Nine Clouds Purple Miasma had flown up, past the clouds and waited for Hou to follow. To maintain his reputation, he would need to use techniques and pretend Hou was stronger than he was.
While Hou had many laws and the possibility to be stronger, he was only a beginner in modern true cultivation.
However, Nine Clouds Purple Miasma did not need to do anything... He was planning to use his own cultivation to make Hou have his signature smoky Miasma as he left the cloud.
Before Nine Clouds Purple Miasma could do this though, Hou thought of his reputation himself. He had begun to have a streak of good luck, somehow creating a technique on the fly.
He had used multiple impressions of the sun at the same time, something Nine Clouds Purple Miasma had not seen a beginner do.
'Such and advanced technique!'
He was stunned at Hou's talent, in only a short time he had become proficient enough to have this anomaly happen. He did not suspect this was something Hou could do easily, it was mere coincidence and luck that everything had worked.
Nine Clouds Purple Miasma saw the glowing light through the clouds and stopped his preparation, he had confidence Hou could uphold his face.
Hou did not disappoint and he burst through the clouds!
A bright golden light and warm wave then was projected out of his body. For a few moments after his arrival he was truly a master.
He had brought out a significant amount of laws from the spirit stones in his body. Using this with sudden inspiration, he had used a primitive body cultivation technique.
Unlike the name implies, body cultivation does not only affect the body. The naming is merely that the laws are still in the body.
Once Hou's technique waned, Nine Clouds Purple Miasma started moving again,
"Good job Hou, very good. I am proud of you, without my help you've helped up the reputation of an elder. Don't worry about what happened, I'll explain later, for now just be quiet and follow what I do."
"Thank you, as master prescribes"
'What was that?! It was body cultivation but it was much more projected! And how could I let that much strength out of the laws I have?' While Hou followed Nine Clouds Purple Miasma's order, I side he was extremely curious.
Nine Clouds Purple Miasma and Hou then floated onto the mountain, taking their first step on the ground.
They walked slowly closer to a large red gate. It was taller than any normal mountain and vivid red, with a large yellow sign.
The sign read:
"Sword City, Nine Clouds Sovereign Sect district 3"
Hou noted the name in his mind, and also was once again fascinated. He was fascinated with the way of writing, even though it looked illogical he could understand what it said even though he didn't know why.
Nine Clouds Purple Miasma walked in front, while Hou behind. He had emitted a purple miasma, it was slowly forming into shapes. To the side of Hou and himself, Purple humanoid figures were forming.
They were entirely made of miasma and we're in the shape of soldiers. They wore armour and held spears.
Finally, as they neared the gate the miasma soldiers solidified and walked to either side of Hou and Nine Clouds Purple Miasma.
The busy Sword City were all looking outwards and seeing the purple soldiers started to gossip,
"Are those...."
"They're the..."
"The Myriad Smog Army!"
The Myriad Smog Army was one of the reasons for Nine Clouds Purple Miasma's Elder status. This was his magnum opus of a technique. This was a creation method that used miasma, a type of cloud, and form intelligent soldiers.
All the soldiers drew power from Nine Clouds Purple Miasma and could all use Elder level moves when needed and techniques. Their intelligence was not large but as a collective they were as efficient, and many times more, as any standard army!
Then Hou and Nine Clouds Purple Miasma both walked towards the red gate. The soldiers guarding the gate were two young cultivators with swords by the waist.
The two young guards stepped forward and deeply bowed,
"Master Elder Nine Clouds Purple Miasma! We have been informed of your purpose, we at the Sword City congratulate you and your disciple!"
"Yes, yes. I accept your congratulations, may we pass?" Nine Clouds Purple Miasma seemed slightly annoyed but did not take it out on low level juniors.
"Yes of course! We hope your stay is well!"
The two cultivates stepped back and stayed bowed. As the Elder and disciple walked past, they were thrown an object.
One of the two cultivators caught it and smiled,
"Thank you Elder!" He shouted and bowed once more.
Nine Clouds Purple Miasma had given the guards a gift as is tradition. He had given them two pills, one each. It was known as a Sword Intent Pill. It was filled with sword intent of a master and would higher their understanding of the sword Dao they presumed. Not only that, it was rich in various sword laws.
This pill was extremely precious to anyone in the Sovereign Sword District in the Nine Clouds Sovereign Sect. The sect was split into different districts under each "Cloud".
The sect was named Nine Clouds Sovereign Sect and those nine Clouds were real people. There were 8 Elders and the sect leader.
The two cultivators split the reward, each gaining one Sword Intent Pill. They then started talking to eachother, grateful they were chosen to do this job.
In Sword City, whenever a disciple was toured around the sect, it was tradition to give gifts to the guards on stand. To mitigate fighting, this was chosen by random draw.
Nine Clouds Purple Miasma and Hou ignored the two cultivator's gratitude and maintained an aura of authority and grandeur. They walked down the main street of Sword City.
Normally it would be filled with thousands of people but now for an Elder's special visit it was cleared. All citizens were busy either side, watching as the Myriad Smog Army progressed marching towards the centre of Sword City.
In the centre was a large stone structure, known as The Hilt. This was where Hou was required to pay respects to. This was a sort of solidification and showing off respect to each of the Clouds publicly.