John was dumbstruck by everything he had seen. He knew the Bloodfiend Sect was a brutal and bloodthirsty place, but this was still far beyond his expectations.
'It's becoming more and more clear why the Bloodfiend Sect disciples are so strong, and why the Elder's are okay with this. Things like this allow those who win to grow stronger, while it also gets rid of the weaker disciples, and the sect's obligations to raise them. While the Heavenly Lightning Sect seems to value quantity over quality, the opposite is true here. The Bloodfiend Sect only values the cream of the crop. The rest are expendable resources which allow the most talented disciples to climb.'
John hated to admit it, but when it came to the cultivation world, the Bloodfiend Sect's system was definitely superior. The cultivation world valued strength above all, and the Bloodfiend Sect adopted this idea to its fullest extent.
The next fight started, snapping John out of his thoughts. It was between a boy and a girl, both which were Late Core Formation first years. Loud cheers erupted from the crowd as expected, causing John to swivel his head towards the out of pure curiosity. His gaze swept across the stadium near him, seeking to learn as much about the sect's culture as possible.
"Hmm?"
A curious sight entered John's vision, catching his attention. A hundred yards away, away from any of the other disciples, a lone youth sat. It was a boy, who sat in isolation. He didn't cheer with the rest of the crowd, and only watched the battles with a stoic expression. In fact, it seemed as if he didn't enjoy the battles at all.
The youth had short blonde hair, and a youthful, almost child-like face.
There was a strange aura around him, so miniscule as to almost be imperceptible. However, the aura caught John's attention, as it was both familiar and completely foreign at the same time. Additionally, there was no bloodlust or sinister aura emanating from the boy, unlike everyone else in the stadium.
The youth had a cultivation at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm, slightly higher than John's. He seemed to be around the same age as John, revealing that the youth was quite talented.
After a moment of inspection, John stood up and walked over to the youth.
The youth, as if lost in his own thoughts, didn't notice John approaching at all. John walked up to the youth and sat beside him, his actions snapping the youth out of his thoughts. The youth warily looked at John, as if his guard was fully raised.
However, when he saw John make no ill actions towards him, he slightly relaxed.
"What do you want?" the youth asked in an unfriendly tone.
John was slightly surprised by the hostility, but then quickly remembered he was in the Bloodfiend Sect. Everyone here had their guards up at all times, due to the nature of the sect itself.
"I'm just here to introduce myself to you, as you stand out quite a lot here. I'm John," John introduced himself with a friendly smile.
The youth glanced sideways towards John, taking a while to respond.
"Chase," he replied.
"Well Chase, I came over here because you stand out quite a bit," John replied, keeping his voice friendly.
His friendly tone slightly surprised Chase, who fully turned his head to look at John.
"What do you mean by that?" Chase replied, his voice still quite unfriendly.
"I mean, unlike everyone else here, I sense no taboo cultivation arts emanating from you," John replied.
If Chase found his way into the Heavenly Lightning Sect, John would not be able to pick him out of a crowd based on his aura. It was almost as if he cultivated a Honorable Alliance cultivation technique.
"That's because I don't cultivate taboo arts," Chase replied.
John's eyebrows raised slightly as he heard this. "Such a thing is possible? How come I've never seen anyone else in the sect like you then? Isn't it a requirement to cultivate the Blood Tyrant Law?" John asked.
The Blood Tyrant Law was the cultivation technique of the Bloodfiend Sect, and was what all its disciples and Elder's cultivated. Its also what resulted in each disciple and Elder emanating a sinister aura.
Chase looked at John with a suspicious light in his eyes, but replied nonetheless.
"I practice the Pill Dao, which traverses a different cultivation pathway," Chase replied.
"Pill Dao?" John replied, slightly surprised. "How does the Blood Tyrant Law interfere with the Pill Dao? There are plenty of Pill Elder's who practice the Blood Tyrant Law," John replied.
Chase remained silent for a moment before replying.
"My case is...different. I am incompatible with such techniques, and so I cultivate something else," Chase replied, keeping the details sparse.
'Clearly he has some secrets he's guarding closely. I don't know what it is, but I feel as though there's more to this boy than meets the eye.'
"Why are you sitting here alone?" John asked, changing the subject. Clearly Chase did not want to talk about it anymore.
Chase looked at John with an odd expression.
"Why do you want to know so much about me?" Chase asked suspiciously, his guard clearly raised.
"Because I find you interesting is all," John replied casually as he shrugged his shoulders.
