John left the arena without pause, since as far as he was concerned, he was done with it. The monthly death battles had already concluded. He had managed to accomplish one of his initial goals, which was to start to make himself stand out.
'I didn't think I'd get an opportunity this early to make myself known to the Elder's and sect at large, but this truly was the perfect opportunity. I didn't even have to do anything myself really. Not only that, but I got a bit of blood essence as a reward. Today has truly been a good day so far.'
John walked forward with a satisfied smile on his face. He strode deeper into the sect, intent on exploring it for a while. His discussion with Chase had revealed that he knew too little about the sect, and needed to learn more. If not, someone could potentially expose him for the imposter he was.
Back in the Arena, silence still blanketed the stadium. All of those within, including the Elder's, were still taking some time to comprehend what had just happened. John had moved with such incredible speed that even some of the Elder's thought they may be slower, and had killed Esker with a single blow.
It had to be known that all essence cultivators instinctively formed a thin layer of translucent Qi around their bodies at all times. This thin layer of Qi was an incredibly good measure to insure that sneak attacks failed most of the time.
Sneak attacks achieved their incredible speed and lethality by sacrificing power. In most cases, the thin layer of Qi would be good enough to deflect such attacks, or at least reduce the damage done. However, John had managed to pierce that Qi layer with ease.
Not only that, but it wasn't even a weapon that had struck the killing blow, but his own hand. Such a thing was many times harder than killing with a weapon, further shocking the crowd.
After some time of shocked silence, the first person finally spoke up.
"What...what the hell just happened?" the boy asked in a confused tone.
As if acting as the trigger for an avalanche, the rest of the stadium immediately erupted into an absolute uproar.
"Seriously, what the hell just happened?"
"Was that really John? Isn't he supposed to be absolutely useless?"
"How the hell did he do that?"
"He must have cheated somehow."
The crowd erupted into thousands of discussions, as everyone within the stadium discussed what they had seen. They had never seen a battle with two opponents in the same realm end so quickly, and the only other people they thought would possibly be capable of such a thing were the Emperors of the sect.
Chase, still sitting alone in the back of the stadium, sat there in silence for some time as well. He eventually stood up without a word and slipped out of the stadium, leaving the clamor of the crowd behind.
John's battle, or execution, was quickly spread throughout the sect. There were many prevailing theories of what had occurred, ranging from cheating with a powerful artifact, to Esker just having his guard down too much, to John somehow obtaining the talent and power of an Emperor.
...
"That bastard!" an angered roar erupted from within a closed off room.
Within the room, several disciples gathered around Meridian Forging disciple, who was lying on a bed. The boy's leg, which had been previously shattered, was now mostly healed.
"What are you going to do, Jacob?" one of the disciples asked.
Jacob was the boy John had run into when he entered the sect. As a result of John injuring Jacob, Esker had tried to get revenge for him. Jacob considered Esker to be like a little brother, and so the news of his passing filled him with unbridled rage.
"I'm going to strip him of all his flesh in front of the entire sect, and make it so that he wished he was never born," Jacob replied angrily through gritted teeth.
...
Unconcerned about the discussions about him, John ventured further into the sect. He passed by hundreds of grand yet foreboding buildings, including a Pill Hall, a Weapon Hall, a Formation Hall and more, but none were what he was looking for.
His vision glanced over the next building in line, and his eyes lit up. The building was a black pagoda, hundreds of yards tall and two hundred yards wide. Glass windows, detailed with ornate designs, covered most of the building's exterior walls. Above the large, open gate at the base of the pagoda read two words.
"Bloodfiend Library!"
'Perfect, this is what I've been looking for.'
John had been searching for the library, to gather as much information about the sect, taboo cultivation, and anything else he needed to know to keep his identity a secret. John strode into the building, which was incredibly grand.
The central portion of the pagoda was completely hollow, which stretched up all the way to the ceiling. A circular staircase at the center of this open space winded up high into the building, all the way to the top. Hundreds of cultivators, most which had their features shrouded by the hoods they wore, walked throughout the library in search of various documents.
