Jian Yu abruptly slowed down at the appearance of three strangers, dropping Huan Jiao in the process. A small dust cloud covering his lower body formed at where he stood. His eyes calmed down from his previous fervor yet were as cautious as ever. He glanced at the three individuals in front of him, taking note of their clothing and bearing. Fortunately, the lead cultivator could still be defeated through his talismans while the rest were much simpler.

"I'm Jian Yu. I'm looking for the Blood Reaches Sect."

Inside, he wondered if the newcomers knew of the Blood Reaches Sect. If they did, he could pry for more information on the subject but if they don't... then he would have to choose between fight or flight.

When the three men heard Jian Yu's words, their postures relaxed and the lead cultivator said, "Oh, you're interested in being recruited into the sect? Good, good. Brother Bai, test him out for me. If he is good enough, we're bringing him back."

One of the cultivators behind him walked forward. His face naturally oily and his hair combed backwards, revealing a slightly wrinkled forehead. His shoulders were broad and his clothes tightly gripped at his body, showing off his many manly curves as he got ready to fight.

Then, his narrow eyes squinted even further, "Brother Jian, please."

Juan Yu adjusted his body as well, his body lowered and his two legs spread apart slightly with the right foot in front. This was the posture he assumed everytime he initiated a fight with a demonic beast.

Although he looked eager to fight outside, inside he was really nervous. He knew that cultivators were significantly different from demonic beasts in how they fought and was afraid that his lack of knowledge wouldn't get him into the Blood Reaches Sect.

Currently, his goal was just to gain strength and take back Acirema along the way and what was better than growing under a sect.

Remembering what the Great Dragon Dynasty did to his home left him hopeless but in that hopelessness, he realised that strength could triumph over any adversary.

He looked at the rather shiny man in front of him, and moved first. He lifted his right hand and manifested a wind blade with the edge of his hand as it sliced downwards.

The oily man sidestepped, and dashed towards Jian Yu. The distance between the two immediately halved and Jian Yu let out a blue fireball towards him before dashing towards the man himself.

The man punched the fireball, causing it to collapse into numerous embers and stomped down, manifesting a dirt wall that blocked Jian Yu's path. However, before he could move on, a blue flash pierced through the dirt wall, slamming into his very chest.

As he tumbled backwards, Jian Yu circled around the dirt wall and savagely punched and clawed at the man, releasing a bit of demonic aura unintentionally. The man constantly retreated under the barrage of attacks, unable to fight back.

He gritted his teeth and swiftly raised his fist, bringing the ground below him along with it. Jian Yu's momentum was interrupted with the abrupt change which the man didn't miss.

Currently, his face was slightly pale but his eyes seemed as fired up as ever. He swing his raised fist down to the ground, causing it to fall back down while he jumped at the same time. He bent his arm and pointed his elbow at Jian Yu such that Jian Yu would be hit by his elbow first after his nearly 2 meter drop.

However, Jian Yu chose not to adhere to his plans and let out a blue bullet to meet the elbow from above.

All this took moments to describe but in reality, happened in an instant. Next thing they knew, the man was down on the ground with a bone poking through the skin of his twisted arm.

Jian Yu cringed at the gruesome sight and was wondering what would have happened if he were the one hit instead. Then, he shook his head slowly, knowing that this was the bloodshed of the cultivation world.

The lead cultivator walked forward and threw a medicinal pill in the direction of the man which he then hastily swallowed down. Next, he turned to Jian Yu and spoke.

"Come junior brother. I'm sure you'll fit right in the Blood Reaches Sect."

He waved his finger, causing a gust of wind to appear and carry everybody present into the flying vessel still above the trees. Right before the gust of wind could catch him, Jian Yu quickly grabbed the still sleeping Huan Jiao by head and tossed him onto his back.

"Whoa!" Jian Yu exclaimed. His body instinctually struggled against the foreign force, eventually landing on a foreign vessel. To his shock, he couldn't see the flying vessel at all previously, as if it were cloaked by some device.

The other cultivators were quiet towards such a response and resumed their previous duties. The injured man was sitting down cross-legged as he recovered with the help of the medicinal pill.

Jian Yu marveled at the scenery around him before placing Huan Jiao down gently.

"You know, this if the only time I've been truly relaxed in months," Jian Yu said as he stretched his arms out as far as he could. "What are your names?"

The lead cultivator pleasantly answered, "I'm Cai Lu. The man you just injured is Bai Tou and the guy over there is Di Mu."

Di Mu waved at Jian Yu and so did Bai Tou. Jian Yu smiled and enjoyed the peace and quiet for a while before releasing all his pent up stress in the form of conversations.

"Di Mu, did you know that I found this treasure trove only to have it disappear? So mysterious..."

"Hey, hey. Brother Cai, how does the flying vessel stay afloat and hidden all the time?"

...

In the end, the patrol was cut short and the four of then headed towards the edge of the forest nearest Acirema.

"Hey, I think if I look closely enough, that's where I was born! Jian Yu shouted, pointing at the tiny and distant city of Acirema.

