Jack looked at the banged up medallion that had lost all of it’s previous glory. Seeing the loneliness in Jack’s gaze, the old man said gently, “Lil’Jack, why don’t you give it a rest for a while and come back to the Sect? All of your Senior Apprentices have been waiting for you to come back and visit.”

Hearing the words “Senior Apprentices” Jack looked at the old man with a complex look as he asked, “They have still not given up on it?” Hearing Jacks question, the old man let out a merry laugh as he said, “Hehe, no. To cultivate my Blood Devil Art, you have to have certain “qualities”, so all your Senior Apprentices are people that have similar pasts to yours. They known how it feels to be left all alone in this world, with no one to trust and no one to lean on.”

The old man took a breath as he continued, “All your Senior Apprentices are First Generation Disciples that have already passed the Third Tribulation, for them to pay so much attention to you should show you that they truly are serious about this.” After saying so, Jack could only reflect on the old man’s words.

Jack joined Dragon Cross approximately five years ago, when the old man had taken him in after running into Jack at the Ancient Battlefield. In his eyes, Jack had Heaven defying Talent, Willpower and Comprehension. He did not know how Jack had been arrived at the Ancient Battlefield but having seen him survive for that long, it was incomprehensible.

He had spent quite a bit of time trying to hoax Jack into coming with him and becoming his apprentice. When he had first brought Jack back to the Sect, he had been like block of True Ice. The aura he excluded was extremely cold and he seemed to be surrounded by an ice cocoon that let no one close to him. When he had first arrived at the Sect, he had gotten into a lot of fights with either people of his generation or from the Senior Generation.

What astounded everyone was that he essentially had the strength to fight someone a whole Realm above him thanks to the Demons inside the Mask. The Mask was something that Jack had obtained in the Ancient Battlefield and it was actually quite a mysterious Artefact.

Inside the Mask, there were currently four types of Demons: Horned Demons, Succubi, Hell Stallions and Devils. The stronger the unit was, the less of them there were, for example, there were 100 Horned Demons, that were the dumbest and weakest, while there were only 5 Devils, that were the strongest and their intelligence was not bad either. The Demons were actually quite mysterious as they were completely and utterly loyal to Jack.

It did not matter which command Jack gave, they would give their all to fulfil it, even if it meant their death. Another mysterious and interesting thing was that whenever a Demon “died”, it didn’t die for good. They went into a hibernating state and could be reawakened by Blood Essence. Also, by absorbing Blood Essence, he could make them stronger as well, however, they could not pass the Tribulation.

The Devils were the prime example of this, they were as strong as a Nascent Soul Expert that had fully tempered his body, soul, Qi and could not grow any stronger no matter what Jack did. However, they could not grow any stronger as there seemed to be invisible chains tying them down that did not allow them to evolve.

Each of the Demons had their own advantages and disadvantages, so the only reason no one of the Senior Generation had not plotted against him to steal the Mask, was because the growth of these Demons was limited. Since they could not pass the Empyrean Tribulation, they would become useless to most people very quickly.

The old man seemed to look into the distance as he said offhandedly, “There is a storm coming. For now, it would be for the best if you came back to the Sect and went into closed door cultivation for now.” The old man then turned to look Jack in the eyes as he said, “You have been travelling the Cosmos for 4 years now, completing missions for the Sect along the way. You must have gained a lot of experiences and Contribution Points as well.” Jack nodded his head as he confirmed the old man’s words.

Suddenly, the old man looked to his right where a crimson red swirling portal made of magical runes appeared in the air. It was the same kind of portal as the one Jack arrived with. From the portal, three groups of 5 people arrived. The three groups memorized their surroundings and when their eyes fell onto Jack, they nodded to him. When their gazes fell onto the projection of the old man, they immediately straightened their backs as they cupped their hands and respectfully said, “Greetings, Ancestor Enforcer!”

Hearing the greeting, the old man nodded and said, “Jack will brief you of the situation and also, do not forget to be careful. All indications show that there is a storm brewing and some hidden power is trying to disrupt the power balance. Should things exit your control, run first, think later.” The old man’s words grew cold as he said one more sentence before disappearing, “Your own lives matter more than some random troublemakers, so don’t overestimate yourselves.”

After the last word echoed out, the old man’s figure had already disappeared. However, from the underlying tone, it seemed as though he was referring to something. The Seal that Jack used to summon that projection had completely burned up so it could not be used again. After the old man had disappeared, everyone’s gazes turned to Jack who started bringing them up to speed.

