Cultivator Isabel was the first to recover her composure after I killed Cultivator Blood Petal in cold blood.
“Do you realize what you’ve done?” Cultivator Isabel demanded, furious. “You killed a core disciple of the Ancient Blood Sect!”
Even Cultivator Rexanne and Cultivator Albin seemed upset by my actions. Willow looked both relieved and worried. Elliot gave me a questioning look. In contrast, I maintained a calm expression.
“I killed an enemy.” I said, speaking in an even voice. “One who interfered with our sect’s interests.” I snorted. “Besides, do you really think that she would have let this go? Even if she swore a heart demon oath, she could have just let her sect get revenge on her behalf. All she would have needed to do was tell them what happened. She even said it herself. If we had let her go, the Ancient Blood Sect wouldn’t have pursued it more than necessary. However, they would have lost a lot of face if they didn’t avenge the deaths of their disciples. It would have been necessary for them to hunt us down, or at least make an attempt. I saw no reason for us to take that risk.”
The others looked surprised by this, as if they hadn’t considered it from that perspective.
“I know you might think that I made an impulsive decision,” I said, “However, I put careful thought into it before I acted.”
This was a complete lie. Everything I said just now was something I came up with on the spot in order to justify my decision. However, it wasn’t wrong. Cultivator Blood Petal didn’t seem like the kind of person to let a grudge like this go unavenged.
“That said, I owe you an apology, Brother Sand Fang.” I gave Elliot a martial salute. “You are the mission leader, and I undermined your authority with my actions. I am sorry.”
A beat of silence followed my words.
“No, Young-Brother Flamewind,” Elliot said, “You made the right choice. If we let her go, the Ancient Blood Sect would have known about us for certain. At least this way, there is a chance we can hide our involvement.”
I nodded at him, before looking at the others.
“I shall take full responsibility for this,” I said, “Since I acted on my own, without consulting any of you.”
They all looked torn.
“Damn it!” Cultivator Isabel said. “Fine. What’s done is done. There’s no point in complaining about it now. Let’s clean everything up and leave. The more distance we put between us and this place, the better. We don’t know when the Ancient Blood Sect will send people here to investigate what happened.”
Elliot nodded.
“Agreed,” he said. “However, before we go, I want to find out what these Ancient Blood Sect disciples hoped to accomplish here.” He studied Cultivator Davina with cold eyes. “Thankfully, we have a prisoner.”
His expression sent a chill down my spine. Something told me that he didn’t plan on something as benign as a simple interrogation.
“May I, Sister Black Staff?” Elliot asked, holding his hand out towards Willow.
She nodded before tossing Cultivator Davina at him. Elliot caught the woman and held her upright, before placing a finger on her glabella. Her body twitched and she let out a moan of pain. It took me a moment to realize that Elliot was using a soul scour technique on her.
This kind of technique allowed a cultivator to read a being’s mind and soul. However, it was invasive and damaged the victim’s mind. At best, it caused some mild damage that could be healed with time. At worst, it destroyed the victim’s mind and left them as nothing more than a drooling idiot. Based on the expression on Cultivator Davina’s face, I doubted that Elliot was being gentle with her.
When he finished soul scouring her, Elliot snapped Cultivator Davina’s neck and killed her. He wore a contemplative expression on his face, while the rest of us gathered around him.
“What did you find out, Brother Sand Fang?” I asked.
“I learned the location of their hideout.” Elliot said. “It’s not too far from here.” He glanced at the rest of us. “While it’s a little out of the way, it wouldn’t take us that much time to head over. Some of their victims are still alive. We can set them free.”
Willow’s expression darkened.
“And the rest?” she asked.
“Sacrificed and harvested for their vitality.” Elliot said in a soft voice.
Willow clenched her jaw, before she let out a sigh.
“I suppose it’s hypocritical of me to get angry, when my own arts aren’t too dissimilar from the Ancient Blood Sect’s.” she said.
I flew over to Willow’s side and put a hand on her shoulder.
“I may not know much about your arts, Sister Black Staff,” I said, “However, I know that you would never do something as heinous as sacrifice hundreds of innocents.”
Willow gave me a grateful smile in return.
“What about loot?” Cultivator Isabel asked. “We saw the aftermath of their attacks. They emptied the treasuries of several small clans and sects. I assume they kept everything they took.”
Elliot nodded.
