4 Freedom?

Righteous Sword Saints of Light sect

Life Peak Mountain

Life Token Hall

The sound of Four more tokens shattering could be hear ringing in the silent room. One or two life tokens shattering although not normal it's also not unheard of. But to have 6 tokens shatter within an hour of each other. Clearly there was someone stirring up trouble in the sect. Just as the elder was about to pull out another jade slip and update the Hall of Order another 8 tokens shattered.

Now the elder finally stood up from his spot feeling a bit anxious. Deciding that this was unusual and knowing that his sect just made themselves a major enemies to the heretics the elder pulled out two sound talismans sending the same message in both of them he wanted to notify not only the Hall of Order but also the sect master that something does not seem right.

"A total of 14 disciples have been killed within sect grounds. The first 6 were from the second and third floor of the prisons, while the last 8 were guards stationed at the easternmost outpost. Suggesting we send out Grandmaster level forces to look into the incidents."

****************

Scales of Discipline Mountain

Order Hall

The moment Hall Master Song received the transmission he knew that Lance and his fellow disciples probably wouldn't be able to handle the situation on their own if things were getting this chaotic this fast.

He quickly gave out orders to two of the vice hall masters telling them to use their flying carpets and take a few Grandmasters with them to check out both locations. He made sure to tell them that a few disciples have already been slain and that if they have protective treasure they should activate them before leaving the hall.

Hall Master Song then immediately headed for the Palace Mountain Peak where the sect master resided to get further instruction on what to do.

******************

Palace Mountain Peak

Grand Hall

Sitting on the throne a middle aged man could be seen there while talking very respectfully to a grey haired women. The aura they were both giving off was almost suffocating to those at Grandmaster 9-star realm. These two individuals were of course the Sect Master and the Grand elder of the sect. The only two Mortal Warriors left within the sect.

Looking at the sect master, it would seem that he was in great health, but to those on the same level as him or at a higher level, it was clear that he was still suffering from internal wounds from his last battle.

Having already received the life token hall masters words of advise the sect master called on the sects last protector for advice.

"Should we activate the sects protective spell formation. I know that at least one of use will have to stay to maintain it, but will it be enough to fend off the onslaught of several Mortal Warriors with cultivations no less than our own?"

The Grand elder visibly frowned. She been a protector for the sect for the last several hundred years. This was the first time in the sects history that they would be facing the dangers of extermination.

"Sect Master Cho, i believe the best course of action is to call on the aid of some of our Allies, if we both work to maintain the spell formation and have some of the 9-star grandmasters help solidify it, we may be able to last for a week until aid from the outside can arrive."

The grand elders words also made the sect master frown a bit. Although they had many allies in name, how many would rush over when they hear that the sect was in danger of being destroyed by heretics?

If anything they would make a grand announcement to the people letting them know the dangers the sect faced. After that they would spend time recruiting help from rough cultivators, and only after a week would they start their journey to head to assist the sect. By that time. If there was anything left of the ruins of what the sect once was. They could just announce that they couldn't make it on time and the untimely down fall of the Righteous Sword saints of light is unfortunate but is another reason why people should give their strength and resources to help bolster the sects of the land so as to drive the heretics out from the shadows.

Although the heretics were definitely public enemies number one, many of the sects had their own infighting and fighting between each other going on. Those on the outside had no idea about all the silent political warfare that goes on in the backgrounds. Just the simple fact the the sect master had a chance of breaking into the Mortal Lord realm made many other sects unhappy. Which one of them wouldn't feel more secure if Sect master Cho met an early demise.

It seemed like all this was too convenient for other sect masters to pass up. But did sect master Cho have any other choice in the matter. There was no way the two of them could handle the onslaught of three other Mortal Warriors now that the other protector, the most powerful one of the three of them, had perished.

"Sect master, I know what you're thinking, even though they are allies in name, they're not really our friends. Maybe we could offer some resources from some of our mines in return for their aid. We still have those gems that we haven't released to the public yet. Maybe that will be enticing enough to get people to come aid us on their own, until the bigger sects make their moves.

The only other option we might have… is to sacrifice the future of some of our elders…"

The sect master was a bit startled by the Grand elders laster words. If she was suggesting what he thinks she's suggesting, many sect members would be more than unhappy going forward if the sect managed to survive.

