’s eyes were the only one whose eyes lit up like Christmas lights! To gain entry into the realm without having to forcefully enter! If these ships were reinforcements, they likely had some method to enter despite the barrier. And he was right!

The eight ships, with the silver one in lead, made their way towards the barrier. They weren’t traveling very fast, but they were indeed moving. As they approached, a beam of silver light shot out from the Lycan’s area. This light penetrated the barrier and established a spatial vortex forcefully! This spatial vortex was just outside the barrier but obviously interconnected to a location within it!

"Spatial laws!" Yan Zaizen’s grew excited. The heavenly aura from this beam of energy wasn’t at the upper-stages of the Heavenly Genesis Realm like Shi Yan, but was definitely between the fourth and sixth floor! That meant a cultivator had reached the minor-Domain or higher in Spatial Law! A World Law!

The spatial vortex seemed to lead to emptiness, but all the cultivators on board had excited expressions. With their full speed, they dived into the spatial vortex!

"Wait!" Yan Zaizen’s eyes narrowed as they approached the spatial vortex. When he got closer, to the point where several ships had already entered, his eyes widened. "Someone is interfering with the vortex!" Before he could alert others, the ship he resided in entered the spatial vortex.