Utopia suddenly became cluttered. Well, cluttered was an inappropriate term considering its obnoxious size. Rather, it greeted a larger number of individuals than it should have so soon. At the moment, almost 70 new faces looked around their surroundings in complete confusion.
'Is this a new torture chamber?'
It was something almost all of them thought, but their surroundings were too different. They were already losing their minds staring at the blank walls of their cages for so long, what was the point in moving them to another blank space?
Of course, they had no way of telling Dyon, Zaire, Lyla, Amphorae and Granny Celeste apart from themselves. After all, they had never seen the people in the cages beside them. They didn't even know if there were cages beside them until now.
Contrary to what one might expect, they weren't all old. In fact, they were mostly young. Or, they looked young. After all, even if their dao formation cultivation was just for show, it was still their cultivation at the end of the day.
There were a few pushing their middle ages, but for the most part, they looked to be in their mid twenties.
They were shabbily dressed, both men and women alike. Their bodies were coated in what looked like gray prison attire crossed with hospital gowns. That said, they at least didn't emanate any odd or putrid smells. At the end of the day, they were dao experts and had long since jumped the hurdle of human filth.
'They were definitely far better treated than Virvor…' Dyon thought to the young man who was still recovering from his wounds, even to now. '… I half expected them all to be in a half dead state.
'I wonder. Could the Sapientia really not have a technique similar to [Devour]? Or is it that they didn't dare to use it?'
[Devour] was one of the very first martial techniques Dyon had ever learned. It was a divine grade soul path technique that had two main functions. The first was to absorb the soul strength of an opponent, either for the sake of stamina or to increase your cultivation. The second was a proxy ability as a result of the first. It allowed the absorption of a target's memories.
Little Yang snorted, still disgruntled. 'Do you think divine grade techniques, especially divine grade soul techniques, just float around ripe for plucking?'
Dyon smiled bitterly. Maybe his perspective of the world really was too skewed.
"Hello everyone." Dyon's voice cut through the murmurs. In truth, Dyon wasn't anymore properly dressed than him. He only wore a crisp white shirt and black sweatpants rolled to his calves. They practically assumed he was a prisoner along with them. But, it seemed they were wrong. "I should probably tell you all this first: this place is not affiliated with the Sapientia Clan."
The eyes of the 70 or so researchers widened. It wasn't their fault. Dyon's words were too shocking.
"It might be hard to accept, but this isn't some sort of trick. This is the territory of the Sacharro Clan."
There was only more confusion at these words. Sacharro Clan? They had never heard of it… They once more couldn't be blamed. They were in captivity long before Dyon made his debut.
"Ah, you probably don't recognize my name. But…" Dyon mused for a moment. "… You will recognize me by this title… I am the Successor of the Celestial Deer Sect."
Absolute shock.
No matter how long they had been locked up, they would recognize this Sect… The former number one Sect of the tower quadrants and the only power within their quadrants capable of standing up to the outer quadrants…
More importantly… The Celestial Deer Sect stood in opposition to the Sapientia!
Though it wasn't open warfare, as far as they knew, anyway, the teachings of the Sect had always clashed with the Sapientia. While the former taught Array Alchemy as a holistic practice, the latter tried to suppress this, insisting that formation theory and alchemy should be kept separate.
The breathing of the group of men and women quickened. Their circumstances it had changed too abruptly…
No… Maybe not. This person obviously didn't bring them here to release them. This is an open space, but they couldn't see any obvious exits anywhere. It was obvious he didn't plan to just let them go. They might as well have been just transferred from one owner to another.
In that moment, the light in their eyes dimmed. Whatever hope they had was snuffed out.
"Whatever reason I can give you for not allowing you to move freely likely won't be enough." Dyon said straightforwardly. "However, you all should know the circumstances of my Celestial Deer Sect as well as I do. We're a Sect only in name, we were destroyed long ago. Knowing this, it should be obvious to you that if I've revealed this truth, it won't end as simply as me allowing you all to leave."
The researchers bitterly laughed. How shameless. None of us asked who you were, you just started to speak because you felt like it. Now, you're telling us that the reason we can't leave is because of something you chose to tell us yourself.
They really couldn't decide whether this person was better or worse than the Sapientia Clan.
Dyon only smiled in response.
"I'll introduce myself again. My name is Dyon Sacharro, successor to the Celestial Deer Sect. This is my lovely wife, my little sister and not so little brother. And here is my grandmother."
Granny Celest's lips almost couldn't contain her smile at Dyon's words.
"Though it is against your will, I hope that you too will become part of our Mortal Alliance family."
The researchers bitterly smiled at Dyon's words. At least he admitted that it was against their will, but did that really make things much better?
"You'll probably be disappointed." A young-looking man spoke. His hair was a deep shade of brown and terribly kept.
"Is that so?"
