Steward Wen Guoliang swiped a bead of sweat from his forehead and thought "It is a good think not a single mortal was doing anything unpredictable. Teleporting them while they should all be at work was the best way to take care of mass teleport."
Dust flew out of the palm of Steward Wen Guoliang as he raised his head to speak "Good, everyone is here!"
"All of you will now follow my directions and enter the world of becoming a dao master."
"The first thing we must do is expel all the dirt and grime from your meridians."
Steward Wen Guoliang crushed a crystal and lumps of light scattered around the dim room.
Behind him was a hall of red crystals larger than the size of a human adult.
"Each one of you will gather in front of a crystal and I will begin the cleaning process!" Steward Wen Guoliang announced.
"We follow Steward Wen Guoliang's order!" Everyone announced as they followed behind Lou Ben and gathered in front of their own crystal.
Lou Ben looked around and chose the closest crystal towards him "so there should be around one-hundred-forty-five crystals for this meridian cleansing."
Steward Wen Guoliang crushed another crystal between his right palm and the soon-to-be dao masters appeared inside the crystal.
"Now that you are all inside, I will tell you that after today, each one of you will take on the name of Xiao!"
"You are above all servants, but below the great Master Xiao. He has granted you the chance to make him happy, so do not let Master Xiao down!"
Lou Ben looked around as he heard these words "does he mean I am now Xiao Lou Ben?"
"If its only a name change then there is no problem!" As Lou Ben thought this, the red crystal stared shaking.
Slowly a liquid started to rise inside and engulf Lou Ben and the others.
Steward Wen Guoliang smiled as he saw the people freeze in time.
The red crystals grew dark and he was no longer able to look inside to see the new Xiao members.
Seconds turned to minutes and those turned into hours, after five days of watching the dark crystals solidify, cracks started to appear.
*Crack
*Crack
Naked bodies plopped out where the red crystals had been, and once those bodies stood up, the red crystals turned into dust and flew away.
"Welcome to the Xiao family!" Steward Wen Guoliang announced.
"Not only did you all endure a cleansing of meridians, but every single one of you now have the blood of Xiao running through you!"
"What?"
"Did I hear that wrong?"
"What does Steward Wen Guoliang mean by this?"
Steward Wen Guoliang smiled and yelled "you all have been given the blood of Master Xiao. Not only do you carry the Xiao name, henceforth, you are all related by blood!"
Steward Wen Guoliang laughed at such a sorry bunch of mortals who didn't understand the circumstances.
*Crack
More and more red crystals started to crumble as this was announced.
"I expect you all to tell your late brothers of the great news and throw the deceased into the pit that runs along the hall!"
Steward Wen Guoliang showed no remorse, and after he said what he needed to, crushed a crystal and disappeared. He didn't allow the people to question him, nor did he allow them the time to second guess his words.
Lou Ben looked around, there were only a quarter of people who got out of their crystal at this time.
"Does that mean more than half of us have died?" Lou Ben widened his eyes at the hall full of crystals that have yet to crumble.
"Brother Lou Ben! Haha, to think we would truly be brothers now!" Liang Jianjun met eyes with the naked Lou Ben and smiled from ear to ear.
"Who would have known brother Lou Ben is not only strong but also well equipped! Hahaha!" Liang Jianjun laughed.
"Brother Liang Jianjun, does it not bother you to have to throw our fellow 'brothers' into the abyss?" Lou Ben paid him no mind at his early comment but instead asked sincerely.
He didn't want to be the only one who thought this way.
"Brother Lou Ben!" A third voice appeared in front of the two naked figures of Lou Ben and Liang Jianjun.
It was Wu Gen, who lucky enough was able to survive the red crystal cleansing.
"Oh, brother Wu Gen, do you also feel wronged to get rid of our 'brothers' in this manner?"
"Haha, brother Lou Ben, it is unfortunate, but this is simply how things must be!"
Wu Gen crossed his arms and made eye contact with Lou Ben "They all tried to jump from mortal to dao master, it could not have been easy in the first place."
"Yes, brother Lou Ben, it is sad, but this is how the world works. If it was not us, then who?" Wu Gen rubbed his bare chin to contemplate.
"huhh, yes you are right. If it was not for us, then it would be someone else. We are lucky to have lived through this cleansing."
"Haha! So that's what you two were talking about! I thought you were talking about fighting to see who was the strongest!" Liang Jianjun laughed loudly.
Lou Ben tilted his head towards Liang Jianjun and thought "ugh, this guy has muscles for brains. How did he get 'fighting' from what I asked him earlier?"
After a few hours, no crystals cracked any further.
"Looks like it's time to wish our brothers goodbye in this life." Wu Gen stood up and pushed a giant red crystal into the abyss behind it.
"This is crazy, this is straight murder. What if there was someone living inside and waiting to let free?" Lou Ben cursed himself for being in this situation.
Now that the circumstances allowed for the characters to think freely, Lou Ben was able to ascertain his mental stance on this, it was murder!
The fight before was guarded and he believed it when Steward Wen Guoliang told them that no one would die no matter the injury, but this was different.
He saw the demeanor of the steward and listened to his words, these people might be dead in his eyes, but to Lou Ben, this was akin to killing.
"Has it really come down to throwing our 'brothers' down into a pit of nothing?" Lou Ben sat and wondered.
"It has." He answered himself.
"It seems like no matter what happens, mortals are just side characters to dao masters. Not even those who we fought with were safe."
"Then what would happen if we were stuck and someone needs to be sacrificed, would these 'brothers' of mine disregard the safety of another?"
Lou Ben was in deep contemplation at this situation, it gave him a bad taste in his mouth.
Eventually after a few moments, he collected himself and stood in front of a red crystal.
"huhh, it seems no matter what happens I am being too naïve in not killing you."
He placed both his hands on the giant red crystal.
"I'm sorry 'brother', although you did not survive, I can only move forward as the people around me grow. I can't be left behind in this world."
After those words left the mouth of Lou Ben, he gathered strength and pushed the red crystal.
As it fell, cracks emerged, and the crystal turned into dust.
Lou Ben looked down and saw a naked body look up at him as the body fell into darkness.
"He was alive?"
"Why?"
"How can my luck be so bad?"
"Why?"
This act of mercy took a long time for Lou Ben to gather strength to do it, but now it turned into real murder.
"Brother Lou Ben, it was his luck to have taken so long. Do not let it get to you." Wu Gen patted the shoulder of Lou Ben.
"Hehe, it really is unfortunate…"
Lou Ben had a sinister and defeated smile as he slumped on his shoulders and gazed into the dark abyss that swallowed up his mental clarity.
"I was truly being too naïve." Lou Ben muttered as he looked around and saw groups of people push the remaining red crystals over the edge.
"Brother Wu Gen, thank you for understanding. I need to be stronger if I want to walk this road of being a dao master."
"Oh, brother Lou Ben, although I do not understand these methods, or reasons as to why Steward Wen Guoliang, I do know that it is common knowledge for mortals to be expendable."
Wu Gen looked at Lou Ben and finished speaking "Maybe this is what Steward Wen Guoliang wanted of us, to shed our original identity of mortal, we had to understand the difference between mortal and dao master."
Lou Ben looked back at Wu Gen and nodded "Yes, this is probably only the beginning, we can only imagine what the future has in store for us…"
The final giant crystals fell towards darkness, Lou Ben and Wu Gen stood at the edge watching as they shed their original identities of mortal.