Yin & Yang Pleasures of Cultivation

Asari raised a single eyebrow while scratching his head. His mind began drawing on any past information he heard or either read about on the so-called 'Province Day Converging.'

However, nothing of significance rose in Asari's mind. 

He slightly shrugged and told Sone, "No….nothing that's worthy enough to talk about. But even then, why bring this up now? Surely that event is just some old fairy tale other gullible people like to believe."

Despite the doubts, Sone kept up his smirk. 

He raised one finger and began telling Asari, "Oh no, it's not just some old news anymore. Ever since the Divine Barrier was shattered, word has been rapidly spreading that the Lustrous Silver Jaguar Sect is preparing to hold another one in the near future."

Asari still looked a bit unconvinced. It wasn't that he didn't trust Sone, but with what he knows, this event seemed so out of the blue to hold now. 

"Surely after all this time, they didn't just randomly decide this? I mean….look how long it's been since the last one. Plus, even with the Divine Barrier shattering, there hasn't been much immediate significant change to the world."

"I understand your doubts. Even I was hesitant to believe this news. But from our intelligence networks, these rumors have very little reasons to not be true. Either way, it wouldn't be long before the whole Nine Province gets dragged into some sort of event because of the Divine Barrier shattering. Look, just inform Crow Hana about this news so he can take the measure to step it during the Mercenary Event."

Sone explained, feeling assured in what he knows. The fact of the matter is, whether or not the Province Converging Day will come, the whole situation of the Nine Provinces will undoubtedly change.

With cultivators in the Heavenly Transformation realm experiencing more rapid spouts of growth, things could potentially get chaotic very well in the future. 

And Sone knew it would be imperative to make deeper connections during the beginning stages of change.

Asari, though, still looked a bit unconvinced. But he did also understand the situation of the whole Nine Province won't stay the same because of the Divine Barrier shatter.

He relented and nodded towards Sone. "Alright, in any case, we'll just have to make a bigger show than usual if the top-ranked Province truly will come down here to watch us. Well, we were planning on doing that this year anyways. And speaking of, how goes the progress on that Spirit Artifact? If we can use it, we can one hundred percent capture that special attention from them."

Sone's eyes briefly glanced back in the cave. Some pride swelled on his face at the ultimate creation he was brewing up. He quickly turned back to Asari and told him, 

"Not quite done yet. But it will be when the Mercenary Event starts. And don't worry, it will be polarizing when revealed. Now then, quickly go back to tell Hana the news. I'm sure at least the Raven Mage Order and the New Branch City manor should also be aware of this news."

Asari nodded and started to turn around. Although halfway, he began to think about just how short this meeting was. 

And in all honesty, Sone could've just contacted or called for Hana himself.

So he briefly stopped to ask Sone before leaving, "Say, before I go on. Why didn't you just call Crow Hana on his contact ring? Not like him coming here would've made any difference on whether he gets the news or not."

Sone's mood turned incredibly serious then. The sudden shift in attitude made Asari increasingly alert for anything about to come next. 

Sone had then told Asari, "I'm sure you didn't feel it when coming here, but I had actually erected a detection Formation here that expands for a couple of miles." 

Asari's eyes widened a bit. He tried to search with his Spirit Sense but honestly couldn't detect any Formation under him.

"I could just chalk it up to you wanting protection while working on that Spirit Artifact. But I feel like there's a deeper, more sinister reason to this, am I right?" Asari curiously asked.

And Sone nodded as Asari hit the note on its head. "Indeed. This had actually been going on for quite a while between Hana and me. But we believe there might be someone suspicious among us. We can't totally say why, as we're not sure ourselves. But there had been vague strange energy permeating our main base back in our city and the one here in New Branch City."

Asari's confusion only increased at this news. Throughout all of his time, he never encountered anything that could be called 'strange energy' within this group. 

Asari's mind immediately clicked this to the Divine Barrier shattering being the cause. Still, even then, that seemed like a significant leap in logic.

"Strange Energy? I can only assume this is something you notice after the Divine Barrier shattering since this had never come up before. But surely, you would have more of a guess than this vague one, right?"

Sone paused for a moment. He went over all that he knew in his mind but still shook his head. "Look, this is just something to keep an eye open for. The fewer people know about this, the better. After all, this is just something me, Hana, and a few other Crow Leaders vaguely suspect. This could very well be just nothing, and it's simply the new energy from the sky pouring down on our world. Either way, just remember to be more discreet when within closed doors like we're doing now. We'll explore more about this situation after the Mercenary Event."

"Hmmm….if you say so. I'll be taking my leave now." Asari kept what Sone told him in the back of his mind. He quickly turned around and flew away, shooting off into the sky. 

Sone took one last look over in the area before returning back into his cave.

….

"Province Converging day….and a Divine Barrier….this event just got a little bit more interesting!" Aniela said with an inquisitive deposition in her tone. 

