She refused to believe his explanation for why it was reasonable for him to defeat Green Viper. But she didn't dwell too much on the matter.
She said, "You're lucky that you joined the Blood Skull sect. If someone like you had joined any other sect, the patriarch of the Black Bones sect would have surely stolen you and turned you into a special zombie like he wants to do to that girl with the god physique."
This made Arthur frown and say, "You mean Stella? I thought it was just a rumor that the patriarch of the Black Bones sect wanted to get her."
She shook her head in disagreement as she said, "It was no mere rumor. That old zombie actually sent an avatar to ask for her. He wanted to buy her."
Arthur's eyes widened, "Damn. I didn't know that happened."
Storm Hawk nodded. "We were at the third mortal coil when it happened, so it is normal that we didn't know. But some of the golden core elders didn't know either. Only a few noticed his visit."
Arthur sighed in relief and said, "Fortunately, I'm part of the Blood Skull sect. I have a strong thigh to hang onto."
Storm Hawk said in agreement. "Yeah. But it is also fortunate for everyone that the Blood Skull sect exists."
Before he could ask, she explained, "After us, the strongest sect is the Black Bones sect. They are also the oldest. They use corpses, so you can be sure that their strength didn't come cheaply."
Arthur nodded and said, "A lot of people must have died for them to acquire their strength."
Storm Hawk said, "You don't know half of it."
"In the Black Bones sect, they use each other as materials for their corpse refinements. They also use the kingdom under their jurisdiction to raise people, which they harvest occasionally as materials for corpse refinement."
"It doesn't matter that every corpse in their kingdom belongs to them, and no one is allowed to be buried or burned after they die. But they don't stop there."
"Instead of waiting for people to die before they can use them to refine corpses, they also try to expedite their death by killing people. And their need for materials is insatiable. Compared to how the rest of the Five Veins Region lives, the kingdom under control is more like hell on earth."
"Everyone has a maximum lifespan that they can live to. They have to cultivate quickly and be talented in order to raise their maximum allowed lifespan. Once their maximum allotted lifespan is used up, they will be killed and turned into corpses. So you won't be wrong to call that kingdom a cattle ranch."
What he heard made Arthur exclaim in surprise, "Wow."
Then he said, "I rarely pay attention to what's going on in other sects, so I didn't know that such a thing was happening."
She shrugged and said, "To be fair, the people of the Black Bones sect aren't just oppressing the mortals of their kingdom. They also oppress each other."
"There is no maximum lifespan limit placed on them, but they don't need to place a limit because they rarely live long anyway. They kill each other every time and turn each other into corpses."
"There are some rules that ensure that the weaker disciples can grow stronger and replace the dead older disciples, and prevent the sect from collapsing. But at the end of the day, the entire sect is a cattle ranch for their patriarch."
"Thanks to their cultivation technique, it is easier for them to advance as long as they have a lot of corpses. So the Black Bones is capable of having more than one nascent soul patriarch at the same time, despite the constraint of resources in the region. But they have been unable to have more than one patriarch at a time because the current one is always turning new nascent soul patriarchs into corpses that he controls."
Arthur's eyes widened in shock. He said, "Damn."
His reaction made her chuckle and say, "Damn is truly the appropriate word for this."
Arthur was still reeling in shock as he asked, "What kind of sect is that?"
She replied, "The kind of sect where strength is built with the black bones of others."
Arthur could only say, "I see."
She shrugged and said, "That's pretty normal for the Black Bones sect. They always have one patriarch, even though they are capable of having more than one at a time. The only way for them to have a new patriarch is for the old one to die. Any new patriarch will just be turned into a corpse."
"Their patriarch likes talented people a lot. Once he finds someone he likes, he will convert them into corpses and raise them to the fifth mortal coil. This is how he has grown so strong to be the second strongest cultivator in the Five Veins Region."
"But as things are in the Black Bones sect, things are not entirely hopeless. As long as cultivators there are untalented and have no wish to advance to the fifth mortal coil, they will survive. I've heard of peak golden core cultivators there who choose to grow old and die rather than to try to advance to the fifth mortal coil."
Arthur's face was grim as he said, "Having the potential to advance but not daring to. That is a torturous way to live."
She chuckled and said, "The worst part is that their refusal to advance won't save them from the fate of turning into a zombie at the end of the day. Once they die, their corpse will still be turned into zombie and controlled by their patriarch. Then their patriarch can help them advance in their death."
"The patriarch of the Black Bones sect can choose to patiently wait for them to die. After they die, he will take their corpse and turn them into zombies. Only in situations where someone is too talented to be lost will that old ghost make a move before they die."