“Yes.” He said. “While I believe that the survivors should get what belonged to them in the first place, it’s only fair that we keep the rest.”
The others looked happy about that, even Willow. I couldn’t deny that I felt a bit of joy as well. The loot from several small clans and sects was quite a bit, even divided six ways. However, then I remembered what happened to those same small clans and sects, and my joy fled.
“However, we might earn an even greater prize.” Elliot said. “The reason why Cultivator Blood Petal and her companions were here in the Sacred Ironwood province in the first place was to find the sacred treasure of the Forest Tiger Sect. Cultivator Davina didn’t know what this sacred treasure was, but it must have been something precious to attract the attention of someone of Cultivator Blood Petal’ status.”
I frowned at that.
“Wait a moment,” I asked, “If they were after the sacred treasure of the Forest Tiger Sect, then why did they kidnap and sacrifice hundreds of innocent people?”
“It was a smokescreen.” Elliot said. “To hide their true objective from Cultivator Blood Petal’s rivals in the Ancient Blood Sect, just in case any of them investigated the matter.”
I stared at Elliot in shock. A smokescreen? Cultivator Blood Petal kidnapped and sacrificed all those people as a smokescreen? Fury filled me, burning away any lingering regret I had for killing Cultivator Blood Petal. If her and her companions weren’t already dead, I would have torn them to shreds with my bare hands.
“The secret treasure is located in a hidden realm not too far from their hideout.” Elliot continued. “However, it is protected by an array, one they hadn’t managed to break through yet. That was why they were still here. Otherwise, they would have left a long time ago. We could take the risk to try and take this sacred treasure for ourselves, or we could leave and come back at another time.”
Caution and greed warred within me. If we left now, we lessened the chances of running into whoever the Ancient Blood Sect sent to investigate. However, we didn’t know if the sacred treasure of the Forest Tiger Sect would still be here if we returned at a later date. Nor did we know if it was worth the risk in the first place. I glanced at the others and saw them dealing with the same struggle.
“I say we give it a try.” I suggested. “However, if we can’t break through the formation and retrieve the sacred treasure within a day, then we should leave.”
The others glanced at each other, before they nodded.
“That sounds like a good idea.” Elliot said. “Let’s do it.” He gestured to the area around us. “Erase all traces of our presence here. We leave in ten minutes.”
With that, we cleaned up the area as best we could, including disposing of the bodies, before we left.
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Interlude: Blood Leaf
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Blood Leaf lounged around in the most expensive room available in his favorite pleasure house. It was located at the top of the tall palatial building, and had a great view of Crimson River City. It was late into the night, and the city glowed with the light from countless lanterns.
Crimson River City enjoyed great prosperity due to its proximity to the Ancient Blood Sect. No one would dare cause trouble here, and so cultivators from all over the Northern Region’s central continent flocked to the city. All kinds of goods and services were available here.
Two courtesans pressed against Blood Petal, their bodies soft and warm. One poured him wine while the other massaged his shoulders. The scent of their enticing perfume filled his nose. He sipped the wine and leaned back to enjoy the courtesan’s ministrations.
‘Ah, this was the life.’ He thought to himself. ‘What was the point in walking the path towards immortality if one couldn’t enjoy oneself?’
Blood Leaf had met several cultivators who were far too serious for their own good. Many of them belonged to his own clan. They spent most of their time cultivating in seclusion, focusing so much on trying to live forever that they forgot to actually live. Blood Leaf didn’t understand those people. They wanted to become immortal, or at least live for as long as possible, yet never took the time to enjoy the perks that came with being a cultivator.
Not him. Blood Leaf decided early on, back when he was at the Qi Condensation realm, that he would live his life to the fullest. Eat, drink, and be merry. The elders of his clan disapproved of his attitude, including his father, yet that never bothered Blood Leaf too much.
Best of all, when he reached Golden Core, their complaints and lectures became nothing more than annoyed grumbling. After all, despite his frivolities, as they called it, Blood Leaf’s cultivation never suffered. Despite his desire to enjoy life, Blood Leaf never slacked off. Like any other cultivator, he wanted to live forever. However, he also wanted to have fun while doing so.
Speaking of having fun.
“Come here.” Blood Leaf said, grabbing one of the courtesans and pulling her into his lap.
