"It's settled!"
"Our destination is the northern frontier of the Zheng Kingdom. Its strategic stronghold is Northern Defense Pass, and the city is called Far-Reaching City. That is where we'll be heading."
"When do we leave?"
“Soon, I expect. The peak has already issued Pills and provisions, so it should be within the next few days.”
Several dozen Surplus people gathered in a bustling crowd, whispering back and forth without cease. More than a month had passed since the first contingent departed, and now these disciples of the second contingent had assembled beside the Spirit Boats as the sect had instructed.
Disciples from all the peaks came and went, and even the weakest among them were in the Qi Refining Realm. The road to subdue the barbarians was long; those with low cultivation would be of little use.
Their numbers looked considerable, but Rain Xiang Mountain's Lower Court had persisted in recruiting and training disciples for many years. Even with the best selected from the best, a vast number had accumulated. Sending out this many fell far short of straining the sect's sinews and bones.
The disciples below understood this clearly themselves. To put it bluntly, in terms of strength, one inner disciple here could match ten outer disciples. As for the direct-line prodigies of the various peaks, matching a hundred alone was no trouble at all. With such enormous differences in cultivation realms, greater numbers sometimes offered little advantage.
Jiang Yang sat alone, leaning to one side atop a low peak as he looked down. There was no one around him.
He alone represented the whole of Fushu Peak.
The reason was simple: the peak did not recruit ordinary inner disciples. The other five inner peaks replenished their ranks almost every few years; Fushu Peak alone did not.
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