She, Darcel, and Masami were now slowly walking back to town, going over all of the information they heard from the Golden Crow Circle members.

That mere detection Formation didn't matter at all to the trio. 

They managed to reach a point in masking their presence where they can genuinely make it seem like they have no Qi in their bodies.

And when crossing over into Sone's detection Formation, it simply didn't activate because it couldn't sense any Qi coming from the trio. 

No matter what realm a cultivator is in, even if they're at the first layer of Qi Foundation Realm, there would always be Qi present in the body.

And someone having the ability to truly mask all the Qi in their bodies is nothing short of impossible for residents throughout the Icy Cloud Province. 

But for Darcel, Aniela and Masami, it wasn't a problem at all.

However, Darcel, Aniela, and Masami weren't even fully aware of this. All they knew was that the so-called detection Formation didn't work on them. 

And even if it did, the trio had no fear in facing a tenth and ninth level Heavenly King.

Out of that brief meeting, only two pieces of information stuck inside Darcel, Aniela, and Masami's minds. They were just a bit curious about the Golden Crow Circle internal problems, but it wouldn't affect them much.

What were the trio mainly thinking about was this mysterious Province Converging Day event and the Divine Barrier shattering. 

Neither Aniela nor Darcel heard about anything like that during their time in these Provinces.

But for Masami, as she thought more about this subject, memories of her wise Grandmother began popping into her mind. 

And when a specific memory made her foxtails spring up in realization. "Ah! Guys, I think I may know a little bit on at least this Divine Barrier." 

Masami confidently said as Darcel and Aniela's gazes quickly fell on her. They both had a feeling this would involve that mysterious Grandmother of hers, but the duo held their tongues.

Masami carried on to say, "You see, my Grandma rarely likes to talk to me about things far beyond my level. But, there was one time she mentioned that supposed Divine Barrier to me. When I asked her just why we can gather so much strength but be so limited in exploring the skies, she told me that it's because our first Ancestors known to this planet had shackled the skies."

"Shackle the skies? I'm sure this must be the Divine Barrier those two were talking about." Darcel muttered out loud and turned towards Masami again. "I don't suppose your Grandmother mentioned anything after that, right?"

Masami began digging deeper down into her memories. But besides that one time, there had never been a moment where she brought it up again. 

She disappointedly shook her head, saying in a slightly exasperated tone, "Sadly no. Grandma can just be too cryptic at times. Well, most of the time, really." 

Despite not being able to gain further information, both Darcel and Aniela didn't mind. But it was clear as day to them that Masami wants to be the information provider to them, and not being able to do that dispirited the fox girl.

Since Masami was on Aniela's left, she reached out to pat one of Masami's fox ears, making the fox girl spirits quickly rise up again.

"Don't worry about it, little fox. A theme I'm quickly noticing is that really aged and powerful people will never tell you the truth outright."

"Hmph, I'm not some pet that needs cheering up, you know…." Masami kept her head held up high while quietly muttering, hiddenly enjoying getting her fox ears pet when she's a bit down spirited. 

"And also, you know, with the time frame of everything. I think that the Divine Barrier must've gotten shattered when we fought that Scientist. Ooh, now it feels like we're trying to solve a mystery. Should we ask about it to those servants now, Darcy?" Aniela question to Darcel.

Darcel was thinking on his own throughout this time, and he really couldn't put up any feasible conclusion. 

As Aniela said, all they could say for sure was that their fight with the Scientist caused a tremendous change in the environment. 

Before answering Aniela's question, Darcel asked Masami again, "Before moving on to the Servants, I don't suppose your Grandmother told you anything about the Province Converging Event, Masami? Those two were speaking as if that event happened dozens of years ago."

Masami didn't take long to answer this time and quickly shrugged her shoulders. "Nope. Not a single thing on that event. Not even from the old history book in my family's library did I read anything about some Province Converging Day."

Darcel had to relent now since they all were very limited in their knowledge. The only other pieces of informations they had left to go over was those two men talking about that strange energy in their bases. 

But neither Darcel, Aniela, or Masami could honestly say they cared much about their internal problems. 

In fact, the trio knew it would be a plus for them if their group did have some internal problems, making them possible easy pickings for later.

And the only thing that remained was the Golden Crow Circle supposed powerful Spirit Artifact that they're specifically crafting. 

Darcel, however, didn't attach that much importance to it since he knew they could just kill Sone and steal it later if they so, please. 

Even if it was something that somehow could be on the level of Grand Sage prowess or close to it. Darcel knows his, Aniela, and Masami's prowess will also quickly reach that level.

Darcel had then told the girls next, "Since it's like this, we'll just have to ask either Bella or Zara. But we'll contact them at a later time. With how brief that meeting was, Bella is probably still in the middle of her spying mission."