Cai Lu's face twitched and he shouted back, "Can't you just shut up for one hour!?"

Jian Yu edged backwards and backed down in the end opting to play with Huan Jiao instead who had woken up. At the end of the day, he was their junior brother so he had to do his best to fulfill their wishes.

Then, the flying vessel lowered into a clearing in the forest followed by the soft murmuring of the leading Cai Lu.

Suddenly, a red light flashed and the flying vessel, along with all of it's occupants, disappeared.

An instant later, they were surrounded by wet, rocky walls and hovering over a rocky surface. Above them was another rocky surface dripping water. Jian Yu could immediately tell that they were now underground. Cai Lu gestured the group to follow and through narrow paths, they ended up on a riverbank. The only shocking thing that left Jian Yu's mouth hanging loose, was that it was a enormous river of blood! If Jian Yu had to estimate, the river's width was around 350 kilometers!

Jian Yu's eyes traced the river upstream and found a monument of a devil. The devil's sculpture seemed to be carved from the cave's rocky interior itself as it's head was conjoined with the skyhigh ceiling up above and it's feet split apart the river into four different streams, joining back together after they passed the monument's toes.

The only devilish aspect of the sculpture was that it had two long teeth protruding out of it's mouth, two sharp horns poking out of it's forehead and a single wing behind it. In all other areas, it looked very similar to humans.

As Jian Yu admired the towering monument, he moved his gaze further upstream, behind the monument. There, he found five inverted mountains that hanged down all the way from the top of the cave with their tips touching the bottom.

Di Mu looked at Jian Yu and reminisced about his first arrival at the Blood Reaches Sect. That time, he was kidnapped along with 3 others and was forced to work under them for years.

Breaking the mood, Cai Lu reminded them to keep moving. As the group travelled along the designated pathway to the side of the river, Di Mu moved to Jian Yu's side and whispered.

"The Blood Reaches Sect was founded a thousand years ago by the Blood Ancestor, the one depicted by that monument over there. Apparently, this river was first formed with his blood but it got diluted as time passed by."

Di Mu commented on the sect's history to incite Jian Yu's admiration even more.

"Back then, we used to be super powerful but now, we're just a former shadow of our past..."

Jian Yu looked at the five inverted mountains and back to the river flowing beneath them and voiced out his concerns.

"How big is this cave?"

To that, Di Mu proudly bumped his chest with his fist and mentioned, "It stretches to the Demon Mountains up north, the plains to the west and all throughout the Black Beast Forest! In fact, we are right underneath the Black Beast Forest!"

Jian Yu's eyes shined further and was about to ask more questions but he realised that he was already past the devilish monument and close to the five inverted mountains.

Now, he could clearly tell that there were multiple platforms attached to the mountains and multiple caverns carved into them. The five inverted mountains were positioned in a circle which surrounded a landmass. On that landmass, multiple homes were built out of stone to accommodate the people living there.

Another aspect of the Blood Reaches Sect he noticed was the abundant spiritual energy there. Compared to the outside world, it was dozens of times more condensed here. That would mean that it was much easier for cultivators to advance their levels without the use of medicinal pills.

Time passed by as Jian Yu launched random questions at Di Mu. Eventually, they reached the landmass in the middle of the five inverted mountain peaks and brought Jian Yu into a 2 storey building to get recruited into the Blood Reaches Sect. After Jian Yu walked past the doorway, the three men scurried off.

With Huan Jiao on his back, Jian Yu looked around the first floor and found a woman waiting behind a desk. Jian Yu stepped forward and asked, "I'm here to be recruited into the Blood Reaches Sect. Am I at the right place?"

The woman smiled meekly and took out an orb similar to the one Jian Yu used back in Acirema. In recollection of his past, he felt a bit depressed.

"Place your hand atop the orb and..." but before she continued, an old man appeared and wrapped up the rest of the process.

"Just give him the Blood Medallion and the required garments and devices. He's with me," he mentioned.

Both Jian Yu's and the woman's eyes widened in shock as they realised who that old man was. Huan Jiao just hid behind Jian Yu's back at the notice of him. To Jian Yu, that old man had practically led him to the path of cultivation but to the woman and the rest of the Blood Reaches Sect, that old man was their Grand Elder!

Not even thinking of refuting his words, the woman quietly kept the orb and handed Jian Yu the required equipment. The old man turned to Jian Yu and smiled. As for Jian Yu, he felt oddly relaxed when he met the gaze of the old man as he quietly kept the things handed to him.

"Good luck," he said, disappearing as suddenly as he appeared.

The woman then respectfully guided Jian Yu to his residence on the landmass and left him with a device that opens the door when infused with qi.

He entered his new home and found that it was actually really well made and quite spacious. With the device, he could virtually know everything about his residence. There was a bed, a room with a meditation mat in the middle, and even a defense mechanism. Other than the necessities, there were numerous decorations as well, like a fountain spewing out pure water, free of blood.

After putting down Huan Jiao on the stone floor, his tired body fell onto the bed and his eyes slowly shut as he desired a long, peaceful sleep.

"At long last," he thought. "I'm finally at the Blood Reaches Sect."