Shin Sumi's field of vision was restricted but her half closed eyes, contrarily to that of the other hundreds of prisoners, were still capable of sight.

Trapped in the illusion of State of Sleep, none of the others seemed to have realized that they had just performed a large-scale instantaneous transportation to the other side of the continent.

Outside the bubble, Shin Sumi saw the Night Twelve in the same position as before, only instead of having the massive grey tower in the background, her field of view had changed to a mountain.

No, there were tendrils of smoke rising from the top, thousands of meters high until they mixed with the occasional clouds. This was a volcano.

On the slope of the volcano lay thousands of houses, courtyards and paths. Their number was big enough that Shin Sumi could only guess at their number in one glance. Just like the mountains in the Dark Sky Starry Sect, the higher her eyes went, the less dense the habitations seemed to be.

At the edge of her field of view, other natural formations smaller than the central volcano rose through the earth as if forming a circle around it.

"The nine mountains of the Blue Fire Sect" Shin Sumi had heard about the strongest sect ever since she had just started walking the path of cultivation. The Blue Fire Sect had nine mountains, each controlled by a specific master, and one active volcano whose flames were blue.

The volcano was the centerpiece of the set, the residence of the Patriarch, the Elders, and that of their direct disciples.

Each mountain was more or less connected to its neighbors, their slopes meeting in between and ensuring the entire sect was impregnable like a natural fortress.

In the ring formed by the nine mountains and one volcano was a circular valley, big enough to house ten of the Dark Sky Starry Sect's upper valley.

On the edge of the valley, right at the beginning of the volcano was where Shin Sumi and the prisoners from the Sky Earth Sect had been transported.

"And now what?" Mantis' crisp voice rose through the air. From her tone of voice, Shin Sumi could tell that she was tired. Despite the twelve of them powering the spirit formation, the energy consumption must have been so great that it had left the Night Twelve panting.

Raccoon replied, "We wait for the Seniors to arrive, any second now. After that, these prisoners are none of our business anymore."

Mantis nodded, her voice low enough so that only Rat and the prisoners around could hear her, "I hate leaving the sect for missions like this. It is always so tiring. I just want to sleep."

Rat turned like a whip, instantly facing her.

"I know, I know. Anyway, wanna check out the hot springs at my place?" Mantis continued, a devious smile on her face.

Rat immediately turned all kinds of shades of red, like a child who had just been caught stealing a candy. He snorted, then coughed, then turned away from the girl who was still smiling.

By this point, it had only been around ten breaths since Shin Sumi and the others had been transported across the continent.

People from the sect, disciples and low level Elders were starting to gather around the plaza on which they landed. They didn't get any closer than a hundred and fifty steps though, staying off the platform.

Only one man who looked to be thirty years old or so walked the steps slowly.

It was only after he had come into view that Shin Sumi realized that the crowd had parted ways respectfully to let him approach.

"What a nice batch of fresh young people! You have outdone yourselves," said the man, whose voice was strangely older than his body looked.

Upon hearing his words, Rat, Mantis, Raccoon and the others turned and bowed deeply, looking at the ground rather than at the man who surprised them.

"Master Lead Fire," Raccoon greeted respectfully.

Master Lead Fire opened his mouth to say something, only to stop abruptly and look at the ground in between him and the group of prisoners, towards something only he could see.

A split second later, a flash of red light forced Shin Sumi to close her eyes once more. A storm of powerful Shinsoo swirls right in front of her forced her to control herself in the best way she could, having cold sweats on her back.

"Something even more powerful than the rest combined has just appeared," was what her instinct screamed at her.

Not looking directly at the source of the Shinsoo turbulence, keeping her empty eyes straight forward, Shin Sumi nonetheless saw that another group of people had appeared on the platform.

While only being composed of twenty people, the group radiated with at least ten times more energy than Shin Sumi's batch of close to five hundred prisoners.

"The masters of the Sky Earth Sect," Shin Sumi didn't have to conjecture too much to know who these people were, as well as their guards.

"Lead, how nice of you to greet us back from our mission," joked a large man whose face was obscured by a dark hood. His robes were pure black, deeper than the darkest night. The only light emitted from his body was the triangle of his white beard poking out of the hood and floating around as if agitated by an unexisting beard.

Master Lead Fire nodded with a smile before raising his shoulders nonchalantly, "Oh, I'm only interested in fresh samples, Bronze."

Master Bronze Fire sighed, then looked around at the hundreds of prisoners, "Can my Twelve have a pick first this time? They organized most of the battle while Iron, Copper and I dealt with the Reverends."

Behind Master Bronze Fire, two other hooded figures nodded silently. They each held large magical chains in one hand, the other hand making strange complicated motions, incantations to strengthen the chains holding the prisoners in place.

If what he said was true and the newly arrived prisoners were indeed the Sky Earth Sect's Reverends, Shin Sumi knew that the three Masters were all close to being as powerful as Patriarch Sen himself.

