018 The Cursed

Liam was gravely mistaken. It was nearing the end of the week. Yesterday Liam spent his whole day cultivating. The only time when he wasn't cultivating was when he was doing his quest, or better his job.

Tomorrow after work, he would get his first paycheck, 25 credits. It was a bit sad that 10 of them were going to be taken away, and there wasn't much he could do.

"It's almost midnight. Let's form this last drop and I'll head back to meet with Ralph." Liam thought to himself as he saw the bright full moon, shining in the calm night sky. The stars shining all around it, but none are as bright as the moon.

"Help, can some body help me." Liam heard a voice from somewhere rather near him. He was in the sects training valley, but with the scale of the training area. It wasn't unusual for someone to get lost or need some type of help.

Liam sat still when he saw a figure of a man come out of the bushes. When the man came under the moonlight, Liam was able to clearly see his frightened face. The man was panting as he walked closer to Liam, one step at a time. The man finally raised his head and stopped panting.

His whole demeanor changed so suddenly; it did not seem natural. The man with his tranquil, expressionless face, said to Liam in a calm voice. "Would you mind turning around?"

That's when Liam heard something behind him. He turned as fast as he could, but someone already held a thick cloth with a weird smell over his nose and mouth. As soon as Liam inhaled and smelled the napkin, his vision began to blur and he lost consciousness.

When Liam woke up, he found himself on a chair, his hands tied to it. He looked around and he was in a dark room with concrete walls. To his right, was Ralph. He was awake but in the same condition as Liam. They were both unhurt, just tied.

"You finally woke up. For a fourth human realm cultivator, your resistance to poison is quite minimal." The person seating on a chair facing them, said.

"You Poisoned us?" Liam was rather enraged.

"Oh, don't worry about it too much. Albert here has attunement with the poison element. He only put you to sleep. No further harm." The boy with curly black hair talked calmly, while his movements on his chair were erratic. What Liam presumed was Albert, stood next to the boy, like a bodyguard.

"How can I trust you haven't done anything to us." Liam was still angry.

"You can't. But I don't care if you do." The boy said as he twirled his hair.

"Liam, calm down." Ralph said to him. "If they wanted to do anything to us, they could have when we were asleep."

Liam took a deep breath as to calm his mind. I need to think clearly. They have brought us here, and they haven't hurt us. That means they must want something from us, they are looking to make a deal? And we don't have to agree with anything, If they do something to us, the sect will find out and later punish them. Disciples are not allowed to kill each other. We can use this; we have the upper hand.

"Why have you brought us here?" Liam asked the boy in the chair, now fully calm.

"Now you're making sense. I am…" The boy was cut off in the middle of his sentence.

"Can you untie us. I don't want to have a bruise on my delicate hands." Liam said to the boy with a slight smirk.

"I guess it's sensible. Albert." The boy said and the man standing next to him went behind Liam and placed his hand on the rope. Liam heard a sizzling sound of the rope dissolving. Then Albert went behind Ralph and did the same thing.

Liam moved his hands around a bit, then he said." You may continue."

"Right. I am Owen, leader of the cursed faction in Mystical Turtle Sanctuary. Inside the real Cursed faction, I am only among the top, not still at the pinnacle. The cursed faction does not rank its members based on strength, even though it is useful. We are unlike those scum aristocrats and royals." The boy started saying. From before, when he behaved like a little boy, he now looked almost menacing.

"We saw what you went through on your first day of classes. Imagine you left your family to go study in a prestigious sect, your whole family is betting on you, to make a name for yourself in the cultivation world. You family used all of their savings to buy you a cultivation book to the second human realm. When you enter your first class, they tell you about the cultivation book to the fifth human realm. And you can earn it in just under three months. All of this is amazing right. Your future looks bright, but then. Just like it happened to you, some jerks come to you, they take all of your earnings as you paying them "protection". Now what do you do. You can't make any money to improve yourself and you can't resist them. You only have two options. Continue to work for naught or constantly risk your life hunting for beast with minimal value. This is the sad truth of many young cultivators who don't come from a rich aristocratic family. That's where we come." The boy explained the situation.

Liam was in thought, he was lucky to be at the fourth human realm, and could make enough money. But what if Ralph did not have his cultivation technique. Would he be forever stuck in the third realm?

"Imagine how much money the two other factions are earning. Tens of thousands of outer court disciples working in this sect. 10 credits every week from each of them. And don't think that the sect elders and leader don't know about what's happening. They are earning their share." The boy looked at Liam and Ralph. "This is the state of our cultivation world."

"Do you know what happens to those talented cultivators with special elements. They have two choices. To never be able to surpass the fifth human realm. Or to swear allegiance and form a soul contract with one of the aristocratic families and forever be under their control. They will never let us surpass the fifth human realm. They fear they won't be able to control us."

"When they do this, they stop the rise of the talents. They limit the whole continent to just their few families. While we just got a first king realm cultivator that we call a genius seen once in a millennium. The Northern continent has discovered the celestial realm. If it continues like this, it will only spell doom for our southern continent." The curly haired boy stayed silent, to give time for processing all the information.

"Yes, this is what I've been waiting for. If I knew there was something like this in this sect I would have come long ago." Ralph whispered under his nose. Probably absentmindedly but Liam managed to hear him.

"What do you need from us." Ralph said to the boy.

"That's what I like to hear. You are new, so the Golden eagles won't suspect anything about your affiliations. You have remained alone and made no contact with other disciples other than your roommate. We researched you before this and you both have almost no record. Like you two appeared out of thin air. But I won't ask questions. I want you to try and get as deep into the Golden Eagles Faction. Get close with them. That's all for now. If I need you for something else, you'd find yourself here." If you don't have any questions. You're free to go." The boy finished.

"None for now, but we would like to have more information on your cursed faction. We will leave now." Ralph said, not giving Liam time to ask anything himself.

"Albert." The boy said, as albert pulled out a thick cloth and laced it with some liquid from his hands. "If anybody founds out about what went here. You won't be seeing the sunrise the next day." The boy said to them with a smile, before albert put them to sleep.

When the two boys woke up, it was almost sunrise, and they were in the forest area of the training valley.

"We don't have to do anything for them" Liam said.

"I know, but don't you also find it enraging. How the aristocrats use us and keep us under control." Ralph said.

"Where I am from, the royal family is supposed to use its greater strength to help and protect its people. I don't like their way of working. I will change this world in my own way." Liam said to Ralph and he was very determined that it was possible.

"Are you sure brother?" Ralph asked him.

"I know I will."

"I believe in you, but you can't do it alone." Ralph said to Liam as he got off the ground and held his hand for Liam to get up too. "Where are you from?"

Liam only now, noticed his blunder. "I'll tell you some other time, let's get home for now."