At the west of the Holy sect was a large number of courtyards that weren't protected by any defensive formations that most courtyards in the Holy sect had.

It almost looked like any outer disciple could just barge in, and claim one of these courtyards for themselves if they wanted to.

Additionally, the qi inside each of these courtyards was much purer than the qi inside the normal courtyards of the Holy sect.

And yet, no normal outer disciple would dare to enter those courtyards without permission.

After all, this was the place where the top 100 factions of the Holy sect fought.

Every single one of the top 100 factions 'owned' one of these courtyards that spanned for more than a mile in radius, and considered it their own territory.

If a faction below the top 100 wanted to stay in one of the courtyards, they could only do so by challenging one of the top 100 factions for their 'territory'.

In the end, this challenge was nothing more than simply attacking that faction.

Whether they sneak attacked that top 100 faction when night had fallen or not, it didn't matter.

After all, the battles between the top 100 factions took place inside their own territories.

As long as the enemy faction leader was captured or he was forced to retreat from his territory, then that was when the faction war ended.

Once the attacking faction won, they could replace the enemy faction in the top 100 rankings, and even obtain their territory.

Naturally, the battles between the top 100 factions were much crueler than the normal, predetermined battles inside the arena.

The top 100 factions needed to have one eye open at all times, to be wary of an enemy faction's sneak attack.

Inside one of these courtyards, in a building that had more than 10 large rooms, Xingyi was sitting cross-legged on a meditative cushion with her eyes closed, while shadows had sprung from the ground and had nearly covered her entire body.

It was almost as if those shadows were madly absorbing the qi in the air around her, sending it straight towards her dantian.

A few moments later, Xingyi let out a breath that was filled with foul qi, while the shadows around her soon dispersed into nothingness before she slowly opened her eyes.

Surprisingly, the aura around Xingyi seemed to have reached the peak of rank 9 in the Nascent Soul already!

Opening her eyes, Xingyi looked at Liu Mei who was sitting on the bed with her eyes closed, while a dense medicinal fragrance was coming from her body.

Almost as if sensing Xingyi's gaze land on her, Liu Mei opened her eyes, before she asked with a smile on her face

''Xingyi, you reached the peak of rank 9?''

Nodding her head, Xingyi smiled somewhat proudly as she answered

''Mmm! It's impossible for me to absorb any more qi in my dantian right now. Unless I breakthrough into the Dao King realm, it will be impossible for me to do so. Mei, what about you?''

Liu Mei shook her head as she looked at Xingyi and replied

''Although my cultivation is already at the peak of rank 9 in the Nascent Soul, my soul still needs a few more days to reach that level as well.

I wonder if Long-ge is done by now...''

As she finished speaking, Liu Mei's eyes darted towards a certain meditative cushion that was now empty.

Xingyi turned to look at thε cushion as well, before she said somewhat worriedly

''There is less than a week left until we leave for the King's Palace.''

In the past year, Xingyi and Liu Mei had become even closer than real sisters.

Naturally, Xingyi had also learned about Shun Long disappearing every time he entered seclusion to cultivate.

However, there was now less than a week left until the time that the Grand Elder had set for Shun Long and the rest to prepare themselves for the King's Palace.

In this past year, it wasn't just Xingyi and Liu Mei who had reached the peak of rank 9 in the Nascent Soul, but Jiang Chen and Bai Longtian as well.

Liu Mei was actually the first one, while Xingyi was actually the slowest.

Jiang Chen had entered the peak of the Nascent Soul a month ago, while Bai Longtian reached it just 2 weeks ago.

Of course, under normal circumstances, it was impossible to reach the peak of the Nascent Soul in just a year.

Even the Grand Elder didn't favor Liu Mei's and the rest's chances to reach the peak of the Nascent Soul so quickly, unless they happened to consume some kind of miraculous pill.

After all, the later stages of the Nascent Soul were much more difficult to reach than the early stages.

In the Grand Elder's eyes, it was one thing for one of them to find some kind of miraculous pill that could boost them all the way to the peak of the Nascent Soul within a year, but could all 5 of them do so?

He knew that the chances of something like that happening were extremely unlikely.

And yet, the Grand Elder didn't completely dismiss this possibility either.

Whether it was the immortal-grade cultivation technique or the heavenly wine that he had gotten from Shun Long, the Grand Elder had come to understand that Shun Long had many secrets of his own.

Even if he had 5 pills that could allow him, and Liu Mei and the rest to all reach the peak of the Nascent Soul, the Grand Elder could still accept it in his heart.

However, although Shun Long did indeed have the ability to refine another pill that could forcefully bring his cultivation, as well as Jiang Chen's and the rest's all the way to the peak of the Nascent Soul, he didn't refine that pill.

After all, Shun Long understood, that since both he and Liu Mei had already consumed a top-grade rank 5 'Barrier piercing pill' to breakthrough to the late-stages of the Nascent Soul, while Xingyi, Bai Longtian, and Jiang Chen had consumed 2 of them, if they didn't increase their cultivation naturally this time and increased it forcefully through the consumption of pills, they could have latent problems in the future in their cultivation.

Besides, Shun Long knew that there was no reason for him to refine that pill in the first place.

After all, there was another way for Bai Longtian and the rest to reach the peak of the Nascent Soul within a year, and it was a way that no other faction in the entirety of the Holy sect could do!