Each Reverend of the Sky Earth Sect was as strong as a Pavilion Master in the Dark Sky Starry Sect. Fen Wudao had explained that much to Shin Sumi before she left for her mission.

Still as discreetly as possible, she looked at the three hooded men and the dozen of Reverends. Upon closer inspection, she could definitely see traces of battle on them.

Torn robes, missing limbs, but mostly blood. The battle must have been harsh but there was no doubt that it had been completely one-sided.

Master Bronze spoke again, turned to the assembly of Blue Fire Sect disciples still a few steps short of the platform, "Tomorrow a large auction will be held, at noon. All disciples of the Blue Fire Sect are allowed to attend."

Shin Sumi had not quite yet understood what he meant by that when the crowd started cheering loudly.

The black hood of Master Bronze turned towards all the low level prisoners and Shin Sumi. His hand extended downwards with his palm opened, a massive surge of Shinsoo wrapping around the already existing spirit formation that held everyone under State of Sleep.

The crowd had already started to disperse but Master Lead's voice rose above the crowd's noise.

"What are you doing, Bronze? You don't believe in the strength of your twelve young protégés?"

Master Bronze turned around slowly, his hand having finished the barrier formation, "Oh I'm quite confident in the kids. I simply want to make sure that nobody starts picking prisoners before tomorrow when the Patriarch gets back."

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Master Bronze didn't trust Master Lead.

***

Shin Sumi sighed.

"No matter how I inspect it, I can't find any weakness to this barrier."

It had been many hours since they arrived in the Blue Fire Sect and ever since Master Bronze erected his barrier around them, the plaza had been completely silent and empty.

The Masters had dispersed the crowd and left with their own prisoners, the Sky Earth Reverends.

Shin Sumi was now starting to understand Bronze's strength and place in the sect. Their Patriarch was absent and Master Bronze was most likely the second in command around.

With the prisoners under State of Sleep's illusion and his two-way barrier, no prisoner could hope to escape and no disciple could get in. As such, not even one person was tempted to walk around the plaza at night and no guard had been assigned to watch over the prisoners.

Besides, Shin Sumi's group of a few hundreds was composed only of Liquid Realm disciples, the majority of them between the first and third step. In comparison to the Blue Fire Sect's strength, they didn't even qualify as fully-fledged cultivators.

"Did they kill all of the Core Development Elders and cultivators besides the Reverends? What happened to the Sky Earth Sect's Patriarch?"

Shin Sumi had no answer to most of her questions. She would have to wait for the auction at noon.

"Most likely, each Master will have a pick of the slaves they want. What they do with us afterwards..." Shin Sumi shivered at the thought, "Especially that Master Lead. From what I understand, he is not held in high regard by the other factions."

Thoughts swirling in her mind, Shin Sumi concentrated on thinking of a plan. Something, anything, that would allow her to regain her freedom.

Unfortunately she was unable to do anything other than wait. And so she waited.

***

The surroundings of the platform were crowded again. From the position of the sun in the sky, noon was just around the corner.

"They are about to auction us," Shin Sumi looked at the faces of the disciples around. None of them looked like avid bidders, which made her realize what this was really about.

"There is no way a low-level disciple will be able to afford any prisoner. This isn't a real auction, this is a fight between the different factions, the different Masters."

Shin Sumi, her eyes unfocused and half-closed, was still sitting in the same position as before, feigning to be under the same spell as the others.

The crowd was getting larger by the second, its rumble growing as the voices of thousands soon filled the place. The only moment of brief silence was when a group of a dozen young disciples arrived.

They each had deep black robes laced with golden patterns and dark circles around their eyes.

"The Night Twelve..."

"I heard they single-handedly destroyed the Sky Earth Sect and imprisoned all of the disciples..."

"This is Master Bronze's unparalleled faction."

Not sparing a single glance at the onlookers, the Night Twelve walked straight through the crowd until they were standing at the foot of the platform.

"Rat, still sure that you don't want any of them for yourself?"

Rat laughed dryly, facing the prisoners, "Look at them Mantis, they wouldn't even qualify as training dummies. What use would I have of them?"

"You're only fourteen. I give you three years and you'll have the answer to that yourself," another member of the Night Twelve said, "I can definitely see some cuties."

Rat's face turned red, Shinsoo fueled by anger swirling around him.

"Rat, Bull, control yourselves. Don't do anything unsightly before the Patriarch."

Following Raccoon's intervention, all of the Night Twelve straightened their posture and stopped arguing. Their eyes were fixed towards the air above the bubble of prisoners, out of Shin Sumi's line of sight.

Trying to sense what was going on, she only now discovered that the crowd's voice had died again.

"The Blue Fire Sect Patriarch..." she said silently, "and he's not alone."

"Kids, remove the spell," Master Bronze's voice spoke from high in the air.

