One after another, cultivators from the sects came to collect their assigned individuals, leaving fewer and fewer people behind.

Dawn Fielding followed a female cultivator from The Thousand Crypticress Vale, bidding farewell to Leaf Gray before leaving.

In less than half an hour, nearly a hundred people had vanished without a trace, leaving only Leaf Gray alone.

After waiting for another hour or so, there was still no sign of anyone from The Vermilion Guild, and he had no idea what they were busy with.

With nothing else to do, Leaf Gray found a clean spot, sat down cross-legged, and attempted to open his second aperture.

His first aperture had long been full, and he had thoroughly studied the Cicada's Transcendent Metamorphosis obtained from Manager Miller. However, he had been unable to locate the position of his second aperture, which delayed his cultivation progress.

Dawn Fielding had told him that this was common for novice cultivators. Because they lacked sufficient spiritual power within their bodies, it was difficult to precisely locate their own apertures. There were two ways to solve this: one was to slowly feel around and rely on luck, the other was to seek guidance from a cultivator at the Cloud River realm or higher.

A significant reason Leaf Gray wanted to join a sect was precisely for this.

He had tried several times in the mine but failed to find the location of the second aperture. If he could join a sect, he could ask the elders for guidance, saving himself a lot of trouble.

But now, since the people from The Vermilion Guild were still nowhere to be seen, and he was idle anyway, he might as well try. At worst, he would waste a bit of spiritual power; if he got lucky and stumbled upon it, he would profit.

After another hour or so, Leaf Gray opened his eyes, his face etched with frustration. True to form, luck was not on his side, and his latest attempt had once again ended in failure.

Fortunately, his diet had been good lately, supplemented by the Vermillion Dawn Pill, so his Qi and blood were abundant. By refining some Qi and blood, he could replenish the loss.

There were even more cultivators coming and going in the valley now. Many were gathering on a large scale, and from the looks of it, it seemed they were preparing to evacuate the area?

Come to think of it, before Manager Miller died, he had mentioned that The Firmament Palace could not hold this place for long, at most a month or two before withdrawing. The current situation seemed to confirm this.

So, if Manager Miller had managed to kill Leaf Gray and hidden in that secret passage, he would have had a good chance of escaping.

Unfortunately, he never anticipated that a mere mortal like Leaf Gray would dare to scheme against him. Leaf Gray led him into an area shrouded by a magnetic force field, where his cultivation was largely ineffective, leading to an inglorious and utterly unexpected end.

A shout suddenly came from not far away. Leaf Gray looked towards the sound and saw a middle-aged cultivator floating in mid-air, spiritual power swirling around him. An object flew out from his palm.

The distance was considerable, and before Leaf Gray could clearly see what it was, a scene he would remember for the rest of his life unfolded.

The object that flew out from the middle-aged cultivator's palm actually grew with the wind, transforming into a colossal entity in an extremely short time, hovering in the mid-air.

It was unmistakably a large ship!

A large ship floating in mid-air!

The ship had three decks, was nearly a hundred zhang long, and its hull was pitch black, made of some unknown material. The ship's form was streamlined, and some fixed, unidentifiable objects on the hull gave off a formidable feeling.

Leaf Gray had never witnessed such a bizarre scene and was stunned on the spot.

There was more than one ship. After the middle-aged cultivator somehow summoned one ship, several more large ships appeared one after another.

Immediately after, someone shouted, "All sects, board your ships!"

The cultivators from the major sects, already gathered together, transformed into multicolored beams of light, rushing successively towards those large ships. From a distance, the scene was spectacular.

After a brief moment of shock, Leaf Gray felt his heart surge with excitement.

Having been here for over a year, he knew this was a world of cultivation, but he spent his days dealing with ore, and the people around him were lowly mining slaves living precarious lives.

He never imagined the world of cultivation would manifest itself in such a dazzling and magnificent way.

This was beyond his comprehension and made him realize even more clearly that this world was completely different from his original one.

"Spectacular, isn't it?" Just as he was mesmerized by the scene, a voice sounded beside him.

Leaf Gray responded instinctively before realizing and turning his head. He saw a middle-aged elder standing beside him, whom he hadn't noticed arriving.

The middle-aged elder smiled, stroking his beard, and gazed at the large ships floating in the sky, saying slowly, "These are The Firmament Palace's Flying Dragon Ships, formidable tools for attacking cities and strongholds, and they are not deployed lightly."

Looking at the elder's profile, Leaf Gray recognized him as the old man who had taken him out of the mine shaft. Recalling how others had addressed him before, he quickly bowed. "Elder Lockridge."

Elder Lockridge smiled slightly in acknowledgment and said, "Let's go."

"Where to?" Leaf Gray asked, puzzled.

Elder Lockridge raised his hand and pointed. "Time to board the ship!"

Leaf Gray hesitated. "But I need to wait here for the Shixiong and Shijie from The Vermilion Guild..." As he spoke, he vaguely realized something. "Is Elder Lockridge from The Vermilion Guild?"

There was no reason for Elder Lockridge to suddenly seek him out and tell him to board the ship unless he was from The Vermilion Guild.

"Had to deal with some matters temporarily, was delayed for a while. I hope you weren't too anxious waiting?" Elder Lockridge asked kindly.

So he really was from The Vermilion Guild!

"Not at all, not at all," Leaf Gray said, somewhat excited. Although the others who came to collect people were all handsome Shixiong and gentle Shijie, when it came to The Vermilion Guild, it was an old man. But this old man seemed like a very good person.

This was evident from how he had helped him break the restriction lock on Ryan Carter's storage bag. Although Leaf Gray didn't know Elder Lockridge's cultivation level, if the elder had truly wanted Ryan Carter's storage bag back then, Leaf Gray wouldn't have been in a position to refuse.

But the old man only took a bottle of some Dragon-Tiger Pill as payment and returned the remaining items to Leaf Gray.

"Let's go." Elder Lockridge smiled, his figure rising into the air. Leaf Gray felt a gentle force envelop him, and then he followed Elder Lockridge towards one of the Flying Dragon Ships.

Once on the Flying Dragon Ship, Elder Lockridge headed straight inside the cabin, with Leaf Gray following closely behind.

There were many cabins inside the ship, bustling with cultivators from various sects. The cultivators coming towards them all bowed respectfully upon seeing Elder Lockridge, which made Leaf Gray marvel quietly.

The Vermilion Guild was only a ninth-grade sect. Based on the knowledge Dawn Fielding had previously imparted to him, Elder Lockridge should only be a Cloud River realm cultivator. Because if they had a True Lake realm cultivator, The Vermilion Guild wouldn't be just ninth-grade.

So it seemed that even though Elder Lockridge's cultivation might not be extremely high, he was still highly respected. Perhaps it was because of his age?

They walked all the way to the innermost part, where the old and the young stopped in front of a cabin door. Elder Lockridge waved his hand, and a light immediately flashed on the door. He then pushed the door open and entered.

Leaf Gray followed closely behind, closing the door as he entered.

Inside, Leaf Gray looked around and found it was a very simple cabin, sparsely furnished. There was no bed, not even a table, only a meditation mat on the floor.

There was a window, but it couldn't be opened. The round window was sealed shut with something transparent, like glass, allowing a view of the outside scenery.