Chapter 1791 – Demon Blade Zhao Hai
Just as Zhao Hai and Zhang Feng arrived, someone flew up from below and stopped in front of the h.e.l.l King’s s.h.i.+p. They then cupped their fists and said, “I have seen Senior Brother Zhang Feng and Senior Brother Zhao Hai.”
Zhao Hai looked at the man and smiled faintly as he returned the greeting, “So it’s you, Lu Li. Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be lazy?”
Hearing Zhao Hai, Zhang Feng and the other cultivator laughed. The cultivator was indeed named Lu Li. Lu Li smiled and said, “I didn’t expect Senior Brother Zhao Hai to know me. It seems like my laziness is very well known.”
Zhao Hai and Zhang Feng smiled. Actually, Li Li wasn’t lazy. He was a cultivation madman. He hardly went out. The sect couldn’t say anything to such a madman. However, his conduct of not going out could be seen as similar to a lazy person’s. Because of this, people called him lazy.
Zhao Hai’s words to Lu Li meant that he has a good relations.h.i.+p with him. Therefore, Lu Li wasn’t offended. After joking around, Zhao Hai looked down and said, “How’s the preparations? With so many people present, it wouldn’t be a problem for us to choose a couple hundred people.”
Lu Li nodded and said, “Everything is ready. According to the instructions of the sect, the trial will be conducted at the Nine Revolutions Cave outside the city. The partic.i.p.ants need to be at least at the late Spirit Forming Stage and not more than 200 years of age. All the partic.i.p.ants will enter the Nine Revolutions Cave and the first 500 to come out would be chosen. From the 501st place to the 800th place would be qualified to be serving disciples. And as long as they reach the Core Formation Stage, they would become inner disciples.”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “What’s Bright Yang City’s reaction to this?”
When he heard Zhao Hai, Lu Li’s expression sank as he replied, “The situation isn’t doing very well. When we announced that we would be recruiting disciples, Bright Yang City suddenly sent 1000 cultivators to the Myriad Demons Sect. I heard that these 1000 people are the most talented cultivators in the city. They’re very strong and had great potential.”
Zhao Hai didn’t mind it as he smiled faintly and said, “The Myriad Demons Sect doesn’t have the bearing of a super sect. They only know how to play little tricks. They won’t amount to much eventually. There’s no need to care about them. Let’s head down.” After he said that, Zhao Hai proceeded to fly down.
There was a newly elevated platform in the middle of the square. Zhao Hai and Zhang Feng landed on this platform. The two didn’t speak, Zhang Feng just gave Lu Li a nod.
Lu Li gave a nod back before turning to the rogue cultivators and said, “Everyone, our Black Tiger Gang has decided to open its gates. We will be recruiting 800 disciples from Bright Yang City, 500 of which would be outer disciples while 300 would be serving disciples. You need to be at least at the late spirit forming stage to partic.i.p.ate. You also need to be less than 200 years old. If someone deceives the Black Tiger Gang by concealing your age, don’t blame us for being ruthless. Those who want to register, please come forward and receive your ident.i.ty token. Those who received their ident.i.ty token will gather here tomorrow to partic.i.p.ate in the trial.”
As he said that, Lu Li gestured towards the row of tables by the elevated platform. Sitting opposite the tables were the other disciples who came with Lu Li to Bright Yang City. They would be responsible for giving out the ident.i.ty tokens.
The cultivators below the platform quickly approached the tables. It didn’t take a long time before long lines formed in front of the tables.
The cultivators in the crowd looked at the three people on the platform with envy in their eyes. One of them asked the person beside him, “Boss, do you know who those three people are?”
The person who was asked proudly replied, “You asked the right person. I know those people. There’s no need to talk about the first one who just talked, he’s a core disciple of the Black Tiger Gang, but he isn’t famous. As for the two who came down from the large artifact, those people are amazing. One of them is Zhang Feng, one of the top ten core disciples of the Black Tiger Gang. The other person is more incredible. He is Demon Blade Zhao Hai. He is the only person specially approved by the Black Tiger Gang to open his own base besides the top ten core disciples.”
“Demon Blade Zhao Hai? Is he the one who could fight against Immortal Experts? That’s him? Boss, are you sure you’re not mistaken?”
“I’m absolutely not mistaken. He is Demon Blade Zhao Hai. According to what people said, when the Black Tiger Gang was attacked by the five sects, Zhao Hai brought a team to cause trouble to the five sects. It was even said that he killed an immortal expert. He also killed the Withered Vine Sect’s sky reaching vines. I have a friend who joined a medium grade sect. I ran into him several days ago and acquired this information. And from the picture I saw, that man should be Zhao Hai.”