The Night Twelve all bowed as one then spoke in unison, "Break."

A sudden gust of wind swallowed the entire plaza, followed by the waking up of all five hundred prisoners from the trap they had been sleeping in.

"What the...", "Where are we?", "Is this really the...", all of the prisoners looked around, slowly realizing what had happened. Free to stop pretending, Shin Sumi sighed impatiently and joined the group by standing up as well.

"The Sky Earth Sect is no longer in existence," the Patriarch spoke, silencing the disciples and the prisoners in one go, "they have defied us and they have paid the price. Such is the law in the cultivation world."

The old man's voice was grainy and trembling as well as unbelievable domineering.

"Anger, rebellion, retribution. All of that is nothing compared to strength. Sects rise and fall but strength is the only thing in this world that has been there long before us and that will remain long after everything under the horizon has turned to ash.

What place does loyalty hold in a world like this? I have lived for longer than all of you combined. I have seen the rise and fall of empires, and now my empire is stronger than any other. You may have lost friends, homes and even family, but what I am offering to you today is a chance at becoming stronger than you could ever be after centuries in the Sky Earth Sect."

The Patriarch of the Blue Fire Sect grew silent for a few breaths before his strangely convincing voice continued.

"Will you remain loyal to a pile of ashes, or take the chance that has been given to you and join my Blue Fire Sect?"

Be it the prisoners of the Sky Earth Sect or the disciples of the Blue Fire Sect, everyone remained silent for a long time.

"...D-Don't listen to him, fellow disciples of Sky Earth! I would rather die than be a slave to the Blue Fire Sect!"

The man who had spoken was one of the few eighth step Liquid Realm prisoners. Everybody turned to him but his own face was turned to the skies where the Blue Fire Sect Patriarch was laughing.

"Ah-ah-ah, a strong willed individual. There is always one, isn't there? Tell me, what is your name?"

"I am Ming Jian, direct disciple of Reverend Yellow River," he replied, then turned towards his fellow prisoners, "most of you already know me, and you should also know that I will never betray the sect that gave me my life and my power. Are you all so afraid of death that you would prefer to cast away your honor and become a slave?!"

The Patriarch sighed, amused and annoyed at the same time, "This is the second time this puny kid said the word 'slave'. Let this Patriarch clarify something. If you want to die for something as meaningless as honor, nobody will stop you but what I am offering you is not the chance to become a slave. I want all of you to join the Blue Fire Sect as disciples."

"Don't listen to him!" Ming Jian repeated, "He is lying to us, they will never trust us to-"

"Shut up, Jian," a booming voice rose from behind the crowd of Blue Fire Sect disciples. It was a man dressed in long bright yellow robes who was missing an arm. Shin Sumi recognized him immediately from the previous day.

"Trust you? What is there to trust? The Sky Earth Sect is no longer, the Patriarch is gone and we Reverends have been defeated. They don't have to trust us to accept us into the Blue Fire Sect because we don't have anything else to do or anywhere else to go."

"Master Yellow River..."

Faced with his own master, Ming Jian paled to the point that all color drained from his face. Even his own mentor and teacher was against him. Lowering his head, Ming Jian sat on the ground, his head in his hands.

"Sigh," the Blue Fire Sect Patriarch spoke again, "Now, is anyone still opposing me?"

Silence.

If some of the prisoners still had reservations before, seeing a Reverend of their own sect turn like that was enough to dispel any rebellious thoughts.

Having watched the whole scene unfold, Shin Sumi's mind was all over the place. Unlike all the others, her home sect was still standing and she knew she was on a mission, but the Patriarch's speech was still perplexing.

"Like Reverend Yellow River said, it makes sense. But if they really don't intend to turn us into slaves, why did Master Bronze Fire talk about auctioning us yesterday? What is the Blue Fire Sect really up to?"

Her thoughts were cut off by the Blue Fire Sect Patriarch who knew he had won the heart of most prisoners already.

"Let us not waste any more time. I was told upon my return that Bronze Fire's Night Twelve were responsible for yesterday's victory and as such, they will speak first."

Bowing at a right angle, the twelve young people dressed in black and gold expressed their respect and thanks.

Raccoon, as their leader, spoke for the group, "The Night Twelve thank the Patriarch for this favor. While we wouldn't want to oppose the will of any Master, we are interested in two new disciples. We would like to request the Patriarch for a man and a woman below twenty years of age and with a cultivation base above the Liquid Realm's third step."

Briefly scanning the prisoners, the Patriarch extended his right hand and nodded to himself.

Gently, two prisoners fitting Raccoon's request were lifted off the ground before landing slowly in front of the imposing Night Twelve.

Immediately, the chosen two dropped to their knees and bowed. A rare smile appeared on Raccoon's face, who then proceeded to thank the Patriarch again.

The Patriarch ignored the bow and turned to the people floating behind him, a genuine smile on his face, "Which Master would like to follow?"