In the command center, Bao Wuji was working as hard as he could.
'Damn! Stupid small storage space!' Aotian cursed internally as his storage space filled up with the materials being poured out by the formation.
With no more room, he had to clear space for new materials, or the flying ship would explode with thousands of materials being ejected into the cabin as it shrank.
So, taking advantage of Bao Wuji's incredible speed — being a powerful Soul Formation cultivator — he shot out of there at such a high velocity it looked like teleportation.
Reaching a more remote area of the sect, he dumped the materials from his storage onto the ground as fast as he could, carelessly, and flew back to the ship.
There, he quickly filled it up again with more materials, until it was full once more. Then he returned to that location and dumped them on the ground before flying back again.
Bao Wuji's storage space wasn't small. Currently, it had 40,000 cubic meters of capacity.
Even so, the ship's dimensions were simply gigantic, and that's why he had to repeat the process five more times before finishing.
When he took out the last batch of materials, he had to leave as quickly as possible, as the ship had already shrunk so much he could barely fit inside the cabin. Fortunately, the ship's central structure — including the command cabin — was a core part of the ship and did not disappear with the removal of the materials.
With Bao Wuji's departure, the ship began to truly shrink, using internal formations, and no longer relying solely on material removal.
Not that the public knew this. No one had seen Bao Wuji from start to finish, and he moved so fast that, to everyone else, the ship simply appeared to shrink like common flying ships.
Bao Wuji then returned to the hidden location where he had dumped the rest of the materials.
He began separating the spiritual material from the worthless items, like common wood and metal, storing the more valuable ones back into his storage space.
Since the valuable materials were in smaller quantity, they easily fit in the remaining space.
'Note to self: don't try to look cool in front of others, it's way too much work. Just take the ship far away and disassemble it calmly there.'
Aotian joked to himself and turned his attention to Lie Zheng, who was leading the elders toward the reception group after storing the now-small ship in his storage pouch.
Just as Lie Zheng was about to approach the delegation, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him, startling everyone with the sudden appearance.
Jian Huiyin immediately went on alert. She hadn't even sensed the figure's approach before they appeared.
But upon recognizing who it was, she was surprised.
It was Tian Zhu, the leader of the Infinite Dao Sect, wearing his iconic black robes with golden dragon patterns.
'He's not a Golden Core cultivator! With such speed that I couldn't even perceive it, he must be a Nascent Soul cultivator!' she thought with a pounding heart, doing her best to keep a calm expression.
Despite the shock, an intense fire burned in her chest. She had already felt the terrifying aura of Bao Wuji, and now, with yet another display of power from Tian Zhu, she felt even more confident that the Infinite Dao Sect could take her to greater heights.
Ignoring the reactions around him, Lie Zheng — the elder of the Punishment Pavilion and leader of the recruitment expedition — cupped his fists and bowed respectfully before Tian Zhu.
"Sect Leader, my mission has been completed. Among the disciples, there is one with a special physique, sixteen with perfect-quality roots — ten with five elements, three with four elements, two with three elements, and one with two elements. Lastly, we have 13,901 with high-quality roots."
Lie Zheng reported with a serious look, revealing astonishing numbers.
It's important to note that, on average, only one in every thousand cultivators in the desert continents possessed advanced roots. For such a number of talents to be gathered, there would need to be at least 14 million cultivators in the Bamboo Sword Sect's region alone.
And the most impressive part was that this was just one of the 27 regions of that desert continent — which, according to what he'd learned from the Bamboo Sword Sect and Rihai, was called the Beixu Continent (meaning: Northern Desolation). Moreover, cultivators represented only a small fraction of the continent's human population, barely reaching 0.1%.
Using rough and unreliable calculations based solely on this recruitment, Aotian estimated there to be about 378 million cultivators on the continent and a total of 378 billion humans.
Of course, he knew the margin of error was immense. After all, more than 70% of the talented individuals interviewed had failed the heart trial, and the number of 14,000 he used in the calculation was only those who had passed.
Even with such absurd numbers, Aotian couldn't help but believe them when considering the scale of the world he lived in.
