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The view before her rippled and fell like a crystalline curtain, and against the previously empty scenery spawned an archipelago of islands. It was vast and rose from sea level almost immediately, forming multiple peaks. Seven minor peaks were flanking a much larger eighth peak at the centre. Atop the higher was what Marie surmised to be the observatory her Master had hinted at earlier. From this distance, it looked like a marble-clad building ripe with history and age and was built into the mountain it was situated on. Its dome roof was made of some sort of glass, which was definitely an extravagant purchase given the price of constructing glass, that too for a bespoke structure such as this one which happened to be massive in scale - that is ignoring the upkeep costs.

But that wasn't what had Marie nearly shaking in her boots in fear. No, the source of that was in the foreground of the magnificent island in the form of a small army of mages all pointing weapons and spells towards herself and Krish. They were all standing on the water's surface with two people flying above the army with wary frowns.

"Identify yourself, intruder!" One of the flyers, an older gentleman with a slightly protruding belly, a silver beard that covered his chin and met with his primly trimmed silver hair. He wore a black robe with glittering dots scattered all around it that sparkled under the sunlight.

"You carry one of our Access Plates. Explain how it fell into your hands!" The second flyer added. This one was a woman who also appeared equally aged as the gentleman. Her silver hair fell to her ankles and was tied into a thick braid. Although her face sported a few wrinkles, there was a sophisticated and mature beauty about her.

At that moment, Marie noticed that a lot of the water walkers also had silver hair or hair that was starting to grey. She quickly surmised that it may be a peculiarity of their cultivation method, or it was a genetic peculiarity common amongst the people here. Nonetheless, she did not have much time to ponder on those rogue thoughts as the opposers poised themselves to attack her and her Master.

In response, her Master coughed lightly which in turn rumbled with a loud crack. Following that, he made his presence known by releasing all inhibitors suppressing his mana and cultivation. The pressure gushed out like a physical tidal wave. With a powerful push, a large hemisphere of water was displaced centred at her Master with its outer radius reaching up to the shore of the closest island. All the combatants standing over the water's surface started to fall due to the sudden lack of "stable" footing. The flyers didn't fare so well either, as they were pushed outwards and beyond the periphery of the small zone of influence, her Master had put up - small, because Marie had seen just how far her Master's mana domain spanned and it was definitely well beyond what he was enforcing at the moment.

The only reason Marie was safe from the pressure was because of the bubble of safety that her Master was using to transport her. The pressure caused the area within the affected region to ripple and distort as the roiling mana started to heat the air itself.

Her Master kept up the field for a minute, just long enough for the hapless water walkers to gasp for air while failing miserably to keep themselves afloat as the pressure started to cause wooziness. And just as quickly as the pressure came to be, it disappeared almost instantly. Once the spherical field disappeared, the displaced water gushed in to take its place. Marie feared that the struggling water walkers would drown, but her Master did one better and raised them all up using some sort of invisible platform of pure mana.

"I recommend that you gauge your opponent first before raising your weapons against them," Krish said at a moderate volume that travelled unperturbed into the ears of all those present before him.

"As for your question, I received this plate from my Master, who received it from his Master, who was given this by Loury Krune," he added while returning the plate back into his sack.

"Loury Krune? As in the Founder?" The flying woman blurted out as she returned to her original position, her hair was dislodged from its perfect bundle with strands hanging loose.

"That's her," Krish said with a smile.

"W-Who are you?" This time, the chubby man asked with an audible gulp.

"Now you're asking the right questions!" Krish commended with an insincere clap. "If I am not mistaken, holding the Access Plate to the Mystic Celestial Sect means that I am an honoured guest."

Before the duo could nod, Krish followed up with, "Are you planning to keep your honoured guest waiting like this?"

____

Krish and his Disciple were ushered in hurriedly, and respectfully, by the duo who led the defensive battalion earlier. Even though they were well within the Core Condensation Realm, they could not stop the cold sweats practically drenching their backs. Each move Krish made caused them to flinch, his silence simply added to their nervousness.

