Auction

A day later, a sandy-blonde haired boy, clad in a blood red robe, was seen walking through the forests in the Forbidden Alliance territory.

John had already assumed the disguise of his victim, who had been persuaded all night to reveal every single detail about himself, his relationships with others, and the Bloodfiend Sect. Coincidentally, the boy's name was also John, saving John a headache of having to learn to respond to a new name.

??

After getting all this information from the boy, John swiftly ended his life and absorbed his blood essence.

'I just need a few more Late Core Formation cultivators worth of blood essence, and then I should be able to push my body cultivation to the Late Core Formation Realm,' John mused internally while walking through the lands of the Bloodfiend Sect.

The lands between the Bloodfiend Sect and Heavenly Lightning Sect were divided by a massive river, which spanned several miles wide. John had reached the river half a day ago, and had flown over it to reach the lands of the Bloodfiend Sect.

'The boy told me that the Bloodfiend Sect is a three week journey away without a ship, so I have quite a way to go. But it's not all bad. This way, I get to see a bit more of the Forbidden Alliance lands, and learn more about them.'

After travelling for a few dozen miles, he came across his first village. It was similar in size to the villages he had seen before, and John decided to visit it, in order to see the differences in people and culture. The more he learned about the Forbidden Alliance lands before he reached the Bloodfiend Sect, the better his odds of succeeding in his mission were.

The village contained just shy of one hundred small wooden buildings, and was fairly simple. John landed in the village center, and saw no other signs of life whatsoever. His divine sense spread out over the village, and still no signs of life were detected.

'It's completely empty? Strange. The villages in these lands do not have to fear raids from my sect or the other Honorable Alliance sects, so what's going on? Surely the Forbidden Alliance sects aren't using their own people for cultivation?'

John perused the village for any and all clues, but could not find anything. After concluding any more useless exploration, John proceeded onwards on his travels. A small dirt road stretched out from the village and deeper into the Forbidden Alliance lands, and so John decided to follow it.

On his journey, he saw many different types of beasts, ranging from normal animals to Core Formation beasts. However, each one ran in fear upon seeing John, making him wonder if it was something he was doing to scare them off, or their nature in these brutal lands.

After another several dozen miles, another village came into view. It was slightly larger than the previous village, but much like the first, it was completely empty as well.

"Strange. It's the same as before."

John explored the village for a moment, but couldn't find any signs of what had happened once again. He found the largest house in the village, and entered it.

"I suppose it's been a long day. I'll rest here for the night, before I continue onwards tomorrow."

John assumed a meditative position, as a scroll suddenly appeared in his hands.

"Crimson Blade Slash huh? I suppose I'll have to learn that boy's techniques before I reach the Bloodfiend Sect."

John began to study the technique, and did so late into the night before retiring to bed. At the Late Core Formation Realm, one could go for weeks without sleep, but doing so still made John feel incredibly refreshed.

Early the next morning, he once again set out, venturing deeper into the Forbidden Alliance lands. Similar to before, there were many villages completely devoid of any life. On the fourth day of travel, John arrived at a small city. The city was several miles across, and had nearly a thousand buildings inside its walled interior.

"There's actually people this time!" John couldn't help but exclaim.

There was a line of people lined up at the front gate of the city, in which some guards were inspecting them individually. John began to walk towards the line to line up, when a thought crossed his mind.

'That's right, I'm a member of the Bloodfiend Sect now, which is the most illustrious, as well as feared, sect in these lands. I should play the part.'

Instead of lining up, John strode straight towards the gate. The guards, both in the Core Formation Realm, began to shout out order's for John to stop, but their words immediately ceased when they noticed his blood red robes.

"A Bloodfiend disciple? Forgive us for our earlier words," one of the guards said to John, a slight tremble evident in his voice. Clearly, upsetting Bloodfiend Sect members was something to be avoided in these lands.

John ignored the guard, and strode past both of them into the city. Neither made a move to stop him, or tried to make him pay the entry fee.

'This is actually quite nice,' John mused internally. 'I could get used to this.'

Inside the city, hundreds of people could be seen scurrying about their business. The bustling city was not unlike the cities found in the Honorable Alliance lands, but there was a noticeable difference in moods.

The cities John was used to displayed an outward sense of cheerfulness, hopefulness, and optimism. However, the faces of those he saw within the city were cold, with many constantly looking over their shoulders.

After walking through the city roads, John reached the large open city center, which housed most of the city's vendors and markets. He began to peruse through them, although he was mostly unimpressed with what he saw.

'Poorly crafted weapons, cultivation aids that are low quality, useless battle arts. I suppose this is a city located towards the borders of the Bloodfiend lands, and so it's quite weak. But still…'

John continued to peruse through the offered wares for a while, but became more and more disinterested. He finally reached the very heart of the market, and the cold and gloomy atmosphere began to disappear, as he heard excited shouts come from up ahead.

'What's going on there?'

John pushed through the crowd, which at first would give him a cold look and begin to speak out to curse him, but their words would instantly end as they noticed his robes. While he could fly above the crowd, John wanted to see everything the city could offer.

"Two thousand Spirit Crystals," a loud shout sounded out from the crowd ahead.

"Three thousand Spirit Crystals," the shout of another echoed out from within the crowd.

Many more loud bids were shouted out in quick succession, until no more bids were uttered.

"Sold," an excited shout loudly echoed through the crowd. "Eight thousand Spirit Crystals.

'Sounds like whatever they're bidding on, it's causing quite the commotion.'

He eventually made his way through the crowd, and finally spotted what was going on in the heart of the city. His expression darkened as he saw the auction.

On a stage in which the large crowd had gathered in front of, dozens of mortals shackled in chains, ranging from children to the elderly, were being auctioned off.