Thor said with reluctance. "I guess there is no harm in partial greediness."
Arthur smiled and said, "My point exactly."
The two of them laughed. Then they continued roaming the secret realm.
On their way, they encountered more and more people hunting each other. This happened for an hour. But then encounter with people in the secret realm suddenly dropped to nothing after two more hours.
After 22 hours in the secret realm, they didn't see anyone roaming around anymore. This didn't change until they walked to the other side of the secret realm.
The other side of the secret realm is where the gate of another sect is. By walking so close to their gate, the two of them were putting themselves in danger of being besieged by hundreds of enemies.
But they wanted to know if the secret realm had become empty of people, and they had the golem to rely on, so they decided to risk it.
Their gamble bore fruit. When they reached the gate of another sect, they found a lot of disciples from that sect there. The odd thing was that they also found a lot of disciples from the Blood Skull sect there too.
The gate belonged to the Beast Training sect, so it was normal to see a lot of disciples from the Beast Training sect at the gate this close to the deadline of the inter-sect competition.
The secret realm had already been completely raided. It is why everyone is attacking each other now. It is also why many people are returning to the gate they came through so that they will be able to leave the secret realm.
But some disciples from the Blood Skull sect have formed a team and are blocking the way to the gate. These disciples formed a wall that anyone who wants to reach the gate has to pass through.
But the disciples of the Blood Skull sect aren't attacking the beast trainers. Instead, they are asking them to pay toll taxes. Only those who refused to pay toll taxes are attacked.
As Arthur watched, disciples from the Beast Training sect were forced to empty their space pouches. Half of what they got from the secret realm is then taken in exchange for their lives.
No one tried to resist because it was clear at a glance that resistance would be futile. It was clear because one disciple from the Blood Skull sect is already a terror. 100 of them working together will be a calamity that cannot be resisted.
What they got from each beast trainer is the shared among the 100 disciples from the Blood Skull sect. Each disciple only gets a little from each beast trainer. But what they will get in total will become a considerable sum because every living beast trainer has to pass through this point if they want to leave the secret realm.
Arthur saw Strait among the disciples of the Blood Skull sect. This made him curse and say, "No wonder he was so in a hurry to leave. It turned out that he knew a good spot to camp."
Thor couldn't believe what he was seeing. He said, "This is blatant extortion. Are they not worried about being surrounded and attacked by every disciple from the Beast Training sect?"
Arthur shook his head and said, "Each disciple from our sect is worth at least ten of the disciples from other sects. Seeing as we are the top 1,000 of our sect, then we are worth at least 20 or even 30 of the disciples from other sects."
"Using those estimates, we can calculate that the disciples of the Beast Training sect will need at least 2,000 or even 3,000 of them before they can defeat the 100 disciples from the Blood Skull sect here. They don't have those numbers."
"They were 1,000 when they came into the secret realm. Even if none of them died, 1,000 of them is still not enough to take on the 100 disciples from our sect."
"That is if they have 1,000. My best bet is that they have 600 or, at most, 800 disciples. Besides, the disciples from our sect aren't fighting them to the death. They are only taking half of what they gained, so there is even less reason for them to fight."
Thor nodded in understanding and said, "I see. But no one told us about this. We've been wandering about the secret realm gaining nothing, while these guys stood here to extort without a fight."
Arthur's face darkened when he remembered this. He gritted his teeth and said, "Let this be a lesson for us. In five years, when we have to go to another secret realm, we won't fight at all. Only the two of us will hold up the road and gain half of everything that a single sect earns."
Thor suggested eagerly, "We should hold up the road to the sect with the largest number of students. That way we can earn more."
Arthur's eyes lit up when he heard that. He said, "Good idea."
Then he turned to Thor and said, "And you call me greedy."
Thor didn't deny it. He said, "I guess I have to focus on cultivation for the next five years so that I will be able to control my first son better."
The two of them laughed and made jokes for a while. Then they returned to the gate belonging to the Blood Skull sect.
They had felt cheated because everyone from the Blood Skull sect was gaining benefits for free without telling them. But when they remembered that most of the disciples who followed them to the secret realm this time would have already entered the inner sect before the next opening of the secret realm, they became happy.
They were happy because they had hopes of monopolizing the benefits of a single sect for themselves after five years. After all, everyone has already reached the limits of their strength while they still have a lot of room to grow.