Liu Jian and Liu Changpun, as well as the Grand Elder, Lan Hong, had just read the report of the damages that the inner sect had suffered when Liu Jian suddenly realized that Liu Mei was missing.
An uncomfortable feeling appeared in his heart as he remembered Liu Mei heading towards the outer city of the 'Floating Cloud sect'.
Without wasting any more time, Liu Jian flew directly towards the outer city by himself.
Seeing their sect master suddenly getting flustered for no reason, the Elders around him looked at each other confused before they chose to follow behind him.
At the same time, on the 'red-winged condor's' back, Liu Mei looked at the crowd of outer disciples who had already gathered curiously in the ground below her, and after taking a deep breath, her eyes shone with a bright light as her voice suddenly resounded throughout the entire 'Floating Cloud city' as she said seriously
''Outer disciples of the 'Floating Cloud sect', quickly gather here!
My name is Liu Mei, and I am your sect master's daughter. Today I have something very important to announce to all of you!''
The moment that he heard these words, Liu Jian increased his speed with an angry look in his eyes.
For a moment, he had even forgotten the terror of the black-armored knights.
Liu Mei had an announcement to make? There was no way that Liu Jian was going to allow this!
More and more outer disciples had gathered in the ground below the 'red-winged condor' that Liu Mei and Lin Huefeng were riding on.
Seeing the dozen 3m(12ft) tall undead knights leading an army of 200 skeletons, all of them floating in the air around Liu Mei, a feeling of terror as well as curiosity had welled up in the outer disciples' hearts.
''Senior sister Liu?''
A thin and bald young man dressed in yellow robes, who seemed to be around 1.8m(5.10ft) tall, was the first one to break the silence between the outer disciples as he looked at Liu Mei in the sky.
Lowering her head, Liu Mei seemed to have recognized this young man, as she nodded her head at him.
''Senior brother Kang Sun?''
''It's really senior brother Kang! Does that mean that that young woman is really our sect master's daughter?''
''Of course! Since senior brother Kang has already recognized her identity there is no question about it. Senior brother Kang wouldn't lie!''
In the past 1 year, since Wen Zihao had left the sect along with Shun Long and the rest of the people who wanted to travel to the 'Night star continent', Kang Sun had already become the person ranked first in the arena.
Despite not being allowed to enter the 'Vermilion realm' since he had refused to follow after Liu Changpun, he should have originally been left behind by the people who had met with fortuitous encounters in there.
However, after Wen Zihao was gone, no one in the outer city was actually strong enough to defeat him and take first place from him, including the young woman who was previously ranked 3rd, Tong Yueying.
This had caused Kang Sun's prestige to rise even further, and be practically at the same level as Wen Zihao's in the past.
Shun Long who was still standing in the sky high above the clouds with Fu Li, nodded his head once he saw Kang Sun, before he turned his gaze towards the fatty next to him and said seriously
''Fatty, that guy has a good character. It's not a bad idea to take him in your family. If he declines, it's fine, but if he agrees, you know that he will be honest and follow you faithfully.''
Although Shun Long hadn't interacted with Kang Sun personally, he had still managed to grasp the most basic traits of his character, which was why he suggested to Fatty Fu to take care of him.
As for whether Kang Sun really wanted to follow fatty or not, that would be up to him.
After all, Shun Long understood what Liu Mei was intending to do and knew, that this was probably going to change the structure of the entire sect after today.
Taking a deep breath, Liu Mei nodded her head as she continued
''It's time for you to learn the true face of the sect. Otherwise, you will only realize that this is a prison once it's too late.''
Before Liu Mei could finish her words, Liu Jian had quickly appeared a few tens of meters away from her, only stopping when he caught sight of the familiar army of skeletons surrounding his daughter.
With an angry look on his face, he pointed at Liu Mei and said in a furious tone
''Liu Mei! You have no right to reveal the secrets of the sect! If you want to take revenge on me you have long since overstepped your bounds!''
The moment that the crowd saw the angry sect master arriving, they all fell silent like a group of cicadas in the winter.
Most outer disciples had never even seen the sect master before, let alone know that he had fought with Liu Mei earlier.
Only the Elders and the inner disciples of the inner city knew about this matter, and of course, they wouldn't spread it to the outer disciples no matter what.
