"Ah, the Seven Mountain Peaks, that's a great sect, but sadly it's very far, would Junior Brother Shen Bao like us to accompany you, of course after we're done with this small venture of ours here.
"I'm good, thanks for the invitation," I shrugged.
"I find it rather difficult to imagine that a sect such as the Seven Mountain Peak would be interested in someone from the country of Zhou," the first elder Lao Yan spoke with a venomous tone.
"Seems that you're lacking in imagination then," I replied and showed them the token that the emissary from the Seven Mountain Peaks had given me.
The token glowed in my hands and the writing on it was clear to everyone.
"It seems that brother Shen Bao is once again right, Lao Yan, you should apologize for offending our little friend," the fat man said.
It seems that this person is really not good, he's trying to create discord between us, it's obvious that the other cultivator's pride won't let him apologize to a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator and want me to take offense in the fact that he won't apologize. Then use the sect behind me to come at Lao Yan. So despicable.
I waved my hand, "No worries, I didn't take offense, it's only natural for one to be on guard. After all none knows when one's enemies lie." I replied and manipulated my sword to descend.
My words were obviously not what the fat man expected and seeing the now relaxed look on Lao Yan's face was enough to understand that the situation was defused.
'Thank you for giving this old man face, if you want to venture into this dungeon, I'll make sure to aid you when I can.'
These words unexpectedly came from Lao Yan who antagonized me first. But seeing that I gave him 'face'… he is willing to help.
To hell with this damn expression, what the fuck is this Face?! It seems stupid, it's meaningless, and has no damn basis. It's strange and outright mind-bogglingly stupid, how can one come to terms with what action gives and loses face? Who the hell decided that a certain action gives Face and another one loses Face? And how the hell did they agree to it? Wait, I know, THEY AGREED TO GIVE FACE! Fuck!
My inner rant was thankfully unnoticeable on my face, I didn't want Lao Yan to think that I thought little of his help, but I'm mighty curious of what's going on here.
"So what's happening here?" I asked.
"Seems that a Demon Gate opened. It's a chance opportunity for the younger generation to enter and gain battle experience." Lao Yan said.
"Demon gate? What's that?" I asked.
"It is an unnatural event that occurs every few thousand years, we couldn't pinpoint the exact time, and it's so random. But the thing is, a gate will soon open here and it will take cultivators to a land of demons. The rules will be explained once the cultivators enter. But be warned Demon Kin is not so nice and is full of deceit. I have a few disciples who will enter and you can go with them, they'll explain everything in detail. Also, I wouldn't rely on that flying sword, going into the Demon Lands means that all flight is prohibited by the laws of that very world." Lao Yan explained.
"You've forgotten about the Lords Ranking, and other gates Lao Yan."
"The Lords Ranking is better suited for cultivators of the Core Formation realm, seeing that Junior Cultivator Shen Bao is still in the Foundation Establishment level, it would be ill-advised to as you to participate, no matter how enticing the rewards maybe." Lao Yan shook his head.
This Demon Land seems interesting enough, I thought to myself.
"Experience comes with battle, but if you're too worried to make a name of yourself in the Demon Lands you can still venture in the wastelands surrounding the city, you'll perhaps chance upon a fortuitous encounter, though I highly doubt it." The fat man shrugged.
"I would be fine, I suppose," I said as I hinted at X.
"Sadly, the Demon Lands imposes heavy restrictions upon the assistance of puppets, or corpses. You'll find your puppet more burden than aid in the Demon Lands, don't count on it much, I wish you the best of luck though because the gate is about to manifest…" Lao Yan said as he looked in the distance.
Like a mirage, the ground and air began to wobble and shake as if it was overheating, then a gate of magnitudes impossible to gauge with one's simple eyes manifested. It was magnificently large, and was decorated with the heads of man, beast, dragons and demons. It looked like a gate to the pits of hell. The black gate opened, revealing a purplish cyclone that slowly rotated.
Disciples from different sects rushed inside it without regard to prudence or safety, as if they had done this thousand of times before or were sure and certain of this gate's safety.
"Wu Di," Lao Yan called, and a young man, so handsome that his face would topple kingdoms and would make virgins cry at night if he wouldn't spare them a glance appeared in front of me.
He wore a magnificent white robe that matched with his white hair and had a fan on one hand. He had a strange charm, he looked like a young prince, but if I didn't know better, I'd say appearances are deceptive.
"Take good care of Shen Bao," the cultivator said.
"I will do," the man nodded and looked at me, "Shen Bao, make sure to stick close, no one would dare offend you if you're with me." He said in a comforting manner.
"Now let's see what these Demons have in store for us shall we," he said as he covered a smile on his face with his fan.
The groups began to funnel through the vortex until it was our turn.
It seems that I'm about to venture into a stranger world than I was in. And for some reason, I was highly anticipating this.
The cyclone sucked us inside it, feeling my vision perturbed, and then swam. Suddenly, the light was no longer distorted and I was able to see right again. Only I was in a land that was far different from where I was. The only thing that was the same was the sky, it was a bleeding red and there seemed to be no sun in the sky but it felt like it was morning.
The world's Qi was thick, but it had unnatural evilness to it, yet I didn't feel disturbed by it, unlike the people around me.
Wu Di cringed from the evil Qi premating the place and sat down to meditate alongside many of the cultivators that just entered. I on the other hand was not affected by the natural world's Qi no matter how evil or benevolent it could be, I existed separately from the world's Qi as I needed nothing but my own poison Qi.
Looking around, I saw what seemed to be a living forest that had sprout and lived for eons within this deserted place.
The gate behind me was still funneling in disciples from various sects that all joined their respective groups. While Wu Di's sect disciples joined around him in a protective cultivation session.
I further inspected the surrounding; the ground was made of a mix of red sand and dirt. Jagged rocks protruded from all over the place and among them lived some old decrypt weed that should have no business being alive. As it seemed that it was too dry to live but live it did. The weed in this place was stubborn if nothing else as the Qi disallowed them the right to turn to spiritual plants.
As for the forest, the trees within it were so massively great that some of them would undoubtedly contend with small mountains at scraping the skies.
Yet the trees themselves looked evil, as something coming from a fantasy forest, the trees were dark, and had more thorns than black jagged leaves. Their roots protruded through the ground and would give off the feeling that the tree could easily uproot itself to move around, giving nightmares a life of their own.
"The demon lands is within this evil forest. We'll have to make our way towards it, but brother Shen Bao, I'd advise if you stay close, and once we're inside the demon lands I'll have a group of cultivators stay with you while I undertake the ranking tourney."
"Yeah, I still have no idea what's going on here," I said.
"Right, this is a cursed land. It is said that an old and powerful cultivator had been wronged by the race living here and he condemned them to eternal imprisonment. None of the demons here can go beyond the Nascent Soul cultivation level and they're unable to leave, however, the cultivator left them a path to salvation, the Lord's Ranking. If they slay their way to the top and achieve victory over their foes they'll be able to leave and venture into the outer world."
"I suppose they're required to kill human cultivators?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Then why is everyone presenting themselves so happily to the butcher's block?" I asked.
"Though your idiom is somewhat strange I understood your meaning, but no, cultivators from our world are far more powerful than these demons, it's even rare to find a demon capable of killing a cultivator of the same rank. We're actually the butchers in this scenario."
"Seems rather horrid and unfair to me, we're actually killing prisoners for a cultivator that had probably died a long, long time ago."
Wu Di shrugged, "It's the law of this small world, the demons aren't complaining anyway it's a way for them to escape." Wu Di replied.
