The dim light of the campfire continued to illuminate Adam's face; a face that shifted constantly between anger and sorrow. Iris stared at Adam in silence, unsure of what to say at the moment, or if she could say anything at all to comfort him.
He had just found out that his father had been murdered, by his own brother no less. Adam had come to terms with his parents death already, but this new information brought all his emotions flooding back, reopening the wound and making it larger than ever.
The anger on Adam's face eventually gave way to sorrow, and he broke down in tears. His chest heaved in silence as he tried to control his emotions, but was unable to. Iris looked on with saddened eyes, still not sure what to say.
Without saying a word, she moved over towards Adam and embraced him in a comforting hug, while the sounds of the crackling fire and stifled tears drifted within the cave.
…
Flash!
A flash of light appeared, followed by the arrival of a singular youth. The youth's cultivation was in the Early Heaven Tribulation realm, and had just arrived to the final trial lands from the previous trial area.
His gaze shifted in several directions, before he picked one direction and sped forward. His body suddenly became enrolled in tangled roots from below, and disappeared as the roots dragged him down into the earth.
Some time later, and over a hundred miles away, the youth suddenly emerged from the ground once more as the embrace of tangled roots faded away and returned to the ground below. The youth stared into the distance, his gaze locked onto two Late Heaven Tribulation youths who stood near several corpses, both of them male and wearing blood red robes.
Two delicious looking fruits appeared in his hand as he moved forward towards those youths, as if he didn't see them. The youths quickly noticed his arrival, and instantly appeared before him. Their malicious smiles stared at the newcomer as if he were their plaything, ready to be killed at their whim.
"What do we have here?" one of the youths said with a wide, evil grin on his face.
"An Early Heaven Tribulation weakling? The Honorable Alliance truly is pathetic," the other replied with a mocking tone.
The Early Heaven Tribulation youth stared at the two with an unconcerned gaze, slightly surprising the two of them. The reaction they were receiving was a far cry from the fearful reactions most displayed upon seeing them.
"Are you two blind?" the lone youth asked, his words causing both of them to frown.
"What did you say to us?" one of the red robed youths asked.
"You're the one who's blind," the other red robe youth replied with displeasure. "We're about to kill you, and yet you act like this. Either you're blind, or you're an idiot," he mocked.
The newcommer stared at the two before him in silence, before he slowly lowered the top half of his robe, baring his chest and back. The two youths stared at him in amused silence, wondering what reason he had for such bizarre actions.
Their eyes widened slightly as they saw the youth turn his back to them, while his smooth back slowly changed before their eyes. On his back appeared a large brand, as if someone had stuck a massive searing metallic object to his back some time ago.
The brand depicted the head of a demon, snarling in rage.
"The Bloodgod Brand?" one of the red-robed youths said, shock evident in his voice.
"Who are you?" the other asked with narrowed eyes.
"My name is Chase," Chase replied while he reclothed his body.
"Why do you have the brand of the Bloodgod on your back, Chase?" the first youth asked questioningly.
"Because I come from the Bloodfiend Sect, of the Yuan Continent," Chase replied without hiding anything.
The two youths fell into silence, as if trying to recall the name. Their eyes lit up after a moment of thinking.
"The Bloodfiend Sect? Isn't that the weakling sect that was destroyed a few years ago on some bumpkin backwater continent?" one youth asked.
"That's the one," Chase confirmed.
"Then what are you doing here, mingling with the Honorable Alliance? Have you turned traitor?" the other youth asked questioningly, his tone slightly cold.
"No," Chase shook his head, "My father was Allfiend, the Sect Leader of the Bloodfiend Sect. When it was destroyed, I infiltrated the Honorable Alliance, with the intention of slaughtering as many Honorable Alliance members as possible. My only goal in life is to give blood to the Bloodgod!"
The two youths looked at Chase with questioning gazes for a while, before they eased up slightly, apparently buying his story.
"You Bloodgod fanatics are fucking weird," the one youth said while shaking his head.
"Seriously, why the fuck would you worship a demon?" the other asked, "I never understood that. Just cultivate, fight, and fuck. Why bother with worshiping something like that?"
Apparently, even within the Forbidden Alliance, the Bloodgod faction was quite bizarre.
Chase's gaze narrowed as he heard the words of the two youths, and a dagger appeared in his hands as he stared at them with menacing eyes.
"You dare mock the Bloodgod?" he asked with a cold tone.
The two stared at him with blank expressions, surprised to see such a strong reaction despite his much weaker cultivation. However, his reaction revealed his words were true, as the Bloodgod worshiping branch were fanatics beyond reason.
"No, just saying you guys are weird," the one youth replied with a dismissive hand wave, as if the threat of Chase attacking was beneath their notice. However, both lightened up quite a bit, as they considered him to be an ally.
"Why don't you travel with us, Chase? You'll be able to spill as much blood for your god that way," one of them suggested.
Chase thought about it for a moment, and then nodded his head in confirmation.
"Sure!"
