Chapter 2120: Demonic Faction

After a flash of white light, a cultivator dressed in gray-black warrior clothing and had a blade on his back appeared on the transmission formation. Nobody paid attention to his arrival. Firstly, it was because he looked ordinary. And secondly, notable cultivators wouldn’t use fixed transmission formations.

In the True Spirit Realm, disciples of Great Sects generally wouldn’t use fixed transmission formations. Most of them have portable transmission formations. People who use transmission formations are divided into two types. The first type were sect cultivators during the time of war. Portable transmission formations couldn’t be used whenever a huge battle was taking place. Because of this, sect disciples would use fixed transmission formations to transport a large number of troops. 

The second type were rogue cultivators. Because the cost of using fixed transmission formations wasn’t high, rogue cultivators would use them unless there was something urgent.

Zhao Hai looked around the city he teleported to. It looked no different to the cities in the Tyrant Blade Sect. Seeing that there was nothing special, Zhao Hai walked forward.

The city was located in the Demonic Dao Alliance. Zhao Hai should now be in the territory of the Divine Fire Cult. The Divine Fire Cult was a huge sect in the Demonic Dao Alliance. The sect treats fire as their god. Naturally, they practice fire element cultivation. They were known to be fierce combatants.

Zhao Hai was currently in Raging Flames City. It was a huge city governed by the Divine Fire Cult. Rogue cultivators were quite common in and around the city. Because of this, Zhao Hai’s arrival didn’t attract any attention.

When Zhao Hai teleported to Raging Flames City, he only thought that it was big. But after some time, he was surprised by the number of gangs in the city. Moreover, these gangs were made up of rogue cultivators.

Zhao Hai also discovered the city’s mission board. After looking at it, Zhao Hai found that there were mostly escort missions for the rogue cultivators.

Zhao Hai was currently out for a trial. Although he could also take on some tasks, he wouldn’t casually accept any at his situation. Zhao Hai knew very well that in a city with many gangs, conflicts of interest were very common. If he took tasks casually, he might be targeted by the gangs. Although Zhao Hai wasn’t afraid of trouble, he had no plans of getting into conflict this early. He needs to figure out the city’s situation first to know who was standing behind those gangs.

The presence of gangs in such a major city meant that Zhao Hai couldn’t underestimate them. Their yearly income should be quite astonishing. It would be impossible for these gangs to not have any backers. Nobody would allow such benefits to be taken away by others. Even Great Sects wouldn’t allow it.

Because of this, Zhao Hai didn’t act immediately. He sat in the mission hall and looked at the crowd around him. After looking around for an hour, Zhao Hai left.

Although he only stayed in the mission hall for a short time, Zhao Hai witnessed a lot of things. He found that cultivators who took tasks were divided into several groups. The first group was solo or a small team of rogue cultivators. The tasks that these small groups took were very easy and small. The total number of people needed to complete them would not exceed ten.

The second group were cultivators with a flame mark on their clothes. Although they also wore warrior clothing, one could see a flame mark on their left chest. These people carried overbearing auras. As soon as they entered the hall, they would immediately take the high reward missions. Even if others got the mission first, they would always give way to the cultivators with flame marks. 

The third group were cultivators carrying axes. Their clothes also have an axe on their left chest. From what Zhao Hai saw, their relationship with the cultivators with flame marks wasn’t good. Whenever they saw each other, they would scoff and turn their heads. Several times, they would taunt each other while taking missions.

The fourth group of cultivators were different. These cultivators wore green clothing and were quite low key. They didn’t carry any weapons. But whenever the people in the hall saw them, they would immediately give way. The cultivators with flame or axe marks on their clothes didn’t like annoying them. From what he could smell, if he didn’t guess wrong, Zhao Hai was almost sure that these people used poison.

The fifth group were the most special. This group were the owners of the mission hall. They wore red warrior clothing, and they carried tokens on their waists. Each token had a flame symbol as well as characters that spelled ‘divine’ and ‘fire’.

Seeing the fifth group, Zhao Hai immediately understood that they were people from the Divine Fire Sect. The Divine Fire Sect was the ruler of this territory. Their disciples were the most conceited. Moreover, nobody dared to annoy them.