"Do.. you mean to have me ask the 9-star Grandmasters to drink the primrose elixir? To sacrifice their vitality for a permanent increase in cultivation. In the end they would never be able to enjoy it. If the sect survived they would only have a few decades of life left. Who would readily accept such a fate? Isn't that just asking them to die for us anyway?"

The Grand elder had a solemn look on her face. She knew what she was asking was the equivalent of telling them to die for the sect, but what other choices did they have? By drinking the primrose elixir they would exchange their longevity for breakthroughs.

For every 25 years they have left of life they will be able to break through one lesser realm. If the elder who drank it was a 9-star Mortal Grandmaster and had 200 years left to live they would break through to Mortal warrior 8-star realm. But the catch is you can only live for 50 years after drinking the elixir and you have no other chances of breaking through in the future.

The increase in cultivation happens in moment and there is no instability in your foundation. The most unfortunate thing is having to use the elixir on Grandmaster realm cultivators to begin with. In the Mortal greater realm, you obtain an additional 100 years of vitality for every lesser break through you make. A 9-star Mortal Grandmaster after living their lives and breaking through to that level, most would only have 70 or so years left to try and break through into the Warrior realm.

The sect has only a few very talented elders who were able to break into the the 9-star realm with more than 150 years left of vitality. In the midst of contemplating a strategy for the sect, the palace doors were opened in a rush.

"Please excuse my rudeness Grand elder and Sect master. If i may be so presumptuous… i will volunteer myself to take the elixir. I cannot speak for any of the other elders, but i'm sure at least a few others would be willing to trade our lives to protect our home, and the homes of our fathers and disciples. "

It was none other than Elder song, Hall master of the Hall of order who came rushing into the palace hall just a moment ago. To him having chaos overcast the sect was his greatest failure since the founding of the sect itself.

How could he not have kept the disciples of the sect safe from outside influences even on their own turf! Even more so he was hoping that his vice hall masters could make it to their respective locations quickly and resolve whatever issues arise.

Hall master Song had been feeling guilty about send Lance too look into the happens of the prison since he received the second sound transmission. If anything happened to his favorite hall disciple because of his lack of care, his cultivation would definitely take a blow. It might even negatively affect his longevity anyway.

So instead of waiting around to hear about his safety he would rather trade his lifespan to insure that the sect was protected from harm.

If Hall Master song was paying more attention he might have noticed the cold glint that flashed across the grand elders eyes upon hearing his declaration. The sect master had a pretty surprised look on his face. He didn't think that just as they were discussing an alternative course of action someone would walk in a volunteer themself. Even better, with someone volunteering, the other elders would feel a bit of the pressure and maybe more would stand out on their own to sacrifice themselves for the sect.

The sect master no longer wasted time contemplating, he immediately took out the sect token that represented his identity and issued a command that traveled across the entire sect.

"All Elders of the sect and 9-star Grandmasters congregate to the palace hall immediately. If you're inclosed door cultivation, immediately exit from and be on standby."

Although Sect master Cho decided to be honest with the elder assembly and openly tell them their options, it's unfortunate that maybe they would have all chosen to run if they would have realized that all their attempts to survive were to be forenot and useless. Would elder song still choose his path if he knew the depth of what was really going on?

Outside the Withered mountain

"Senior brother Lance, should we continue on with our mission even after the sect master's words?"

"Don't worry junior brother Sal. Hall master Song said that we shouldn't run into any issue in the prison, all were doing is looking for clues and trying to get a better understanding of the situation. This will be a great opportunity to earn sect credits."

Just as they were approaching the opening to the cave that lead to the prison, the outside guard house's door opened. Preparing to greet their fellow disciples on duty the members of the order hall all moved to clasp their hands in greeting.

Unlike what they expected, instead of meeting a sect member they met an odd fellow with rags for clothes. This fellow was very short no more than 5'4". If you could look past all the gunk and dirt on him you would be able to see that he was no more than 10 or 11 years old.

The Youth had long silver hair with almond colored skin, his eyes had a ruby glow about them and his teeth were an almost impossible white. If cleaned up and given better clothes, there would be no one that would be able to resist the cuteness of this child before them.

Luckily for them, the contrast of his looks covered in dirt helped them keep their composure and assess the situation before them. Just as one of the 5-star Mortal Masters were about to approach and ask the child what it was doing here, senior brother Lance stretched his arm out bringing everyone to a halt.

