Yinsha Sect (II)

Ever since he suddenly gained the qualification for cultivation after being tested to possess a Spiritual Root, Lei Dong had been ecstatic, unable to contain himself. He had originally thought this transmigrated world was just an ancient realm of scattered nations. He had never expected that the immortals of legend actually existed.

This made it impossible for him not to be moved. Originally, even with his advantage as a transmigrator, if his luck was good, he could at best become a wealthy merchant. With even better luck, he might become a noble or a general. At the absolute peak of luck, he would merely be an emperor.

A human life of a hundred years passed in the blink of an eye.

However, ever since he learned that this world had Cultivators, and that he was fortunate enough to possess this qualification, Lei Dong naturally began to let his imagination run wild. Handsome and elegant, dressed in fluttering white robes, hands clasped behind his back, treading on a flying sword, slaying monsters to level up, wooing girls, and most importantly, achieving immortality. It was truly the ultimate enjoyment.

Yet, he never in a million years expected that after two years of intensive training, he would be brought to this ghostly place today. The Yinsha Sect—just by the name, one could tell it was no righteous sect. Looking at the environment and the attire of the people, they were either filled with evil energy or looked like fierce fiends. Coupled with their black and red uniforms embroidered with Yin Sha ghosts, this was clearly a demonic sect.

Just as the books always said, evil could never triumph over righteousness. Those seemingly powerful demonic cultivators would ultimately die at the hands of the righteous sects. Leaving aside what the books said, when he thought of the white-robed fairies, senior sisters, and junior sisters he had dreamed of for nearly two years, and then realized he had ended up in a demonic sect, he feared he would not be able to woo them at will. They might even say, "Demon, take my sword!" before sending a flying sword piercing toward him.

Just thinking about this made the corners of Lei Dong's mouth twitch in bitterness.

What made him even more miserable was that these seven hundred-plus children were gathered in a circle.

Within the circle were over ten arena platforms, each ten zhang wide. Worthy of being a demonic sect, each arena platform was constructed in a bizarre and sinister fashion, inlaid with countless skeletons and bones, glowing with eerie green light, and swept by ghostly winds...

On the arena platforms, over twenty disciples were competing. Among them, a tall disciple, forming a sword hand seal, was controlling a small sword emitting an eerie green glow, flying across the sky to pursue a short disciple. At the same time, he let out a strange "jie jie" laugh:

"Junior Brother, why not obediently surrender early to avoid having your heart pierced by my Youhuo Sword, dying as your soul is refined by underworld fire?"

The tall disciple's Youhuo Sword was exceptionally agile, flying like a bird or swimming like a fish. This flying sword was incredibly sharp, cutting through metal as if it were clay. Its most vicious aspect was that it was forged with underworld fire; once it struck, it did not burn the physical body but instead scorched the soul. The pain of the soul far exceeded that of the physical body by tenfold. An ordinary person touched by even a sliver of it would die of agony in an instant. Their death would be extremely gruesome, their face contorted, and not a single patch of their flesh left intact—truly malicious to the extreme.

The Youhuo Sword was one of the signature flying swords of the Yinsha Sect. Because of its great power, many disciples chose to refine it. However, due to differences in artifact-refining standards and the quality of materials, its strength naturally varied.

The short disciple also possessed a Youhuo Sword. Not long ago, while clashing swords with the tall disciple, he could no longer hold on, and his sword was snapped into two pieces. Like a dead fish falling to the ground, it twitched twice before its green light completely faded. Clearly, the grade of their Youhuo Swords was on different levels.

Currently, the short disciple was fleeing miserably across the arena. However, his movement art was quite agile, seemingly able to barely match the speed of the Youhuo Sword. On the rare occasions he could not escape, a silver shield covered in ferocious ghost carvings would suddenly appear to block a strike for him. Unfortunately, after several blocks, that shield was now covered in cracks and could no longer be used.

Most human hearts sympathized with the weak. Especially among the many children and youths forced to watch. When they heard a stiff-faced man explain why they had to fight in the arena, most of them could not help but feel sympathy for the short disciple.

However, Lei Dong had a different view. That short fellow was indeed fleeing miserably. Yet, though his expression was solemn, there was not a trace of fear in his eyes; he seemed to have a trump card. Otherwise, in a battle where one could simply surrender, persisting would not only be meaningless but could also cost him his life.

The Yinsha Sect had a total of thirteen Patriarchs, each occupying a mountain peak or a cave abode, all of which were blessed lands for cultivation. Recruiting disciples once every ten years was also an extremely important matter for them. Disciples were not just successors; they also enhanced a portion of their prestige and strength. Everyone wanted to have disciples with excellent aptitude under their command. It could be said that the more genius disciples, the better. However, finding a youth with a Spiritual Root who was capable of being nurtured was already no easy task. Those who could be called geniuses were few and far between.

Therefore, the Yinsha Sect had a rule for distributing disciples. Each Patriarch would put forward three disciples from the previous recruitment. A total of thirty-nine disciples would draw lots to compete. Finally, based on the ranking of each disciple, the points of each Patriarch would be determined. The one who obtained the most points would have priority in choosing disciples this time.

Of course, each time, before the new disciples entered, they would undergo an aptitude test. However, only the top thirty—whose aptitude was higher and potential more outstanding—required higher points to exchange for. All the Patriarchs would use their accumulated points to vie for these top thirty disciples with the highest aptitude. Once these thirty were distributed, the remaining hundreds of disciples without rankings would be distributed equally among the various caves and mountains.