Chapter 1655: The Enormous Black Tiger Gang
The Yin Valley Life and Death Arena is quite famous in the Great World of Cultivation. Present in the valley were intense yin winds that would freeze even a Gold Core Cultivator’s golden core. Falling into the valley would spell certain death.
As for the Battle Slaves fighting in the Yin Valley Life and Death Arena, they would be killed as long as they were blown by the wind. Also, the yin wind in the valley appeared irregularly. Sometimes it would be strong for a few days, sometimes in months, and there would also be times that there would be no wind at all.
Because of this, bets in this Life and Death Arena come with three choices: Fighter 1 wins, Fighter 2 wins, or both die under the yin wind.
The existence of the yin wind caused the battles in the Yin Valley Life and Death Arena to be worth seeing. Naturally, because of the number of people spectating, the bets were also higher. It’s quite popular in the Great World of Cultivation.
Zhang Feng looked at the two cultivators currently fighting in the arena. One of the two was a Battle Slave from the Black Tiger Gang. But it was clear that this cultivator wasn’t a match for its opponent. It didn’t take long before they were killed.
There were no expressions on Zhang Feng’s s.p.a.ce. In fact, his mind was in another place. He was currently thinking about Zhao Hai’s situation.
It has been five days since Zhao Hai arrived at the Ignored Valley. In these five days, Zhao Hai didn’t do anything noteworthy. He just stayed in the valley turning waste pills into useful ones. He was also busy with his own matters.
Zhang Feng can monitor Zhao Hai because of Zhao Hai’s ident.i.ty token. Zhao Hai now has an outer disciple ident.i.ty token. However, the token that Zhao Hai used was different compared to the other outer disciples. This token was specially made by Zhang Feng who installed a surveillance formation inside it.
It wasn’t that Zhang Feng was suspicious of Zhao Hai, but Zhao Hai was just too important for his future plans. It wasn’t easy for Zhang Feng to come upon someone like Zhao Hai. Therefore, his surveillance of Zhao Hao was most strict.
Zhao Hai also knew that Zhang Feng was monitoring him. However, he already found a way to break his monitoring. He had the s.p.a.ce manufacture another jade token and used it on his belt. This new token replaced the one Zhang Feng made and would send wrong information out.
In fact, in the past few days, Zhao Hai has been staying in the s.p.a.ce looking through the Black Tiger Gang’s outer disciples and collecting information. He just left a group of Undead in the Ignored Valley to send the waste materials through a spatial rift.
The Black Tiger Gang was very huge. The number of Servicing Disciples was enormous. Zhao Hai was currently understanding the Black Tiger Gang’s sphere of influence. The Black Tiger Gang was located in the northeast part of the Northern Exotic Province. There was a huge mountain range called the Black Tiger Mountains where the sect operates. Beyond the mountain range was another sect called the Wandering Soul Gang. But everything before the mountain range was all the Black Tiger Gang’s domain.
The Black Tiger Gang’s domain was divided into several parts. The sect’s headquarters was located on the mountain range itself. Firstly, because it was the place with the most spiritual qi. And secondly, it acted as a blockade against the Wandering Soul Gang.
The Wandering Soul Gang was a ghost cultivator sect. Their sect was famous for their techniques which were cruel and mysterious. They were also famous in the Great World of Cultivation.
The Black Tiger Gang and the Wandering Soul Gang didn’t have much relations.h.i.+p between them. In fact, there had been some friction in the past. However, it didn’t develop into conflict. In essence, they were at peace.
Behind the Black Tiger Mountains was a continuous hilly region. This was where the Outer Sect was located. Countless Serving Disciples and Outer Disciple occupy these hills. Because the region was vast, it was impossible for the Black Tiger Gang to completely occupy it. Living in various hills were beasts while some of the hills were turned into forbidden areas. These also acted as the Black Tiger Gang’s s.h.i.+elds.
