The town was extremely busy at this point of the day, as large group of explorers had made their way back from the Shattered Star Peaks to sell the herbs or other things, they managed to get their hands on.
The merchants having travelled all the way to the town were trying to outbid each other on the different materials brought back by the explorers willing to sell, trying to get the best possible price.
Xuan Hao ignored the noise coming from the explorers and merchants chatting with one another, while Qing Yi kept her eyes locked on what the different merchants were doing in an attempt to get the explorers to lower the cost of their material. Taking out a small notebook from her robe and writing down some of the methods that worked.
Chu Yang mostly just observed the people passing by as the group of three soon made it to the centre of the town. Directly in front of them, was a giant pavilion with the words Flying Sword written on the entrance. This was the branch of the Flying Sword Sect.
Beside it was an even larger building with the Explorer Union's symbol hanging above the entrance, an endless stream of people going in and out of the building was a stark contrast to the empty and quiet space in front of the Flying Sword Sect's Branch, with only two people standing at the entrance acting as guards.
Xuan Hao made his way over to the Flying Sword Sect's branch together with his disciples, as the two guards standing at the entrance manged to spot them coming over immediately.
"Hello, what can I help with? Do you have any specific business with the Flying Sword Sect?" Stepping forward the moment they were a few meters away from the entrance of the branch, one of the guards asked in a polite tone.
"We are members of the sect as well; we are here to see if you have a detailed map of the Shattered Star Peaks." Saying this, Xuan Hao once again took out his identification token and showed it to the guard.
"Ah! Core Elder Xuan! I-I'm sorry for the earlier rude- "
"No need to worry about it, if you have a map of the Shattered Star Peaks that would be great." Seeing that the guard had started panicking upon realizing that it was the identification token of a Core Elder, Xuan Hao stopped him before he ended up causing an embarrassing scene in front of his disciples.
"No worries Elder Xuan! We have the most detailed map of Shattered Star Peaks here in Star Peak Town! Even those people from the Explorer Union does not have a map as detailed as ours!" Seeing that Xuan Hao did not care about his earlier lack of respect, the guard heaved a sigh of relief as he started bragging about the map that the branch had of the Shattered Star Peaks.
Compared to the elder in charge of the branch, this Core Elder was more easy going.
Thinking this, the guard walked back to the other guard and informed him about the situation before one of them opened the entrance to the branch and led Xuan Hao and his two disciples inside.
The inside of the branch was decorated in all sorts of exotic materials and looked luxurious, almost like the house of a newly rich merchant.
Xuan Hao and Chu Yang both felt a bit uncomfortable in this environment, while Qing Yi looked at all the exotic materials and precious decorations with a certain shine in her eyes.
"We are here, the map is right here." Coming to a stop in front of a large door, the guard opened it for them and led the group inside as Xuan Hao and the rest saw a giant map hanging at the end of the room.
Making their way to the map at the end of the room, Xuan Hao started thoroughly inspecting the map of the Shattered Star Peaks.
Qing Yi did the same and started noting down specific areas of interest in her notebook, while Chu Yang just casually looked over the map before curiously looking over at what Qing Yi was writing down in her notebook.
"Hm? Why are you writing down all these locations? Are we not just going up the mountains to have a quick look…? Are you perhaps planning to come back again after reaching the Core Formation Realm?" Seeing all the different locations noted down by his senior sister, Chu Yang grew a bit curious as he asked.
"Of course! It will be easy to gather a lot of herbs here and because I'm a disciple of the Flying Sword Sect, I will be able to enter the Shattered Star Peaks for free!" Proudly stating her intentions, Qing Yi refocused back on the map.
"Hm? Free? Did the Flying Sword Sect does not open up the Shattered Star Peaks for anyone to enter?" Feeling a bit confused about this, Chu Yang thought that he might have heard something wrong.
"Ah, the Flying Sword Sect did indeed open up for everyone to be able to enter the Shattered Star Peaks, but anyone not a member of the Flying Sword Sect will have to pay an entrance fee to enter. Compared to the Raging Flame Sect's control of the entrance to the Burning Mountain Range, the Shattered Star Peaks only has a single place that you can enter through. The other places are too steep for someone below the Core Formation Realm to climb up.
This is also why most elders would want to end up as the elder managing the Shattered Star Peaks Branch… The amount of spirit stones you would be able to earn is enormous!" The guard that guided them over to the map of the Shattered Star Peaks stepped forward as he explained this to Chu Yang.
"I see… The amount of spirit stones that the Shattered Star Peak Branch earns is astronomical!" Remembering the number of Explorers from the Explorer Union, Chu Yang swallowed a bit when he thought about the amount of spirt stones that the branch here earned.