“So he’s Zhao Hai. I didn’t expect to see him here. It seems like the Black Tiger Gang attached great importance to this gate opening.”
All kinds of discussions lingered all over the place. From time to time, people gazed at Zhao Hai with the look of wors.h.i.+p.
Idols also existed in the Great World of Cultivation. And Zhao Hai was without a doubt an idol worth wors.h.i.+ping. His path has been legendary. He was originally a battle slave from the lower realms. His origin was much lower compared to these rogue cultivators.
However, the rogue cultivators didn’t look down on his origins. It didn’t matter if they became battle slaves or serving disciples, all of these rogue cultivators wanted to join a sect. But they not only need to wait for an opportunity, they also have to win against others.
Zhao Hai didn’t pay attention to the gazes. He stood with Zhang Feng on the platform and looked at the cultivators below.
The rogue cultivators had excited and hopeful looks on their faces as they received their ident.i.ty tokens. Zhao Hai couldn’t help but feel a bit sour in his heart.
At the very least, there were more than ten thousand people present, and more may be coming soon. But among these people, only 800 would be received. Eight hundred over ten thousand was a very small number. Rogue cultivators who wouldn’t fit the cut would return to their former lives and wait until they die of old age.
These were the sorrows of a rogue cultivator. However, Zhao Hai has no intentions to help them. The world is ruthless. Since they entered this path, no matter where it ends, they had to traverse it themselves. Whether they end up in a garden or at a cemetery, they would have to bear it.
Seeing Zhao Hai’s downcast expression, Zhang Feng couldn’t help but ask, “Little Hai, why are you frowning?”
Zhao Hai shook his head and said, “It’s nothing, I was just reminded by how ruthless the heavens are. All cultivators are working for a distant goal, but there are only few who could achieve it and reach the end.”
Zhang Feng didn’t expect Zhao Hai to be sighing over this, he immediately said, “Little Hai, entering the path of cultivation means resisting the heavens until the day we die. If we fight against the heavens, then why would the heavens be merciful towards us?”
Zhao Hai looked at Zhang Feng’s anxious expression and knew what he was worried about. So he smiled faintly and said, “Senior Brother is right. It’s just a pa.s.sing thought, there’s no need to worry.”
Zhang Feng felt relieved. He knew that a cultivator couldn’t lose their ambition. If Zhao Hai was worried about this situation, then his dao heart might be affected and form a heart’s demon. This could only do harm to Zhao Hai.
But what Zhang Feng didn’t know was that Zhao Hai already condensed his heart’s demon into a dao avatar. Anything that can stir up the heart’s demon would only make Zhao Hai stronger.
Seeing Zhang Feng relaxed, Zhao Hai said, “First Senior Brother, when did I gain the nickname ‘Demon Blade’? Why didn’t I know about this?”
Hearing Zhao Hai, Zhang Feng couldn’t help but laugh, “It came up not long ago. It was when you fought Elder Zhu and the immortal expert of the Wandering Soul Group. I don’t know where it began, but people began to talk about your swordsmans.h.i.+p. Moreover, your dao avatar used a black blade. Therefore, people began to call you Demon Blade.”
Zhao Hai shook his head as he smiled bitterly. He didn’t expect that he would be famous enough to earn the name of ‘Demon Blade’.
As more and more ident.i.ty tokens were given, the people in the square slowly decreased. Those who obtained ident.i.ty tokens immediately used their savings to buy useful materials for tomorrow’s trial. Those who don’t have enough spirit stones to buy artifacts went back to their rooms and used what they have in order to cultivate and be in their best condition for tomorrow.
Although handing over the ident.i.ty tokens went very fast, it still took a full day to hand everything out. By the end count, there were more than 150 thousand people who received ident.i.ty tokens, and it was very close to reaching 160 thousand.
Close to 160 thousand people were fighting for 800 slots. Out of 200, one would succeed! Hearing this number, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but shake his head. He didn’t expect this many people to sign up for the recruitment. It was more than double what they expected. It seems like these rogue cultivators were really crazy about joining sects.
Zhang Feng was frowning. He turned to Lu Li and said, “Lu Li, can all of these people fit inside the Nine Revolutions Cave?”
Lu Li replied, “Senior Brother, there’s nothing to worry about. Although the Nine Revolutions Cave is named such, the insides are all connected by one huge network. Not to mention 160 thousand, even several hundreds of thousands of people could fit inside. Some people estimated that it could accommodate 1 million people. And people have yet to see the full extent of the cave. There are still parts that haven’t been explored. There are people who went in and haven’t come out. Therefore, not a lot of people dared to go deep into the cave.”
Hearing this, Zhao Hai became interested. So he asked, “Why is it named Nine Revolutions Cave? What is its origin?”