This hilly region had the sect’s medicine. Additionally, it had mineral lodes that the sect needed. Most importantly, the region had plenty of wild medicinal herbs and an inexhaustible amount of beasts. These were important for cultivators. Most of the sect’s commodities come from this place.
Beyond this stretch of hills was a canyon flowing with earth fire known as the Inferno Valley. In the Inferno Valley was another sect called the Flame Roar Sect.
Zhao Hai’s current location wasn’t far from the Inferno Valley. According to legend, the Ignored Valley was once famous for its gold essence and called the Valley of Gold. But later on, once the gold essence was mined, it was turned into a huge garbage dump.
All round the Ignored Valley were useless stones. The gra.s.s on it was malnourished. And there were no ores around. Because of this, n.o.body came to this place. Even beasts wouldn’t bother defecating in this place.
In these past few days, Zhao Hai could see that the Black Tiger Gang could no longer be considered as just a sect. It was more like a country of cultivators. In this country, Serving Disciples were at the bottom, similar to citizens in other countries. They do all kinds of jobs while they practice. In the process of doing so, they would be rewarded which would be akin to a salary. They would use their ‘salary’ to further their cultivation and one day they might be promoted to an Outer Disciple.
There was a huge difference between Serving Disciples and Outer Disciples. Serving Disciples needed to work every day. Whether it be planting herbs or mining ores, they need to hand their produce over. Then the sect would redistribute these resources equally.
The resources allocated to Serving Disciples was always the minimum. The Black Tiger Gang’s Serving Disciples were given the most basic robes and artifacts along with ten fasting pills, a qi refining pill, and five spiritual crystals.
The artifacts that Serving Disciples use were of uniform shape. They were all five foot long swords. These swords were the lowest cla.s.s of artifacts. Although it can fly, it was very difficult to control. It could only be used for close combat.
Their clothes were also the most common type with almost to no defensive capabilities. It was basically clothing made with good materials. Even if they mined and worked for years, these clothing wouldn’t tear. It was enough for these Serving Disciples to not worry about what to wear.
Fasting pills were medicine used to alleviate starvation. Eating one pill was enough for people to go on without eating for five days. Even if they do taxing tasks, the effect is the same.
As for the qi refining pills, naturally the Serving Disciples were given the worst ones.
Spiritual crystals were the basic currency of the Great World of Cultivation. These crystals contain spiritual qi so they could also be absorbed. However, most people use these crystals for transactions.
Ten spiritual crystals could buy one qi refining pills. And compared to absorbing these spiritual crystals on their own, qi refining pills held much more spiritual qi. Therefore, people would save their allowance of five spiritual crystals in order to buy a qi refining pill.
However, the biggest use of spiritual crystals was actually in establis.h.i.+ng formations and powering artifacts. These crystals can be used as fuel in order to operate formations and use artifacts.
It might seem like the Black Tiger Gang wasn’t treating its Serving Disciples properly. But in fact, the Serving Disciples of the Black Tiger Gang were being well taken care of. Not to mention the spiritual crystals, other sects would only give their Serving Disciples a qi refining pill once every two months.
The allowance of the Black Tiger Gang’s Outer Sect Disciples was much better. They were given better magic robes and better artifacts. There’s also a monthly supply of ten fasting pills, ten qi refining pills, and also 50 spiritual crystals.
Moreover, Outer Disciples didn’t need to do tasks like Serving Disciples. Except those with specified jobs like Zhao Hai, others can live by doing missions. There were no limits on the missions they were allowed to do. For example, a hard task generally took a month to accomplish. If the disciple finishes it in ten days, then they can use the remaining 20 days to do another task.
If the task was unfinished, then punishment would be given accordingly. If the task was uncompleted because of personal reasons, then the tasks for that disciple would double next month. But if there were external reasons for the task’s incomplete progress, then no penalty would be given. However, the disciple wouldn’t receive the next month’s allowance.
