At the same time Xuan Hao found himself engaged in a life and death battle with the walking mountain demon beast, a group of young disciples wearing the uniform disciple robes belonging to the Star Shattering Sect arrived at the base of the Ninth Star Peak. Coming to a stop at a small pavilion located at the dividing line between the base of the Ninth Star Peak and the Falling Star City. The place that was considered the true entrance to the sect and where one would normally be blocked by the chaotic qi formation when entering without carrying the sect insignia given to every disciple who became part of the main sect. An insignia that was difficult to copy, as it essentially served only to copy the soul presence of the disciple and register it within the chaotic qi formation.

If not for the other function of the insignia also being the main tool used when exchanging contribution points with other disciples or checking how many contribution points one had, it would be difficult to say how many disciples would always keep it on them.

That aside, the group of disciples wearing sect robes who had shown up this time around were a bit different from normal disciples, as they weren’t from the main sect, but were instead talented younger disciples from the different branch sects under the Star Shattering Sect who had recently participated in a tournament hosted by one of the elders who had been inspired by a tournament held by Elder Song in the past to hold one of his own for the branch sect disciples. The reward being a trip to the main sect along with a few contribution points and artifacts that the sect elder had personally contributed.

Maybe because of how generous this sect elder had been in essentially funding the tournament on his own, Elder Song was more than happy to allow this group of talented disciples to visit the Shattered Star Peaks for a few weeks and enjoy the rich cultivation environment of the Main Sect. Hoping that this would also inspire this group of young people to work harder and strive to enter the main sect in the future. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Even if there was still the problem of spies, they weren’t becoming part of the main sect and would have a sect elder following them most of the time. Leaving them no chance to learn anything important about the Star Shattering Sect even if one or two of them turned out to be spies.

"Let’s go everyone, I will first take you to see the spiritual fields of the Ninth Star Peak like I said earlier, I promise it won’t be a disappointing sight. Especially the area dedicated to spiritual flowers, that place has become a rather popular place for the different younger and older disciples to relax when taking a break from cultivation and sect missions." And as the sect elder leading the group of youths got everything settled in place and registered the branch sect disciples so they could pass through the chaotic qi formation, the group of around thirty began making their way up the Ninth Star Peak.

"Wow! The spiritual qi is so much richer here compared to outside! Ten times- no more than that! Is this the environment disciples from the main sect gets to enjoy!?"

"How enviable! But at least we are far better than other branch sect disciple, we at least stand a chance at entering the main sect in the future."

"Haha, true! We must seize this opportunity and increase our strength while we can."

"Increase our strength? Hmph! I’m going to see if I can find an elder to take me on as a personal disciple, I heard from a friend of a friend of a friend of mine that becoming a personal disciple on an elder allows you to directly enter the main sect."

"Really!? Then we must seize this opportunity and become personal disciples!"

"Hah? Do you really think it’s that simple?"

"Huh? What do you!? What’s with that arrogant attitude!?"

"Heh, I..."

At the same time the group of branch disciples began chatting amongst each other filled with anticipation and happiness as they proudly followed behind the elder leading them up the path snaking its way up the Ninth Star Peak, one young man at the very back stood out from the rest in the sense that he didn’t join in on the excitement of the other disciples.

So, is this the main sect of the Star Shattering Sect? Hm, the guardian formation... I can’t see through it with my current strength. Looks like it really is an ancient sect.

This person was none other than Jian Chen, the reincarnated great power, who silently frowned to himself as he used his extensive knowledge and insight to examine the guardian formation of the Star Shattering Sect the second he passed through it.

Originally, he had started to feel a bit doubtful about the status of the Star Shattering Sect as an ancient sect given the state of the branch sect he was in and the overall strength of the elder in charge only reaching the Domain Lord Realm and had ultimately decided to pay the sect a visit to confirm his suspicions, something he accomplished by participating in a small tournament held between five different branch sects that rewarded an opportunity to enter the main sect of the Star Shattering Sect, the Shattered Star Peaks.

But... Now that he found himself passing through the chaotic qi formation and felt the terrifyingly concentrated spiritual qi within the Shattered Star Peaks, he realized that he had been wrong in his earlier suspension.

After all, no small sect would be capable of creating this kind of cultivation environment, let alone a guardian formation that he couldn’t see through.

At the end of the day, though his strength was limited due to his reincarnation, he had once reached a terrifying realm and could still easily see through most formations.

For one to elude his sense meant that it had at the very least reached the Venerable Realm in terms of strength... And in the face of that kind of formation, he dared not show the slightest bit of his strength and could only obediently follow along behind the sect elder. Knowing that even a single bit of his soul strength leaking out would instantly be detected by this kind of powerful formation.

Still, this kind of situation was for the best in his opinion, as it was clear from what he had learnt over the years since becoming a member of the Star Shattering Sect that the situation of the world was completely different from what he remembered.

With the Star Shattering Sect being strong, it would not only be able to provide him with a safe environment to slowly grow his strength, but would also give him a chance to learn about what had happened in between him dying and then reincarnating, as he to this day still didn’t know just how long it had been since he had died.

In a way, the fact that the Star Shattering Sect was as powerful as it was but had restrained itself and shrunk into an almost miniscule corner compared to the territory a sect with the backing of a Venerable Realm Ancestor should have also made him immensely fearful of why such a powerful ancient sect had seemingly sealed themselves off.

Because of this, while Jiang Chen was still unwilling to become a main sect disciple, he had now firmly decided to remain part of the Star Shattering Sect for the long term.

Mainly finding himself somewhat lost in his own thoughts thinking about the future and what had happened after his death, Jiang Chen found himself following along the rest of the group as they visited a few important locations inside the Shattered Star Peaks before finally arriving at the Seventh Star Peak where they would be given a temporary residence next to a small river made entirely out of spiritual water. A great cultivation environment, even in the eyes of someone like Jiang Chen.

What... What in the name of the heavenly dao is that...?

But instead of the great cultivation environment, Jiang Chen found himself far more focused on what could only be described as an infinitely tall tower on top the Seventh Star Peak.

Different from others who might only see the tower mysteriously disappearing amidst the clouds that seemed to be permanently hovering above the tower, Jiang Chen could still rely on his powerful divine soul to see through the layer of clouds and what he saw left him terrified.

In his eyes, as the tower continued upwards and reached those clouds, it seemingly pierced straight into a completely different dimension where the tower continued upwards with no clear end in sight, like it went on forever.

The tower itself appearing like a direct manifestation of the Dao of Infinity, a feat Jiang Chen understood full well exceeded what he would have ever been able to accomplish before his reincarnation and belonged to the realm beyond his own back then. A realm that he hoped to be able to take even a half a step closer to now that he had been reborn.