Before he had gone far, Mo Chen descended to the pond in the valley and spotted several red-crowned immortal cranes preening their feathers.
As Mo Chen approached, the nearest crane stretched its neck, gave a clear cry, and flew toward him.
These cranes were route-finding spirit birds raised by the sect specifically to carry disciples between its various halls.
The crane glanced at the token hanging from Mo Chen's waist, seeming to recognize the insignia on it.
Mo Chen tossed the spirit crane a spirit stone. It caught the stone in its beak and placed it in a Storage Bag hanging against its chest.
Mo Chen had been quite astonished when he first saw these Storage Bags. Only after exchanging a few words with Qidiao Wenzhuan did he learn that the sect had placed special Restrictive Wards on them, allowing even low-level spirit beasts to store items inside. If anyone removed one from a crane's neck, however, the Beast-Herding Office would receive an alert and issue a sect Bounty Order.
With that arrangement in place, no one dared steal the Storage Bags from these transport cranes. After all, the Immortal Alliance's kill orders were no joke.
Mo Chen swung onto the crane's back, and it spread its wings and took flight on its own, carrying him over the ridge where the Qi Refining disciples lived and onward into the heart of the sect.
Inside were detached residences with private courtyards for Foundation Establishment seniors, as well as the Teaching Hall, where cultivation methods were imparted and questions about cultivation answered. Farther in stood the administrative buildings of the sect's various departments.
Core departments such as the Robe-Weaving Bureau, the Monthly Stipend Accounting Department, the Purple Firmament Celestial Appraisal Bureau, and the Fortune and Fate Astrological Bureau were all located there.