Everyone ascended, but I didn't get on board

Chapter 188 The Exploration Team Assembles

Before setting off, Qiu Ci quietly adjusted her cultivation to the Nascent Soul stage and took the time to re-register with the Cultivation Management Bureau. The Bureau had no doubts about her breakthrough to the Nascent Soul stage. However, Wei Ming, knowing she was going to participate in the secret realm exploration, tried to persuade her for a long time, even introducing her to a bunch of high-paying part-time jobs, hoping she would stay. But Qiu Ci still refused. No matter how high-paying the job was, it wasn't as important as finding a base.

Wei Ming reluctantly saw her off, promising to wait for her to return anytime.

Since this trip involved entering an area outside the Federation, they needed to first teleport to the border between the two domains and then cross over into the temple's territory. When Qiu Ci and Juan Shan arrived at the border, two people were already waiting there.

Upon seeing them approach, the two stood up and greeted Juanshan, "Senior Juanshan, hello! We are the team members dispatched to you by the Repair and Management Bureau."

"Hmm." Juanshan nodded in response, glancing at the two of them. He noticed that they were both at the Nascent Soul stage, the only difference being that the one on the left was at the mid-Nascent Soul stage and the one on the right was at the early-Nascent Soul stage. "Is it just the two of you?"

They had clearly received notification that Juanshan was a Mahayana stage expert, hence their extremely respectful attitude towards him.

“Yes.” The Nascent Soul cultivator on the left nodded and said, “Only the four of us from the Federation joined the exploration team this time. As for the number of people from the temple, we’ll only know once we get there.”

Juanshan didn't ask any further questions. Seeing that everyone had arrived, he said directly, "Let's set off then."

The group then turned and headed towards the border, and Qiu Ci naturally followed.

The border between the two regions also had checkpoints, which looked similar to those on Blue Star. The only difference was that there weren't many cultivators guarding these checkpoints, and they were easily allowed to pass after showing the documents from the Cultivation Administration Bureau.

As soon as they stepped into the temple grounds, Qiu Ci and Juan Shan stopped abruptly, their faces showing surprise.

"Master, have you sensed it?" he transmitted his voice directly.

"Yes." Qiu Ci nodded. "The spiritual energy is several times more concentrated than before."

"I wonder if this change is unique to this region, or if it's the same throughout the entire temple territory?" Juanshan frowned. "Besides, there are no spiritual veins nearby."

"We'll know once we get inside." Logically speaking, unless it's near a spiritual vein or maintained by some special magic array, the spiritual energy shouldn't be so distinct. Although this place is the border between the Federation and the Temple, the actual terrain belongs to the same mountain range.

Qiu Ci was puzzled, but she continued to enter the temple region without making a sound.

Not long after they entered, they saw their messengers arrive to meet them. The messengers immediately led them to the teleportation array where the secret realm was located. In the blink of an eye, they arrived in another city.

This is Luoqing City, a city located north of the temple. They originally thought it was just a small city, but upon arrival, they discovered that it was not much different from Yizhong City, and even appeared to be more prosperous.

The group couldn't help but sigh that the temple was indeed stronger than the Federation.

"Senior Juanshan, your team is waiting for you at the hotel." The staff member greeted them respectfully and led them directly into a building.

From a distance, I could see a dozen or so people standing in a row, as if they had been waiting for some time.

"Senior Juanshan, these will be your future team members," the person in charge of the meeting stopped and introduced them.

Juanshan nodded, then looked at the dozen or so people in front of him. Qiu Ci also glanced at them and found that there were fifteen people in total, arranged in two rows. The seven in the front row were all at the Nascent Soul stage, while four of the eight in the back row were at the Core Formation stage.

Of particular note is a woman on the far right with her head down, looking visibly uneasy. She seems very uncomfortable with so many people and can't help but want to back away. Her cultivation level is also the lowest among them, only at the early stage of the Nascent Soul realm.

This habitual tendency to back away inexplicably reminded her of an old friend.

"Captain, members of the Temple's Seventh Exploration Team reporting to you." The man in the middle of the front row stepped forward and announced calmly.

He was the most powerful among them, already at the half-step Tribulation Transcending stage of the Nascent Soul realm. Although his attitude was respectful, the look in his eyes when he looked at Juanshan did not have the same sense of awe as the others, as if he did not care much about the other party's Mahayana cultivation.

"Hmm." Juanshan simply nodded, not really taking these so-called team members to heart. He just waved his hand casually and said, "Go and rest. We'll gather again when we actually enter the secret realm."

The man was taken aback for a moment, seemingly not expecting the other party to dismiss them without doing anything, but he quickly came to his senses and said, "Okay, Captain." He then gave Qiu Ci and the other two a meaningful glance.

After giving his instructions, Juanshan led Qiuci and the other two to their accommodation with the support personnel to rest.

The two Nascent Soul cultivators from the Federation, however, were filled with excitement and whispered to each other, "Was that the one from the Huo family?"

“He’s the only one who could be here.” The other person nodded.

"Do you know that person from earlier?" Qiu Ci asked curiously.

The two exchanged a glance, and perhaps out of consideration for being from the same Federation, they began to share their knowledge in a low voice, "We've heard it too. Among the people from the Temple this time, one of them is Huo Yanting, a prodigy from the Huo family."

"Huo Yanting?" Why does this name sound like something out of an old-fashioned romance novel?

"Yes, I heard that he is the only son of the Huo family in this generation, the heir of the Huo Group. He was exceptionally talented from a young age and reached the Nascent Soul Realm in less than a hundred years. He was even selected by the temple to study for five years." The two said with envy.

"The Huo Group?" It sounds even more old-fashioned. "Is it very famous?"

"I suppose so!" The two nodded and said, "In this area of ​​the north, the Huo family is considered one of the top families. It is rumored that they also have a patriarch at the Mahayana stage in charge."

"I see." Qiu Ci nodded. It seemed that the other party did indeed have an extraordinary family.

"I heard that he joined the secret realm exploration team not for resources, but simply to gain experience and find an opportunity to break through the tribulation." The two sighed, "That's just good fortune. If only I had a background like the Huo family, I wouldn't have taken so long to break through to the Nascent Soul stage."

Those who participate in the exploration of the secret realm are all people who are desperately short of resources. After all, no one knows what they might encounter in the secret realm, and even death is possible. Therefore, those who can cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage generally do not easily choose to come to such a place.

Both of them were short of resources. They had spent all their savings to break through to the Nascent Soul stage, and that's why they applied to join the exploration team to pay off their debts. After all, both the Federation and the Temple have regulations that allow team members to receive 10% of the profits from exploring secret realms. If they're lucky, that would be enough to pay off their initial loans.

Furthermore, with a Mahayana cultivator leading the team, they felt completely safe. They had been somewhat worried, but after meeting Captain Juanshan, they were completely at ease.