Outside the Nine Luminaries Sect.
A caravan headed toward the sect. They belonged to a lineage that did some business with the sect.
They went in either to sell things or to buy them.
The sect did not handle everything itself. After all, some things required considerable manpower and resources.
Spirit Spring Mountain's spirit water, for example, or feed for certain spirit beasts.
If the goods were produced outside the sect, they had to work with the various lineages.
Resources were scattered across the land, and wherever there were people and productive capacity, there were naturally opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation with the sect.
Several guards followed at the rear of the caravan.
While the caravan rested, three of the guards sat together.
Their leader was a middle-aged man with a scar on his face.
The other two were a bearded man and a woman wearing light, flexible armor.
"Boss, will this really be all right? I heard an Immortal from the Immortal Gate is coming this time." The woman, Liu Li, was a little worried.
Their leader, Hei Li, shook his head. "Don't worry. The information is extremely reliable. Besides, those coming from the Immortal Gate this time might not all belong to it. There are almost certainly ancient cultivators among them. What's more, we're the demon race, not evil gods. The Immortal Gate has no intention of exterminating us, so their inspections will be laxer too."
There were many kinds of ancient cultivators. The ones they sought this time were cultivators who revered the ancient sages.
They believed the Immortal Gate represented merely a newly founded era. Though its cultivation methods were extraordinary, they were still far too immature compared with those of the complete eras of antiquity.
The methods of those days had been developed to their