Duncan looked down at Little Wan, who had passed out just like that and let out a huge sigh. He didn't know why Little Wan passed out so suddenly. He didn't think he had spoken anything serious for Little Wan to show such a serious reaction.
Confused, Duncan decided to wake up Little Wan first and then ask about it later once he calmed down. Duncan bent over Little Wan's prone body and slapped him in the face trying to wake him up.
"Hey buddy, wake up. Wake Up! WAKE UP!!!"
Duncan shook Little Wan rigorously causing Little Wan to wake up with a start. Little Wan looked around in confusion for a bit until his eyes landed on Duncan. Duncan could clearly see myriad emotions running through his eyes the moment his sight landed on him.
"Are you alright?" Duncan asked Little Wan.
Little Wan shook his head as if he obviously didn't believe what he was saying. But when he opened his eyes again the concerned visage of Duncan was once more looming on him.
"Heavens help me!" Little Wan sighed and stood up. "The sheer incredulity of your story is just too much for me to handle. I don't want to talk about it much. Let me answer your questions and we can move on from there."
Little Wan said a little disgruntledly and turned away from Duncan. Duncan shrugged his shoulders and looked at Little Wan's back.
"Well, to start off, I assume that you know what a town, village, and cities are right?" Duncan nodded. "Above normal cities, there are provincial cities. Above them is the capital city. And it is where the ruling family is located. The country we are in now is called Star Empire. And it is governed by the Star Imperial Family or the Xing clan, to be precise."
"Xing clan, huh," Duncan nodded to indicate that he understood Little Wan so far.
"The Star Empire is one of the few first-rate countries in this continent. This continent is called the Dragon Scale continent. It is named so because the landmass is similar to a dragon's scale. There are a few other first-rate countries on this continent apart from our Star Empire. There are other lesser countries on this continent apart from the first-rate countries."
"The world we live in consists of five continents. There is our Dragon Scale Continent which is located towards the southwest. There is the Northern Continent that is located in the extreme north. There is the Heavenly Dance continent that is located to the southeast. Our relationship with them is the worst. And there is also the Golden Firmament Continent located in the west."
"Last but not least, we have the Central Continent. It is slightly to the east, but it is predominantly near the central region between all these continents, hence the name Central Continent. All these continents are separated by the oceans, which basically is a large body of water and some scattered islands among them."
"So, a continent is basically a huge land mass, huh? Why didn't you just say that?"
Little Wan almost stumbled upon hearing Duncan's words. He glowered at Duncan and turned around to continue walking. Duncan stood there not knowing what Little Wan was actually mad at him for, but he soon shrugged away that thought and started following Little Wan.
"So, we are the strongest demonic sect in this continent. Then, what about the other continents?" Duncan asked curiously.
"As far as I know, our Heavenly Demon Sect is actually a branch established by a strong cultivator from the Central Continent. We still pay homage to the original sect and most of our promising disciples eventually leave to join the original sect. Not just us, most of the promising disciples in other sects, whether they be from the righteous path or the demonic path, eventually leave for the Central Continent."
"They say the qi there is much denser and it is easier for cultivators to cultivate there. So, once people reach a certain stage, they will leave for the Central Continent. Not just us, all the other continents do this as well. This, in turn, makes the Central Continent a gathering point for all the top talents. Usually, the levels of cultivation there will be higher and it is filled with strong cultivators as well."
"I see," Duncan said nodding. "It is similar to merchants migrating towards the cities."
Little Wan turned and shot Duncan an odd look. His face was as if he was baffled by Duncan's analogy, but couldn't refute it either.
"Sure, if it makes it easy for you to understand," Little Wan said shaking his head. "Now, let's talk about the sect in general. There are 7 halls in our sect. The Punishment Hall oversees the enforcement of sect rules and upholds what little order that is present here. So, the disciples of the punishment hall are really monsters. Unless it is absolutely necessary, do not provoke them."
"Then, there is the Blood Hall, which consists of battle maniacs. They are mostly outside of the sect, picking fights all over the place. Then, there is the Shadow Hall which breeds assassins. We also have a Medicine Hall, it is where we go to treat our wounds and the alchemists also reside there. They are a bunch of greedy bastards. If you are not careful, they will swindle you out of even your loincloths," Little Wan said spitting to the side.
"And medicine hall also creates poisons, so there you go. It is better to stay away from that group as much as possible. Then, there is the Nether Hall. Bunch of creepy bastards the whole lot. They play around with ghosts and stuff that normal people will run away from. Then, there is the group of weirdos who love beasts more than anything. They have a hall to themselves known as the Beast Hall."
"What do these members of Beast Hall do?" Duncan asked curiously.
"They go around and try to tame powerful beasts instead of killing them. It is a waste of good meat, I say. But, they prefer such things. Once they tame the beasts, they will then nurture them. Like I said, a bunch of weirdos. And last but not least, we have the Administrative Hall, the sanest bunch in this hellhole," Little Wan said proudly.
"The Administrative Hall takes care of the scripture pavilion, allocates missions, distributes rewards, oversees the daily needs of the sect, assigns servant disciples like me, and overall manages the sect's affairs," Little Wan said beamingly. "I am a member of Administrative Hall, you see. Without us, you guys will all be like headless chickens."
Hearing Little Wan's description of the Administrative Hall, Duncan wasn't very sure if he wanted to join them even if an offer came from them. They looked like glorified workers to him. However, seeing Little Wan's obviously proud appearance, Duncan decided to keep that thought to himself.
"Right now, we are going to the administration building. Enrolling of new sect disciples is done by them as well. Like I said, we are the people who keep this sect running. Not that the other halls pay proper respect to us, but I assure you, we are the backbone of this sect," Little Wan said scowling a little.
"I can see that." Duncan smiled trying to not let his inner thoughts show.
Duncan could easily understand why the administrative hall wasn't respected much. This was a demonic sect and most of the disciples here are not very pliant people.
And, to them, the administrative hall was merely a division filled with laborers. In a world where fists spoke louder, it was only natural that laborers are considered to be beneath them.
"Each hall is led by a Head Elder, and below him, there will be several elders and deacons in charge of the stuff. Only inner disciples and above are permitted to be a member of a hall. Outer disciples can only join them if they are personally invited by a deacon or elder."
"Usually, the disciples choose which hall they want to go to when they are promoted to Inner Disciples. And also, I forgot to mention that gold and other valuables mortals use are not very valuable here. I am sure you know this, but just wanted to be thorough," Little Wan said casually, but this confused Duncan further.
"What do you mean by gold not having any value? How will people trade for stuff then?"
"We use spirit stones. We don't have any use for gold unless you have a need for it specifically. So we trade using spirit stones. Dead useful stuff. You can use it to cultivate, you can use it to buy items in the marketplace, and you can do a lot of stuff with it here."
"Marketplace?" Duncan asked curiously.
"Yeah, forgot to mention the spots in the sect, right? Don't worry, I will give you a tour after registering in the administration building. That way, I can take you to the scripture pavilion as well. Anyway, we are almost there. Look at that" Little Wan said pointing to a massive building in the distance. "That's the administrative building. Come, let's get you registered first."
"Thanks," Duncan said looking at the massive building.
He had never seen such a big building in his life until now. Even in Starmist City, the buildings weren't this big. So, he took in the huge building with wonderment in his heart as he walked behind Little Wan towards it.
Just then, a disharmonious voice interrupted their progress.
"Hey Big Wan, where are you going?"
*****
A/N: Hey folks!
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You can also check out my other book [Booking Glory] and see if it is to your liking.
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