Chapter 2: Raging Storm Sect

"Shen Gong? What do you mean by that?" Aaron asked, visibly confused.

"Palace of Gods, From today onwards, this place shall be known as the Shen Gong which means the Palace of Gods," Jason replied as he sat down and stared into Aaron's eyes.

"Huh?! This place? Palace of Gods? Have you gone dumb, brother? I don't understand..."

"There is no need for you to understand anything right now. Just mark my words."

"Ah, ok..." Aaron said without much conviction in his voice.

"You don't believe me right? It is fine. Now tell me where are we?"

"Ah, alright. Do you at least remember which plane is this?"

"Nope"

"Ok, this is the Estopian Continent and we are in the Lionheart Kingdom."

"..."

"..."

"And?..."

"Ah, what else do you want to know?" Aaron asked with an awkward face.

*Facepalm*

"Like what place is this? And why are we so poor?"

"Oh, we are on the premises of the Raging Storm sect. This is one of the top sects in the entire kingdom and has a lot of cultivation techniques and resources that attract cultivators from far and wide."

"Wow, so we are from a top sect. Then why are our living conditions so bad? Can't they give us better?"

"Well, you see, we are not students here. We are basically the ... well... errand boys of the sect. We do all the odd jobs in the outer sect that no one else wants to do,"

"Well, so we are the helping hands here. So what? Isin't this one of the top sects? How can it treat us so badly?"

"Noo, you don't understand. Even servants have their own quarters. Our position is like... the lowest of the low. Even other servants can command us to do their bidding. We have absolutely no say over anything in the sect."

"Outrageous! Why don't we leave this place? If they mistreat us so badly, it means they don't care about us. Why should we care about them and keep serving them as slaves?" Jason shouted as he was enraged by these horrific terms.

"Shh. We are slaves that have been bound to serve this sect for one thousand years or death, whichever comes first. Should we run away, the sect can easily track us down, and then out life would be even more miserable. Look here," Aaron said as he rolled his left sleeve.

A cursed looking black thunder mark soon revealed itself. It looked like it had been engraved into Aaron's skin as if someone had forged the mark into the body.

"See this, you have one as well. As long as this exists, we cannot do anything," Aaron said as he shook his head.

"What? Let me see."

But surprisingly, when Jason rolled up his sleeves, there was no tattoo to be found.

"Look, I don't have any tattoo!" Jason exclaimed.

"What? How can this be?" Aaron was stunned as he immediately took Jason's arm and looked closely. "Wow, it is really true. Somehow, the mark has vanished!!"

"Does this mean that this Raging Storm Sect can no longer keep me under them?!"

"Yes!! Jason, you have to leave immediately!! Everyone in the sect thinks that you are dead. Now that you somehow don't have the mark, no one will find out if you were to leave. Quickly get away from this hellhole. Don't worry I will cover for you" Aaron said very seriously.

Jason was visibly touched by Aaron's selflessness. He knew that once he was gone, all the bullying that currently was divided between the two of them will entirely fall on Aaron. Still, Aaron was earnestly thinking about Jason's well being.

"You just want me to leave so that you can become the sole proprietor of Shen Gong, am I correct or am I correct?" Jason asked with a teasing smile.

"Jason..." Aaron tried to say something, Jason immediately cut him off.

"Nothing doing. Even one day I will leave this place permanently, I definitely won't leave you here. Enough with that. Tell me about the other sects and other various important things in this Estopian Continent."

"Ah, alright. The other major.... Wait! Jason, it is already almost time to go and start cleaning the courtyards of outer sect disciples. I have to go now or we both will be in trouble. "

"Huh? Don't I have to go as well?"

"No need. As I said before, everyone thinks that you are dead. Let us continue this ruse for a while longer. Remember, do not step out of this house. Even though this house is located in a far flung area in the sect, we should not risk it. Okay, I am getting really late now. Take care and I will answer your questions later." Aaron off as he waved his hands.

Jason finally lied down on the carpet as he started processing all this new information.

'Raging Storm Sect huh? Ba, who cares. But I need to stay hidden from the sights of others. Hmmm, let's see...' Jason mused as he closed his eyes.