Finally noticing that he was no longer alone, Alucard ceased his conversation with the system and looked at the new arrivals. He was a bit surprised since these were the most powerful people he's met in the sect so far. Before he could say anything Senior Lance spoke.

"Demon, how did you escape?"

This one sentence had shocked the 5 Mortal Masters into complete silence. Although they were on a mission all the way here, they really lacked vigilance. Who could blame them though? They are the most powerful sect in 5 thousand kilometers and who would come to their sect to cause trouble.

They have lived their lives privileged and hardly know of the dangers the world around them houses. They all have attended the demon dissection class as its a main part of the curriculum in the sect. So although they didn't realize it at first the moment their senior brother mentioned it, they immediately recognized Alucard as the half dead vampire that the sect has housed for years.

Everyone who has attended a class has definitely seen this guy get cut into many pieces and stitched back together over and over again. Him being a vampire his healing factor helped the sect save a lot on materials so that they wouldn't be wasted teaching the new disciples.

Just like senior lance recognized Alucard, Alucard recognized him as well. Although the original bodies host didn't know any useful details of the sect. After so many years of torture there were many faces he had seen over and over and their looks had been forever imprinted into his psyche.

For years. He was not a living breathing individual, he was nothing but an object to be used to help a bunch of spoiled children learn how to cut up bodies and the best angles to cut at and how to remove organs.

When Alucard had been originally leaving the guard house he was in a fantastic mood. He thought that he would have to leave the sect all together or annihilate the entire sect before his quest was deemed complete. But upon killing the last prison ward the quest completed itself. After killing more than a dozen people he was finally starting to see the kind of improvement he was hoping for.

"Breaking into the 4-star mortal disciple realm gives me more leeway when using my blood arts, and just in time i have more dummies to practice with."

Hearing Alucard say he was only at the Mortal disciple realm and only at 4-stars at that the Mortal masters were pumped to teach this idiot a lesson. Only Senior brother lance was a bit concerned. If he was only at the 4-star mortal disciple realm, how did he escape the prison alive?

Before Lance could speak out his concern, two of the Mortal masters moved to attack Alucard on his left and his right. The moved as if they were the wind itself, traveling the short hundred meters in only a few breathes.

Seemingly moving to fast for alucard to respond all the mortal master couldn't help but chuckle on the inside. It wasn't until their fists were about to connect with his head that alucard finally moved. It was only a few breathes worth of time, but the situation took a drastic turn.

"Haha you want to use your strength to harm me? That's not really fair, to you guys i mean. Seeing as my body cultivation has already reach the Grandmaster level. Playing with you guys would be just to simple. Well i guess in the end it doesn't matter since all of you here will become my meal!"

Just as Alucard was about to execute his blood arts, Lance had already moved behind him and was using his hand as a sword with a light elemental Qi coating it as a blade. Everyone knew that demons were weak against most the Light element and lightning element at the very least.

He figured that as long as he could incapacitate this demon, there shouldn't be any other issues to deal with, just as he thought his attack was going to connect. A blood red wall came up from the ground and stopped the attack.

Quickly kicking the Mortal master on his right side away, alucard grabed tighter onto the one on his left flipped to the side and moved about 40 meters away. Holding his hands at the throat of the young disciple he said.

"If you move any closer, I'll rip his throat out! I've already killed my way out of the prison so have no doubt that i will really do what i say."

The mortal master in his arms was shaking violently with fear, he was even too afraid to breath and you could see the sweat quickly accumulate all around his body. As cultivators there is really no need to sweat unless you are doing extremely rigorous activities or your mind start to weaken and you lose control of your cultivation base.

Clearly this disciple was suffering from the later. After seeing lance stop his advance and instead regroup with the remaining Mortal Masters, Alucard took a quick peek at where he was standing before.

On the ground behind where he was standing you could see a few drops of blood on the ground. Those drops are the blood that came into direct contact with Lance's Qi blade of light. Alucard had sensed danger and immediately moved to defend his back.

Usually being a demon and a vampire at that, light elements would be his ultimate weakness. But after reaching perfect grade in the light element itself, it could only leave regular wounds on him. Nothing as devastating as causing any part of him that it touched to burst into flames or explode.

