Dyon frowned as the teleportation formation flashed. 'This teleportation is too high level for a quadrant like this. That's not to mention the fact I'm 70% certain the divisions between the areas of the Peak are also high-level arrays'

The more time Dyon spent in the 98th quadrant, the more oddities he found.

For one, the suppression was far too much for such a weak quadrant. The fact that Dyon lost more than 50% of his abilities was utterly ridiculous.

Suppression itself should be based on the power of the peak-most clans and sects within a quadrant. However, the highest-level clans and sects here could almost be treated with impunity by Dyon. Yes, it was true that there were quite a few celestials that Dyon couldn't hope to beat, but in terms of his ability to escape from such existences, Dyon wasn't worried in the least.

In addition to all of this, according to the information Zabia gave Dyon, in their entire quadrant, there was only a single dao formation expert, and it wasn't even confirmed if said individual was still alive or not.

Interestingly enough, that dao formation expert wasn't known to be a part of any one clan. Or, more accurately, Zabia didn't have much information on who it was. It was just that Zabia's father had thought it important to pass on this information to his son before his death.

Luckily for Dyon, the Death of Bol Jafari was unknown to the 98th quadrant, so he was able to take advantage of having an identity as his son.

Either way, that dao formation expert was the furthest from Dyon's mind. Such an expert would either constantly be in seclusion, or constantly traveling in order to seek a break through. This was because he was unlike those dao formation experts from powerful quadrants. If the 98th quadrant was as weak as it seemed, the opportunities for improvement here were limited.

This was all to say that this quadrant shouldn't have any existences powerful enough to sustain such pressure.

It wasn't that Dyon didn't think of the possibility that maybe there were some hidden forces, or maybe this suppression was lingering on from past, much more powerful clans and sects. It was more so that he just didn't have the supporting evidence. He couldn't think of a logical reason for a sect to feign weakness, nor did Jafari have any information on any past clans powerful enough to meet the criteria.

On the surface, the possibility of there being hidden forces makes sense. After all, maybe they wanted to launch a sort of surprise attack, and as such, kept themselves hidden.

There were a few problems with this.

For one, the Epistemic Tower wasn't just a normal resource. No. It was THE resource.

Dyon's home quadrant dropped from number one in the rankings, to the power of only about the 60s, purely because of the lack of this tower as a cultivation resource.

The drop off in power and potential was simply astronomical. To put things into perspective, even a quadrant ranked in the 50s could annihilate a 60th ranked quadrant with a mere 20% of its abilities, let alone what a top one quadrant would be able to do.

It simply didn't make any sense. As far as Dyon knew, the 98th quadrant had been this weak for far longer than his home quadrant had been. Which means they had even more time to fall through the rankings than even the former Celestial Deer Quadrant had.

Secondly, who the hell were their enemies? Who were they trying to sneak attack? Inter-quadrant warfare was so rare that its instances could be counted on two hands in modern times.

The only reason an entire quadrant would have to feign weakness was if an entire quadrant was their enemy. However, this seemed wholly unlikely

This was because if there was truly a hidden force hiding, and they were the reason the suppression was so high level, then wouldn't this suppression itself expose themselves to their enemy? Such a plan would be far too stupid.

Maybe if access to this quadrant was restricted and monitored, sure. But, Dyon had entered far too easily.

This wasn't the only odd thing about this quadrant either.

In Dyon's home quadrant, it made sense for them to have formations far past their capabilities. After all, they were the former home of the Celestial Deer Sect. However, what was so special about this quadrant that it had teleportation formations capable of sending them from planet to planet?

To say the distance was millions of miles was an understatement. Even if Dyon's soul was unsealed right now, it would take him days, if not weeks to set up such a formation. Then, to top that off, he would have to supply it with enough energy to sustain itself over a long period of time which would require an astronomical amount of resources.

Then there was the oddity of the naming scheme of their foremost sect, and the high level formations even within their branch sects.

As Dyon was lost in his thoughts, the scene before his eyes dimmed and revealed a stunning scene.

Their group of about 15 appeared on a silver disk, arranged in a semi-circle nearby four other disks.

Across for them sat a couple dozen battle platforms beside another couple dozen judge stands.

In the surroundings, the loud noises of a restless crowd almost made Dyon want to plug his ears.

Suddenly, a voice cut through everything. "Six core disciples? You must be getting desperate, hm, Elder Nova?"

Dyon sent a glance toward the voice, only to find an old man, wearing dark red robes.

According to Dyon's knowledge, inner sect disciple robes varied in color depending on the sect. In conjunction with this, elders of a sect usually wore the darker version of this color as their own robes. So, while the inner sect disciple of Unseen Peak wore light blue robes, the elder Dyon had met was wearing dark blue robes.

Seeing that this elder was wearing dark red robes told Dyon that he was from Slaughter Peak, while the pattern on his chest, underneath their sect insignia, told him that he was a core elder.

From what Dyon could see, it seemed that the Peak Patriarchs didn't participate in this event. Although he found it odd, he didn't think too much of it. Maybe they were already here and Dyon just didn't know.

As for the relationship between Slaughter and Unseen Peak, they were constantly vying for first place amongst the five branch peaks. So, one could say that the competition between them, as well as the rivalry, was quite fierce.

In a historical context, Unseen Peak used to be backed by the Jafari family, while Slaughter Peak used to be backed by the Caedes family.

Obviously, with the disappearance of the Jafari family, the Unseen Peak was becoming more and more incapable of challenging Slaughter Peak. That said, they didn't fall so far that the other Peaks could challenge them.

What Dyon found interesting, though, was that Donari would choose to come to Unseen Peak instead of his family's Slaughter Peak. But, Dyon wasn't exactly on the best of terms with Donari, so he simply didn't care about whatever family issues he had.

As for this "Elder Nova", it was the very same sleeping old man Dyon had become acquainted with. He had changed out of his black and scrappy clothing to don a dark blue robe. He seemed to have a completely different air to him now.

Elder Nova only smiled, "We just had too many good seedlings to keep it to 5."

"Is that so? Since when was a mere 1st stage essence gatherer a good seedling? A rejected 4th grade essence gatherer too? He even looks to be injured. This truly is a poor showing." The red robed elder shook his head in mock pity.

On the surface, he wasn't exactly wrong. Core disciples, even of the branch sects, should be far more powerful. Many were already at the 8th or 9th stage, let alone bringing mere 4th and 1st stage disciples. Dyon couldn't lie, it did look like a poor showing.

It wasn't only because he and Donari looked weak, it was because they also brought 6 disciples.

There was an unwritten rule that every branch would only bring their 5 best disciples. Although it wasn't a true rule, it was what was usually followed. The fact that Unseen Peak brought 6 made it look like they were throwing everything they had out and hoping something stuck.