Chapter 410: Major Factions

Priam clearly looked hostile when he saw those people. However, Nise quickly ran over to his side and whispered hurriedly, "They’re not here to fight. They’re here to give us the crystals and try to recruit us into their factions."

Priam was confused, so Nise quickly explained.

The sect had already been waiting for the arrival of the approved outer sect disciples right after the thirty-day reward period of the Celestial Event ended. For that reason, they had marked this exact moment as the key day for faction recruitment.

All the former outer sect disciples, as well as the core disciples who had passed the test, finally had the opportunity to join one of the thousands of inner sect factions.

Unlike the factions in the Outer Branches—which were constantly being created and disbanded—the factions in the inner sect lasted for thousands of years, sometimes continuing indefinitely, with new members of the same bloodline taking command of the same army.

Suddenly, the space right in front of them distorted at three different points.

Priam and the members of his faction watched as three large groups of disciples emerged. They were all familiar faces: the 25,000 core disciples who had fought alongside them before.

Safira emerged from one of the groups, then turned toward Nise, who was already standing beside Priam. Her face twisted with anger.

"Fuck! You cheated! We agreed that everyone would wait for them inside!"

Nise merely let out a light snort, not bothering to answer.

At that moment, all 25,000 disciples stared at Priam’s faction with eager expressions.

Safira ran toward the front of Priam’s group. When she got within a few steps of him, she stopped and turned toward Dandara, meeting her cold gaze.

Immediately, Safira lowered her head toward her, silently showing her intentions and acknowledging her.

"I didn’t have time to say this before. I’m genuinely sorry for what I did."

Her words were loud and clear, making sure everyone around them could hear.

Dandara snorted, but gave a slight nod. "No problem. Just remember your place from now on."

Safira raised her head and smiled excitedly, clenching her fists. She then turned toward Priam and the group behind him.

"We all decided not to join the factions of our own bloodlines. We got into a huge internal fight over it, but we’re not backing down. So..." She swallowed nervously, unsure how to finish the sentence.

Nise’s eyes widened in shock. She had never expected something like this, especially from Safira.

After all, every Sacred Family had a single official faction, which all of its members with disciple status within the sect were required to join. Safira must have gotten into a monumental fight with her family just to try to join the faction she wanted.

Priam looked into the young woman’s trembling, expectant eyes. He could see the genuine determination in them, so he simply turned toward Dandara.

Dandara understood his look and nodded. "If Boss has no problem with it... I really think they have potential. Leave them to me."

"Great. Stay behind us," he said calmly.

Hearing that, Safira and the other 25,000 disciples lit up with excitement. They all rushed forward and took their positions behind Priam’s faction.

Finally, the group moved forward, approaching the crowd waiting for them.

As expected, someone immediately stepped forward toward Priam and spoke with extreme courtesy:

"Welcome to the inner sect. First of all, I’d like to congratulate you on becoming elite disciples of the inner sect. I know you’re all busy, so I’ll keep this brief. My race’s faction, the Storm Gate, is an extremely powerful force around here. Although we were founded only sixty thousand years ago, our position in the rankings has been steadily rising. Our leader is also a magnanimous and generous person, born into an incredibly powerful family. He has always made plenty of resources available to us..."

After the man’s lengthy speech, Priam simply took the contact crystal he offered without giving any verbal response.

Then, dozens of other representatives from different factions came over to greet them politely. All those people were there to recruit them—not just Priam, as everyone behind him also ended up surrounded.

Aside from Safira and Nise, the other thousands of disciples were from ordinary races. Even so, they all politely declined the invitations, accepting only the crystals.

In the inner sect, switching factions in the future wasn’t considered a crime or a disgrace. Nobody cared too much about it, since betrayals were practically impossible: it was an extremely serious crime, and everyone within the inner sect was subject to the Sovereign Goddess’s direct laws.

