Death... and me

It was obvious for Gille that Roan didn't seem to care whether he was the sect master or not. However, that didn't bother him. 'I have an offer for you. Would you give up entering the Sacred Land and come join my Blood Path Sect instead?'

This time, Roan's attention was piqued. Well, the same thing could be said for Rean and Sister Orb as they could hear Gille because of the Soul Connection. However, Rean and Sister Orb didn't say anything and left it for Roan to decide.

Roan narrowed his eyes in response before asking, 'Why should I? I'm already accepted into the Sacred Land. Besides, your country is anything but safe. You all use evil skills and cultivation techniques that have terrible backlashes if their requirements aren't met constantly. Last but not least, can you even match the Sacred Land's resources? If you could, I don't see why you would bring your top disciples here to try the recruitment.'

Gille shook his head in response. 'Top disciples? You're wrong there. None of the top countries participating in this recruitment brought their real top disciples. Hedoi can only be considered the sixth or seventh strongest back in Klacks. Nevertheless, he's the strongest member in this recruitment. As for the other five or six above him, they're back in the Blood Path Sect, training.'

Gille continued, 'The Sacred Land is indeed the strongest power, but none of the top countries would dare to give all their future talents to them. Regarding the resources, yes, we can match the Sacred Land as long as you're using our methods. In fact, we might be even better as I plan to make you a legacy disciple straight away. You definitely can become the strongest of the strongest.'

Roan found it weird. 'Why are you going that far? There's no guarantee I'm as good as you say.'

Gille shook his head as he said, 'Wrong! Even if your talent isn't high, which obviously isn't the case, you have Dark Element Affinity. You are the very first person I've ever seen or heard of to have this kind of natural affinity. Most of our best techniques rely on Yin Energy to control Dark Element and then be used. However, you don't need to pass through any of those steps. You can gather Dark Element and instead use your Yin Energy to fortify it! This is a dream constitution that our Blood Path Sect is willing to pay anything to have.'

Gille also mentioned, 'Because of this constitution of yours, I can guarantee that your cultivation will be swift. We will give you the best secret cultivation techniques of our sect. With all of that, not only would you become the strongest in our sect, you can also be one of the strongest figures of the entire Huring Continent in the future.'

It was then that Sister Orb's voice echoed in Roan's mind. [Hmph! Best secret techniques, my ass! Oh wait, I don't have an ass. Anyway, his cultivation technique is definitely based on sacrifices. Besides, it can't possibly be better than the Soul Gem System's Dark and Light cultivation technique.]

Roan obviously knew that. He had seen many cultivation techniques already and could tell that none could get even close to the system's technique. Nevertheless, even though he didn't need their cultivation techniques, the Blood Path Sect's skills incredibly interested him. For example, the technique to control others with Dark Element and Yin Energy threads.

Roan then went silent for a moment, pretending to give it some thought. Eventually, he answered Gille. 'That very much interests me. However, there's no such thing as a free lunch in this Realm of Gods. What is it that you want from me?'

Gille smiled as the hardest part was to at least catch Roan's interest. If he decided that the Sacred Land was better, then there wasn't much that he could do. 'It's good that you understand. I'll be giving you all of that. In exchange, you will sign a Soul Binding Contract, specifying that you will never betray the Blood Path Sect in your life.'

Roan narrowed his eyes in response. 'That's a very broad way of putting it. If you make a contract like that, I might simply die in any corner without knowing just because I did something against the interests of the sect. You'll need to be a lot more specific there.'

Gille didn't mind that at all. It was obvious that Roan seriously considered taking his offer. 'Sure, I can make a few alterations to the contract to fit your needs as long as it means we can keep your loyalty. Well, it might sound weird to hear loyalty come from someone like me. In any case, that's the only way we've continued being a top country in this Huring Continent.'

Of course, for Roan, it mattered little what changes Gille made to the contract. After all, Sister Orb would just use the dummy soul to receive the binding, keeping Roan completely free to do whatever he wanted. He only insisted on it so that Gille wouldn't find it suspicious.

Roan then mentioned, 'That's good and all. But does that mean I also have to follow all your orders? I like my freedom very much, and the Sacred Land seems very good in this aspect.'

Gille immediately nodded. 'You are obviously free to come and go as you see fit. In fact, we encourage our best disciples to do so. They often go out to do missions, even in other countries, before returning. Of course, there will be times where we will need you to work for us in some other fields. In those cases, you might be bound to something for some time until you finish. Naturally, the Sacred Land is definitely no different in that regard.'

Roan agreed with Gille on that point. 'Let's do it like this, then. I will join the Sacred Land and your Blood Path Sect. I can get the best of both worlds like that.'