Dual Cultivator with a cultivation system
Chapter 358 - 358: Ch-358: So these people are Peak Masters?

"Disciple Wang Ming, you're awake!"

Wang Ming was just inches away from drawing his weapon and launching an attack on the group, but before he could do anything, he saw Jiang Hong, Lei Ping, and Zhou Huixin pushing and shoving through the crowd to reach him.

"Sect Master, you're here... so I haven't been kidnapped?" Wang Ming asked genuinely, causing everyone's lips to twitch in disbelief.

"Of course not. Why would you think you'd been kidnapped?" Jiang Hong replied with an awkward cough.

"Honestly, seeing so many unfamiliar faces, I thought I had been kidnapped and they were after my organs or something. I was just a moment away from launching a sword technique," Wang Ming said.

It wasn't an exaggeration—evil cultivators were known to kidnap and kill others to harvest their organs, which could be used to make pills to help with breakthroughs.

The group surrounding him, as well as Jiang Hong, sweat-dropped upon hearing his explanation.

'Oh shit, good thing I intervened in time otherwise there would be few corpses here,' Jiang Hong thought while sweating, shuddering as he recalled the golden arcs Wang Ming had summoned to kill the beasts. He was certain that if he hadn't intervened, some of the Peak Masters might have been injured—or worse, killed.

***

"Maybe you should have attacked these shameless people," Zhou Huixin said with a snort, her face red with anger and frustration.

'Damn, how dare these bastards push me aside?' she thought, visibly annoyed. When Wang Ming was about to wake up, she had wanted to reach him first and take him away before these shameless people could start throwing offers at him. The audacity—they had even shoved aside the Sect Master and Supreme Elder, charging at Wang Ming like a pack of hyenas that had smelled fresh blood. The Sect Master's and Supreme Elder's amusement only fueled her displeasure but did not show it on her face as she respected them too much, and she was genuinely nervous that Wang Ming might accept one of their offers.

Cough.

"Now, now, Peak Master—no need to get angry, even though I'm also a bit pissed," Jiang Hong said with a mix of amusement and irritation, glaring at the Peak Masters. They blushed in shame, remembering their disgraceful behavior, and quickly averted their gazes. Jiang Hong snorted. This was the first time in his life he had been physically pushed aside—by his own Peak Masters, no less.

"Indeed. If the Sect Master hadn't intervened, many of you would've been corpses by now, and we would've lost several Peak Masters. This kind of behavior is unbecoming of your status," Lei Ping reprimanded. The group shrank back even further while Zhou Huixin looked on in satisfaction.

Wang Ming raised an eyebrow as he listened to the conversation.

'So they're the Peak Masters. Makes sense—I was wondering who these people with such high cultivation were.'

When Wang Ming had first been surrounded, he had already sensed their levels. A few of them were in the Golden Core Realm, which puzzled him. That's why, when he assumed he'd been kidnapped, he was prepared to kill the strongest ones first and leave the weakest alive for questioning. Now, hearing Jiang Hong and Lei Ping's words, he understood—they were Peak Masters like Zhou Huixin.

"Damn, did I get scammed or something when I agreed to join her peak?" Wang Ming thought. Honestly, when Zhou Huixin had approached him with her offer, he assumed the other Peak Masters would have similar cultivation levels to hers. He hadn't expected so many of them to be significantly stronger.

Even though the system had informed him that Jade Peak was the weakest, he hadn't thought the gap would be this wide. Judging by the difference in cultivation between Zhou Huixin and the other Peak Masters, the disparity was clearly more than he'd assumed.

'Sigh, well—I've never been afraid of a challenge,' Wang Ming thought as he shrugged his shoulders. Even if the system hadn't given him a mission, he wouldn't back down—not after he'd given her his word.

"Now, let's get back to the main point. Disciple Wang Ming, I'd like to introduce you to the Peak Masters of our sect," Jiang Hong said, quickly proceeding with introductions. He had noticed Wang Ming eyeing the Peak Masters strangely and felt a little embarrassed on behalf of his Peak Masters.

"I see... Hmm, Sect Master, why am I here? I thought I was in the Serpent Building," Wang Ming asked, confused.

"It's because we wanted to keep your identity hidden, like I mentioned. Otherwise, you'd have been swarmed by Core Disciples..." Jiang Hong explained.

"I see," Wang Ming nodded in understanding, but saw Jiang Hong face suddenly turned serious, which caused Wang Ming to raise an eyebrow.

"Disciple Wang Ming, the main reason we moved you here is because you suddenly started radiating such intense killing intent that even I was terrified," Jiang Hong said solemnly, shuddering as he recalled the pressure from that moment. His words caught Wang Ming off guard.

'Could it be Aura's Gaze?' Wang Ming wondered about his technique, surprised it had affected the outside world as well. But then he heard something that made his expression change.

"Also… do you know that the sky turned completely red? We were all pulled into your mindspace and saw a figure sitting on a throne atop a mountain of corpses, surrounded by a sea of blood. Do you know anything about that?" Jiang Hong asked, glancing at the Peak Masters who had also fallen silent and looked visibly shaken by the memory.

'What the hell? System, do you know anything about this?' Wang Ming was bewildered and confused. He hadn't known Aura's Gaze could cause something like that.

[System Message: Host is too weak and authority too low to know the reason.]

Wang Ming narrowed his eyes as he read the message, realizing that there was something far deeper going on which he has no idea but knowing how stubborn the system is and won't get an answer he did not aks anything else.