She giggled and put up a token resistance. However, before Blood Leaf could enjoy himself, a roar filled the air. It was so loud that the building around them started to shake. The courtesans covered their ears and looked around in a panic. The pleasure house was built from sturdy materials that were reinforced with several arrays. The roar must have come from a powerful being to cause it to shake.
‘Stay here.’ Blood Leaf said, speaking to them through telepathy. ‘I’m going to see what’s going on.’
The courtesans, still covering their ears, nodded. They wore fearful expressions on their faces. Afterwards, Blood Leaf jumped out the window and flew high into the air. Like most cities where cultivators congregated, Crimson River City had a flight restriction set up. However, Blood Leaf had enough power and status to shrug it off.
Instead, he searched around for the source of the roar. As a Golden Core cultivator, he was sturdier than most. Even then, the roar gave him a headache. It would have been worse for anyone in the Foundation Establishment realm. As for Qi Condensation cultivators… Well, they would be lucky to survive.
It didn’t take Blood Leaf long to realize that the roar came from the Ancient Blood Sect, Mt. Blood Tree to be exact. An icy hand gripped his heart. That was the home and headquarters of his clan. Something must have happened. Without hesitation, Blood Leaf headed towards Mt. Blood Tree, flying as fast as he could.
As Blood Leaf drew closer to home, the roar subsided. However, instead of reassuring him, he grew even more worried. When he neared Mt. Blood Tree, he heard his kin wailing. The loudest voice among them belonged to his father, Blood Root. The roar must have come from him. As a Nascent Soul cultivator, he was more than powerful enough to roar like that.
“My daughter!” His father said. “Oh, my poor little Petal!”
Blood Leaf sucked in breath, before he rushed towards his father’s voice. The latter was located in the Hall of Life, where their clan’s life lamps were located. When he arrived, he found his father kneeling on the ground, surrounded by several of their grieving kin. Tears streamed down his father’s face. This shocked Blood Leaf. To him, his father was always stern and uncompromising. Seeing an open display of emotion like this upended Blood Leaf’s world.
However, that was nothing compared to the shock and pain he felt when he looked at his little sister’s life lamp and realized that the flame inside had gone out. That could only mean one thing. His little sister was dead.
“No,” Blood Leaf said, stumbling forward until he knelt next to his father, “No no no.”
He last saw his sister not too long ago, just before she went out to hunt for some kind of treasure. She had been excited, since this was her first foray into the outside world. Blood Leaf offered to accompany her and help, but she refused saying that she wanted to secure the treasure with her own power. She even refused to tell anyone where she was going or what she was looking for, to avoid any undue interference.
Their father, worried about her safety, ordered several inner disciples of the Ancient Blood Sect to go along and protect her. They had all been in the Foundation Establishment realm. They should have been fine. They should have been enough. Yet, they hadn’t been. Blood Petal’s snuffed out life lamp proved that.
Tears streamed down Blood Leaf’s cheeks and sorrow filled his heart as he realized that his little sister was dead. He would never see her smile again, nor would he see her flustered face as he teased her. She was gone.
However, beneath his sorrow and pain, fury burned within Blood Leaf. It started out as a small spark, but soon grew into an inferno. He would find them. He would find whoever killed his sister and make them suffer. They wouldn’t get the luxury of a quick death. No. He would torture them for a thousand years, where each moment was pure agony.
“I’ll avenge her.” Blood Leaf said, turning to his father. “I will find who did this and make them pay. I promise you, Father.”
His father, too lost in his own grief, gave the barest of nods. With that, Blood Leaf stood up and marched out of the Hall of Life. His first stop was to check the hall where the Ancient Blood Sect kept the life lamps of its inner disciples. He wanted to make sure that the ones who had accompanied his little sister were also dead. It was their duty to protect Blood Petal, even at the cost of their own lives. If any of them yet lived… Well, he would make them pay for their failure.
After that, he would hunt his sister’s killers down.
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It took us all night to reach the Ancient Blood Sect disciples’ hideout. By the time we arrived, it was dawn. Throughout the flight, I replayed last night’s events in my head and realized something about myself.
Killing people didn’t bother me.
Maybe it was because they were enemies, or maybe it was because they were demonic cultivators who sacrificed hundreds of innocent people, but I felt no guilt for killing Cultivator Beast Eater and Cultivator Blood Petal. That didn’t mean I enjoyed killing them, but neither did I feel revolted by it. I felt… Nothing. It was something that I needed to do, so I did it. Nothing more, nothing less.