Marie saw her Master flying in the air for the first time. He followed the duo as they skipped the winding walkways that snaked up the peaks and landed directly upon the stone walkway that connected the seven surrounding mountain islands to the one at the centre with the observatory. Just like the observatory, the walkway seamlessly connected with the mountains - the fresh moss growing on the mountainside crept onto the stone walkway painting a lively mix of green and stone grey.

Going past the walkway, they were deposited into a lavish waiting area with an open balcony. Krish and Marie each took a seat, the former raised his weak leg, crossed it over the other and closed his eyes as he waited. Marie swung her legs awkwardly while blowing and sipping the tea poured for them by the woman who was currently entertaining them with a melodious song played on a hummer. Her fingers moved with an imperceptible blur as she played the harmony, chords and tones altogether.

"Master," Marie whispered while leaning over to her Master's side.

"We are waiting for the relevant person to come to greet us," Krish answered with his eyes closed.

"Who-?"

"I believe he is talking about me," a commanding voice rang from the entrance and the fingers of the woman playing the music froze in place. As she retreated out the other entrance, the man who spoke earlier walked in.

He looked young, maybe in his late thirties, with an amicable smile on his face. He sported long, flowing hair - of a luminescent silver hue - tied into a thick braid that looped from under his right shoulder and rested cradled into his crossed arms. His outfit matched those of the flying duo from earlier - a deep black robe with sparkling dots like stars in the night sky. His pupils were a murky black with an artificial violet hue that shone as the sunlight hit them.

"If it isn't young Krish," the man said with a nostalgic smile. "How long has it been, old friend?"

"Long enough for your little goons to forget who I am," Krish said with a jocular snort.

"Well, that was definitely an interesting spectacle out there. How is that my fault? Given how there are so few people our age, I thought you would be considerate enough to show your face here once in a while," the man shot back with a disappointed scowl.

"Hold up! You're 2000 years old too?!" Marie yelped in shock.

"Two thousand two hundred and three to be exact," the man corrected. "A year older than this one," he added while nudging his chin in Krish's direction.

Marie released a high-pitched chuckle in response to what she thought was a joke. Her laugh teetered when she was subject to confused stares from the others present. "You aren't kidding? Master if you're younger than him why do you look like this while he..."

"Forgive me for not being a vain son of a bitch," her Master retorted with his attention not moving away from the man. "THIS," he said to Marie while gesturing wildly over the man's appearance, "is what you get when you decide on what you will look like for the rest of your life while thinking with your genitals."

"Excuse me for trying to look appealing and timeless," the man answered with an offended scoff. "You broke through in your late twenties, you didn't even look this old. You forcefully aged yourself to look like this. Think about that, what does it say about you? Figures, you always talked like a geezer even when you were young. Looks like the saying "an old man trapped in a youngster's body" was true!"

"It's because I was thinking of the future. Why would I want to look like a little dandy when I turned a thousand?" Krish stood his ground. "Anyways, enough of all this nonsense. Let me introduce you to my Disciple, Marie Reva."

Krish pulled Marie forward and placed her between himself and the man, "Marie, meet one of my oldest and still living friends, Jace Krune."

Jace's eyebrows rose in surprise. "So you finally found one, huh? A pleasure to make your acquaintance"

Marie warily grabbed the man's extended hand and shook it.

"Knowing you, this visit isn't some social call just to catch up and parade your new Disciple," Jace hypothesised. "You only show up when you need something."

"You make it sound so horrible when you say it like that," Krish said with a sigh. "You could visit me too, you know?"

"Visit you where, exactly?" Jace mocked. "Do you ever sit still in one place?"

"Point taken. But this time I will be stationary for a much longer duration," Krish highlighted. "I've decided to settle and join a Sect."

"Now that sounds like a story." Jace tilted his head with an intrigued sparkle in his eyes.

"One that I would love to tell you AFTER we've gotten my business out of the way," Krish continued.

"Alright. What is it then?" Jace asked as he leaned against the pillar in the path leading towards the balcony.