Then upon becoming an Inner Disciple, your benefits would increase a hundredfold. Inner Disciples would be given personalized clothing as well as their own artifact. And if their artifact was damaged, it would be repaired for free. They would also be given the opportunity to exchange their clothing once a month. This would allow them to wear new clothing each month.
The pills provided to Inner Disciples were also different. Generally, once one becomes an Inner Disciple, they would no longer need to eat, so they wouldn’t be allocated any fasting pills. Qi refining pills were also not used by Inner Disciples. What the Inner Disciples used were yuan pills. These were high-level pills that had great efficacy. Moreover, Inner Disciples would be given marrow cleansing pills every year. Marrow cleansing pills would help one wash their body from impurities.
Also, Inner Disciples would be given 5 thousand spiritual crystals every month. And they would only be required to do 3 missions per year. As for the remaining time, they can use it to cultivate.
Core Disciples were even more extraordinary. Almost every core disciple wasn’t limited to what they could use. They were essentially given the priority on every resource that the sect had.
Some of these were the information that Zhao Hai acc.u.mulated in the past few days. But the majority of them were obtained from the jade slip that Zhang Feng gave.
Zhao Hai wanted to look into the Black Tiger Mountain, but he discovered that he couldn’t. The Black Tiger Mountain was filled with powerful formations. He would have to be careful or else he would be discovered.
Moreover, most Inner Disciples, Core Disciples, and Elders of the Black Tiger Gang live in the Black TIger Mountains. It would be dangerous for Zhao Hai to monitor it, so he gave up on this plan.
The deeper he understood the Black Tiger Gang, the more dread Zhao Hai felt about the Great World of Cultivation. Most of the Serving Disciples in the sect were equivalent to the Core Formation cultivators in the Ten-thousand Realm Battlefield. The weakest Outer Disciple was at the Transcending Tribulation Stage. If Transcending Tribulation Experts from the lower realms were placed in the Great World of Cultivation, their stage would be called the Refining Spirit Stage, the lowest level.
The Refining Spirit Stage was just a stage name in the Great World of Cultivation. This doesn’t mean that the cultivator was able to cultivate a divine soul. It meant that the cultivator would be able to cultivate using Faith Power.
The Great World of Cultivation’s research into Faith Power was quite deep. They discovered that once someone reaches the Refining Spirit Stage, one could officially cultivate Faith Power. However, this stage would waste a lot of Faith Power in increasing strength. Because of this, n.o.body in the Great World of Cultivation would allocate Faith Power to Refining Spirit Cultivators, with the exception of those who descended from powerful existences. Normally, Refining Spirit Cultivators would consume pills to increase their strength.
In the Great Realm of Cultivation, although the Refining Spirit Stage was followed by the Dao Avatar Stage, in fact there was a Foundation Building Stage in between. However, this Foundation Building Stage does not exist. In the Great World of Cultivation, the Refining Spirit Stage was divided into ten levels. Then after the ten levels would be two levels of Foundation Building.
The reason that both Sects and low-level cultivators referred to the 11th and 12th stage as the Foundation Building Stage was because pa.s.sing the 11th and 12th stage was very difficult. Pa.s.sing these two stages required a lot of resources. This might not be difficult for cultivators with a background. But to rogue cultivators and those of poorer origin, reaching the 11th level was very hard. Because of this, the 11th and 12th level of the Refining Spirit Stage was referred to as the Foundation Establishment Stage.
After a cultivator pa.s.ses through the Foundation Establishment Stage, sects would pay them attention and allocate Faith Power to them so that they could enter the Dao Avatar Stage.
The Foundation Establishment Stage of the Great World of Cultivation was equivalent to the Ten-thousand Realm Battlefield’s Severed Soul Stage. However, these Foundation Establishment cultivators were much stronger compared to Severed Soul Experts. The Black Tiger Gang had a lot of these cultivators as well as those who just entered the Dao Avatar Stage. They numbered in the thousands. One could then scale this up to the entire Great World of Cultivation. Therefore, Zhao Hai couldn’t act unreasonably.