Was this normal? I didn’t think so. I had never killed another person before last night, so I didn’t know for sure. However, shouldn’t I have felt something? After a while, I shook my head and set these thoughts aside. I had more important matters to consider.
The hideout was an immortal cave located inside a small mountain near the remnants of the Forest Tiger Sect. A series of defensive arrays protected it, but we disabled them with relative ease thanks to Elliot. After soul scouring Cultivator Davina, he knew what kind of arrays they used and how to bypass them.
As soon as we entered the cave, the first thing I noticed was the smell of blood. The air was thick with it. So much so that I retched a few times. The others reacted the same way. The only ones who managed to maintain their composure were Elliot and Willow. Like the auras of the Ancient Blood Sect disciples, the blood smelled rotten and decayed. Wrong.
It appeared that when the Ancient Blood Sect disciples carved out this immortal cave, they had prepared for a long-term stay. Beautiful lamps filled the interior of the cave with warm light, which I thought contrasted with the smell of blood that filled the air. In addition to bedrooms for the Ancient Blood Sect disciples, there were meditation chambers, an alchemy lab, a workshop for refining magic treasures, and so on. There were all sorts of treasures and material inside these rooms, which we collected before moving on.
We also found a chamber with an ominous black altar in the center of it. A complicated looking array surrounded the altar, with blood red crystals located at key points within the array. Each one of these crystals glowed with a red light and an aura of rotten blood. Taking it all together, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what the Ancient Blood Sect disciples used this altar for. Willow collected the blood red crystals and placed them in her storage bag.
We found the prisoners in another part of the cave, one protected by even more defensive arrays. However, these arrays were designed to keep people in rather than out. Elliot managed to disable them, once again thanks to the memories he retrieved from Cultivator Davina. When we opened the door, the smell of human waste and unwashed bodies assaulted our noses.
It turned out that the Ancient Blood Sect disciples had kept all of their prisoners in a single giant chamber. From the looks of it, they hadn’t treated them well either. There were dozens of prisoners. While this sounded like a lot, it was a small fraction of the people that had gone missing. Most of the prisoners were injured to some degree or another. All of them were in Qi Condensation. The Ancient Blood Sect disciples must have already killed the ones in Foundation Establishment. To avoid scaring them, I returned to my human form.
At first the prisoners didn’t believe us when we said that they were free. They thought it was some kind of trick by the Ancient Blood Sect disciples. However, when we started handing out food and Healing Pills, they realized that we were telling the truth. Some cheered at their newfound freedom, while others broke down crying.
It took a while to get them all sorted out. Many were quite weak after spending weeks, or even months, imprisoned. A few were ill, due to the poor conditions that the Ancient Blood Sect disciples kept them in. Still, despite the pain and suffering they endured, a few of the prisoners managed to keep their fighting spirit. These few rallied the other prisoners and got them moving.
One in particular caught my eye: a young man in his mid twenties. He wore a set of gray robes. On impulse, I asked him if he was Cultivator Gray. He was surprised that I knew his name, but answered in the affirmative. I told him that we had met his companions, which had ultimately led us to finding this place. When he heard this, Cultivator Gray was stunned.
After freeing the prisoners, my companions and I looted the immortal cave of everything we could get our hands on. We found pills, materials, jade slips, and more. By the time we finished, it looked like a horde of locusts had devoured everything. However, we set aside a portion for the prisoners. After all, some of it no doubt used to belong to them in the first place.
When it came time to leave the immortal cave, our group discussed what to do with the former prisoners. At first, we planned on leaving them to their own devices after freeing them. However, after seeing the condition they were in, we couldn’t. Rather, we wouldn’t. In their weakened state, they would be easy prey. Even Cultivator Isabel agreed to help them.
In the end, we decided to ferry the former prisoners to Clear Basin City. We planned to head there anyway, so we could use the teleportation array network to the Howling Desert province, so bringing them there wouldn’t delay us in the slightest. We discussed this plan with the former prisoners, which they agreed to. After what they endured, none of them wanted to remain in the area. Maybe some would return to rebuild, but that would be after they regained their strength.
After sorting everything out, the six of us left the immortal cave and headed towards the entrance to the hidden realm where the sacred treasure of the Forest Tiger Sect was located.