Darian and his group got away from that village as fast as they could. They were already lucky enough that the sect had only sent one Elder.

Probably, since he had the power of the winds, he could make a quick assessment and then bring a bigger group over to the sect with his power. But now that the Elder was dead, the sect might have some method to track it down and get there fast.

Once they got far enough, Darian took a deep breath, feeling the pressure...

...he had to be quick and find that one possible safe place, or things would get messy real fast.

This Wild World, just like the desert before, was huge. He couldn't just go around asking the Elder about the Wilding Kin Sect. Even if the guy wasn't that smart, he was still an Elder who'd lived for a long time, and he'd notice Darian was trying to dig for information.

As for the townsfolk, they were way too shaken up, and it'd take time to get anything useful out of them.

Darian thought hard for a few seconds.

'How can the leader of that sect find me?' he wondered, running through some guesses.

Most likely, all Radiant King followers were the same as that desert guy; they probably had a mark inside their primordial core. And the curse he'd been hit with had clearly burrowed into his own core in a way he couldn't even feel.

'The Elder was really specific when he said the sect leader could track me... probably because his core is way stronger, so he can use the Radiant King's mark to lock on to me...'

Thinking that, a bold plan came to his mind.

Darian turned to the three, who were quietly watching him. They understood the situation, but in their eyes there wasn't a trace of fear or hesitation. It was like living or dying didn't matter. Was that trust in him? Darian thought quickly and sighed.

"Let's go back, fast," he said, and Awel nodded.

Without delay, she activated her power, wrapping them all. They didn't fly, since that would be way more dangerous. Instead, they shot across the ground in a straight line at high speed.

Once they arrived, Darian ordered Eldu to gather everyone immediately.

In just a few minutes, all 9,000 Heavenly Elemental Spirits were lined up, ready to follow whatever command he gave.

Darian climbed up to the top of a big hill and focused as much as he could.

Almost two hours had already passed since the incident in the village. The sect people had probably already arrived there and found out what happened from the survivors. So the sect leader must've been alerted... and not just him. Since the Wild World was so vast, to make sure they found him quickly, all the allied sect leaders were probably being mobilized too.

Darian pushed his senses to the max, along with the curse, and also stirred the little bit of chaos power in his core. That made all that power churn like it was burning at full strength.

Now, all he could do was hope his idea was right...

An hour went by in silence.

Two hours...

"!"

Suddenly, Darian felt something very, very faint linking up to his core.

Closing his eyes, he could sense it — like a super thin thread connecting to him from far away. He only noticed it because of the ring on his wrist, which let him sense and manipulate all kinds of energies.

That was definitely a sect leader.

But even though they were linking to him, Darian didn't feel any immediate danger. The enemy was using a power that wasn't his own, but the Radiant King's. It would take time and effort to actually control that power enough to pinpoint exactly where Darian was.

He calmed himself down and waited patiently...

Another. Another. Another...

In less than an hour, he felt over six identical connections latch onto him.

Darian smirked coldly. Only now was he starting to feel a real danger building, probably from the first one who was closing in on his location.

He snorted. These idiots were way too slow. If he focused, he could even tell the direction and distance of all seven. But for them... it took at least an hour just to start getting a vague sense of where he was.

Without delay, Darian began mentally sketching a map.

This Wild World was like a ring, split into Yin side and Yang side. Now he knew there were at least eight sects. Knowing how sects worked, and the rules of this second phase of the trial...

'Most likely, the sects were created so they'd band together and gather all the primordial energy from the eruptions. Since eruptions pop up randomly, the sects must've settled down and taken control of territories. When one happens in their land, they monopolize it all. But obviously, there are unclaimed territories too, where the closest sects fight over them.'

Following that logic, all the sect leaders should be locked down in their territories. Darian focused on the seven distant points, then mapped out a route toward a place where nothing seemed to exist.

'Southwest from here... nothing's linked to me. That might be the location of the only enemy sect.'

He concluded, hoping he was right. For a sect to stand alone without being allied to the Radiant King and still survive, it definitely had to be a powerful place where someone like him could remain.

Darian quickly stood up and turned around. Nine thousand glowing eyes fixed on him. "I think I found it, let's go."

Without delay, all the Heavenly Elemental Spirits born from the winds activated their powers. In unison, they shot southwest at high speed.

...

They rushed for more than twelve hours. Darian was already breaking into a cold sweat, feeling that several enemies had locked onto him and were getting closer by the minute.

She couldn't perform miracles. There was only one direction to go, so she just kept moving straight ahead, praying it was the right place.

Until he finally saw a small village up ahead.

It was pretty similar to that other village from before. Villages like this seemed common, but this one looked way poorer and more broken down. He could sense the presence of people inside the partially crumbled walls; just a few dozen.

As he got closer, he saw the entrance wide open.

Darian signaled for everyone to stay put and ran alone toward the gate.

The moment he stepped inside, he found everything empty. Then, he felt a sharp gaze lock onto him and turned around.

"You came for the recruitment?"

The calm voice of a man rang out. He was a humanoid guy, average height, plain looks, but his gaze was razor sharp. Still, that was just a disguise—his true nature was that of a primitive beast.

"I heard rumors there'd be recruitment for a sect here. Is that true? What's the sect's name?" Darian asked, staring at him seriously.

A glint flashed in the guy's eyes. "Yeah, we're recruiting here in this village... pretty much all year long. You seriously came without knowing which sect this is?"

"I just came out of the desert. I only found out there were sects, and that one of them was recruiting nearby. If I can join, it doesn't really matter which one. So, what's the sect's name?" Darian replied calmly, then repeated the question, already sounding a bit impatient.

The guy's face tightened, but he took a deep breath and nodded. "We're from the Wilding Kin Sect... you know that after joining, it's a huge crime to leave us for another sect, right? You still willing to go through with it?"

Darian felt a massive weight lift off his chest. He had actually found them!

"As long as you don't act in bad faith or betray me first, I won't be ungrateful," Darian answered excitedly. "Are you the one in charge of recruitment? Is there a limit to how many people you can take in?"

"Limit..." the guy muttered, like it was a ridiculous question. "There's definitely no such thing."

"Perfect, then let's all take the test at once." Darian gave a slight smile and turned toward the village entrance.

Right then, a strong gust of wind blew in from the gate. And... the guy's eyes went wide in shock. Thousands of small figures walked in, each one wearing a faint, eager smile.

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