Chase stared at John, carefully inspecting him before he sighed.
"I'm here alone because my...cultivation situation has made me something of an outsider in this sect," Chase replied.
John sat there in silence as he listened to chase, understanding his situation. Being different, especially in a place like the Bloodfiend Sect, was clearly a way to become an easy target for other disciples to bully. John could only imagine the types of harassment Chase went through.
"Haaaaa!"
A thunderous uproar erupted within the stadium, as yet another match came to its conclusion. Both John and Chase looked down to the martial arena below, which was being cleaned up and prepared for the next fight.
"What do you think of these fights?" John asked curiously. He had seen Chase watch them, but seemingly in disgust instead of enjoyment.
"They're boring," Chase replied, getting straight to the point.
"Then why are you here? You don't have to be here, right?" John asked.
Chase remained silent, and didn't answer John's question. John dropped the subject, and looked back towards the arena below. The second to last fight had just begun.
The two of them watched the fight carry out for a while before John turned to Chase once more.
"You said you cultivate the Pill Dao, right? What alchemy rank are you?" John asked curiously.
There were many ranks to the Pill Dao, starting at Pill Pupil, then Pill Adept, Pill Baron, Pill King, Pill Emperor, and so on.
Alchemy ranks usually went hand in hand with cultivation ranks, as Pill Pupils were Mist Creation cultivators, while Pill Emperors were Heaven Tribulation cultivators. The reason for this was that pills at each rank required not only a certain level of expertise, but also a certain level of Qi in order to make pills at that rank.
However, being the appropriate cultivation did not guarantee being at that respective Alchemy Rank. There were some Heaven Tribulation pill experts who never became Pill Emperors, no matter how hard they tried. Some were stranded at the Pill King rank or below, their talent too low to push them forward.
Chase's eyes lit up as he heard John's question.
"Pill King," Chase replied. His tone seemed to lighten and become more friendly once John discussed alchemy.
"Pill King!" John exclaimed. "How is that possible? You're only in the Core Formation Realm, and Pill King is for Meridian Forging Pill experts. Shouldn't Pill Baron be the highest you can be?" John asked.
"No," Chase replied. "Alchemy requires two things, alchemy knowledge, and alchemy talent. Talent is determined by how powerful your Qi is, and how well you can use it to create pills. If one's talent and knowledge is high enough, they can jump alchemy ranks, although its extremely rare" Chase explained.
He seemed to become a bit excited, like a child talking about their favorite toy, as if talking about alchemy was his favorite thing. John sat there in silence as he listened to Chase prattle on and on about alchemy.
Although he had only asked one question, Chase began to branch off onto unrelated alchemy topics.
'He's quite child-like. I wonder how a person like him became part of the Bloodfiend Sect.'
John turned his eyes back to the fighting arena below him, while Chase continued to talk about alchemy and the Pill Dao. John did not stop him, as he was learning quite a bit about the Pill Dao from Chase. Not only that, but Chase's withdrawn and guarded nature vanished, and excitement took its place, as he talked to John about alchemy.
John's opinion of Chase began to rise at the same time, as it seemed his guarded nature was merely a defensive tactic used to stay unnoticed.
"Do you cultivate the Pill Dao?" Chase asked.
"No," John replied.
Chase was slightly saddened upon hearing this, but the answer was to be expected. The Pill Dao was looked down upon within the Bloodfiend Sect, as most cultivation techniques used blood instead. Unlike in the Heavenly Lightning Sect where Pill Experts were vaunted high in status, they enjoyed much lower statuses here.
Boom!
The last fight finally ended, as an incredibly powerful attack obliterated one of the fighters. The crowd cheered loudly at the sight, as the monthly life and death battles finally came to an end.
The Elder walked back on stage, and addressed the crowd.
"That concludes this month's life and death battle-"
"Wait," a loud shout erupted from the stadium.
The Elder frowned at having been interrupted, but remained silent as a youth suddenly hopped on stage. He had a cultivation at the Late Core Formation Realm, and all eyes fell on him as he walked towards the Elder.
John raised his eyebrows as he recognized the youth. He was one of the youths in the group that had greeted him as soon as he entered the sect.
The youth turned on his heels and suddenly pointed to a spot in the stadiums. The eyes of all fell on that spot, as they looked at the spot at which he was pointing. Two lone youths sat in that area. The youth on the martial arena shouted out loudly for all the stadium to hear.
"John Harren, I challenge you to a life and death battle!"