5 days later...

"Haaaah..." Jian Yu exhaled deeply as his body had mostly recovered.

After absorbing an abundance of qi, he felt rejuvenated and could feel that he was advancing faster towards the 6th stage of qi condensation.

Sadly, the seemingly endless supply of thick spiritual energy had apparently halted after his fifth consecutive day in seclusion. After some thought, Jian Yu concluded that nobody should have all the resources to themselves.

"After all, not even the best genius gets all the resources of a large organisation..."

Thus, he didn't take this minor shortage of spiritual energy to heart and shook it off as being forced to give some of his fortune to others. To be popular amongst the masses, you have to act generously and disdain from acting too greedily. Although Jian Yu knew that, he was always reluctant to do so. In fact, that was actually one of his father's personal teachings that he remembered vividly.

Jian Yu got up and headed for the door. He was thinking of bringing Huan Jiao along this time but seeing that Huan Jiao was sound asleep on it's back, he opted not to.

Just as Jian Yu was about to exit his residence, he noticed that as Huan Jiao was sleeping, his aura was getting stronger!

Previously, Huan Jiao was only at the 4th level of qi condensation. Currently, he was advancing towards the 5th in his sleep!

Jian Yu felt a string pull at his heart as he envied how easy it was for Huan Jiao to advance in strength. As for him, he... actually had it easy as well. All it took were a few lucky encounters with medicinal pills for him to advance.

However, the difference lied in the fact that Huan Jiao had seemingly advanced by eating demonic beasts' flesh. Then, he looked at himself. Hasn't he been eating demonic beasts as well? Why wasn't he feeling any advancements in strength?

Then, realisation hit him.

"Perhaps it's because I'm not a demonic beast like Huan Jiao is. By eating demonic beasts, I'm just strengthening the demonic aura within me, not my cultivation base."

Jian Yu sighed at the sight of the upsidedown Huan Jiao advancing before heading out.

An hour later, he was caught by the vigilant watch of Tan Duo, standing close to where they had met before. From his eyes, Jian Yu noticed a bit of concern and hints of admiration.

"Ahh, brother Jian, I didn't know you had a unique background like yours truly. No wonder you were able to mock that bastard Li Ming," he exclaimed, laughing heartily.

"Of course I do. Did you know, with my talents, the Grand Elder came up to me and praised me before telling me of the Blood Reaches Sect's location?" Jian Yu explained with his chin pointing upwards every so slightly, showing off some of his past arrogance.

Hearing this bit of news, Tan Duo took out a jade slip and began to record down the fresh information right in front of Jian Yu.

"What's that?" Jian Yu asked, curious as to why Tan Duo was recording his 'unimportant' origins.

"It's an old habit. Before that damned Li Ming arrived, I was actually on good terms most of the disciples in the outer sect. Naturally, I became the information broker when it came to gossips."

Jian Yu's eyes lit up at the reveal of Tan Duo's true role in the outer sect.

"Alas, when that Li Ming came, he instantly hated me the moment I tried to get to know him. He says he hated my 'kind'," Tan Duo's eyes watered up as he recalled certain occasions where he had been shamed and bullied to the point where his friends who were threatened by Fatty's status distanced themselves from him, choosing to forsake him.

This story made Jian Yu feel depressed as well. This was very similar to his own story after the elemental affinity test a while back. Before the truth hit him, he had already felt that something was off about his 'friends', allowing him to be more prepared for the worst. However, Tan Duo's misfortune had come suddenly with the arrival of the big bully Fatty.

In reality, Tan Duo's story was also a bit exaggerated. He hadn't been that popular in the outer sect and nobody truly liked him. What they were after were the juicy gossips that came with him. In addition to his lack of shocking talent for cultivation or anything else, he truly fit the role of a sort of messenger.

As Jian Yu and Tan Duo sulked on the spot, an energetic voice made it's way into their ears.

"Tan Duo, Jian Yu!"

Both of them turned to the source of the sound. While Jian Yu was confused, Tan Duo was simply elated.

"Tian Yu!" Tan Duo shouted, running towards him for a manly embrace.

Rumbling filled Jian Yu's mind and his eyes sunk back a short distance. Images of Tian Yu of the past overlapped the figure he was looking at currently.

Immediately, Jian Yu knew that he was indeed looking at Tian Yu. The huge and steeled muscles were still there and the height was roughly the same at 170cm. However, the biggest difference was centered around his head. Back then, his hair was short and tidy. Now, he was actually bald! Furthermore, the eyes that used to look at Jian Yu with scorn and arrogance were now lost. Now, they were replaced by a faint warmth.

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"Hey Tian Yu, my old buddy. Can't believe you're here!" Jian Yu passionately greeted, then his face twisted to some degree as he recalled an incident of the past. "I'm sorry for technically stealing your qi gathering pills in the past."

"That's fine, I'm just glad another cultivator of Acirema is alive and well," Tian Yu said, his voice plummeting to a murmur near the end.

However, Jian Yu clearly heard the words spoken and asked with a quivering voice, "Is Acirema... gone?"

Tian Yu blinked rapidly to hide any forming tears before answering what seemed to be an excruciatingly tough yet simple question. As for Tan Duo, he was eagerly waiting at the side, listening to every word mentioned.

"Not exactly. Elder Chou Tai said that the city was burned down to the ground and there were no survivors of the six Great sects and families. Only the commoners who survived and didn't cultivate were spared. Me and 5 others from the former six Great sects and families in the Blood Reaches Sect are what's left of Acirema's future..."