Priam understood perfectly well that the competition in the inner sect was infinitely fiercer than in the outer sect. The battle for new talents started right there, from the very first moment.

Hundreds of ambassadors had shown up, and each one represented a faction with thousands of years of history. There wasn’t a single one there that had existed for less than thirty thousand years.

After several minutes...

A group of disciples dressed in white robes made their way through the crowd. On their chests, they wore the symbol of two crescent-shaped wind blades crossed over each other.

"Holy crap! It’s the Favonian Alliance!" one of the ambassadors nearby shouted.

This time, more than ten representatives had come, and all of them were at the peak of the Philosopher Rank.

The leader was a man about the same height as Priam, with pointed elven ears, but he possessed a sturdy and imposing physique. By the beauty standards of that world, he was the exact definition of an attractive man—his only "flaw" was that he wasn’t particularly tall. Every one of his movements radiated the innate bearing of an arrogant noble.

Priam looked at the man, quickly scanning through his status. His name was Rhys, and he came from the same Sacred Family as Nise, the Aciestor Family. His attributes were absurdly high, surpassing those of almost everyone there and coming very close to Nise’s own.

"Senior Rhys, we’ve finally met," Nise said, quickening her pace.

He was the oldest genius of the Aciestor Family and the undisputed leader of the faction that gathered the members of their bloodline within the inner sect.

"I heard what happened. You really made it into the top 50 of the Celestial Event... Your flawless leadership allowed so many people to return alive this time. I’m grateful to the heavens that you’re finally by my side now."

"Please, don’t say that. I didn’t do anything special. I simply followed Lord Priam and Lady Dandara’s orders. They did everything, and they were extremely generous to me and taught me a lot," Nise replied politely before turning toward Priam.

"Lord Priam, allow me to introduce you. This is Senior Rhys, the greatest prodigy of my Sacred Family. When I was born, he was already a renowned figure. I’m sure the two of you will get along very well in the future."

She spoke while looking directly into Priam’s eyes, wearing a warm, expectant smile. It was obvious that she sincerely wanted the two of them to form a good relationship.

Nise was the supreme talent of her generation, but she was still young. Although her family believed she would surpass Rhys with time, for now, he was the one leading the family’s disciples in the inner sect.

It was exactly at that moment that Dandara noticed Rhys’s aura suddenly change. His gaze was locked onto the trio.

Priam also sensed the change, although he didn’t immediately understand the reason. Dandara, on the other hand, let out a muffled sigh, instantly figuring out what was going on.

Although Nise and Rhys belonged to the same bloodline, they were only distantly related. Besides, it was understandable and obvious that the Sacred Families encouraged marriage between distant relatives to preserve the purity of their bloodline rather than allowing them to mix with outsiders.

Priam turned toward Rhys and gave him a courteous nod. "Nice to meet you."

Rhys’s expression froze for a fraction of a second, becoming slightly stiff, but he forced a restrained smile and returned the nod.

Nise’s expression fell when she saw Rhys’s coldness and obvious hostility.

What was he doing?

Through her family, the girl knew that Rhys had received direct orders to recruit Priam at any cost—even with permission to offer him outrageous amounts of resources. A monster with limitless potential like Priam would be an absurdly valuable asset to the Sacred Family. Yet Rhys’s current attitude looked nothing like that of someone trying to recruit him.

The atmosphere around them became tense and awkward.

"Well, since the check-in is already done and we still have things to take care of, we won’t take up any more of your time," Priam said, beginning to walk away.

Nise looked around helplessly. She had been so excited about bringing the two of them closer, only for things to end up like this.

However, as Priam’s group marched toward the door, another delegation appeared, blocking their path. These people had a large trident emblazoned across their chests. The moment the members of the Favonian Alliance saw them, they immediately clenched their fists.

"It’s the Seiche Alliance!"

Someone in the crowd shouted in surprise. Everyone there was genuinely shocked. Two of the largest factions belonging to the Sacred Families had personally come to this place?