'My faction!?'
Noah listened to those words and understood the identity of the man that was keeping him still.
'Is he Bruce?'
"I told you that he was a special case but you were busy with your stupid rumors. We were lucky that you arrived before he changed idea about our faction."
Seth rebuked Bruce, he seemed really annoyed by his behavior.
Bruce made an awkward laugh while scratching the side of his head.
"The source this time seemed accurate, it's a pity that he was just a drunkard looking for booze…"
Seth shook his head and pointed toward the mess at the center of the training area.
"Could you at least handle this situation?"
Only then did Bruce remember that Alison was still chasing the other disciples and he nodded as he lifted Noah with both hands to hand him to Seth.
"Keep him here until I come back, we can't give him to the other factions."
Seth grabbed Noah and placed him on the ground, his expression showed tinges of shame as he tidied Noah's clothes.
"I'm so sorry, the leader is an idiot but he is really reliable in battle. He can't control his power very well so he rarely interacts with rank 2 cultivators, I believe you can understand why."
Noah listened to Seth's words and his cold gaze was slightly eased, the recent events had put him in a complete battle mindset and Bruce's suppression had almost made him decide to change faction.
"ALISON!"
A loud shout resounded in the training area, the disciples that were escaping from Alison felt as if their heads were going to explode while those in the first rank directly fainted.
Alison stopped her tracks, she turned slowly, a wide smile was on her face as she faced Bruce's arrival.
"Leader! This is all a misunderstanding! I wanted to, ehm, know the new member but he was so impolite, I had to teach him a lesson!"
Alison lied but Bruce's stern gaze forced her to retreat.
"Please Leader. I'm just a young woman stuck in this horrible body, don't I deserve to find love too?"
Alison pleaded but Bruce's gaze was unmoving.
"What did I say about getting too close rank 2 cultivators? The last time you brought someone to your cave it took us two months to make him forget that trauma."
A few disciples patted Josh's shoulders when they heard Bruce speak, a few tears could be seen running down Josh's face as he remembered those events.
"But, but!"
"No buts, go back in your cave, today's events made you lose the new member."
Alison tried to complain but Bruce had already turned, she could only stomp her foot in irritation as she went back to her cave.
"Bring the injured to Byron and undo this mess."
Bruce ordered and Seth bowed, he immediately picked his notebook and began to send messages to some of his contacts.
"You, come with me."
Bruce's words made Noah's sea of consciousness tremble, he closed his eyes to resist that pressure before following him.
They crossed the entirety of the training area before reaching its deepest parts, Noah was surprised to see that the density of "Breath" in there was so high that drops of liquid "Breath" could be seen on the purple walls.
'This is indeed worthy to be the habitation of a rank 3 expert.'
An entrance appeared on the purple walls, a large cave made of only a single room unfolded in front of Noah's eyes.
"Come, sit, let's talk."
Bruce spoke, creating again the intense pressure on Noah's mind.
"Ehm, Leader, could you please control your mental waves when you speak?"
Noah couldn't hold back anymore, the series of events that had happened since he joined the faction had really pushed his patience to its limits.
Bruce turned and seemed to remember something, he closed his eyes and knitted his brows, he seemed really focused on what he was doing.
"Is this better?"
He spoke again, Noah could still feel a bit of pressure on his mind but it was way more bearable than before, he nodded at him when the pressure disappeared.
"Good. I'm sorry for everything that has happened since you arrived. Seth usually handles these things well but he can't control Alison's mood, more and more members are leaving her group to join other captains lately."
'That's quite obvious.'
Noah could clearly understand the behavior of those disciples, not even an hour had passed and he wanted to leave her group too.
"Also, as you saw, we are a bunch of messy people when we are inside the sect. Our faction does the riskiest work inside the sect but this is what allows us to have the best rewards, it's normal for our members to have extreme personalities."
Noah nodded at his words, the behavior of the disciples had surprised him but it wasn't that different from those of the guards in Balvan mansion.
The more a work puts you closer to death, the more extreme your activities will be when you need to relax, that's how it worked in most cases.
"As for me, I find it hard to control myself so I usually don't go near the areas where the weak disciples are. I'm almost at the peak of the third rank, I fear that I might kill one of them if I'm careless."
Noah continued to nod, he had personally endured Bruce's power.
'A rank 2 mage wouldn't be able to talk with him for more than a minute before suffering an injury, I could continue to listen to him only because my mind is in the third rank.'
"So, what now? Just to be clear, I'll never join Alison's group."
Noah spoke, he expressed his thoughts without holding back.
"She isn't that bad, her cultivation technique can't really harm anyone, it just renders those affected by the gas more benevolent toward her. You will soon develop an immunity toward it but I advise you to allow your vision to be affected at least, you don't want to see that body every day after all."
Bruce explained but Noah's expression remained cold, he was set on not joining her group.
Bruce sighed before he continued to speak.
"Seth is busy with the management of the faction and the other captains are either on missions or have enough members in their teams. It seems that you will be joining me, young man."