PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

In the Martial Sovereign World, strength could only be obtained through fierce and relentless training, as well as the support of immense amounts of resources. This fact brought with it a problem; most of the female population was unwilling to go through brutal martial training. They fear the pain and the possible consequences to their appearance if they make a mistake during their training. To add insult to injury, this world’s society was heavily dominated by men. They favored nurturing talented martial artists as long as they were male, their opinion of women less than kind.

Given the natural disposition to refuse fierce training and a lack of financial support from the powers, women had little chance of attaining powerful martial prowess or a position of power. In the few cases where the sects or kingdoms invested resources in cultivating women, it was to use them as political tokens or to offer them in marriage to their own experts.

Of course, this didn’t mean that there weren’t any powerful female experts. After all, when it came to talent, women were in no way inferior to men. What’s more, having higher pain thresholds than men made them willing to endure martial training better than many men.

In fact, there were female-only sects, and they were anything but someone to mess with. To survive in a world full of ambitious and violent men with the strength to break mountains, the female sects could be described as armed to the teeth.

Ironically, the strong discrimination women suffered in most of the sovereign martial world led many powerful experts with unique abilities to congregate in or at least ally with the female sects. As such, these female sects were usually powerhouses that no one wanted to mess with. Only the highest officials of these sects knew the exact extent of their alliances and resources.

Although far from forming a balance, the female sects gave many women a place to go should they pursue the martial path. And for Xiauyue and Fei Long, forming an alliance with one of these sects was probably the only way to protect themselves and turn those who plotted against them in the dark back.

As women, Claire, Revna, Cecilia, and Sasha empathized with the situation of Xiauyue and Fei Long. Needless to say, discrimination, harassment, and other abuses were rife in their own world.

Despite Desmond’s best efforts, his influence within the city of Green Seed had not yet reached the point where he could carry out a massive purge of all those who abused their position to oppress the weak. Things like the harassment of women were something the girls had seen on many occasions, and it bothered them greatly.

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Revna even went through a role as a vigilante, taking the lives of those she caught trying to overpower some innocent girl or do some other kind of unforgivable evil. After his discussion with Claire, Revna stopped his activities for a while. After that, the legend of the grim reaper in the city fades little by little.

In any case, the Astryd family’s position was far from neutral on these matters. So much, so that Garden’s agenda as an organization involves dealing with those who carried out such abuses. As such, it was only to be expected that Claire and the rest would offer to help Xiauyue and Fei Long.

At this point in the conversation, the group had moved to a dining room for dinner. In addition to reveling in the exquisite culinary skill of Fei Long’s chef, the girls had been listening to Fei Long and Xiauyue’s explanation of the situation and options currently on the table. And that led to the involvement of the female sect, Eternal Warrior Maiden.

As the name indicated, this sect had a strong martial focus and a rather aggressive policy towards those who messed with it. Although far from dominating the entire surrounding territory, this sect was an entity that no one wished to mess with. Even Xiauyue’s father would have nightmares if someone told him that the legendary dragon maiden unit of that sect was after his head.

Fortunately, Xiauyue and Fei Long had quite an attractive offer for a sect like that. In addition to their own martial prowess, which was terrifying enough on its own, Xiauyue and Fei Long had followed Desmond’s advice and invested heavily in talent nurturing. They have half a dozen high-level alchemists under their wing, plus a few more other talents in other professions.

Despite their martial might, the Eternal War Maiden Sect had only one weakness, the lack of alchemists and medicinal pills, although this was relative. Being located in a mountain range extremely rich in mineral resources, the sect was obscenely rich. It was home to many high-level blacksmiths, but this also removed them from the resources needed to cultivate alchemists. As such, the sect had long relied on trade and alliances to satisfy its need for medicinal pills.

“And that’s where we come in. The Eternal War Maiden Sect is holding an expert meeting on their territory next week. In addition to the recruitment of new disciples, there will be three big events that interest us. The first is an alchemy competition, not the most interesting thing to watch. Still, one cannot underestimate the sect’s importance in this event. We plan to enter our alchemists into the competition and use the results to support our offer of an alliance.” Xiauyue explained before Fei Long placed a grape on her lips as she smiled mischievously.

Xiauyue rolled her eyes at Fei Long’s incessant flirting but still relented, parting her delicate lips to eat the grape but not before licking Fei Long’s fingertips. Ignoring the helpless expressions on the faces of Claire and the rest, Fei Long complemented what Xiauyue was explaining.

“The eternal war maiden sect is always looking for new blood and good alliances. Our alchemists should put some weight on our side of the scale, especially with Ai Zuling on our side; she is already one of the best alchemists on this continent.”

The conversation was a little hard to follow for Claire, who wasn’t used to political moves and schemes, but she still got the general scheme of things. Curiously, it was Cecilia, the one who had suffered a lot due to her ignorance of these issues, who had something to say. “I assume that is not the only thing you have to offer. From what you’ve said, the force behind you two isn’t easy to offend; I don’t see the Eternal War Maiden Sect sticking up just because of that.”

Fei Long’s lazy and flirtatious attitude faded briefly, but her sharp gaze quickly receded before returning to how it had been before. “Well marked, Miss Cecilia. As you said, things are a bit complicated on our end, and someone would have to think twice before allying with us. That’s even without considering a third and potential fourth entrant who comes to take advantage of the chaos while my sect is at war.”

Xiauyue nodded in agreement with his beloved and added. “That brings us to the other two events in the Eternal Maiden Warrior Sect. The second of these events is nothing special and is just a gathering of experts. The weak challenge each other, and the powerful show off their skills to impress the younger generation, which is quite typical.

In this particular instance, Fei Long and I plan to take advantage of the platform to establish our presence. After that, it will be impossible for the eternal war maiden sect not to pay attention to us.

It may sound arrogant to say so myself, but Fei Long and I are among the strongest experts on the entire continent. Given our age, this is an achievement no one can afford to ignore. That’s what got us into trouble in the first place; only this time, we plan to use it to our advantage.”

Cecilia pondered Xiauyue’s words and nodded. “Then you plan to use the event to give real weight and validity to your force and then use yourselves as a bargaining chip in the alliance with the sect.”

Revna added. “Makes sense. In a war or conflict between great powers, it is not the cannon fodder that determines the outcome but experts of the caliber of the two of you.”

Fei Long smiled fiercely and answered. “That is precisely the case, and it just so happens that the Eternal War Maiden Sect has many enemies; thus, it is always in need of allies.”

Claire had understood the gist of what Fei Long and Xiauyue were planning to do, but that wasn’t necessarily a good thing; From the looks of it, the duo didn’t need their help at all. “In essence, too weak to make a difference.” Claire thought to herself.