Blood Cup

In the underground basement, several young men and women were laying about. They shared food among themselves, none of them looked malnourished or mistreated.

Labak noticed Bians gaze on the building. He cleared his throat before saying "the owner of this house is a little bit extreme, he especially likes the young ones. Most of them go missing after a few days."

Bian looked at him with a questioning gaze, to which Labak gave a shrug and went back to the house he had selected for Bian.

"I will join this society of yours" Bian said in a prideful voice, sounding like a young scion.

"Alright, we will hold a feast to celebrate your addition" Labak said with a grin, before walking away.

Onak came to attend to him, he rubbed his palms together like a merchant meeting a naive Prince.

"How can I be of service?" 

"I need guards and slaves, how much are they?" Bian asked, he didn't bring much cash with him to the sanctuaries.

"You don't have to worry about money, we mainly collect taxes and payment in blood." Onak said.

"And if I refuse?" Bian questioned.

"Then you will have to pay in cash, but the fee will be three times as expensive" Onak explained.

Bian gave an understanding nod and walked around the shelter for a bit. There were three types of people in the shelter.

The high class that get free food and can purchase slaves, the common class that did hunts to ensure their rights and the low class peasants, who belonged to Labak. He would sell them to others at exorbitant prices.

Surprisingly enough, after talking to them, Bian found our that they were well fed. They looked so malnourished because they had to pay their rent and taxes in blood.

The stronger one was, the higher the value of their blood.

"Is there a vampire behind the scenes?" Bian couldn't think of a reason why the shelter would need blood.

Nightfall in the shelter, all the rich and influential figures came together to celebrate their new companion.

'They've all gathered for their final meal' This was the opportunity Bian had been waiting for, to kill everyone involved.

Labak spoke up, declaring a toast. "To our new partner in blood!" He said.

"To our new partner in blood!" They all repeated.

Labak poured a blood-red wine into a golden chalice, he offered it up to Bian.

"Aw, hell no!" Bian responded. Jadeskin gave him immunity to poison not vodoo he wasn't drinking whatever was in the cup.

"This is the final step needed to join us, only by drinking from this cup can you be allowed to leave the sanctuaries." Labak said, maintaining the smile on his face.

'Once he drinks the blood oath, I won't need to keep up this facade. I'll finally have enough blood to slay super creatures.' Labak was very patient with Bian for this reason.

The blood oath would bind anyone who drank it to the cause, but it must be consumed willingly.

The smile on his face beamed brighter, "there's nothing wrong with the wine, just have a sip. If you don't like it, feel free to spit it out"

Once the blood touches his tonuge it would automatically assimilate into his system.

"Did you know that a manticore can see in the dark, they also love it when their prey run and fight back." Bian said with a slight smirk.

He threw the cup at Labak and summoned the berserk super Emperor Manticore. With a fierce roar, it pounced on Onak and ripped out his throat.

Panic soon ensued as some people ran while other tried to fight. Bian summoned the Tyrant Minotaur, it went towards the spirit hall to prevent anyone from leaving the sanctuaries.

The manticore pounced on another unlucky soul, it clawed at his jugular, swiftly ending his life. A purple beam spilt five people in the air, who tried to fly away. Their armor could provide no protection against the manticore.

The manticore used its long stinger to poke a woman on the buttocks, she couldn't even scream as her body slowly dissolved into a pile of green mush.

If rushed towards a man and flung him into the sky, it awaited his descent with maws opened and snapped the man in half.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Labak punched the gut of the manticore, it flew off into the night sky. With an angry roar, the manticore flew back and battled Labak.

True to its lion genes, the manticore played with him like a cat toying with a mouse. Bian was surprised by the strength of Labak.

"Any ordinary super creature would have a few broken ribs from that punch. What is going on here?" As far as Bian knew, humans didn't have the strength to hunt super creatures.

With hands like jade, Bian went around beheading every single person there save for the slaves and guards. Labak could only curse, he knew the manticore was toying with him, but he didn't have the strength to defeat it or flee in the darkness.

Bian clapped his hands, he had killed all the influential figures save for Labak and five others who fled towards the teleporter.

"I am guessing you won't tell me your backer" Bian asked as Labak desperately battled the manticore for his life. He didn't respond but the fanatical look in his eyes said it all, he was no snitch.

Bian passed by Labak like a streak of light, both of his arms flew into the sky. Thick blood flowed out of his injuries and in a few seconds, his arms stopped bleeding.

"Fascinating, are you a vampire or something?" Bian asked Labak, he didn't even flinch when his arms were torn off.

"If you kill me, the blood god will come for you. He will find your family and loved~" Labak was interrupted mid-sentence as his head was sent flying.

"Watch your mouth!" Bian looked around him, blood, gore and a bunch of people who looked at him as though he was a monster.

He ignored their gazes and went through Labak's wallet. Other than a few identity cards, he saw a card with the image of the nine-life cat. A clear indicator of the blood legion.

Bian turned around and walked towards the teleporter, two corpses littered the floor and three high class individuals stood in front of him.

"Do you know who I am, if you let me go now I can~" a middle-aged woman was still talking when her head was slapped off her body.

"Poor choice of words, next?" Bian looked coldly at the remaining two.

"Wait, don't kill me. How much~" A middle-aged man couldn't finish his words, because he had been beheaded.

Bian put down his hands and looked at the last figure. A middle-aged man with blonde hair and a thick jawline.

"Thank you for freeing the people from that offensive tyrant." He bowed down and placed his head before Bian "Please rescue the people from the basement of my house. I also do not deserve to live"

"What is your name, what do you do?" Bian approved of his response, but he wasn't out of the woods yet.

"Philip, my family owns several life reserves. We fight for endangered species and migrate rare animals and plants off certain planets before the planets are sold." Philip answered with honesty.

It was such an irregularity to meet someone like Philip who cared about others. Animal preservation sounds like a made up agenda by the government.

"Why did you join Labak and keep young people in your basement?" Bian asked

Philip and his family members practiced a unique mantra, his instincts is several times greater than an average person. Right now he knew that, any lie would cost him his life.

"It has to do with the mantra my family practices. It makes us prioritize our life over the life of others. I couldn't endanger myself by refusing Labak, the most I could do was help a few people" Philip began to sweat a little.

"If you value your life so much, why did you bow your head to me without saying all these things." Bian could have beheaded Philip before he heard his story.

With a nervous smile, Philip explained "that was exactly what my instincts told me to do."

Bian was shocked. He told the Minotaur and Manticore not to kill Philip already, he wanted to meet who was responsible for keeping some people safe. He was shocked by the actions Philip took.

The qigong he practiced must be a very good one, Bian could feel his anger towards Philip subsiding. His actions were rightly justified, he could tell when a person was lying.

Bian had to find out more about this mantra, its effects sounded interesting.