Chapter 42: Another Plan
"I want you to join our family."
As soon as Kieran heard Lana say this, his eyes widened.
Not even minding the fact that he had thought that he would be off the hook simply with having sex with her, he never in a million years would have assumed she would ask him to join them.
And join their family? Did that mean Lana’s family in particular or was it their group?
Kieran didn’t immediately refuse her and simply decided to ask about it to gain more details. After all, if he outright denied her, it may end up being the downfall of his sect.
"You want me to join your family? What do you mean by that?" He asked.
Lana smiled since Kieran didn’t immediately refuse her.
"I mean I want you to join us. Our cause. Everything we fight for. Of course, if you joined, we wouldn’t ask someone of your stature to fight on the front lines like us. You would be well taken care of and to be honest, you would likely be the personal servant of the Matriarch. Needless to say, we won’t treat you poorly. Cultivation resources, the best delicacies and even women should you desire them."
As Lana kept talking Kieran shut her voice out of his ears so he could think.
Off in the distance, the sounds of fighting had faded and Kieran could no longer hear any screaming or the fighting between cultivators or beasts. He wondered if this was due to his distance or if it was due to his deal that he had yet to accept.
Loyalty was never something truly incredibly important to Kieran. That said, he never would go out of his way to betray someone or something that treated him well.
Kieran’s brows furrowed as he continued to think. What would he truly be betraying if it was destroyed? Sure the deal he had made would ensure the escape of most of the Elders and disciples, but the Divine Sword Sect would still be destroyed. Thinking this, Kieran suddenly had a thought and decided to ask Lana about it.
"How big is your family that you can just destroy one of the biggest sects on the continent? From what I understand, the Divine Sword Sect was a hegemon of the country, and even on the continental scale would hold up to the best of sects and only come out slightly worse. So how then are you able to defeat them with such ease?" Kieran asked.
Lana snorted and smirked at Kieran.
"While it’s true that the Divine Sword Sect is as you said, a hegemon of the area, that doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t possess the prowess on the world scale. Your Sect Master is a mid stage Soul Transformation realm warrior, and your strongest elder, the old bitch was only barely a late stage Soul Transformation realm warrior. Our little family found a sure-fire way to break through to the Ascendant realm. There’s a catch, but the trade off is that you become one of the most powerful cultivators on the planet."
Kieran became thoughtful again. If they were able to breakthrough in such numbers to a powerful realm such as the Ascendant realm, which he assumed to be after Soul Transformation, then that would almost certainly mean that the downside would be pretty significant. Something like being stuck in the Ascendant realm, or unable to ascend or something, assuming such a thing was possible, though given the name, Kieran wouldn’t doubt it. Especially after reading all the cultivation novels in his past life.
That thought aside, Kieran looked up and asked the most burning question that was resting in his mind.
"You say that you want me to join you. Why? What do you gain? Wouldn’t it be easier to take me prisoner?"
Hearing this Lana herself became thoughtful for a moment before replying.
"I would be lying if I said there wasn’t any personal motivation. But I also believe that if I brought you back willingly, and not as a slave or something, I think the Matriarch would be much happier to have you serve her in an official capacity, rather than a stress relief tool in a locked room somewhere."
Kieran sighed.
"If you call yourself a family, you should be relatively small. What’s you goal here? Why attack?"
"This is the cultivation world, boy. We want resources. Spirit Stones, priceless treasures and medicines, cultivation techniques. We want them, we have the strength to take them, and so we will. It’s really that simple."
Kieran couldn’t help but think that this reasoning was dumb as fuck. Couldn’t they just trade or offer services in return? But he wasn’t a bored thousand year old bitch so he decided to stop thinking about it and put it behind him.
"So if I’ll be a serving boy, then what about the Sect Master and my daughter?" Kieran asked, nodding toward the two who were still unconscious.
"They’ll be well taken care of if you join. They’ll be given the same offer as you, should you accept. If you decline, they’ll be imprisoned and eventually sold as slaves." Lana mentioned casually, as if she wasn’t talking about real people.
Kieran felt he didn’t particularly have a choice here. He could say fuck it and give up on these two, maybe try and save them later, but would he really be able to escape from a sect-or family rather- chock full of Ascendant realm cultivators? And not to mention the fact he would have it worse off than if he just accepted. He didn’t really have anywhere to go to except for the capital and imperial family.
’Wait! That’s not a half bad idea.’
As Kieran thought, more and more a plan started to come together in his head. He would have to work hard to make it come to fruition, but eventually he had finally come to a conclusion.
"Alright, for those two over there, I’ll join you." Kieran said, his eyes gleaming with determination.