Path to Transcendence

Chapter 752: Ezra

As the flying sword dropped from the sky, Julius spotted a young man with medium-length black hair and a very handsome face slowly lowering himself onto the street. The people around them were curious, but they didn’t look too panicked; it was as if this were a normal thing for them.

Julius relaxed, though, because the face seemed familiar. He briefly glanced back at Kaito and immediately recognized the resemblance. This must be one of Lora’s brothers, Daren or Ezra. He wasn’t quite sure which one, though. Ezra was the older one and was a core disciple. Whereas Daren was the younger one and had only recently been promoted as an inner disciple.

Lora’s brother quickly hopped off his sword, smiling widely and running up to Lora. He quickly snatched her up in a hug, swinging her around in a circle. Lora let out a surprised gasp and giggled as she swung around.

“Enough, Daren, let your sister breathe,” Kaito said with a hint of exasperation and fondness.

“I can’t be happy to see my darling sister after all this time?” Daren said, teasingly rubbing Lora’s head.

“You’ll have plenty of time to spend time with her after she joins the sect. What did Ezra say?”

“He said he talked to Elder Leyun, and she opened up a spot for Lora to take an examination sometime this week. She won’t be able to do the sect-wide entrance exam unless she wants to wait another several months, but as long as she passes whatever test Elder Leyun gives her, she should be fine.”

“You think I can pass it?” Lora asked her brother with a worried frown.

Daren pinched her on the nose and grinned. “Yeah, of course you can. Half of the inner disciples don’t have the mana control you have. You don’t have to worry about it. Just show them what you are capable of, and it’ll be fine. Elder Leyun is already aware of your dual-natured spirit too, so this is more of a formality than anything else.”

Lora swatted his hand away from her face with a glare. “What do you mean she already knows?”

Daren dodged her swatting and poked her in the shoulder a few times.

“Don’t worry, she’s trustworthy. You think Ezra would tell Elder Leyun anything about you if he didn’t trust her?”

Lora scrunched up her nose and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, probably not.”

“See? Just follow our lead, and we will lead you to the land of success and fame,” Daren said boastfully.

Lora kicked him in the shin.

He didn’t seem to even notice it and instead looked over at Marcus and Julius with a slightly more serious expression. Then he glanced back at his father. “You guys have any trouble?”

Kaito didn’t answer that directly and instead gestured to the crowd that was still looking at Daren. “Let’s go somewhere a little more private. I’ll explain to you there.”

While there was an isolation barrier around them, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to get some privacy before they admitted to killing several Tier 5s and members of Clan Yoshu.

Daren didn’t seem to need an explanation and nodded, waving them to follow him. “Come with me. Ezra made a guest pass for you guys. We should be able to talk when we get to his place.”

***

Julius could see why Daren had flown to meet them. The Flowing Cloud Pavilion was quite far away, nestled in the very center of the city. Not only that, but the entrance to the sect was placed on the very top of the tallest spire in the city. It was pearlescent white and absolutely stunning as it glimmered in the afternoon light. Unfortunately, only those who were inner disciples or higher had permission to fly through the city.

That and some exclusive people with proper licenses. But essentially, anyone flying in Cloudspire was more than likely part of the Flowing Cloud Pavilion.

Julius was slightly surprised by the location of the sect, though. He did not think that the sect would have been able to fit within the spire. Sure, it was massive, but it wasn’t so large that he imagined that one of the Ten Great Sects would fit inside it. He doubted even a quarter of the Burning Sun Sect would have been able to fit inside the towering spire.

But perhaps the Flowing Cloud Pavilion was smaller than most other sects. He supposed he would quickly find that out for himself.

They walked through the front gates of the spire. Daren pulled out an enchanted silver badge from his storage ring, showing it to the guards, who quickly examined it. Julius noticed that the guards’ gazes lingered a lot longer on Kaito and Marcus.

Julius doubted that many sects wanted random Tier 5s entering their premises. However, the badge Ezra had given Daren must have been quite special, as the guards bowed to them deferentially the second they verified its validity.

The inside of the tower was just as beautiful as the outside. It was as if the entire spire were crafted from a single enormous slab of polished white marble. Soft lighting adorned the entire surface of the walls, and he could see hundreds of people going back and forth from the first several floors.

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Another guard escorted them to a separate hall, and Julius let out a small laugh when he looked up. For hundreds of feet, it was empty air, and below was a white-and-gold platform. Multiple guards were placed all around the platform, as well as several mages standing in front of a panel who looked to be in charge of some sort of array. Daren was forced to show the badge once again, and they were quickly guided to the center of the platform. Then with a few presses on the panel and a surge of mana, the entire platform lifted straight into the air.

Julius let out a sigh that was both relief and awe at the platform. He’d seen the stairs leading up when he walked in and had really hoped they wouldn’t be forced to walk up all of those steps. He was also in awe of the delicate inscriptions inlaid on the platform and how smoothly it was ascending. He knew from his early experiments with flying how hard it was to maintain such a constant acceleration.

“What is that?” Lora asked Daren, looking down at the badge in his hand.

