Chapter 131: Building a Faction

　　The next day.

　　It was another rest day with no classes, and Qi Ying didn’t go hunting in the Beast Valley. Instead, he recruited the final four disciples required with Han Shenglong to hit their quota of ten.

　　One of those four disciples was Lin Yin.

　　She had looked into joining the Blood God Alliance in the past, but she was quite hesitant to do so as she felt like the alliance didn’t have many people. However, she immediately decided to join after seeing others do so.

　　‘This… What is going on in that brain of hers? What’s the difference between joining now and joining yesterday?’

　　Qi Ying heaved a resigned sigh.

　　In any case, it was always a good thing that she did decide to join. Besides, she was a young mistress from a smaller aristocratic family in the kingdom, and she had good social skills as well as a large social circle. Furthermore, she also had great speaking ability, and contributed quite nicely to recruiting more members after her.

　　Han Shenglong was Han Qianlong’s little brother, but he didn’t grow up in the capital, and hadn’t had a chance to establish a large social circle yet. He was only able to gather so much information about other disciples, as he had received a lot of help from his older brother.

　　Thus, Han Shenlong and Lin Yin became the main recruiters for the alliance.

　　Qi Ying and others merely tagged along to boost the numbers.

　　Not only was the Green Class Branch of the Blood God Alliance recruiting members, some of the other established factions in the Green Class Branch were also doing the same.

　　Compared to the new Blood God Alliance of the Green Class Branch, factions like the Bixue Sword Alliance and the Fierce Tiger Sect were a lot more appealing, and many of the Second and Third Spirit Martial Stage warriors were recruited by them.

　　Thus, almost all of the disciples that were recruited into the Blood God Alliance Green Class Branch were Energy Martial Stage one.

　　…

　　“I’m sorry, but I’ve already joined the Bixue Sword Alliance!” A tall and thin green-robed young man turned down the enthusiastic Lin Yin.

　　A suggestive expression then appeared on his face as he continued, “What are you doing in this Blood God Alliance? If you want, I could perhaps help you join the Bixue Sword Alliance!”

　　“No way! You think I haven’t heard about the Bixue Sword Alliance’s terrible reputation?” Lin Yin harrumphed coldly before turning to leave with Qi Ying.

　　Qi Ying asked, “What’s wrong with the Bixue Sword Alliance?”

　　Lin Yin replied with a disdainful expression, “The Bixue Sword Alliance is the most powerful faction in the Green Class, and they abuse that power to do horrible things. Many new female Green Class disciples were lured into the alliance by them, and really bad things have happened to them. I heard about this from some of my friends… It’s absolutely disgusting! Isn’t that right?”

　　“Yes, it really is.” Qi Ying hurriedly nodded in response.

　　…

　　The recruitment process wasn’t very smooth. The disciples that Han Shenglong wanted often refused to join them, while the ones who were willing to join generally had mediocre potential.

　　Han Shenglong sighed and said, “Some people simply want benefits without having to take on any responsibilities! You can tell who those people are when you talk to them. They’re always really self-centered and are constantly saying things like ‘I want to’, ‘I think’ and things like that. Look at Brother Qi Ying; I could immediately tell when I met him that he was going to contribute to the Blood God Alliance! Our recruitment may not be going that well, but we can’t stoop to recruiting those selfish people that will only weigh down the alliance. Isn’t that right, Brother Qi Ying?”

　　“Ah, yes yes yes.”

　　Qi Ying could only lament his ill-fortune. He was trying to join a faction, but he had somehow ended up building a faction instead!

　　Qi Ying spent the entire day trying to recruit disciples.

　　In the end, the Blood God Alliance Green Class Branch recruited a total of seventeen warriors, three of which were at the Spirit Martial Stages.

　　That was quite a good result.

　　A lot of the disciples were actually still undecided, especially the more powerful ones. They were simply biding their time and would immediately jump ship if there was a better faction that they could join.

　　When night finally fell, Qi Ying was utterly exhausted.

　　An entire day of talking and recruitment was far more tiring to him than a grueling battle.

　　Just as he was about to bid farewell to Han Shenglong, the latter stuck a warm object into his hand. “Thanks for your help, brother! Without you here, the recruitment process would’ve been a lot more tedious for me, so please don’t refuse this. Taking your pills was just a part of business, but now that you’re a flag leader, we’re both on the same boat and I’ll be sure to look after you!”

　　“Er.”

　　After Han Shenglong left, Qi Ying looked down into his hand to discover a red jade badge with flame patterns engraved upon it.

　　‘A time badge for the Fire Gorge?’

　　Qi Ying was elated by what he saw.

　　The Fire Gorge was a place on the Qing Xiao Peak where a vast amount of flames burned.

　　Those flames weren’t just made of normal fire from burning wood. Instead, they consisted of burning vital energy, and the power exuding from the energy’s combustion was greatly beneficial for cultivation, especially to warriors using fire-type cultivation methods!

　　Han Shenglong had really given him something that was quite useful.

　　‘It looks like I was right to join the Blood God Alliance! This is a twelve-hour time badge for the Fire Gorge, so it’s worth at least a thousand Yun Xiao Points!’

　　Qi Ying immediately headed toward the Fire Gorge.

　　The three battle techniques that he had recently mastered were only at the elementary level.

　　A session in the Fire Gorge would be perfect for him to further hone those techniques.

　　…

　　After about half an hour, Qi Ying arrived at the Fire Gorge. The entire place was enshrouded by a layer of red light, and through the light, he could see the fierce flames burning within.

　　There was a group of green-armored guards standing in front of the gorge, and their auras struck Qi Ying with a crushing sense of pressure, thereby indicating that they were all at least at the Fifth or Sixth Spirit Martial Stage.

　　“Display your Fire Gorge Badge!”

　　One of the guards commanded.

　　Qi Ying pulled out the badge that had been given to him by Han Shenglong. The guard extended a finger, and a beam of red light shone upon the badge. “The Fire Gorge Badge has been activated; come out within twelve hours. For every extra fifteen minutes you stay in the gorge, you will be penalized five hundred Yun Xiao Points!”

　　“Understood.”

　　Qi Ying quickly entered the Fire Gorge.

　　After reaching the barrier of red light, a burst of light exuded from the Fire Gorge Badge, which enveloped Qi Ying’s body.

　　…

　　“Hehe, looks like it’s his first time here at the Fire Gorge.”

　　“Shouldn’t you have cautioned him about what’s in there? Those who don’t know the rules are going to suffer a lot of setbacks.”

　　“Heh, who cares! He’s clearly a new disciple, but he already has a Fire Gorge Badge; did we get the same treatment back when we were in the Crimson Class? He needs to learn those lessons the hard way! There seem to be many Bixue Sword Alliance members in the gorge, so he might be forced to come out within fifteen minutes!”