Contrary to Jian Yu's expectations, he didn't get a good night's sleep at all. Through it all, he kept waking up sporadically for short intervals before elapsing back to sleep. Each time, he woke up to a different nightmare. More accurately, they were recollections of the past.
Jian Yu recalled the day disaster struck Acirema, and all the blood and gore that he witnessed. Vivid memories of mutilated bodies had surprisingly rooted themselves in Jian Yu's mind.
He also recalled the time he killed off two bandits like it was nothing. Back then, he treated them as moneybags and mere test subjects for his talismans. Yet, in his recollection, the bandits were replaced by the figures of his father and Uncle Xie only to be killled in cold blood by Jian Yu. Regret popped out of nowhere in Jian Yu's heart as he was jolted out of sleep.
The final nightmare was of Jian Yu fighting off an endless horde of demonic beasts, only to die in the end.
On the bed, he tossed and he turned. All this time, he wanted a good nap only to have it shoved back in his face. He heaved a long and displeased sigh before getting off the bed. He changed into the garments handed to him by the woman from before, dropped a hunk of meat on the floor for Huan Jiao, and headed out.
He didn't realise it before but when he took a deep breathe the moment he stepped out, the spiritual energy was much stronger here than any place he's ever been in, even the Ferocity Sect!
Then, he looked to where he heard the steady burble of water to his side. Streams of purple blood flowed downstream perpendicularly to his position.
From what he could tell, residences were typically near the edge of the landmass in the middle of the river. However, Jian Yu's residence was nowhere close to anybody's residence and was also the closest to the building he visited yesterday. As such, he hadn't seen any other disciples or any training grounds.
From what he saw the previous day, he estimated the size of the landmass to be comparable with around a tenth of the size of Acirema. Although it sounds small, it could still hold up thousands of sect disciples. As for the mountains and the monument, Jian Yu could only imagine how big they were exactly.
As he slowly strolled through the landmass lit up by luminescent stones, he heard explosions and the continuous bashing of fists. His gaze sharpened and he could see in the distance, a large pit at the center of the landmass where multiple cultivators are fighting amongst themselves.
Before he could get a closer look, somebody tapped his shoulder. Jian Yu instinctually turned back and hardened himself.
"Heya! Are you a new outer sect disciple? I'm Tan Duo, nice to meet you! Are you always so unwelcoming? Haha," the voice of an enthusiastic young man entered Jian Yu's ears.
Jian Yu relaxed and replied, "Sorry about that, it's been my lifestyle for a couple of months. My name's Jian Yu. This is the outer sect? We're in the center of it."
"Believe me, this is the outer sect. Anyways, your name's Fried Fish?" He responded.
They chatted on and on for only a few minutes yet Jian Yu could already feel that he was going to be well acquainted with this young man.
Tan Duo had no redeemable features regarding his physique but his charming face combined with his elegant smile caused him to be irresistibly attractive. The black and red garments which would have dulled any character seemed to have brightened when worn by him.
"What's that pit over there?" asked Jian Yu, his finger pointing behind him.
"It's called the Brawler's Pit. It's where we settle any disputes over anything." Tan Duo's face darkened at the mention of the Brawler's Pit but recovered it's former zealousness an instant later. "Actually, now that you've brought it up, I just remembered you're actually new in the sect. Come, I'll bring you around. It's been a while since I had somebody like you to talk with."
Tan Duo then began to walk around the Brawler's Pit with Jian Yu behind him. The two of them continued their small talk
An hour later, they were walking through a marketplace selling off sets of equipments and jade bottles filled with medicinal pills.
Disciples were walking to and fro between the various stalls. The disciples inspected the various goods from a distance. Some would approach the stalls and hand over a specific amount of spirit stones before leaving with whatever they bought in their bags of holding. Some fled straight afterwards with cautious looks in their eyes while others seemed nonchalant about others knowing of their wealth.
According to Tan Duo, the entire marketplace was manned by golems made by Blood Reaches Sect so that nobody would be able to get any discounts at all. The prices were set and the disciples will follow them.
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Jian Yu started to stare at a full set of golden armor which glimmered under the light of the luminescent stones. It's magnificence rivaled the very sun that didn't exist in the Blood Reaches Sect.
"Interested? Don't even think about it. That thing costs a fortune," Tan Duo mentions. "A thousand spirit stones to be exact..."
Immediately after, Jian Yu locked away any feelings of desire towards that suit of armor in his heart. He didn't even have any spirit stones, just a hundred handy talismans.
Afterwards, they circled around the Brawler's Pit yet again to arrive at another location. This time, there was a crowd of people gathering around 4 5-meter boards. On the boards were numerous jade slips. Some of them were then occasionally plucked off by the sect disciples.
Beside the 4 boards, there was a long wooden desk with another 4 columns of sect disciples lining up in front of it. At the front of the lines, another sect disciple could be seen.
"The boards are where sect disciples accept missions, you can hand over the jade slips along with the proof of completion to those people over there," said Tan Duo, pointing his index finger towards the four lines.
