Silence filled the ship as John answered the Elders question. They all had looks of disbelief on their faces, as if they had heard wrong.
"Surely you're joking," Elder Rein couldn't help but reply.
John was only in the Late Core Formation Realm. Jumping to the Middle Meridian Forging Realm was akin to jumping three minor realms. Even jumping one minor realm was considered only a thing reserved for the most absolute of talents, let alone two. However, John had claimed to be able to jump three minor realms, which was far too shocking for them to believe.
What they didn't know was that if John's body was also at the Late Core Formation Realm, not only would he be able to fight against a Middle Meridian Forging Expert, but would also have a chance to kill them.
"I'm not joking, but I won't waste my time to convince you either," John replied calmly.
Elder Rein fell into a deep silence, as did the rest of the squadron with mixed expressions. Some believed he was embellishing his combat prowess, while others looked at him as if he were a monster.
John stood there calmly with Kirii beside him, unconcerned of what each of them thought.
"The Vice-Sect Leader herself vouched for you, so I'll trust her judgement and believe you," Elder Rein replied. "With this in mind, our battle strategy has changed, and our odds of victory improved. Here's what we will do."
…
"Get back in line!"
Crack!
"Gahhhh"
The sound of a whip striking flesh, followed by a pained cry rang out, filling the forest around them with the pained echo. A group of men and women, clad in blood red robes, could be seen escorting hundreds of women and children.
Panicked, feared, and tearful expressions filled the faces of all the women and children, as they were helpless to do anything about their fates. Each of them had been happily going about their daily lives this morning, when hell descended on them.
Without warning, over a dozen blood-red robed cultivators had descended from the skies and invaded their village, like reapers of death. The men of the village tried to fight back, but were like children fighting against adults. Each of them were slaughtered without mercy, and those were the lucky ones.
The women and children had eventually been gathered together, and had to watch many of the men be tortured to death in cruel and sadistic ways. There seemed to be no purpose to the torture other than pleasure derived by those carrying it out.
The cries of despair and pain were still fresh in the minds of the women and children.
"Mom!"
The worried cry of a child rang out as a small girl ran towards the woman who had just been whipped.
"Kaya, get back," the woman yelled out.
Crack!
A whip struck the woman once more, as another pained cry rang out.
"Control your child, or the next whip will be for her," the man who had done the whipping instructed, his voice slightly tinged with amusement.
The woman stood up slowly, as blood trickled down her back. She fell back in line with the rest of the woman and children, as her child fell deeply in her embrace.
"Mom! Are you alright?" The little girl asked with tears in her eyes.
"I'm...I'm fine," the woman replied, doing her best to mask the pain in her eyes. The pain was not only the physical pain she felt at the moment, but the emotional pain as well. Although she didn't know exactly what was going on, it was easy to tell that their situation was dire.
She could only imagine what was in store for them in the future, which nearly made her cry out in anguish upon thinking what would happen to her daughter. However, the woman kept a strong face on for her child, and stood up to walk with the group once more.
"Keep your pace, we don't have all day," the man instructed.
To the side of the group, two younger boys, also clad in blood red robes, were walking and keeping an eye on the group.
"Why don't we just fly back to the Sect, each carrying a few of these captives?" one of the boys asked. He had sandy blonde hair, a fairly powerful looking body, and an average looking face. His cultivation was at the Late Core Formation Realm, as was the other boys.
"It's your first mission, so I suppose you wouldn't know. Transporting mortals is quite tricky. Their bodies are too weak to be carried by flight, as the slightest force on them could kill them," the other boy replied.
"Then why don't we just take a flying ship instead. Wouldn't it be faster that way?" the boy asked another question.
"Do you think flying ships grow on trees?" the second boy replied. "Our mission isn't deemed important enough to give a flying ship to upfront. Only after we capture a certain amount of captives will one of the Elder's send a sound transmission to the sect. At that point, they will send a flying ship to pick all of us up," the boy explained.
"Oh, I suppose that makes sense," the first boy replied.
His face turned to one of delight as he thought of the rewards for completing this mission. He would receive quite a handsome reward of spirit crystals for completing this mission, which he desperately needed at the moment.
His look of delight quickly turned into one of anger and disgust as he felt something hit his back. He turned around, and saw a boy, around twelve, had stumbled and tripped into him. The boy was incredibly dirty from their journey through the forest, and had accidentally dirtied the robe of the Bloodfiend boy.
"Idiot," the blonde haired Bloodfiend Sect disciple yelled out. The back of his hand struck the boy in the face, sending him flying backwards a few feet.
The small boy cried out in pain, as several teeth flew out of his bloodied mouth.
"You're lucky I can't kill you, or you would have had a much worse fate than that," the Bloodfiend Sect youth barked out.
The two Bloodfiend Sect youths watched as the small boy painfully scurried back with the rest of the captives, while the older youth smiled as he smiled mockingly at the blonde haired boy.
"You look like one of them now, with that dirt and grime on you. Maybe you should join them," he smugly mocked.
"Shut up," the blonde haired boy replied, but didn't do anything to the other boy. The other Bloodfiend boy was stronger, and so he didn't dare attack him for his words.
"When we get back to the sect, I'll be sure to make that captive boy regret each day he was bor-"
Bang!
A loud bang suddenly sounded out, as something violently struck the earth where the captives were standing. Dust and dirt kicked up in the air, obscuring the vision of all. The dust quickly faded, revealing a glowing formation of light, which surrounded all the captives. The captives were all alive, and completely shocked. They tried to leave the barrier, but were unable to do so, while those outside were also unable to break the barrier easily.
"We're under attack. Prepare for battle," a Bloodfiend Sect Elder instructed loudly as he suddenly dashed to the sky above.
Loud bangs immediately began to sound out from above from attacks being exchanged.
The sandy-blonde haired boy was completely shocked by such an event, but quickly smiled sinisterly.
"Good. It's been a while since I've whetted my blade with the blood of another cultivator. It seems like my luck has turned around quite nicely," the boy yelled out loud as a battle cry while a large smile hung on his face.
He took out his weapon, which was a blood red scythe, and prepared to dash into the sky to join the battle as well, when a person suddenly appeared before him. It was a boy his age, with long black hair, a handsome face, and dark, piercing eyes.
The black haired boy smiled at with a mocking expression, and spoke out with a cold yet amused tone.
"Unfortunately for you, your luck has just run out."