...

"Alright, since he's a bit smart, I won't make it harder for him. He really should get ten lashes before coming back!" Turning around, Elder Han disappeared.

Imposter Nightcrypt also took a gasp. Yan Xiaobao's casual bribing of Elder Han left him breathless. Suddenly, he realized that Yan Xiaobao seemed perfectly suited for life in the Blood Flow Sect.

Yan Xiaobao walked around the sect, amazed at everything he saw. Unfortunately, everyone was very indifferent and impersonal, and as they hurried around, they stuck to themselves. Many wore expressions of vigilance, as if they were constantly on guard.

Four or five times along the way, he saw two disciples engaged in fierce battles, clearly fighting over medicinal pills. Ferocious auras ran rampant, as if they intended to take each other's lives.

Audiences often gathered to watch such clashes, but everyone kept an eye out in case someone attacked them.

He saw a person coughing intensely, seemingly on the verge of coughing up broken organs.

"The Spirit Sect is definitely better than this," Yan Xiaobao thought. "Everyone gets along there. It's wonderful. The Blood Flow Sect is so dangerous! One slip of the tongue, and you might get attacked...."

He walked feeling very tense. Thankfully, Nightcrypt wasn't very well-known in the sect, his cultivation base was just in the large circle of the tenth level of Qi Condensation. No one proactively attacked him, and this tendency made him appear as ferocious as possible.

Just as he was nearly at Nightcrypt's Immortal Cave, he passed a group of five female disciples. One of them, a stocky big-boned girl, spotted him and rushed over, accompanied by the giggles of her companions.

"Ye Xiao!" the girl said in a hoarse voice.

Yan Xiaobao turned and looked at the strange young woman in surprise. She was short and plump, her face full of freckles, walking towards him with swaying hips and eyes twinkling with what seemed to be deep desire.

"Do I know you?" Yan Xiaobao asked.

"You naughty demon!" she said angrily. "Don't pretend you don't know who I am! Come on, give me a smile!" Smiling, she reached out her hand and brushed Yan Xiaobao's cheek.

Her behavior and laughter made Yan Xiaobao take a step back gasping for breath.

"Well," the girl continued, "A little trip to the Fallen Sword Abyss, and you've forgotten me? Hurry back to my Immortal Cave. I have enough medicinal pills." The short and plump girl licked her lips and took a step forward, as if she intended to drag him to her Immortal Cave.

Yan Xiaobao's scalp tingled, feeling it might explode. Flicking his sleeve, he blocked her path.

"Don't touch me!" he shouted.

"I know how it is, Nightcrypt. How dare you! Hmph. Just wait when you crawl back to me!" Giving him an angry glare, she turned and walked away.

Yan Xiaobao finally breathed a sigh of relief, while inquiring Nightcrypt about the girl in disguise.

"Old man, please don't be angry," was the hasty reply. "She's just my girlfriend in this sect..."

Yan Xiaobao could hardly believe it. "Girlfriend? Uh, your taste is really strange."

Nightcrypt was actually very good-looking, though somewhat aloof. Yan Xiaobao could barely believe he would have a relationship with the husky girl.

"Senior, there are some things I never mentioned," Imposter Nightcrypt said, sounding like he was about to cry. "After I became an inner disciple, my cultivation progress was very slow, and I needed a lot of medicinal pills. I really had no choice. Sister Sunx comes from a Cultivation Tribe and can acquire plenty of pills. I had no other option but to get on her good side..." Yan Xiaobao sighed, both sympathizing with Nightcrypt and admiring his willingness to accept and adapt.

"No wonder he became a spy. He is really very special." Even just thinking about that girl's face made him sigh.

Not long after, he was at Nightcrypt's Immortal Cave, which was located near several other inner disciple Immortal Caves. It was a simple cave, giving Yan Xiaobao a clearer understanding of how tough Nightcrypt's night life was.

It was only about ten percent the size of Yan Xiaobao's cave in Spirit Creek, not even having a front hall, let alone a lake or pill crafting station. It was nothing more than a stone room with a bed and meditation mat.

"How did he endure such hardships?!" he thought. Shaking his head, he sat cross-legged to meditate. Outside, the sun was setting. Back in the Spiritual Flow Sect, that sect would be quieting down at this time as disciples settled down for a night's rest.

But the Blood Flow Sect was different. As night fell, Yan Xiaobao could hear screams coming through the air. Clearly, the disciples used the darkness to fight each other with renewed vigor.

According to sect rules, disciples shouldn't kill each other, but other than that, anything was permitted. Thus, the dark of night revealed the true savage nature of the sect.

Yan Xiaobao struggled to adapt to the environment that was completely different from the Spiritual Flow Sect. Taking a deep breath, he refrained from stepping outside, even going so far as to set some traps at the entrance to the Immortal Cave. Only then could he sit cross-legged again, contemplating the next step.

On the journey to the Blood Flow Sect, he conducted more investigations into imposter Nightcrypt and learned that the eternal indestructible relic was located on the middle finger of the giant hand, called Middle Peak.