I chuckled, and stood up. "Good, with that your training will begin. Now, ladies, my sisters, sister in-laws, and mothers will see you in the other room. Be sure to keep your wits about you. Even I fear being alone with all of them together… Though it's for very different reasons."
"We won't fail, Master!"
"Good, managers, have some people show them the way, and some others to give our new additions the proper education on how to run and maintain their sects. I… Have other business to attend to."
"We shall follow your orders, Master."
And then I vanished once more. This time I went to a little known realm. It is a place hidden away from the view of others. But to those in the world creation realm or equivalent realms of power, it wasn't so much hidden as it was just a little bit out of the way.
It's been a little while since I ended the war. It's time I paid that place a visit. Here's hoping they understand right away. Perhaps I'll gain some kind of insight as well. Who knows, but it's not like anyone weaker than me can defeat me, let alone kill me. If I survived the whole incident right after arriving in hell, then I seriously doubt anything could kill me.
~ Taboo Realm ~
In a random field a man by the name of Jiao Ba was swinging his sword in practice. When he noticed something had changed. "Oh! A new arrival! Ahahaha! Easy pickings!"
"Oh? That sword's not bad. Definitely would have been quite damaging against a weakened Ink."
He turned around in fright. "How? How did you get behind me so fast? Who are you?"
I chuckled. "The name is, how did you say it..?" I lightly tapped a fist into my face up palm. "That's right, I think you called me, Easy Pickings."
"Uh no, uh, I didn't mean you. I meant the weak ones that show up here. Most of the time when new arrivals come here, they're pretty weak comparatively. And thus easy prey to hunt so we can escape this place."
I waved my hand gently. "No need to worry too much about explaining things. I already know the true nature of this place. It was made abundantly clear to me once I saw this place from outside. It's quite interesting. Especially how you idiots think the first method is somehow valid. News flash, you'd just be stuck in the endless outer chaos. You need that route home to truly show you the way back. Making the second option the only way out of this place."
Jiao Ba blooped to his knees. "So, even though I've killed 5 people here… It was never going to change anything?"
"Yeah, pretty much. You should have known that regardless though. Why would killing a weaker person ever allow you to expand your progression along the Dao? Perhaps I should kill you so you can repent in hell for a while." I thought for a moment… "Yeah, screw it. I'm done thinking. Try again in your next life."
Jiao Ba, in that instant he re-lived his entire life as it flashed before his eyes. All 100 thousand years of it. "I see, thank you for showing me where I went wrong."
"I had to do something in payment for this sword. Now, have a good time in your next life. You'll be reborn as a girl this time by the way. Have fun."
Jiao Ba was instantly confused as he disappeared, and asked. "Wait, what? How do you know?"
I chuckled to myself, holding the sword in hand, and answered the question only after he completely vanished. "It's simple really, every soul has to get the full experience of life eventually. And having lived such a long life as a man, there's such a small chance of being reborn male, the odds are pathetically low, even for myself. And I've got less than a thousand years."
Soon after Jiao Ba vanished I was surrounded by what I could only describe as a hoard of absolute pinnacle existences from various places. All of them were ready for a fight, each having summoned their own Grand Dao.
"Excellent timing. Is this everyone?"
A man with a giant dao tree manifested behind him spoke up. "Yeah this is everyone. So mind stating your business here? You're not going to kill everyone-"
"Hey, how dare you assume he can kill all of us like that."
"Oh? Do you think I can't? Because I could destroy this Taboo realm as a whole. Hell I wouldn't even break a sweat. So no, I'm not here to kill all of you. I was just curious to see this place for myself. After all, I did take an unusual route to my current strength level. Thus I was able to bypass this terribly annoying place."
"The name is Chong Jiu, and I've been trapped here for a fairly long time. You're the first person I've seen that I didn't think a thousand of me would still lose. What's your name, if I may ask?"
"You may feel free to call me Temporal Thunder. Any other name I possess would be too familiar for any of you to use."
"Ah, so is Supreme Master Temporal Thunder, may I ask again what sir's purpose was in coming here?"
"I was hoping to see if any of you were strong enough to lend me a hand. But alas you're all weak beyond comparison. A shame really. I'm going to have to whip you all into shape. Hmm, for now those of you who haven't slain fellow masters here you are safe. Those who have, you've unfortunately permanently tainted your cultivation." With a heavy sigh I absorbed the Dao Sword. "You see, I wasn't going to kill any of you. However, you might as well be useless thorns in the world's sides. You can thank Jiao Ba for this information."
"Huh?! How can you be sure that's really true huh?"
"Because I can see the truth of it all with a mere glance. But that sword sealed the deal. The more fellow masters you kill in the Taboo realm, the more tainted and twisted your cultivation grows. Eventually you'll turn into one of these types of creatures."
When I showed the image of Ink, to these people, the looks of dread completely sunk in. The ones who had killed before fell to their knees, while the others backed away.