After he had finished telling them everything he discovered, the three groups started thinking of a plan. It was not the first time these three groups had worked together, so their understanding of each other was quite good. Amongst them, there was no useless or pointless fighting for dominance or supremacy either, so all of them got along quite well.

When Jack had told them about the enemy line up, they understood very well why there were three Squads here to handle this situation. It was to make sure nothing unexpected happened and to leave a certain back up if things should spiral out of control. When the three Squads had put together a plan, the three Leaders told their Squad Members to make preparations and adjust their minds while they had a few words with Jack.

Seeing the three Squad Leaders walk over, Jack, who had been gazing at the sky, also turned his attention towards them. The three people that arrived in front of him were of different builds. One was a slender, handsome young man that used a sword, while the other man looked like a miner. His build was bulky and his face looked quite rigid and stiff, his main weapon seemed to suit him well as he used an Axe. The third Leader was actually a young woman that specialized in using Spells.

When the three reached Jack, the young man put on an awkward smile as he said, “We haven’t had the chance to thank you for the last time.” Jack stared at him blankly for a moment, trying to remember what the young man was talking about. After a second, he remembered what he was talking about and he brushed it off saying, “No problem about that.” It was the very same thing that the old man had been referring to.

On their last mission together, they had overestimated themselves a bit and not retreated when an unknown variable came into play. As a result, they were nearly killed and only survived thanks to Jack sacrificing 78 Horned Demons out of 100, 47 Succubi out of 50, all 20 Hell Stallions he had and 3 Devils out of 5. Also, Jack’s own Soul had taken some damage and his body had gotten severely injured as well. It was nothing short of a miracle that all of them came out alive and without any crippling injuries. Yes, they had some sever physical and Soul injuries but they were not life threatening or injuries that left permanent crippling effects.

Although the three didn’t know that the Demons could only be reawakened by Blood Essence but they weren’t that stupid either. They knew that the price Jack paid for them to get out alive was enormous, so they felt very indebted to him. After getting severely injured like that, they had to spend half a year recuperating and they had a lot of time to reflect on their actions. Jack had warned them explicitly that there was some unknown variable that could turn the tide, however, they had ignored his warning back then.

Jack reputation in the Sect wasn’t good amongst regular cultivators to begin with and most saw him as an egoistic person that had eyes on top of his head. However, nearly all of the First Generation Disciples of the Sect knew the accuracy of Jack’s information. If he told them that there was a dangerous variable, they would be even more alert than if they were at a life and death battle, where every mistake could cost them their lives.

Also, while they were nursed back to health at the Sect, Jack kept roaming around and continuing his missions. This earned the admiration of the people from the three Squads and they had to truly re evaluate their views on Jack. 9 months had passed since the incident but Jack had only reawakened a total of 52 Horned Demons from their slumber, meaning that he currently only had 74 Horned Demons, 3 Succubi and 2 Devils as his fighting force. This was also the main reason the old man wanted him to return to the Sect for now.

If Jack went all out and ignored the repercussions of summoning all his Demons at once, he could actually force an Empyrean Emperor to fight for his life while he himself ran like hell. However, currently, he would even be hard pressed to out run an Empyrean Immortal even if he summoned everyone he had.

However, his biggest advantage was that he himself was at Core Formation, so most people at a higher level underestimated him severely and since they did not have their guard up against him, he could take them by surprise with the Demons. However, all possibility of surviving comes down to one thing: The element of surprise. Even an Empyrean Emperor can’t stay completely emotionless when a Core Formation “brat” suddenly pulls out an army of Demons from thin air. The three Squad Leaders looked at each other in helplessness for a moment and then the young man said seriously, “Back then, you saved our lives. No one would have blamed you even if we had died.”

The young man let out a sigh as the young woman continued where the young man had left off, “You had done your job of informing us of everything and shown us our targets. It was our own arrogance that cause us all to nearly die and you even went out of your way to make sure every single person left alive.”

The young man then continued, “We brushed off all your warnings. So it wouldn’t have been weird at all if you left after doing your part.” He then took a deep breath and cupped his hands respectfully, “For this, my 21st Roaming Dragon Squad will do anything you ask of us in return.”

The two others present also expressed the same gratitude and told Jack that no matter what he asked of their Squads, they would do their upmost to carry it out. Jack smiled awkwardly as he said, “Yea, I’ll remember that. For now, if you have finished your preparations, shall we go?”