Seeing that the wall was able to brunt more than 90% of the attack and only lose a negligible amount of blood, Alucard couldn't help but throw his head back and laugh to the heavens! Two of his major weakness had been taken care of just by helping his bodies affinity increase.

It just so happens that Alucards race is also weak against the water element but seeing as he also had a perfect affinity in it as well, he should have no problem fighting practitioners who cultivate mostly water arts.

"I had been hoping to find someone a little more formidable. It would be hard to leave the sect without someone who knows more of the ins and out of the sect, and you dear sir look like someone with experience. Although you are about to become my meal, i would ask of you to please take care of me as it will be my first time using 'that' ability."

Confused by the vampires words Lance was about to try and negotiate for his Junior brothers life when he seen him shrivel up and mummify. Before he could jump forward to try and save him, the vampire smile and spoke out again.

"Oii, wait your turn ill get rid of the small fry first and i'll have you be the first one to have a taste of my techniques.

Bloody Needles!"

Suddenly crimson needles filled the area and impaled the Mortal masters at an astonishing speed. Before Lance could gather his thoughts his companions were turning into dried up husks. For lance seeing his junior brothers dying one after another without any way to save them left him feeling crazed on the inside.

Never in his life has he ever been in such a hopeless situation! Just as the madness was eating away at him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see flaming drops of blood surrounded by bubbles fly out of each of his companions.

The flaming drops of blood flew directly into the vampires mouth and you could audibly hear him swallowing from dozens of meters away. Still being unable to register all the happenings that occured before he realized it, alucard had him on his knees. The vampire was standing behind him, his right hand was caressing Lances jaw, while his left hand was brushing against his shoulder.

Although his action seemed gentle, the grip he used was so solid it didn't seem like Lance would be able to obtain his freedom even when using all of his strength. Alucard opened his mouth as wide as could be, showing his delicate small fangs, and then immediately sunk his teeth into Lances throat.

Lance could feel his mind clouding over, he could feel the warmth that was his vitality leaving his body through his neck, he could feel his memories being sorted and shifted through. And all he could do was sit there and view his own memories through the fog. Lance thought he would feel pain, but the more he allowed the fog to entrench in on his mind, the more pleasant he felt.

It was almost like the fog helped him fall into a cloud of tender gentleness. Lance felt like he was in the embrace of his mother, the embrace of an old lover, hugging his closest friends. In the back of his mind, he knew that he was attacked by a vampire, that he had lost many junior brothers to the monster.

But the more he allowed his mind to drift with the fog, the harder it became to remember those awful things, the harder it became to want to leave that warm fuzzy feeling. Especially since he was suddenly feeling a bit chilly. If lance had been in his right mind, he would have known something was wrong.

As a cultivator, unless its extreme temperatures outside there is no reason to ever feel to hot or to cold. So this sensation steaming from within him, this cold grip that seemed that it would full encapsulate him at any moment should definitely sending off warning alarms!

But its unfortunate that he had not cultivated his soul. Most practitioners cultivate Qi because Qi does not discriminate under the heavens. If you want to reach higher realms, flip mountains and fill seas, create worlds, aim for immortality, then it is the Qi path that you must take.

To over turn the heavens you must cut out a piece of heaven for yourself or die under its mighty rage! To cultivate the body, is to give you a better foundation to build your heavens upon. Every race has there own advantages when it comes to cultivating the Qi path. Some races can directly skip the Mortal realm and start cultivating in the Spirit realm.

There are races that as long as they are alive they will naturally breakthrough to higher realms without having to put in any effort at all, there are some races that cultivating Qi is painful or long and arduous but once they reach a certain realm they are unmatched but others at the same level as them.

Body Cultivating can help level the playing fields between the races, can you imagine having four sets of lungs, or growing wings out of your back that can hold Qi, or widening your meridians to absorb Qi better? There are a few races that have no other choice but to cultivate their body before they can ever take the Qi path. But after spending a few hundred years on the Body path, the moment they step into the Qi path they are flying through it like a comet flying across space!

While body cultivation can allow you to destroy worlds with the wave of your hand, what's the point of all the strength without precision, control, tactic? Although being strong can make you the most feared in the realm, but what to say about your mind?

For those who cultivate purely Qi or purely the body, their greatest weakness will without a doubt be their mind, their soul, their resolve. Lance didn't even know that Alucard had released his vampire pheromones during the fight. He didn't realize that his laps of sanity, the frustration that was bubbling over, was all created from an outside source.