Liu Mei shook her head as she looked back at Liu Jian, and with a serious look in her eyes she answered solemnly
''This is not about revenge.
'Father', don't act as if you really are blind.
You know the true reason why the sect isn't growing as you wanted it to. It's because the 5 families have made the outer and inner disciples act like slaves.
The outer disciples have to forcefully sell their spoils from the 'Demonic Mountain range' once they join the sect and simply exchange them for sect points without having a choice to refuse, but there are even those greedy Elders who don't even give out compensation.
Of course, this is how the sect works, and this is why outer disciples cannot complain, since they had agreed to follow the sect rules no matter what.
However, is this really helping the sect?
Everything is done, only to benefit your 5 families in the end.
You are looking for slaves to mine the spirit stone mine, while everything goes in the pockets of the 5 families, occasionally rewarding a few spirit stones to the top 100 of the arena rankings to motivate them to become inner disciples.
But what really happens when they become inner disciples?''
At the same time, shock had filled Fatty Fu's face up in the sky, as he looked at Shun Long next to him and asked fearfully
''Brother, is senior sister Liu going to reveal everything? It will really destroy the sect if she does!''
Although Fatty Fu didn't agree with the way that the sect treated inner disciples, having to swear a Dao oath that they will forever follow the family that they join, he also understood the way that the big families viewed this matter.
After all, if a family groomed someone to a high level, then it was only natural to them to have that person forever tied to them as a slave.
This was the only way to ensure that these people wouldn't leave them in the future to join some other bigger sect or some other powerful family.
Of course, the sect could also be more amiable, and not force such harsh Dao oaths to its inner disciples or its Elders, but since it has been working like that for so many years, nobody was willing to try and change that, including the sect master Liu Jian!
After all, although the sect said that it allowed its outer disciples to leave once they reached the late-stages of the earth grade if they wanted to, Fatty Fu had also heard from his grandfather that it was actually a lie.
Even if you didn't accept becoming an inner disciple, you will have to stay inside the 'outer city' for your entire life.
This was why Liu Mei called the sect a prison!
Once you enter, there is no way out, unless you have steeled yourself to never advance in your Dao any further!
Nodding his head, Shun Long looked at Fatty Fu with a serious look.
This was something that had to be done, both for the disciples of the sect, as well as the sect itself.
No one from the big families was willing to try and change the way the sect really worked, but this would only cause further problems in the future.
Of course, Shun Long didn't care about any of this. Whether the 'Floating Cloud sect' was destroyed or not in the future or whether it collapsed on its own was none of his concerns.
However, Liu Mei seemed to have wanted to change this, without caring if this ended up hurting the 4 big families in the end.
The outer disciples all nodded their heads when they heard Liu Mei's words.
It was true that their only choice if they weren't already versed in alchemy, was to work in the mines of the sect, or take on some dangerous missions from the 'Administration Building' in order to earn sect points.
After all, aside from the 30 sect points that an outer disciple would get once they join the sect, the sect wouldn't even give them a plate of food or a place to stay.
It wasn't really a place that promoted cultivation, but clearly worked more like a prison-city rather than a sect.
Those who were unfortunate enough to have become rank 1 bronze grade formation masters were equally as useless to the sect.
Since no disciples had their own freedom to explore the places beyond the sect, or their own homes to inscribe formations to, formation masters below the rank 3 bronze grade were essentially useless to the sect itself and couldn't make a living.
Among the outer disciples in the crowd were certainly those who hadn't received compensation in the past, once some Elders had forcefully snatched their spoils after coming out from the 'Demonic Mountain region'.
After taking a deep breath, Liu Mei looked at the crowd and asked in a solemn tone
''Do you want to know what happens when you become inner disciples?''
''STOP!''
Liu Changpun shouted from the distance, as he had only now arrived at the scene along with the rest of the Elders of the sect.
Everyone, including the Grand Elder Lan Hong, had serious looks on their faces as they looked at Liu Mei.
Liu Mei however, didn't even turn her head to glance at Liu Chanpun, and with a serious look on her face she continued
''The sect will force you to swear a Dao oath, that you will forever become slaves of the family that you choose to join!
You are not given another chance aside from this!
The powerful and lofty inner disciples that you all admire, are in reality slaves tied to the sect without the slightest hint of freedom!''
The moment that Liu Mei finished her words, the sect descended into silence!