Theron seemed to be the consummate playboy on the ride to the Hall of Ice and Heart. It was like he had forgotten what it meant to cultivate, spending all of his time eating and teasing Lyra.

By this point, one would think that the latter had recovered. But that night seemed to replay in Lyra's mind again and again. She didn't even quite know how to face Theron, but she had no choice but to keep up appearances around Matriarch Macie.

If the Matriarch saw that Theron was taking the lead in all of their interactions, then it would be clear that she wasn't exactly doing her job all that well.

So, she played along, trying to temper down her embarrassment. That led to a situation where the two became the center of everyone's attention.

This only made Lyra more embarrassed, but Theron didn't seem to care in the slightest. He ignored everyone, including the Matriarch, as though they weren't there at all.

…

Like this, days passed as they cruised across the universe. Theron had assumed when the Matriarch spoke of three months that the gathering would start right then, but it seemed she was also accounting for travel time.

This much was fine. What plans Theron did have had a bit of a buffer region in them.

About half a week later, though, the ship came to a stop at what they called a Connect Planet. Connect Planets didn't have any major powers on them, but were rather shared by several major powers. This was to say that they weren't owned by any one power, but were neutral sites that could be used by all disciples and members of these powers.

Regions like this tended to have rules even more strict than the Sects themselves, as failure to adhere to these rules could cause all-out war in the worst of cases.

As such, they were overseen by powerhouses of all the powers who invested, and they even had rules and stipulations for how new powers might be able to buy in without bloodshed.

This was a side of the cultivation world that Theron hadn't seen enough of yet. He was very used to subordinate and superior interactions, but he wasn't as used to relationships between equals.

Unsurprisingly, this Connect Planet was shared between the Nightingale Sect, the Resonate Eye Sect, and the Bronzed Earth Sect.

However, there were also two other powers involved. Though, from what Theron could tell, these powers weren't actually equals with the three Sects, but were instead branches of much stronger powers that had a very small footprint in this region.

The first was the Mercenary Guild. They were a guild of loose cultivators who weren't tied to Sects. They had a very interesting system, collecting Spells and techniques from all sorts of places, allowing their members to complete missions to exchange for them and other resources.

When Theron originally learned about this group, he had been very tempted to enter. They were quite perfect for him. Though, their downsides were quite obvious as well.

The Mercenary Guild made no attempt to protect its members like other organizations did. Any issues or problems faced by its members would either be dealt with alone or would require payment. If you needed help, you would have to pay for it like any other mission commissioner would.

The Guild also had very strict requirements for joining as well. Not just any loose cultivator could join, and because of that, they required a highly detailed assessment that would require going under a microscope of sorts.

Though Theron would surely be able to hide much of what he wanted to hide, the further he moved up in the Guild, the more overbearing those assessments would become.

It almost defeated the purpose, and it smelled quite fishy as well.

On the surface, the Mercenary Guild only existed for profit. The shares it took from every mission its people completed were enough to make their higher-ups almost agonizingly wealthy. If one was a clever enough businessman—let alone avoiding a loss on the treasures they handed out—they could probably make a tidy sum instead.

But the restraints were there nonetheless. Well hidden, but certainly there.

Theron couldn't help but wonder if there were hidden secrets here, but now wasn't the time for him to care very much.

Still, the Mercenary Guild did have quite a bit of face. It allowed its members to exchange for the right to participate in gatherings like this as well. Of course, part of that tribute was sent to the hosting Sect—in this case, the Hall of Ice and Heart.

But this was certainly another fascinating twist.

As for the second power here, it was none other than the Hall of Ice and Heart itself. After all, this entire region was its territory. It would, of course, have some presence in the most important regions.

When the Nightingale Sect arrived, the Resonate Eye Sect and the Bronzed Earth Sect were already here, including their First Core Disciples Ilyssia and Serenya.

It seemed that Serenya had recovered her chubby appearance in these last few months. In fact, she seemed to have grown an even bigger belly than before, her eyes carrying hints of seriousness that hadn't been there previously.

In fact, this undertone of seriousness seemed to be something all three of the First Core Disciples held, because Ilyssia was no exception.

And there was only one person who was responsible for all of this… and that was none other than Theron.

Their experience in fighting him had thrown them headfirst into the world of cultivation in ways they had never experienced before, and that was a moment they would never forget.

They would never be the same again.

All of that said, none of this was what Theron was paying attention to. Though everyone thought that he was more interested in trying to catch another glimpse up Lyra's skirt, he had actually long realized that there was something wrong with the current atmosphere.

'Predictable.'

Indeed, it was.

If a Connect Planet had an even distribution of powers… what would happen if one suddenly became clearly weaker than the others?

And in this case, that power was none other than the Nightingale Sect, who had lost their Patriarch.

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