Still, it was a small number, and the real population might be ten times larger — or more. Yet, one could travel for days or even months without encountering another soul. Such was the immensity of this planet, a scale that underscored just how daunting the challenge he had set for himself truly was — the ambition to dominate a place like this.
And the most shocking part was that Rihai considered the desert continents to be poor in cultivators and resources, which only showed how extraordinary the central continents must be — and the staggering number of conflicts and opportunities that must exist there.
"Good. You did an excellent job. The rest of the report can be made after everyone is settled." Tian Zhu waved indifferently to Lie Zheng, then cast his gaze over the disciples, who immediately lowered their heads before him.
Tian Zhu's eyes, even without intent, exerted great pressure on those they landed on, due to his high cultivation. Of course, he could suppress that pressure, but Aotian wanted to further reinforce his authority.
'This is the sect leader?' Bai Yan, even against his will, had to lower his gaze the moment the leader's eyes passed over him, and an intense admiration for the strong arose in his heart. Not that he wouldn't lower his gaze out of respect for the esteemed sect leader, but it was one thing to do it by choice — another entirely to be unable to hold his gaze even for a second.
Not even his master, Lie Zheng, had put him under such pressure with just a glance.
Tian Zhu then turned to the elders of the welcoming delegation and gave his order.
"You will help the others manage the accommodations for the disciples and give the necessary instructions."
He spoke with authority and calm. All the elders, from both the reception and recruitment delegations, cupped their fists and bowed before him.
The scene of the respected elders bowing with admiration and respect to a single man was etched into the minds of the disciples. The authority and presence of the sect leader would not be forgotten any time soon.
There was no active pressure, no threats, no uncertainty in the sect leader's voice or attitude — only calm and indifference — and even so, everyone felt that his orders must never be defied.
Finally, Tian Zhu looked toward one of the elders.
"Coyote. Bring the transport. Let the disciples get used to them."
That was his final order.
"Yes, Leader!" Coyote grinned and gave a thumbs-up in confirmation, surprising the disciples with his unusual demeanor, even in front of the esteemed sect leader.
Without hesitation, Coyote brought two fingers to his mouth, filled his chest with air, and…
Pheeeeeeeh!
A loud whistle, reinforced by spiritual energy, echoed in all directions and across the entire mountain, surprising the disciples with the sudden action.
Curious, they began looking around, searching for something, as from what they had heard in the leader's orders, it seemed the elder was calling for some kind of transport for them.
Only a few noticed that, at some point, the sect leader had already vanished after giving his orders.
Nothing happened for a moment, but then, from a part of the mountain, a massive group of shadows appeared, led by a single figure.
As they looked more closely, they realized it was a large flock of beautiful and fierce giant white cranes, flying with elegance. At the front of them, a massive Red Tiger ran through the air as if it were solid ground, heading toward the foot of the mountain where everyone stood.
"Wow..." Jingjing and Xiaoxue, the two little girls who had become close friends during the months of travel, watched in awe at the imposing beasts.
And they weren't the only ones to react with admiration.
As the disciples observed in wonder, Jian Huiyin, leader of the Bamboo Sword Sect, and the elders of her sect looked on helplessly.
Those Misty Plume Cranes had been sold by them for just a few elemental stones. Only the heavens knew how the Infinite Dao Sect had transformed those once fragile creatures into such powerful beings in just a few months.
Some elders of her sect even felt a suffocating pressure from those former "chickens" they used to call cranes.
Aotian, in his main body, observed Rihai's surprised expression — she too had known the cranes' previous appearance. Her shock at their transformation was evident.
Her amazed reaction fed Aotian's vanity, and he revealed a satisfied smile.
Then, he turned his gaze to the Red Tiger, who was running through the air as if on solid ground, and smiled slightly.
Unlike the cranes, the tiger had also grown stronger, but aside from growing a bit, it didn't show major changes.
That was because it hadn't yet evolved, as it hadn't reached the Golden Core stage. Even so, it wasn't far off.
[Beast: Red Tiger
Cultivation: Perfection of Level Two Beast
Age: 244 Years
Bloodline: Red Tiger (Diluted)
Qualifications: Initial Stage of Level Three]
As for the cranes, unlike him who had not evolved — they had.
And not just once, but twice, and the changes…
… were immense.