He said with certainty, "Only with the support of the very source of mana van our location in this world become irrelevant in regards to the amount of resources we can have for cultivation."
After saying this, he sighed and said, "Be that as it may, the process of getting accreditation is going to be very dangerous. I will have to participate in the test with my full strength if I want to qualify. That means I need to go there with my true body."
The usually quiet Thunder Drake spoke up, "But if you go with your true body, you might die."
Sword Flash sighed and said, "That's true. But I have to."
Lady Evergreen's eyes gleamed with a hidden light, but she didn't show any outward signs.
She was secretly excited because if Sword Flash leaves, she will become the oldest and the strongest patriarch in the sect. This will give her room to do some things that Sword Flash wouldn't allow.
So it was good news to her that Sword Flash was going to leave for a while, but she pretended to care by asking, "Must you go?"
Sword Flash nodded and said, "I must go. If I pass the Ethera tree's test and gain its support, the reward will be more than worth the risk to my life."
"But there is no need to worry too much about my safety and the safety of the sect. I will make certain preparations to keep the sect safe."
The other two could only accept his arrangements. One of them didn't want him to go but knew that he couldn't be convinced not to go. The other wanted him to go as soon as possible but was putting up a caring front that appeared to want him to stay.
The two of them have varying reactions to Sword Flash's news because they have different relationships with him.
Thunder Drake and Sword Flash used to have the same master. So they are closer than normal.
Sword Flash protected Thunder Drake and even helped him advance to the fifth mortal coil by robbing the other sects of resources needed for him to advance.
Sword Flash is also the strongest person in the sect and the strongest person in the Five Veins region. He is the greatest reliance of the sect.
If he dies, the Blood Skull sect will face some pressure from the Black Bones sect, who have the oldest and second strongest nascent soul cultivator. So Thunder Drake doesn't want Sword Flash to die.
Lady Evergreen also doesn't want Sword Flash to die, but she won't mind it at all if he goes missing for a while. This is partly because she has an obsessive need to be in control and because she doesn't exactly like Sword Flash.
In fact, she has a reason to hate Sword Flash. The reason is that she almost failed to advance to the fifth mortal coil because of him.
The Blood Skull sect is very powerful, but that doesn't change the fact that the Five Veins Region is poor and unsuitable for nascent soul cultivators.
Because of their great strength, the Blood Skull has been able to amass a lot of resources in the Five Veins Region. But the resources they were able to lay claim to are enough for two people to advance to the fifth mortal coil and not nearly enough to accommodate a third person.
Usually, the best people in the lineage of the Divine Lightning Armament and the lineage of the Everlasting Wood Art in each generation get to advance to the fifth mortal coil.
These people have always monopolized the slots for the fifth mortal coil for many generations. This changed when Sword Flash came along.
When Sword Flash was to advance to the fifth mortal coil, there were already two nascent soul patriarchs in the sect. So resources were already tight at that point.
But things became worse because the resources that Sword Flash needed to advance were special. The sect didn't have what he needed because his cultivation technique was special.
In order to help Sword Flash advance, the sect had to scrape a lot of resources together and exhaust their means. Even then, Sword Flash had to rely on his immense talent to succeed in the endeavor.
Her turn came to advance after Sword Flash reached the fifth mortal coil. But by then, there were no resources for her to use. She had to wait for the sect to amass a new round of resources.
If not for the extra lifespan granted by cultivating the Everlasting Wood Art, she would have missed her best window to advance.
She knows that Sword Flash wasn't targeting her. But that didn't mean that his pursuit of power didn't endanger her pursuit of power and immortality.
It is a fact that Sword Flash nearly caused her to wither and die. This is a grudge that she can never forget.
The grudge is not enough for her to want him dead. But if there ever comes an opportunity to take something precious from him, she won't mind doing so.
Her grudges against Sword Flash aside, she likes to be in control. She can't be in control with Sword Flash hovering over her head, so she will be very happy to see him go.
She buried this happiness within her heart, though. She didn't show any of it even when Sword Flash entered the gateway and left with his true body.
Sword Flash finished all of his preparations after a week. Then his true body went to the underground temple.
His true body is that of a handsome man with white hair and pale white skin. There were black ink-like tattoos all over his skin, eyes, and hair. These black tattoos were tiny and were also moving all over his body.
He was as white as a sheet of paper, and the black tattoos were the words written all over him. But unlike normal words on paper, the words on him were alive just as he is alive.