These five groups formed the majority of people in the mission hall. There were also the merchants in the city who issued tasks to the owner of the hall. Although the usage cost of transmission formations was nothing to cultivators, it was different for merchants. If they have too many goods, the cost of using a transmission formation would be more expensive than hiring an escort. Because of this, many merchants wouldn’t use transmission formations and would just hire people to escort their goods.

After coming out of the mission hall, Zhao Hai went to a nearby restaurant. In any place, restaurants were generally the quickest source of information and rumors. One couldn’t get any useful information every time, but if they filtered out certain information, they were bound to get something useful in the end.

Once he was done eating, Zhao Hai went to find a place to sleep in. This was where Zhao Hai felt the difference between the territories managed by the Divine Flame Sect and the Tyrant Blade Sect.

Cities under the rule of the Tyrant Blade Sect, besides the special cities, effectively managed their rogue cultivators. Most rogue cultivators wouldn’t be able to wander everywhere in the cities. Rogue cultivators staying inside inns was an unusual thing.

But the situation was different in Raging Flames City. In the city, rogue cultivators staying inside inns was very common. Although the owners of the inns were respectful, they didn’t have reverential awe towards cultivators. It’s probably because cultivators were very common visitors, so it wasn’t surprising to them.

The prices were also inexpensive. Zhao Hai rented a room for five days. Then every day, he would stroll the street and visit the mission hall. In the evening, he would return to the inn to rest.

The inn owners didn’t find Zhao Hai’s actions strange, they were probably used to strange sights. In the past few days, Zhao Hai understood the city’s situation. The city was controlled by three huge powers. Then under these three powers were more than ten smaller groups. If a rogue cultivator wanted to take missions, they would need to connect to these powers. Otherwise, they would be dealt with.

The merchants also need to keep in line. They need to go to the mission hall to issue tasks. They weren’t allowed to recruit people on their own. If someone dared to do that, they would be robbed as soon as they left the city. For merchants who don’t want to lose their lives, they naturally wouldn’t do that.

Knowing this, Zhao Hai understood that the missions of the city were being monopolized by the three big powers. This no doubt brought a lot of income to them every year.

The three huge powers were the Raging Fire Group, Great Axe Group, and the Spirit Medicine Hall. The Raging Fire Group was the number one force in Raging Flame City. They possessed great strength and had nearly a thousand people in the gang. It was said that their gang leader was at the Earth Monarch Stage. Naturally, this wasn’t the reason why they were the top gang. The reason was because the gang leader’s young brother was a disciple of the Divine Fire Sect. Under the support of his younger brother, the gang leader established the Raging Fire Group.

The Great Axe Group was in the same situation as the Raging Fire Group. The gang leader was also at the Earth Monarch Stage. There were also rumors that the gang leader has a relative in the Divine Fire Sect. Because of this, in order to fight for benefits, the two groups would get into conflict from time to time.

As for the third group, their status was special. The Spirit Medicine Hall, although their name said medicine, were actually poison specialists. It was also rumored that they possess a background. As for what that background was, nobody knows. The Raging Fire Group and the Great Axe Group don’t like to mess with them. Naturally, the Spirit Medicine Hall also won’t offend the other two groups. 

Because the three gangs had links to the Divine Fire Sect, it was difficult for other groups to rise up. The other groups relied on the three huge powers to survive. 

As for the Branch Hall of the Divine Fire Sect, it didn’t care about the gangs. The three huge powers would deliver bribes to the branch hall every year. It can be said that the three huge gangs were guard dogs that were being raised by the Divine Fire Sect. They were tasked to watch over Raging Flames City.

Upon knowing this, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but sigh. A Demonic Sect was truly a Demonic Sect. Such a method of governance was very helpful towards cultivators. But to mortals, it wasn’t as great. The three large powers oppressed mortals. It was impossible for mortals to complain.

However, Zhao Hai couldn’t solve this situation. Although Raging Flames City was the first Demonic Cultivator city that Zhao Hai had seen, he was certain that the situation was the same as other cities. If Zhao Hai wanted to change this, then he would need to change the entire Demonic Dao Alliance. And Zhao Hai wasn’t influential enough.