“It’s a special sect authorization badge. It allows Ezra to grant certain permissions to his guests, such as entry to the innermost section of the sect where he lives. He will likely complain to you about how much of a pain it was to get. But just ignore him,” Daren said to her while the platform continued upward.

However, just as Julius was about to ask where the elevator was taking them, he felt a sudden surge of spatial energy. His Space Concept started blaring loudly, and he could feel some kind of enchantment activate, wrapping the platform in spatial energy.

It was only then that he began to realize what the platform was and its true purpose. It was essentially a teleportation array, a gateway to the real sect. He stopped resisting the spatial energy and allowed himself to be dragged through the spatial bridge.

It was slightly disorienting. [Absolute Spatial Perception] took a second to reset and adjust to the new location. The others were a little more out of it than he was. Lora was on her knees, dry heaving on the platform. Marcus and Kaito looked a bit uneasy as well. Even Daren wasn’t unaffected; he was shaking his head and staggered slightly.

“God, I still hate it,” he said with a disgruntled groan.

“Where are we?” Marcus asked with a frown, looking around them.

It looked like they were in the sky. Tall, white, and ornate buildings surrounded them. Fluffy clouds floated off in the distance, and Julius could feel an immeasurable amount of mana in the air. Each breath he took filled his chest with vibrant energy.

“This is the central territory of the Flowing Cloud Pavilion. Home to core disciples, elders, and other important facilities. The spire is only one of the access points; normally, you wouldn’t be able to transport directly here. I have to go through one of the standard stations for inner disciples, but thanks to Ezra, we were able to come straight here.”

“Ezra lives here?” Lora asked with a soft exclamation.

Daren scowled. “Yep, as he likes to remind me.”

“Will I be able to as well?”

“Considering Ezra got the special badge, you will be able to visit often. But if you join the sect, you will probably live in the area for outer disciples. To be honest, you will be more comfortable there anyway. This area is full of pretentious twits who have an overinflated opinion about themselves. Ezra included,” Daren commented.

Lora slapped her brother on the arm. “You’re just jealous.”

“Damn right I am! Core disciples get all of the good stuff,” Daren admitted freely.

“Aren’t you an inner disciple now, though?”

Daren scoffed. “Yeah, and the status between an inner disciple and a core disciple is larger than the spire we just came from. The amount of resources and specialized instruction is insane for core disciples.”

“Can’t Ezra help you too?”

Daren lifted his head proudly. “As if I would want him to. I can make my own way.”

Julius spotted Kaito hiding a grin, but there was a slight look of approval on the man’s face.

“Speak of the devil, here he comes; the prodigal son finally makes his appearance," Daren said dramatically with a roll of his eyes, pointing across the courtyard.

Walking towards them was someone who looked very similar to Daren. They had the same black hair and facial features, but instead of Daren’s wilder hair, Ezra’s was very tight and neat. He also appeared a bit more… professional. The only thing that somewhat marred the sophisticated look was the giant sword strapped to his back.

“Father,” Ezra said, stopping in place and giving Kaito a shallow bow.

“Ezra, it’s good to see you,” Kaito said with a smile.

“Indeed, it’s been a while. Though I’m glad you made it safe and sound,” Ezra said with a polite nod.

“What? Are you not going to say hello to your other siblings? What are we? Chopped liver?” Daren said with a grunt.

Ezra ignored Daren with what seemed like practiced ease and walked over to Lora. Much like Daren, he was a fair bit taller than Lora and had to lean over to give her a gentle hug. He also gave her a soft kiss on her forehead.

“You are a lot healthier,” he noted to Lora, who was blushing red but smiling widely.

“I’m trying to catch up for lost time,” she mumbled and pressed her face into his chest.

He rubbed her back lovingly. “Don’t rush it. You have plenty of time. Still, how was your advancement? Any complications?”

She shook her head. “No, it was straightforward. Dad helped me stabilize everything, and Aurelia helped create a very strong foundation.”

“Aurelia is your new spirit, correct?”

Lora brightened up. “Yeah, she’s amazing!”

Ezra smiled warmly and rubbed her head. “I can’t wait to meet her.”

Then he turned to look at his father with a solemn expression. “Did something happen along the way here?”

Kaito nodded. “My uncle and a number of other Tier 5s attacked us while we were traveling through the Howling Skylands.”

Ezra clenched his jaw as a slightly bloodthirsty aura leaked out of him. “You should have allowed me to come and help. There was no need to put Lora at risk like that.”

“It needed to be done. They weren’t going to wait any longer to make a move, and I did have some help,” Kaito said with a wave towards Marcus and Julius. “Thanks to them, we managed to take out and capture some of the attackers.”

“How many were there?”

Kaito frowned. “More than expected…”

Ezra scowled, looking very similar to Daren in that moment. “Where are these attackers now? I can help interrogate them if need be.”

“They are… safely imprisoned,” Kaito said with a slight twitch of the eye, no doubt recalling how Marcus had shoved both of their prisoners into a box shackled to the neck with containment artifacts. They had left the carriage and box at a safe house Marcus had set up. Marcus was always one for caution, though; he left them injured and devoid of any mana. Julius doubted anyone short of a Tier 6 would be able to pry them out of their box.