John's eyebrows raised slightly at the man's words. Although he knew the Holy Lands was impressive based on his fathers description, this was still far beyond anything he could have imagined.
'Tens of thousands of juniors my age in the Qi Condensation Realm! And thats just the bare minimum required to join the sect. Back home, the five peak powers only managed to have ten Qi Condensation juniors at Qi Condensation, and most of them were sixteen, but here they appear in the thousands. Just how amazing is this place?'
John was shocked by this revelation, but when he thought about the Qi density of this land, it began to make sense. Cultivating here would be much faster than cultivating back home.
"If you're truly thinking of joining a sect in these lands, you should think of other sects. Below the four great sects are the sixteen first tier sects, and below them are the one hundred and twenty eight second tier sects. There are even untold amounts of third and fourth tier sects. I'm sure one of those would be more suitable for you."
John listened to the man's words closely, doing his best to learn as much about this land as possible.
"First Tier? Second Tier? What are the tiers?" John asked curiously.
"To put it simply, they are strength levels of both the elders and juniors of the sect. The four great sects are stronger than the first tier sects, which are stronger than the second, and so on. The more powerful a sect, the harder the requirements are to join."
The man paused for a moment before continuing.
"As you can see, there are thousands and thousands of sects in these lands. One of them will surely be suitable for you."
John continued to listen to the man's words closely, and had established a rough power hierarchy for the Yuan Continent Holy Lands.
"Just how large is this land, that it can fit thousands and thousands of sects? Does each sect only occupy a small piece of land?" John asked. If thousands of sects were to fit in his homeland, each sect would only control a very small amount of land.
"The Yuan Continent is roughly one hundred thousand miles across, and is shaped relatively circular, hence the name. The four great sects are located in the very center of the land, spaced equally around the Qi whirlpool...the area you were just outside of. This is where the Qi density is the highest. The first tier sects occupy the next set of land, and so on until you reach the coasts, where the Qi density is the least."
The man thought for a moment before adding another clarifying piece of information.
"Other than sects however, there are many clans, kingdoms, and independent cities as well that occupy the land throughout the continent, and they too have varying power structures. But many of them are as strong as first tier sects, so you can't look down on any of them."
'So many powers! Should I maybe try to join one of those instead? No, I need to join the Heavenly Lightning Sect. It's perfectly suited for my cultivation, and the stronger the power I join, the greater the chance I have to get home.'
After coming to a decision on which power he should attempt to join, John addressed the man once more.
"I may be on the low side of the cultivation spectrum, but I can guarantee that I am among the most promising junior's you'll find," John responded resolutely.
An amused expression appeared on the man's face. "Is that so? Then tell me, how do you stand above those with higher cultivation's than you?"
"Well, for starters, I have a lightning attribute body," John responded bluntly.
"Pfft..cough..What?" The man was completely caught unprepared by this statement, and slightly choked on his own spit.
"Don't joke around boy. Attribute bodies, especially lightning attribute bodies don't appear willy nilly. If you have a lightning attribute body, then demonstrate it." A smug look hung on the man's face, indicating that he didn't believe John one bit.
John frowned but was undeterred. He had to enter the sect. Getting information and help from the sect would be much better than trying to do so alone.
"Unfortunately, I do not know any lightning battle arts yet. If you don't believe me, then test me. You're from the sect right? So you should be able to use lightning based attacks. Strike me with lightning that would normally overwhelm an early Qi Condensation junior."
"What? Are you crazy?" The man was completely caught off guard constantly by John's actions. He closely examined John's expression, and saw no hint of falsity.
"Alright, but if you get injured or die, don't complain to me."
The man was slightly hesitant to do so, but the boy in front of him requested it. He only had himself to blame if things went wrong.
The man outstretched his hand, and incredibly powerful lightning began to crackle and flow on his palm and between his fingers. Just this small bit of lightning felt as if it could destroy mountains and raze sects to the ground.
John stared in awe at the lightning, and his desire to obtain such a power increased even more.
'I need to join this sect!'
The power of the lightning began to diminish, until it was at a level that no longer gave John any feeling of mortal danger.
"This is the amount of lightning that would overwhelm any normal early Qi Condensation junior. Are you sure you want to go through with this?" the man asked.
"Yep, go ahead," John replied bluntly.
The man was surprised by John's response. He had expected John to see the power of the lightning and back down in fright, but he remained undeterred.
"Either you truly do have a lightning attribute body, or you're completely crazy. Let's find out."
The lightning dancing over the man's hand suddenly shot out, piercing directly towards John's shoulder.