The sniveling cultivator cried out as the disciple of the Three-Legged Raven sect charged at him the moment he was unchained, not even bothering using a sword, the cultivator looked like a caveman that was trapped underground and was now out for blood.
Though the unwilling challenger was a Core second realm cultivator, the disciple of the three-legged raven sect was a fourth realm cultivator, and with the two realms difference, the outcome was already obvious.
The challenger turned to run away, only to have his head caught in one of the disciple's hands, and while one of his shoulders was pinned by the other. A quick and powerful pull, and the challenger's head along with his spine were wrenched from his body.
The challenger died without even having a chance to fight.
"Deacon Li, I should be pardoned now?" the mad, bloody-faced disciples said as he licked his lips in over villainous cliché.
The monitor who now I understood was a deacon of the outer sect and was named Li, shrugged.
"You earned your keep and saved your spot, you won't be kicked out of the sect so you can reclaim your outer disciple token." The deacon said. "Keep it up," the deacon said and the rest of the disciples came at us.
Those who didn't manage to destroy the pillars were the first to go down, while the ones that killed them, even if they had already been 'pardoned for their crimes' I got to see why they were imprisoned in the first place.
A few of them, shamelessly grouped against one girl and tried to actively molest and harass her. Now, I'm not a saint, not a pious and honest man, I'm not a superhero, but when I see shit like this I get really, really angry.
One unaware sect disciple came at me since he noticed that I was distracted, and wanted to score a quick victory.
But the moment he got close to me, his head had already rolled. A quick slash from Creeping Demise cost the man his life. Though I know I'm not strong, I managed to escape the hut of twenty nascent soul cultivators, if some dumbass with a lower cultivation level than me was able to cause me harm, then all my time cultivating would have been nothing but a waste.
I slowly walked towards the group that were harassing the girl, though she fought bravely, she was outnumbered and her clothes were becoming skimpier by the moment, these pigs enjoyed torturing the weak.
"Xiao Meng, you're already eligible to enter the sect, what are you doing?" Deacon Li told me through divine sense.
"Those guys were already redeemed of their crimes, so why assault a weak girl?" I replied.
"Xiao Meng, this world is not a kind place to the weak, they now became members of our sect, while she could yet kill a single person, as long as she didn't manage that, the sect can't protect her. If she manages to kill at least one of them, I myself will step in and stop them." Deacon Li said.
"It's obvious that they know this will happen, that's why they're ganging up on her, and not allowing her to retaliate, they're using their numbers so she can't score a killing blow, they don't want her to become a member and at the same time want to toy with her," I spoke.
"This is the nature of man, you can't go against it, like I said, the sect has rules." The deacon said.
"Very well," I said then pulled my pipe. "Since the sect has rules and I can't attack my sect comrades," I said as I took a strong pull from my lit pipe, "Then I'll calmly sit back and watch."
Since I have yet to know where everyone from the Purple Cloud Sect is, I can't act carelessly, I can't create enmity with the deacon, nor should I actively go against the sect's rules. But I can slightly change the situation in this girl's favor.
I sent the girl a divine message saying, "Stop circulating your Qi, don't breath and close all of your pores."
The girl didn't believe me obviously, because if she does so, she will be killed, but I saw the hesitation on her face as her odds were already grim, she noticed that no one was looking her way and everyone was trying to act busy like they don't see such cruel acts.
Filthy mongrels.
I breathed out a thick puff of Joyful Weed condensed with a strong mix of Breath Sealing Poison.
The girl, who was already notified that she should close all her pores and stop her breathing for a moment immediately understood why.
The whiff of smoke traversed the crowds and touched one of the disciples, it was only for a second, but his Qi was disturbed, this caused the rest to back away, and gave the girl the chance to stab the man in the heart, killing him instantly.
The rest of the group growled and looked at me angrily, one of them even came closer and said, "Old man, you fucked up right now, do you know who we are?" he asked.
"Me? What did I do?" I replied.
The kid's face scrunched in an ugly expression and threw a punch at me.
I easily dodged it, grabbed his extended hand, and twisted the arm, snapping his bone and pulling his shoulder at the same time.
The answer was an ear-splitting but strangely satisfying girlish scream.
"Respect your elders, you little shit," I said as I kicked him in the back of the knee, forcing him on his knees.
"They say that there is gold under a man's knees, but you have none, kneel like the dog you are, because all you are is a dog in heat, unworthy of my time, and next time," I said as I looked at the rest of the disciples that were with him, "If any of you fools try and come at me, I'll break more than just a hand."
I said and moved away, the girl immediately thanked me through divine sense and pulled newer robes to cover her torn ones.