"Missions?" Asked Jian Yu.
"Four boards, four areas of expertise. Forging, alchemy, talisman crafting, and just plain ol' killing demonic beasts. Most people here just choose to kill beasts, it's easier. However, the reward isn't that fulfilling since there's a lot of people taking part in it."
"If you really want a profit, forging and alchemy are areas where there's never enough helpers."
Jian Yu took all of this information in slowly. Where he was currently should be one of the most important areas in the outer sect. This was where people worked for riches, it must certainly be important.
"It's too bad that blacksmithing isn't there," Jian Yu casually mentioned whilst shaking his head.
"Actually, forging is a combination of blacksmithing and formation inscribing. It's complicated but not as much as alchemy. You have experience in blacksmithing?" Tan Duo raised an eyebrow at Jian Yu's mention of blacksmithing.
"No, not really. Just a few days worth of experience. Not much at all," Jian Yu replied, laughing at the end.
"I'm actually much more experienced killing off demonic beasts," he continued.
They quickly started to move on towards the next stop in the outer sect as they had no interest in checking on the missions available.
"Can you tell me how have your dreams been lately?" Jian Yu requested on a whim.
Then, Tan Duo shot him an odd look and answered, "We don't have dreams."
Jian Yu felt his heart shake at the answer that he did not expect at all. Cultivators do not dream? Then, why did he have to lose a good nap?
The rest of the trip got a bit more silent as Jian Yu was trying to grasp the reason behind his nightmares.
Was his heart not strong enough to handle the world of cultivation?
Cutting him off from his thoughts, Tan Duo coughed dryly and turned Jian Yu's gaze towards four stone steles in front of him by suddenly lifting his chin upwards.
The stone steles were perhaps 20-meters tall with strange symbols carved into them on every corner. The stone steles were arranged in a shape similar to a rhombus with a gap where the corners should be, allowing disciples to move into the center area of the stone steles. Each of them looked ordinary at a glance but the groups of outer sect disciples sitting down around them showed that they were far from it.
A few of the disciples then stood up slowly to leave, but sighed emotionally before staring back at the stone steles in reverence briefly.
"Now, this is the most important location in the outer sect. There's no official name for it so we just call them the Stone Steles. There's no other stone steles here so we stuck to it," Tan Duo looked up at each of the stone steles with a gaze similar to that of the disciples that left earlier.
"Each stone stele represents one of the 4 basic elements of Heaven and Earth. A sect Elder once preached in the middle of the stone steles. 'Meditate under the stone steles, aquire masteries over the elements,' he said. Years passed as we continued meditating underneath the stone steles and many Chosen have risen in the Blood Reaches Sect," Tan Duo's eyes drifted off the stone steles as he recalled a glorious story he had been told of. He continued on with the history of the stone steles and Blood Reaches Sect which Jian Yu eagerly listened to.
Meanwhile, Jian Yu's eyes were attracted to a marking on the stone stele closest to him of a mountain descending onto the Earth from the Heavens. The marking appeared very simple such that even Jian Yu could draw it. However, it seemed to contain a trace of a great profundity of the world around him.
The world around him blurred and rumbled, bringing about a feeling of destruction. However, before he could revel in the ambience of it all, his connection to it was immediately shut off and he was brought back to reality.
"And that's why the Blood Reaches Sect kidnaps random rogue cultivators to be recruited every few years," Tan Duo finished. "Speaking of which, you weren't kidnapped were you? Ah, that means you're the seventh this year..."
Afterwards, he exhaled sharply as complicated emotions surfaced in recollection of the past.
As for Jian Yu, he wasn't paying attention to Tan Duo anymore. He was instead fixated on that feeling from before while the words 'meditate under the stone steles, acquire masteries over the elements' echoed through his mind.
Then he pursed his lips and immediately sat down as he grew obsessed on seeking enlightenment. His eyes stayed rooted on the marking he saw earlier, failing to acknowledge his defeat. Tan Duo noticed this and backed away from Jian Yu who joined in the crowds of disciples seeking enlightenment.
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After half an hour passed by since he started to walk back towards his residence, he was intercepted by a big, almost round, silhouette. In the dim light, it would look like a steam bun that had grown arms and legs but Tan Duo's mind skipped past that comedic metaphor and cried out, "You!"
In front of him was a bully that only entered the sect recently. However, in that short span of time, he had advanced spectacularly to the 4th stage of qi condensation!
Due to his talent, many of the sect Elders have taken notice and decided it acceptable for him to take advantage of a few sect disciples.
Unfortunately, Tan Duo was one of the few and so were his friends. For some reason, the bully especially enjoyed bullying him and openly at that. Due to that, very few sect disciples were even close to willing to befriend him. As such, he was left to talk to himself in his lonesome. As for his friends, some hide in their residences while others mysteriously disappeared.
"I heard that there's a new sect disciple that you seem all chummy with," he said with his breath reeking of vile intentions.
"I'd like to meet him."