While lance allowed his eyes to wander the battlefield, it only took Alucard a few breaths to find the right opportunity to use his eyes to roll the boys mind. Using his superior Spirit cultivation, it is easy to use his eyes to confuse and bewitch others.

Illusions, and mental attacks are widely used among the demons and is one of the major reasons cultivators of other races shun them and do all that they can to insure that the demons never get a chance to return to the heaven realm!

Demons have an easy time cultivating both their body and their soul, when it comes to cultivating Qi its on a case by case basis but there's no way their speed could compare to the other races. That's why many demons will cultivate for a thousand years in body and soul arts. Become the lord of sizeable land and then begin their Qi refining, once their body reaches a certain level it becomes much easier to feel the spiritual energy in the air around them. Cultivating their minds and bodies also helps them achieve minor success more often in their respective Heavenly laws.

For Alucard this was a new experience for him as well. In his last life he had many vampire subordinates but he wasn't one himself. How could he know the act of drink directly from someone's veins could be so intoxicating? When he drank the blood essence he cultivated although it taste good, and gave him a nice warm feeling on the inside. It was nothing compared to drinking straight from the vein!

When Lances blood filled his mouth it was so thick and warm, when it hit his tongue and the scent assaulted him, all he could do was think about the contrast between eating warm and cold delicacies. Warm caramel with cinnamon seasoned plantains, spread across a bowl of your favorite icecream.

The blood gave you a feeling of being able to drink it without end and just praying that you would never have to separate from your one and only comfort in the world.

Even though the process was intoxicating the benefit of cultivating the soul is that Alucard did not forget his task at hand. As the blood flowed into his mouth, memories flowed into his head. Just like how Lance felt like he was watching scenes in a movie, that's how the memories played to alucard. Only it was in fast motion.

The scenes were like moving pictures, weirdly enough the sound was not over laid with the memories. But more like when he saw a scene he would know every word and sound, smell, feeling, and taste that went along with it.

Lance had long Blond hair, soft features throughout his face, blue eyes, and a smile that could light up a room. Lance didn't look any older than mid to late twenties. But alucard had seen his more than 70 years of life.

As he watched Lance's life flash before his eyes, he did feel a bit of pity for having to kill such a talent. To have reached the 9-star Mortal Master realm before reaching a century in a 1-star realm, you have to be very talented. If he had been granted the right to live in a 3-star or higher world, he would have already broken into the Mortal King realm with no issues at all.

That was one of the major differences between being born in a higher or lower realm, the abundance of spiritual energy and the natural resources in your world. There are 3-star worlds out there that have to import food because although they have excellent mines that seem like they can pull all sorts of gems, jades, and ores out of the ground.

The soil in their realm makes it impossible to cultivate the land for foods or medicines. That makes it impossible to let the indigenous people of your realm have the ability to sustain any kind of self sufficient livelihood, you wouldn't even be able to raise any of the savage beast races.

In a few case's those with a few lower realms will work together to in sharing resources among their personal worlds.

From What alucard could see, if there were even more than a dozen Mortal Kings let alone Mortal Emperors in this tiny realm he would be shocked! To be a 70 year old mortal king would guarantee that within the next two hundred years you would break into the emperor realm.

But whether you want to call this Karma or fate, this is where this young man's journey ends. He will not even have the chance to break into the grandmaster realm. His last moments were spent as a meal at the the hands of a demon that he actually helped torture on a number of occasions.

Right as Alucard was pulling out of Lance's memories and drink his last drop of blood, caressing his neck with his tongue to savour the taste a little more, a deafening explosion could not only be heard but felt across the entire Righteous Sword saints of light Sect!

Above the sect a Dome made from pure light elements formed coving all the mountains and peaks in only a few breaths! Suddenly a crazed voice could be heard filling the sky

"Sect Master Cho you and that cowardly bitch get out here and meet this grandfather here! You dare help that bastard gravely injure my son? Haha luckily for him, he died in that explosion. Else i'd be here to collect his hide too! I'll use your many virgin daughters as sacrifices to help push my sons cultivation to the next level!

HAHAHAHAHA! GET OUT HERE NOW!!!!"

A frown formed on Alucard's face.

"I might have to move my plans around.."