The journey towards the Shattered Star Peaks was relatively easy as Xuan Hao had opted for them to use a demon beast similar to horses to travel there instead of flying. Flying might be faster, but it would not allow him and his disciples to take in the surrounding environment and experience the world fully.
The demon beasts that they used for traveling were known as horned lion horses, but Xuan Hao felt that they looked more like the mythological unicorns that he had read and seen before he was transmigrated. The only real difference between them and the unicorns were their giant frame, in size alone they were more than two times that of an ordinary horse.
Like this, Xuan Hao and his disciples made it to a large town located at the bottom of the Shattered Star Peaks. The Explorer Union had a branch here and explorers came here frequently to enter the Shattered Star Peaks in search of some special herbs that only grew there.
The herbs in question were worth quite a bit to cultivators below the Core Formation Realm but was mostly useless to cultivators in the Core Formation Realm and above.? Even then, it was useful for the weaker disciples, so the Flying Sword Sect also had a branch set up in the town.
Originally the Flying Sword Sect wanted to monopolize the special herbs growing on Shattered Star Peaks, but since the Explorer Union showed interest in the herbs growing there, they had no choice but to let them set up a branch and allow other people to enter the Shattered Star Peaks and pick herbs.
The Raging Flame Sect was in the same situation in regard to the entrance of the Burning Mountain Range located in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom. The only difference was that they decided to build an outpost a little further away and try to stop any passer-by coming from the Burning Mountain Range and demand them to pay a tax of sorts to them for entering their territory…𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
The Flying Sword Sect on the other hand decided to just ignore the Explorer Union and set up a branch in the town to send in their own disciples and elders to gather the special herbs growing on Shattered Star Peaks.
The herbs were aplenty and more than enough for the Flying Sect and the Explorer Union to harvest.
The entrance to the town was busy as always even with a plague ravaging through the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, people here did not seem to care about it as they just went on with their normal day life.
Xuan Hao, Chu Yang and Qing Yi came to a stop a few dozen meters away from the entrance to the town as they walked the rest of the way there.
"Master, what are we going to do here? Perhaps we are going up those giant mountains?!" Talking faster than usual, Qing Yi excitedly asked while sneakily glancing in the direction of the giant mountains towering over the town in front of them. Making it look way smaller than it actually was.
"Indeed, we will first go to the sect's branch here and then we will be making our way up the Shattered Star Peaks to gather some of the local herbs growing there." This was the idea Xuan Hao had for going to the SShattered Star Peaks? today, since both his disciples were dabbling in things related to plants, they should be quite interested in the special herbs growing on Shattered Star Peaks.
"Really!? I can't wait! I read that the Star Flower growing on the Shattered Star Peaks can be used in all sorts of special potions. The most famous one being the Star Shine Potion invented by our Alchemy Hall's Elder Wan Qiu!" Almost jumping up and down happily at the prospect of getting her hands on the special herbs of the Shattered Star Peaks, Qing YI was filled to the brim with excitement.
"We have a lot of these special herbs back in the sect, you can just buy some of them for cheap in the market outside the Artifact Hall…" Chu Yang who had been quiet until now spoke up while rolling his eyes a bit upon seeing his senior sister's excitement, she was clearly happy that she could get the herbs for free without paying anything!
Qing Yi turned around and gave Chu Yang a death stare upon hearing his comment, causing him to chuckle a bit in return.
"Star Shine Potion…? I have not heard about it before, what does it do?" Xuan Hao ignored the small clash between his disciple as he asked Qing Yi with a curious look flashing through his eyes.
"Ah, the Star Shine Potion made by Elder Wan Qiu is quite famous in the Heavenly Sky Kingdom, but I guess that it is not really used by someone like master… So, it's understandable not to know about it." Hearing her master, Qing Yi ignored Chu Yang as she turned towards Xuan Hao to answer his question.
"I see… So, what does it do?"
"It attracts lightning!"
"… What? Why? Why is it called a Star Shine potion when it attracts lightning!?" Xuan Hao felt extremely confused as he questioningly looked at Qing Yi waiting for her to explain.
"You see, Elder Wan Qiu called it Star Shine because you will shine like a star when the lightning hits you! It's mostly used by people in the Foundation Establishment Realm to help refine their body as the lightning that is attracted is relatively weak compared to normal natural lightning." Explaining the effect of the Star Shine potion, Qing Yi's eyes shone brightly as Xuan Hao felt that the world of alchemy was a weird one.
How did Elder Wan Qiu even come up with the idea of making a potion that attracts lightning to strike you in the first place…?
Maybe he should keep a bit distance from the elders of the Alchemy Hall in the future…
Thinking this, Xuan Hao led his disciples inside of the town. Entering was easy as he just showed off his Core Elder Identification and soon the group of three made their way in the direction of the Flying Sword Sect's Shattered Star Peak Branch.