"Xiao Meng," deacon li said as he sighed. "Those guys belong to one of the inner disciple's faction, they actually took the blame for him when a girl was assaulted and killed, if he knows what you did, not even I can help you." The deacon said.
"I appreciate the thought, but it doesn't matter, now that I'm a member of the sect, I need to know something. Do you have a Life and Death Arena?" I asked."
"Emm, not really, we don't condone killing within the sect. However, accidents do happen in duels. It's not unusual to have someone die, but if you want to do it, you'll have to either be really strong and fast, or lucky. Because elders would usually come and save people from dying." The deacon said.
"That's all I needed to know, as long as there is a chance, it's more than enough," I said.
"You're rather aggressive," deacon Li said.
"It has to be this way, if I show that I'm meek and don't face these creeps, they'll keep coming at me. But once they know that they shouldn't mess with me, then it's a whole other story.
"Hatred begets hatred, Xiao Meng," he said.
"But tolerance begets exploit, I'll never tolerate fools if they don't know that they shouldn't mess with things they can't afford to mess with," I replied.
"Such hate, such rage you have, I say you've had some bad experiences through your life, I won't judge." Deacon Li shook his head.
'Man, it's such a shame that such a good person like this deacon is in this disgusting sect. Though he is a passive person, he doesn't look or act evil. But, for this sect. Their young prince, the Sect Master's own kid...that guy... won't survive, I vowed this to my Purple Cloud Sect. and I'll keep this vow.'
"Here you go," the deacon said as he gave me a ring, "There is your housing key, your sect clothes, and the sect's map, you can also go to the pavilion to claim the Golden Crow Cultivation manual. The cultivation courses will be held every morning, so make sure you'll be there. Also, your monthly allowance will be one high-grade spirit stone and ten medium as long as you fulfill your hunting quota for the month by capturing spirit beasts or presenting their core. You can also get bonus pay if you do bounties." The deacon said.
"Thank you," I said as I took the ring and followed the map inside it into my designated house.
The system here was almost similar to all the systems in other sects, work for your keep and your sect. But the quality of the rewards was different and far higher, this is a fourth-grade sect even better than the Seven mountain peak, but considering their outer disciples are all Core Cultivators, their inner disciples are nascent souls and their core disciples are soul Formation cultivators, then it's only natural to have such a high grade of a sect.
I went home, which was a small house with a garden to cultivate in, it even had a good Qi Gathering array to cultivate, but I can't use it, I only need Poison Qi.
I took out the clothes, wore them, and pulled the map.
Apparently, the outer sect is a huge circular area that was as big as a metropolitan city. It had thousands of houses, and many areas, it even had a small area where cultivators could sell and buy things, a battling area, and an area to gather herbs and plant them. While the center of this map was a slightly smaller circle reserved only for the inner disciples, it had the punishment hall, the manual pavilion, and the main sect building which was a tower of nine stories.
There was also a forbidden area within the inner sect.
I only needed to ask elder Li, and by asking I meant bribe, to understand that that place is where the Purple Cloud palace is.
The Purple Cloud Sect somehow managed to take the whole Purple Cloud palace and seal it there with all of its restrictions. They even placed bounties reserved for the inner sect disciples as rewards for those who did the greatest damage to the protective barrier of the Purple Cloud Palace.
Since I wasn't an inner sect disciple, I had no way to get to the palace, and the moment I step into the inner sect as a none-nascent Soul cultivator, I'll be spotted and hunted down.
"Has anyone before became an inner disciple without being a Nascent Soul cultivator?" I asked deacon li.
After pondering for a few moments, he replied, "I wasn't here when it happened, I heard that there was once a strong woman that managed to beat a nascent soul cultivator while she was in core formation, it's obviously overexaggerated rumors, but it is not really against the rules. The sect rules favor the strong, so if you could, by some ungodly miracle beat a nascent Soul cultivator, the sect will openly welcome you to the inner parts as a genius." Elder li said. "You're not thinking of doing anything stupid, are you? I know you did well in the test but you can't be arrogant and complacent, you'll lose your life if you go against a Nascent Soul cultivator, the difference is too high."
"I know, I was just wondering," I said.
"Good then, now you know, also, I heard some news, the goons that you confronted earlier, they managed to get in contact with their boss, and he is on to you, be careful Xiao Meng," he said.
"Thank you, I appreciate your concern," I said and I really do, not many actually give a fuck about others in this world. But this person is a rare breed, though he is just a first-level Nascent Soul Cultivator, he is not arrogant and a down-to-earth person.
But for those who want my life, I'll give them a taste of my poisons, I have many that I want to try. Since I've only been facing Nascent Soul cultivators, I didn't want to risk using unexperimented poisons, but now that these guys are close to my own level and I've been looking for lab rats for a while now, they will do just fine.