The staircase led to each floor, which existed on the perimeter of the building. Each floor seemed to have thousands upon thousands of books. John's eyes lit up at the sight of it, as he had always loved to read.
'There must be at least a hundred thousand books and scrolls here!'
Unlike in the Heavenly Lightning Sect, there were no attendants here to assist John. He quickly found a large board set up at the entrance of the Bloodfiend Library, which contained the locations of all the different categories within the library.
John quickly read through the list, trying to find what he wanted. His eyebrows raised as he read some of the topics.
'Necromancy, Blood Formations, Dual Cultivation, Soul Binding Arts, Demon Summoning's, Poison Arts...what a list.'
John shook his head and continued to read, as none of these topics truly interested him. His eyes finally found what he was looking for.
'Sect Rules and Laws. Floor 2, section 1. Perfect.'
He quickly moved to the listed section, and found nearly a hundred books in the area.
'So many! I don't have time to read all of these.'
John walked towards the shelves which contained all the books, and glanced at each of them. Most covered incredibly obscure and niche topics, and were of no interest to him. His eyes finally lit up upon reading one of the book's covers.
'General Overview of Important Sect Law's and Traditions. Perfect.'
John took the book and found a place to sit down. There were several tables and seats near one of the windows, which John sat at. The window overlooked the street below, which was bustling with activity.
John sat there for the next eight hours, reading away at the book. The book covered many topics relating to the important sect rules and traditions, without going into too much detail. After eight hours, John closed the book and leaned back in his chair. A satisfied smile hung on his face.
'Now I should know most of the important things I need to know about the sect. My identity should be safe for now, as I doubt most of the disciples know this much information about this sect.'
Growl!
John's stomach growled, snapping him out of his thoughts.
'I suppose it had been quite some time since I last ate. Let's see if I can find a place to eat around here.'
John put the book back and quickly left the library. After walking down the street for a few more minutes, the large, grand buildings gave way to a smaller market, of which many of the stalls were selling food. The market had quite a lively atmosphere, and seemed to contain more merchants than disciples and Elder's of the sect.
John quickly ordered a meal, and scarfed it down, which was a bowl of noodles, with a blood sausage on the side.
'Not bad. At least this place knows how to make some good food. Guess I'll head back to my abode for now.'
Halfway back to his home, he hopped onto a small trail that entered a wooded area. The trail he was on was rather unoccupied, and was just a foot trail which cut through one of the small forests in the sect. It was the fastest route back to his house, and so John had taken it.
While on the trail, he heard a commotion coming from within the woods to his left, piquing his interest.
'Hmmm, what's going on?'
Deciding to remain stealthy, John concealed his aura to the best of his abilities, almost completely eliminating his aura, which made him almost undetectable. He snuck through the nearby foliage, at which point the forest turned into a field, and the source of the commotion came into view. His eyes lit up, then, quickly narrowed, at the sight before him.
In the far distance, nearly five hundred yards away, hundreds of captives or slaves, each bound in chains, were being escorted through the sect. The captives were all mortals, and each looked as miserable as the next.
The sound of a whip cracking echoed out, along with pained cries and loud shouts.
"Get moving, or you'll get another lashing!"
The slaves were following several Elder's, who walked to a nearby base of a towering cliff. The smooth cliff spanned up hundreds of yards high into the sky, at which point a sloped mountain took over.
The leading Elder uttered some words, although John was not sure what was said, and suddenly, red formation lines lit up on the base of the cliff. The lines quickly spread, until a large outline of a door came into view. The cliff walls suddenly parted open, revealing a glowing interior within.
'What's going on?'
He could not see what was inside the mysterious chamber, but the chamber flickered from within with bright light, as if roaring flames existed inside. The incredibly faint sound of screams echoed out from within, causing many of the slaves to shudder and attempt to retreat. However, the Elder's did not allow such a thing to happen, and the slaves were quickly led inside the mysterious chamber. As the last Elder entered the mysterious opening, the cliffside doors began to close, and quickly reverted to its previous state.
The base of the cliff, which was moments ago the entrance to some mysterious area, quickly returned to normal, as if nothing had ever happened.
'What the hell was that?'