Jian Yu's mind went blank as he processed the information. Acirema's very roots had been pulled out, demolishing any possible outcome of the city rebelling. He was then reminded of the two people who truly had showed some care towards him; his father an be Uncle Xie. Those two were truly the only people that Jian Yu cared about in Acirema, causing his hidden worry to worsen.

"Due to our exemplary talents, me and the other five are known as the 'six geniuses'. They don't have a good naming sense here..." Tian Yu added, proud of his title.

Then his face turned serious in the next moment, his eyes focused solely on Jian Yu.

"Jian Yu, you're going to take back our homeland right?" He asked, emphasising every single word he said.

Jian Yu stared back at Tian Yu's blazing gaze. Everything about Tian Yu right now revealed his deep desire for vengeance. To him, he had lost everything he had; his home, family, wealth and status. Jian Yu pitied him and even felt a strong sense of admiration. Unlike him, Tian Yu had been living every day of the past months thinking of finding a way to take back what was rightfully his. Hence, whether Jian Yu wanted to take back Acirema or not didn't matter anymore. He would show his full support

"Sure I will, bal~dy."

Tian Yu's heart relaxed as he felt his burden lighten a bit more at Jian Yu's response but it quickly hastened as his face reddened in anger. But before he could take his pent up rage on Jian Yu, he began to flounce away from the scene.

Just before he did so, he told Jian Yu, "I'll tell the others that you joined our cause."

"Damn, it must be tough for you guys to lose your home just like that. I don't even know where my home is..." Tan Duo commented, a gloomy look on his face.

Jian Yu nudged his shoulder and told him to not mind it. Afterwards, he urged him to follow him on a mission to kill demonic beasts for the sake of getting rich. Inside, he was just getting worried since he was actually running out of demonic beasts' flesh.

Tan Duo quickly expressed his shock and reminded Jian Yu of the dangers out of the sect. Tan Duo's strength was at the 4th stage of qi condensation, a stage lower than Jian Yu. In the Black Beast Forest, the demonic beasts'strength could range from the qi condensation stage up to the Elemental Core stage!

"Even if we stay within the safer regions, we're still in danger of encountering peak qi condensation demonic beasts!" He pointed out.

Following that, Jian Yu just stuck up a finger and said, "I have talismans that cab form attacks that can kill those demonic beasts. We'll be invincible!"

Tan Duo felt a rush of energy suddenly erupt at the mention of killing peak qi condensation demonic beasts and nearly shouted too loud, "let's go!"

Time passed by as they made their way to the mission boards noisily. On the way there, Tan Duo explained to Jian Yu that every outer sect disciple could only accept 5 missions a month from a single mission board. The missions will have varying difficulties so the rewards will then be increased accordingly. As such, each sect disciple had to carefully pick the most profitable mission, promoting a growth in self management.

Eventually, they mixed in with the crowd who are similarly interested in killing demonic beasts. To Jian Yu's surprise, it was actually smaller than what he had just seen the last time. Additionally, there were also a lot less jade slips on the board than what he had seen previously.

"Demonic beasts in the Black Beast Forest somehow appear. When the forest's cleared of demonic beasts, we take some time to let things get back to the way things were," Tan Duo explained.

Jian Yu's eyes flashed with understanding as he recalled his stressful time traversing through the Black Beast Forest previously.

"Back then, the outer sect disciples must have been letting the forest repopulate... How unfortunate..."

Their eyes shifted to the jade slips on the board and plucked off two that hung in the section of the board mostly untouched, the 'peak qi condensation' section. There, only missions related to killing peak qi condensation demonic beasts were placed.

As for the reason they were untouched, that was because of the fact that there were not many peak qi condensation stage cultivators in the outer sect currently. Those cultivators had already moved up into the Elemental Pagoda stage.

Anyways, after plucking off the two jade slips, Jian Yu and Tan Duo each infused a single jade slip with their own qi, reading the given information of the task.

When Jian Yu infused it with qi, the words of a middle-aged man echoed through his mind, "Bring in the heart, horns and core of the Bluehorn Bull and you shall be rewarded with 75 spirit stones."

The two heard their respective tasks and then shared the information with the other.

"What's a core?" Jian Yu asked, curious of this evidently important part of the Bluehorn Bull.

"Oh, the demonic core. It's some round, tough ball present in every demonic beast's body, it's where their qi is concentrated in. Additionally, it also advances our cultivation base when consumed," Tan Duo explained, looking every bit like a teacher.

Jian Yu's jaw loosened and his mouth opened up wide in incredulity. Everytime he scavenged the remains of a demonic beast, he would always overlook this one small 'rock' that was placed under their hearts. He thought that they were some weird kidney stones or something. In the end, they were one of the most important parts...

Shoving his disappointment in himself aside, he pushed Tan Duo towards the teleportation arrays on the stage behind the mission boards, eager to solve his coming food shortage. The teleportation arrays were where sect disciples going out to hunt would go to in order to reach the surface. The arrays would transport them into the center of the safer regions where qi condensation demonic beasts are much more numerous.

After some waiting, he finally stood atop the teleportation array alongside the similarly excited Tan Duo. He subsequently gave the person in charge of managing the array to go ahead with the teleportation with a wave of his arm.

Suddenly, his vision swam as the Blood Reaches Sect disappeared around him only to be replaced by the scenery of a forest. To his side still stood Tan Duo, free of worries.

"The hunt... begins!"